I stepped inside because I recognised the façade from an online photo captioned “Harry Styles spotted drinking coffee in Rome”. While my slice warms in the oven, I ask the woman behind me if this really is the place.After some back-and-forth chatter with the man behind the counter, she turns back to me. “Harry comes here all the time, apparently.” He nods and shrugs, as if trying to act unimpressed, but a glint in his eyes and a smirk around his lips give him away.

“Both locals and tourists come here hoping to spot him.” She pauses. “I think I’m going to start coming more often too… Harry Styles… wow.” Clearly I’m not the only fan in the room.Finishing off my lunch with an espresso while I watch well-dressed Romans walk past, I feel like I’m in on Style’s little secret. Luckily, there are plenty more to uncover – between wrapping up his last tour and releasing his fourth studio album earlier this month, the singer was spotted all across Rome, which has become one of his sanctuaries away from the public eye.

What draws the biggest contemporary pop artist in Britain back? The style, the food? The Eternal City has a pull and I’m determined to find out more.

HARRY STYLES’ HANGOUTS: TRASTEVERE’S FLEA MARKET Styles describes his time in Italy – a city he has long had a fondness for, with rumours swirling that he bought a house outside Rome in 2023 – as a pivotal period that taught him to slow down and savour life. Porta Portese, the Sunday flea market in Trastevere, is the perfect place to put that into practice – it feels like stepping into another world. Just when you think, “This must be the last stall selling €3 designer trousers”, another endless row of Polo Ralph Lauren items and antique toys appears around the corner.It makes perfect sense that Styles has been strolling here.

Sellers and buyers are so busy haggling that they might not notice the global superstar standing beside them. Sometimes, though, he does get noticed – a video circulating of him browsing a bargain shoe stall shows him caught off guard, clearly unamused at the privacy invasion, while enjoying the market like any local. From the market, it’s worth wandering Trastevere’s romantic cobbled streets – and across the Tiber, Testaccio is one of Rome’s best-kept culinary secrets.

At Trattoria Pennestri, daring dishes like fried brain and rigatoni con la pajata (intestines from a milk-fed calf) fill the menu. Lacking that kind of courage, I go for meatballs and end with a chocolate mousse that teaches me Style’s lesson firsthand: slow down – you’d be daft not to savour every bite. HOLY GROUNDS AND HEAVENLY TOMATOES On 8 May 2025, fans were baffled to spot Styles in St Peter’s Square for the announcement of Pope Leo XIV.

The story behind it, as he later told Radio 1, makes it even better: he’d been at a nearby hairdresser when he heard “Habemus Papam!” (“We have a pope!”) and decided, mid-haircut, to take a look. This perhaps explains the cap Styles wore during the papal inauguration, reading “Techno is my boyfriend”. It sparked yet more online speculation about the singer’s sexuality and was, of course, sold out within hours of being spotted.

Vatican City is Rome at its boldest. My Italian tour guide reveals an unexpected fact about Michelangelo: on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, he painted God with a visible bare bottom as an act of rebellion against the pope. For dinner, I head to Prati – an elegant district next to Vatican City.

At Cacio e Pepe, the pasta all’amatriciana tastes like it was made from tomatoes grown in the Garden of Eden. Perhaps this is what inspired Styles to release a “Tomato” edition LP of Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.

COCKTAILS ABOVE THE PANTHEON Styles is a regular at Chiltern Firehouse, the creative industry’s favourite hang-out in Marylebone, at least until it burned down (irony!). Gigi Rigolatto, the rooftop restaurant at the Orient Express La Minerva Hotel, right next to the Pantheon, feels like its Roman equivalent: the half-covered terrace and stylish clientele remind me of Chiltern’s courtyard on a sunny day.From here I take in the city’s domes and terracotta rooftops stretching out in every direction. The panoramic view and intriguing cocktail menu are reason enough to visit, but the selection of seafood and the size of the veal escalope lift the experience even higher.

It’s a luxury that also caught Netflix’s eye: Gigi Rigolatto was featured in Emily in Paris, when the ever-so-bubbly Emily temporarily leaves the French capital. Kudos to the production team, because this is precisely the place a real-life advertising guru would land in Rome.During my Roman adventure, I s