When in Rome, eat like the Romans do — and with the Italians' reputation for good food, that shouldn't be hard! But while there are many different dishes you can try in the Italian capital, you'll find the same four classic pasta dishes in almost any restaurant. The "four pastas of Rome" may use similar ingredients, but each is unique in its own way! Cacio e pepe This literally means "cheese and black pepper" — and they're the only two ingredients added to this pasta dish. The cheese used is pecorino — an Italian cheese made from sheep's milk — that's mixed with fresh black pepper and some of the water the pasta is cooked in. Be careful if you try to make it yourself: too much water and your sauce will be too watery; too little and it will be clumpy! Carbonara In other places, cream is often mistakenly added to carbonara — but don't let a Roman see you doing that! Carbonara is made by mixing egg yolks, black pepper and pecorino to form a paste. Add that to your cooked pasta along with fried pieces of guanciale ("gwan-CHAL-eh"), a type of cured meat made from pork cheek that's similar to bacon. But if you've had carbonara with cream and regular bacon, it's not the real thing! Gricia What would you get if you took the egg out of a carbonara? You'd get pasta alla gricia! This dish is made by first frying up the guanciale and mixing its oil with some pasta water and pepper. Once the pasta is cooked, stir in the oil mixture with some pecorino and pepper. Amatriciana Another Roman classic, this pasta dish also uses fried guanciale. Similar to gricia, the oil is mixed with pasta water, but this time tomatoes and chili are added in. Top with pecorino and enjoy!