VATICAN CITY, April 30, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Whether chomping on local fare such as pasta carbonara or veal cutlets wrapped in ham, Catholic cardinals, who are meeting in the Vatican this week to prepare for the conclave, have "simple" tastes, local restauranteurs say.

A few steps from St Peter's Basilica, where tourists pack into typical Roman restaurants and tacky souvenir shops, Federica Gianmaria waited Tuesday to welcome her first lunchtime customers.

"We've been here for 60 years, this was my grandmother's" restaurant, the 35-year-old told AFP, standing in front of the glass-covered terrace of Arlu.

"The cardinals saw me grow up, you could say," she added.

"They come here not just because you eat well, at least that's what I hope, but also because we've created a friendly relationship, like a family."

She says she even hugs the cardinals when they come to dine.

And like the late Pope Francis, they have simple tastes, enjoying typically Roman staples like saltimbocca -- the veal cutlets whose name literally means "jumps into the mouth" -- burrata cheese, and pasta with the carbonara sauce made from fatty cured pork, hard pecorino cheese and eggs.

Just a few metres away, "Il Papalino" -- which means "one who supports the pope" -- offers the so-called "Princes of the Church" a more discreet dining environment in a back room away from the crowds.

"We have them all year round. There's one in particular who is a regular, but I can't name names because discretion is the characteristic of this establishment," said Anna Maria Scialanga, who runs the family business with her husband.

"On the whole, they never stay in the first room... They have to be tucked away," added the 55-year-old.

"They eat very simple fare, they eat our typical Roman cuisine," which is "poor", she added.

Such dishes include pasta with "amatriciana" (tomato, pecorino and pork jowl), "gricia" (pecorino, black pepper and smoke pork jowl), or "carbonara" sauces.

"For their second course, they take Roman saltimbocca, normally, tripe or oxtail."

- 'Vaticono' delicacy -

Benito Cannizzaro, who runs the Marcantonio pizzeria in via Borgo Pio, complained that business has slowed since the pope died on April 21, despite scores of cardinals flocking to the Vatican for the conclave to elect the new pontiff.

"Normally, we have a lot of cardinals but not these days. There are too many journalists around and they don't come out," said Cannizzaro, before turning his attention to two tourists who had stopped to look at the restaurant's menu.

Like most visitors and locals in Rome, cardinals cannot resist an ice cream -- at least that is what the photos on the walls of the "L'Arena del Gelato" store suggest.

In one, the owner Giuseppe Longobardi is posing with Canadian Cardinal Thomas Christopher Collins, who is holding an ice cream cone.

"Collins comes here a lot," said Longobardi's sister, Rossella, from behind a screen with tourists crammed in on the other side. "He's genuinely a friend of my brother's."

"Many cardinals, bishops and archbishops have come here in the last 13 years," added Giuseppe.

"For example, yesterday there was the Nicaraguan cardinal dressed like a simple priest."

Leopoldo Brenes ordered "vanilla ice-cream in a small pot", said Rossella.

L'Arena del Gelato's speciality is as loved by cardinals as it is the general public: the "vaticono", a freshly made crepe rolled into a cone to hold the ice-cream.

Another favourite is the "dulce de leche", or caramelised milk, was created in honour of Pope Francis as a tribute to the popular sweet spread from his homeland, Argentina.