Here’s some background:Mom and I went to Rome for a week at Christmas 2007. When we came home we were going through major Rome withdrawal (I’m sure some of you can relate!) and I started checking out airfares (out of curiosity) for Christmas 2008. You can imagine my astonishment when I found airfare from Savannah, GA to Rome for under $1000 at Christmas! We jumped on it and started planning for Christmas/New Years 2008 in Rome…a return to the Eternal City…what is it about Rome that keeps drawing me back? I just love that city!
The flight on Christmas Day:
Christmas Day approached and our bags were packed and we were ready to go. As usual, I tend to use an over-abundance of caution when getting to the airport. We left home with 3 hours to spare. Being Christmas day there was little traffic out on the roads.
I had checked-in for our flights online the night before…LOVE THAT! And when we reached the Savannah airport I could hardly believe my eyes…absolutely NO LINE at security. This has never, ever happened before. Truly we were the only ones at the security checkpoint…it certainly made the whole disrobing process much easier when we didn’t have a line of people behind us breathing down our necks…ahhhh…this trip was off to a good start.
We flew Delta Airlines and our little flight from Savannah to Atlanta was full and uneventful…35 minutes in the air.
We arrived in Atlanta and were at the departure gate for our flight to Rome about 2 hours before our 4:35pm flight. At about 3pm I hear over the load speaker “Passenger Benson please see the gate agent".
At this point I am shaking as I walk up to the desk and I am praying we are not going to get bumped from this flight, my name never gets called! There were 3 of us that were in line because our names were the first called. The man in front of me says to the gate agent, “does this mean we are losing our seats?”, the lady behind me says, “No I think she has good news for us”.
And boy did she….we got upgraded to Business Class!!!! Merry Christmas Marcy and Mom…this trip was now REALLY off to a great start. I had never flown business class before and it was quite the treat! We were told the flight was oversold and they were upgrading all the Delta medallion members…it pays to be a frequent flier member and to fly on Christmas day when most business travelers aren’t flying…it makes me think I need to start planning a trip for next Christmas…but I am getting way ahead of myself here!
We board the plane first and we are in seats 3A and 3B. The flight attendants take our coats to hang them up! We can lay almost flat with our feet up to sleep…well, it did take us a few minutes to figure out to recline the seat!
Once seated we’re served champagne or orange juice as we watched the other passengers board…I know the look we got, only because numerous times I was the one walking through business class with the look of envy on my face…not this time!
We had real pillows and blankets and real china and glassware. We had a selection of 4 entrees for dinner and wine. Once comfortably ensconced we took off about 50 minutes late. Once airborne the meal service began and what a service it was!
The flight attendant came around asking us for our dinner order, and then served drinks. They even served warm nuts in little bowls! We were individually served bread and butter that was soft! Prior to that we got warm towels to wash with and the wine kept flowing.
The starter was a platter of 3 items, an onion dip with chunks of onions and carrots and celery, then red & yellow tomatoes on a bed of lettuce with feta cheese and lastly 2 really delicious shrimp with chopped avocado. That would have been enough for me, but our entrees were next. Mom had the Moroccan chicken with couscous and vegetables, the verdict, very flavorful, but a bit dry. I had the fillet of beef which was amazingly tender with endive, carrots and mashed potatoes, the verdict, delicious.
We were too full for dessert, but if we wanted we could have had a cheese plate, that looked great, or an ice cream sundae. We decided we would wait for the scrambled eggs at breakfast!
Friday, December 26th 2008:
We landed in Rome at about 8:50am after being able to actually lay flat and stretched out for 4 hours. I didn’t really get much sleep, but just being able to have much more room was fabulous. We had our choice of cereal or scrambled eggs. We both choose the eggs, which were hot and remarkably tasty.
Once we got off the plane and freshened up a bit we hopped on the sky bridge train that took us to the terminal where we went through passport control. The line was long, but it moved pretty quickly and since we didn’t have any checked bags we were in the arrivals area by 9:30am.
