This was Italy’s very first McDonald’s — and it looks like anything but a fast-food joint

May 17, 2024

E tu, Ronald?

At what once was the heart of the Roman Empire sits an American conquest: Italy’s first-ever McDonald’s.

However, the Rome location, just steps from the Spanish Steps at Piazza di Spagna, is strikingly different from any stateside Golden Arches outpost.

Guests are first greeted with a grand array of traditional sculptures, marble walls, mosaics, Roman writing and a plaque in honor of its opening on March 20, 1986. Lately, the location has become a social media hit.

This Roman McDonald’s — which was not built in a day — has its own McCafé breakfast area right by the nods to ancient history. It’s there that scrumptious, non-American menu items like tiramisu, donuts and macaroons are available, along with croissants and other delectable pastries that put McD’s baked apple pie to shame.

For those in search of something more savory, the vast main dining area has plenty of US classics — burgers, McNuggets, shakes, fries and the like — along with some treats unique to the boot-shaped country.

Those include chicken wings, cheese fries, stuffed and deep-fried olives (which may not thrill everyone), mozzarella-filled Panzerotti, special McFlurry flavors and even some beer options.

Of course, we can’t forget the snack-sized blocks of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, aka “pocket cheese.”

Its dining room features more peeks at Roman history with a succession of Doric columns and circular arches.

The base of the columns contains notes on food ingredients that evoke a similarity to Leonardo Da Vinci’s handwritten journals.

“The thought would never cross my mind to eat at a McDonald’s while visiting Italy – it just seems wrong,” travel blogger Margie In Italy once wrote about a visit.

“Yet, many tourists do it and I just scratch my head. Not for the food, but for its architectural design, one McDonald’s in Italy is worth visiting, because it is the most elaborate McDonald’s anywhere in the world.”

Elsewhere in Italia, an ancient Roman road was found beneath a McDonald’s in Marino.

It is now open for customers to walk through.