Toronto's Roman-style pizza al taglio option — thin, crispy Roman-style pizza sold by weight with toppings that rotate through a careful seasonal selection. The crust is lighter than Neapolitan, crisper than Detroit, and specifically excellent for single slices shared between multiple styles.
Neighbourhood: Little Italy / Ossington · Address: College or Ossington area, Toronto, ON · Hours: Tue–Sun 11am–9pm · Price Range: $$ · Phone: (416) 504-8080 · Editorial status: Not yet verified
If you want Roman-style pizza al taglio done right, Pizza Florentine nails it with ultra-crisp, lighter-than-usual slabs loaded with well-chosen, rotating seasonal toppings. It’s the rare place in Toronto where you can try a few distinct flavours by the slice and pay by weight.
Unlike the Neapolitan and Detroit-style heavyweights around town, Pizza Florentine makes pizza that’s both lighter and crispier, using a Roman technique that results in shatteringly crisp edges and an airy crumb. Their menu changes frequently to take advantage of seasonal produce, so you’re rarely eating the same slice twice. Slices are cut and priced to order, which is uncommon anywhere else in Toronto.
Potato and rosemary pizza is one of the Roman tradition's most deceptively simple and genuinely excellent preparations — thin-sliced raw potato (no pre-cooking, the oven heat does the work) arranged in an overlapping pattern on an olive oil base, scattered with fresh rosemary and coarse sea salt, baked until the potato edges caramelize and the centers remain slightly dense. No tomato sauce, no cheese — the flavour comes from the potato's starch (which concentrates as moisture evaporates), the rosemary's volatile oils (which bloom in the oven heat), and the olive oil's richness.
The potato slice is the ordering that distinguishes knowledgeable Italian food enthusiasts from those who default to familiar toppings. A kitchen that makes excellent potato and rosemary pizza understands dough, olive oil quality, and the simplicity that makes Italian food compelling. A kitchen that makes mediocre potato pizza has not mastered any of these things, which makes it a reliable quality indicator when ordering unfamiliar pizza.
The three-section approach (choosing from the current topping selection across different pizza styles) is the most educational way to eat at a Roman-style pizza operation — trying the potato (white, no sauce, no cheese), a classic red (tomato, mozzarella, simple vegetable topping), and a more complex seasonal option simultaneously provides a reference framework for the kitchen's range and quality standards.
Seasonal vegetable toppings at a serious Roman pizza operation follow the Italian tradition of using vegetables at their optimal moment: asparagus in spring, zucchini blossoms in early summer, porcini mushrooms in fall, radicchio in winter. The pizza as a vehicle for seasonal ingredients rather than as a fixed formula is what distinguishes a thoughtful kitchen from a consistent one.
Potato pizza (pizza patate) is a Roman staple that demonstrates the Italian principle of using simple, quality ingredients together without distraction. The combination of potato starch, rosemary aromatics, olive oil richness, and sea salt has been popular in Rome for generations.
Yes — the absence of cheese is intentional and the flavour is complete without it. The caramelized potato edges, the rosemary infusion, and the olive oil richness create a satisfying pizza that doesn't feel incomplete. Try it before adding cheese.
Roman pizza al taglio kitchens rotate toppings with the season — spring brings asparagus and artichokes, summer brings zucchini and peppers, fall brings porcini and radicchio, winter brings bitter greens and root vegetables. Ask what's seasonal rather than defaulting to year-round standards.
A complete meal at a Roman pizza shop typically involves 200-300g total across 2-3 different styles. At $12-16 per 100g, a complete meal runs $25-50 depending on topping prices. Start with less and add — the shop can cut more if you're still hungry.
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