We found our driver from Rome Cabs without any trouble and we were on our way into Rome (€45 + tip). It was about 45 degrees Fahrenheit, cloudy and raining when we arrived. We got to the hotel in about 30 minutes, just around 10am.
On the ride to the hotel the thought occurred to me that since it was the day after Christmas, maybe the hotel wasn’t full the night before and they would have a room available we could check into right away. BUT, having been in the hotel business for 8 years “once upon a time” I wasn’t getting my hopes up.
Well, lucky for us, my prayer was answered! We walked through the door and up to the front desk. The man at the desk was not overly friendly, but I had read a bunch of reviews on Trip Advisor that said the front desk staff wasn’t too friendly, so I was not expecting much. The check-in process took less than a minute and we were on our way to our first floor room.
Here are my thoughts/observations about the hotel: 
Hotel Smeraldo
Vicolo dei Chiodaroli, 9
http://www.smeraldoroma.com/
I found this hotel in both the Rick Steves Rome guidebook and in an article in my Budget Travel magazine. After contacting several other hotels and having rates of €150 to €200 quoted, I contacted the Smeraldo and they came back with a rate of €100 per night for the 8 nights we would be there. I thought that was a good price and booked. They did require a one night non-refundable deposit, but I didn’t have a problem with that.
The location for us was better than excellent. The hotel is a 5 minute walk from Campo dei Fiore in one direction and Largo Argentina in the other direction (great for transportation, bus & tram, connections)!
The room was clean and comfortable…heat worked when we wanted it/needed it to. The beds (twins) were also comfortable. There was closest with drawers to store our clothes for the week, so we didn’t have to “live out of suitcases”. We never felt cramped, but by American standards, the room was “cozy”, in fact there was a 3rd bed tucked away under a shelf and I can’t imagine 3 adults sharing this room…maybe 2 adults and 1 child could cope. 
The bathroom was always very clean, and typical European sized bathroom…think on the smallish side. The shower stall, although small always had excellent water pressure and hot water…maybe it was because it was the first floor, I can’t speak of the water pressure situation on the higher floors (there are 5 floors). The housekeeping staff was very friendly, much more so then the front desk staff.
The walls are fairly thin, and we could here the comings and goings of the rooms next to ours as well as parts of their conversations. Being on the first floor and facing an often used street, there were a few times we could here street noise, but nothing that really kept us up at night.
The hotel breakfast, which was an additional €7 per person per day was less than stellar. We had it the first morning there and vowed not to go back again. The cappuccino was barely passable and the brewed coffee from the urn looked (and I am not joking here) like mud. The breakfast items were mediocre at best…some breads and cheeses and meat, cereal, yogurts and fruit…I usually don’t mind these types of breakfast items when they are appealing/appetizing…these weren’t. BUT…we found a little gem for breakfast and will talk about that more later!
Overall, I would go back to the Hotel Smeraldo and I would recommend it to travelers who are budget conscience and not expecting the Ritz Carlton treatment. The value and the location are the definite selling points to this hotel.
Another note…this hotel as a “satellite” property just steps around the corner. I didn’t get to go inside…it has key access and it’s not manned with a front desk staff…if you are in that building you check in and have breakfast at the main hotel.
We had a game plan for this day and we were sticking to it! A little more background…last year when we went to Rome for Christmas, the day we arrived we had to wait until 1pm to check-in and we were going to take a nap….the next morning we woke up…can you say jet lag?? Probably not the smartest thing to do, so we had other plans for this trip!
Once we got to our room, it took all of what seemed like 20 seconds to jump under the covers for a nap…this time I set the alarm clock…we wanted to get up in the afternoon walk about a bit, have dinner and then go to sleep for the night at a normal hour. I love it when plans work out!
We were in blissful slumber in a real bed by 10:30am and we slept until about 4pm when we got up, and got ourselves together to go out and explore the area…one drawback to being in Rome in December/January…it gets dark around 4:30/5pm…but we weren’t going to let a little darkness stop us!
Our first stop was an ATM and again, the location of this hotel was great…there was an ATM one block away. We walked over to the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. This was a top priority for me because we did not get to go inside last year and I really wanted to see the interior of this church (that also becomes somewhat of a theme on this trip!) It was about 6pm and the church was open so we went in. I thought this church was just beautiful (but then again I said that a lot about the churches in Rome), we were there in the evening and didn’t get to go back during day light…would really like to see it with the light coming in the windows! The ceiling in the church is just stunning. Mass was being said in Latin and we stopped for a few minutes…it brought back a lot of memories for mom who was educated in Catholic schools all her life and she knows the Latin mass. 
We left the church at about 6:45pm in search of a restaurant…I know, an early time by Italian standards, but we were just working off the scrambled egg breakfast from the plane, so we were getting hungry.
I had a lot of restaurant recommendations from various Fodors posts I had collected over the last couple years, but after the 3rd or 4th restaurant being closed (it was the day after Christmas) we stumbled upon a place we had been to last year called Trattoria der Pallaro at Largo del Pallaro, 15, just down the street from our hotel at. 
This place has one set menu at €25 per person. As one Roman told us, “that place, you get what they want to serve you” . Every table gets the same thing, except you can choose between white or red wine. We had a carafe of white wine. The antipasti included lentils (which we loved last year, but seemed less spectacular this time around…not as much flavor, they tasted kind of “ho-hum”) , proscuitto, salami, olives, fried rice balls (can never remember the Italian name for them), and fennel. The pasta course was rigatoni with romano cheese and the secondi was roasted veal with spinach and mozzarella…it was all just ok…a decent meal that satisfied our hunger but didn’t overwhelm us with a “wow”. Dessert was a fruit tart that also had a peanut flavor and a shot of what we think was orangecello (do they make that,,,because it certainly didn’t taste like lemoncello!). 
Since Der Pallaro doesn’t serve espresso after dinner and we like to end our meals with a good “cuppa”, we wandered over to my favorite café…Sant’Eustachio for the perfect cap to our arrival day in Rome.
Saturday, December 27, 2008:
Today started out with a REALLY mediocre breakfast. Now, I wasn’t expecting a “grand buffet” breakfast…but I did expect drinkable coffee…we were in Italy after all!
I thought the cappuccino could have been better…but mom, who likes her coffee “atomic hot” didn’t even want a second sip. She thought maybe the “regular” coffee in the urn at the buffet would be better…little did we know…yes, it was hot, but it really and truly looked and tasted like mud…not a good thing for a coffee lover like mom!
As I mentioned above, the items available were what I expect on a typical Italian hotel breakfast buffet, the only memorable item was the orange juice, the blood orange juice was really good but nothing else was very memorable and hardly worth the €7 they were charging.
Shortly after breakfast we left the hotel and right across the street was Bar Rosanna (via dei Chiavari 16/18) they were open and seemed to have a local crowd. It looked like people who worked in the area were sidled up to the bar for their morning coffees before going off to work…we would try this tomorrow!
We slowly made our way up the Via del Corso to our meeting point at Piazza Santa Lorenzo in Lucina for our Context Rome (http://www.contexttravel.com/rome/) - Underground Rome tour. We spent the next 3.5 hours with docent Elizabeth Fuhrmann-Schembri, who had an incredible amount of knowledge about archeology not only is she a docent for Context but also a university professor.
We were fortunate that mom and I were the only 2 signed up for this tour, Context tours are usually small anyway (not more then 6 people) but with just 2 of us, it was basically a private tour. We began the tour at the Church of San Lorenzo in Lucino. Mom and I had walked through the church prior to the tour since we arrived a few minutes early, but with Elizabeth we go to go under the church to see the layers of the city going back to the second century. Not only were there church ruins, but we could also see where second century apartments were located. We spent close to an hour at the church. 
From the church we went to an underground site maintained by a private investor. This site was not far from the Trevi Fountain and called Area Archeologica Citta Dell Acqua on Vicolo Del Puttarello. This place was very well maintained and we could clearly see the layers of the city here. It was a good thing we had a guide with us, becaue if we were on our own, we probably would have walked right by this place. It’s located in a former movie theater and when they completed the excavations to exhibits the underground layers they included a renovated screening room where movies are still shown…kind of an interesting set-up.
The next and final stop on this Underground Rome tour was a state run museum called Crypta Balbi, which I thought was very interesting. We could see the layers from the original theater and covered portico areas…there was even ancient sewer pipes still existing. We enjoyed each of the sites we explored on this tour, since each one was a bit different.
We finished with Elizabeth at about 1:30pm and we were ready for lunch. While walking about yesterday we passed by a place called Pizza Re, just down the street from our hotel, at Largo dei Chiavari. Now I had heard about the famous Pizza Re, but I had an address over on via di Ripetta…so we walked over to check it out. The menu looked good and the place was packed…we made the “executive decision” to go in for lunch…and boy are we glad we did! uhrmann-SchembriFuhrmann-Schembri
This was the “famous” Pizza Re I had read about…clearly a new location, the restaurant interior was open and bright yet a bit sleek looking. 
Our eyes were definitely bigger then our stomachs! Not seeing any pizzas on the tables around us (yet!) we asked the waiter how large the pizzas were. I asked, “Is one pizza enough for 2, or only for 1?”…His reply, “Well, Italian women eat one each, but we can split one for the 2 of you”…My reply, “We’ll be Italian women today”….so we each ordered a pizza.
Mom had the namesake Pizza Re pizza, and I had the mushroom & proscuitto pizza. They both were delicious. Mom’s pizza had fresh tomatoes and cheese. We were not able to finish the pizzas, but we did manage to eat about three-quarter of each. With 2 glasses of wine and 2 espresso the total bill was €28.50. 
After lunch we stopped back at the hotel since it was just down the street from Pizza Re, but not before stopping at a terrific leather shop, Ibiz (via dei chiavari 39). The actual workshop is located adjacent to the shop, so we could see the hand bags and and briefcases being made. And yes, I left a few euro in that shop in exchange for a beautiful blue leather hand bag!
When we were at the Crypta Balbi we bought a museum pass that allowed us into the crypt and 3 other museums. So we decided to go to 2 of the other museums this afternoon and as luck would have it they were located near the restaurant we wanted to have dinner.
We had a tough time finding a tabachi where we could buy bus tickets, but after 3 we found one where we could buy individual tickets. Once we had the bus tickets we hopped on the #40 bus to Via Nazionale. When we got off the bus we found a kiosk where we could buy a 7 day bus pass and we bought 2 for €16 each.
Then we were off to the Palazzo Massimo (included in the museum pass €10) near the Termini station. This was a very interesting museum, 3 floors of sculpture, coins, and mosaics, and frescos. We spent close to 2 hours there. If I had to do it over again I would purchase the audio guide. There were some labels but not on everything and not always in English, I would learn to not pass up the audio guide so quickly next time!
We then went to the Baths of Diocletian Museum also included in the museum ticket. But, by this time (6pm-ish) we were getting “museumed-out” and it was dark, which did not work in our favor because there is a large portion of the museum that is outside. We did have a look around and would like to go back again during day light hours.
By now it was close to 7pm so we walked over to Target Restaurant at Via Torino, 22 (http://www.targetandcompany.it/). We had such a great meal at this restaurant last year that we wanted to go again.
We had another terrific meal. We ordered a bottle of pinot grigio and the parma ham & mozzarella starter. Mom had the roasted turbot with rosemary potatoes. I had the lamb (and my notes don’t say anything else to describe the main dishes…I must have been tired that night!). Both dishes were delicious. We ended the meal with the tiramisu and 2 espresso. The bill was €82.50 for a great meal!
After dinner we walked to Via Nazionale and as we got to the bus stop an almost empty #64 bus pulled up, we hopped on and within 10 minutes we were at Largo Argentina and just a 5 minute walk back to our hotel.
Sunday, December 28, 2008:
This morning started out rainy and cloudy and never really improved weather-wise and it was extremely cold all day long…I’m talking bone-chilling cold. Ok, so my blood has thinned out over the last 16 years living in a southern state, but even the Romans were saying it was cold!
Today we had no scheduled appointments, so we had a leisurely morning, but being early risers even on vacation at about 9am we were walking across the street, which is more like a lane, to Bar Rosanna to have a much better breakfast experience. We had 3 cappuccinos between us…you can assume they were sufficiently “atomic hot” because mom had 2! The corronetti were fresh and delicious. The price for the 3 coffees and 2 corronetti was €8.50. I steal compared to the hotel breakfast! 
Shortly after 10am we made our way to Sant’ Ivo alla Sapienza located at Corso Rinascimento, 40. This church is only open for the public on Sundays from 10am until noon. I am so glad we had stumbled across an article about this church before the trip. If you were walking by this building you would hardly know from the outside what an amazing church lies inside! All the guidebooks say this is Borromini’s best work and I have to agree. It’s not a very big church but for me, it was my favorite of this trip. The dome is just stunning. If you are in Rome on a Sunday and in the area during opening hours I highly recommend stepping inside for a look. 
Since Piazza Navona is just a hop, skip and jump away from Sant’Ivo we walked over and were able to snap some photos of the Fountain of the Four Rivers before it started raining. This was a big deal for us because when we were in Rome last year this fountain was covered due to restoration/renovation/maintenance and we could only see portions of it through a series of windows cut out around the solid wall that was up around the fountain. We would later find out that the fountain had just been uncovered 10 days before we arrived! Yay!
Near the fountain in Piazza Navona if the Church of St. Agnes in Agone, since the rain started coming down harder we decided a visit to this church was in order and it would keep us dry for a while. This was another stunner of a church, however it was much darker on the inside then Sant’ Ivo.
From Piazza Navona it was a quick walk to the other side of the piazza to the Palazzo Al temps. This museum was included in the museum ticket we purchased yesterday. Today we bought the audio guide for €4 each and it was really worth it. There was a huge collection of sculpture in this once private palazzo, just beautiful. It took us about 2 hours to meander our way through the museum.
Just after 1pm we found our lunch spot. This was a recommendation I found on Fodors (I think it was Kristina’s post). We found our way to Al Bric at Via del Pellegrino, 51-52, near Campo dei Fiori and Piazza Cancelleria (http://www.bric.it/). This is an osteria/enoteca and we almost walked right by it. If it hadn’t been for the enormous amount of cheeses in the window, we would have missed this lovely spot.
We started with a polenta with parmagiano reggiano (forgive my spelling!) and olive tapenaude, it was delicious. I had a salad with radicchio, endive, walnuts and warm chevre, really very tasty. But, mom definitely “won” with her selection of parrapedelle with wild boar and sausage, it was out of this world good and with the cold damp weather outside it was a warm and comforting dish. With 2 glasses of wine, mom had red, I had white the bill was €65.45. Yes, a bit pricey for lunch, but it really was a fantastic meal.
After lunch and a brief stop at the hotel we hopped on the bus to the Via Nazionale area. We went to the Church of Santa Maria Degli Angeli, right in Piazza della Repubblica and then over to the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria to see the ever popular Bernini statue of St. Theresa in Ecstasy…it really was quiet amazing to see. 
Just before 5pm we headed down Via Nazionale to meet for the Context Rome Italian Language workshop. Prior to leaving home I thought it might be fun to have a brief language lesson. Mom and I are by no means fluent in Italian, but we have mastered a few words and phrases. When I contacted the Context office and explained this to them they said this workshop is definitely for the beginner, so we signed up.
We arrived at the enoteca where the workshop was scheduled a little early and the place was closed up. We got a little concerned, and called the contact number for Context and an actual person answered the phone! They said the enoteca would open shortly and as we hung up our docent for the workshop arrived followed by the person working at the enoteca…all was good!
Our docent, Anna was great, an American transplant who was born in Rome and moved back last year. We spent about 2 hours as the enoteca, Al Vino Al Vino on Via dei Serpenti, 19. We had a linguistics lesson and beginner Italian phrases. It was a great way to spend a few hours and the enoteca was definitely a neighborhood hot spot, there was not an empty seat when we left at 7:30pm. This was fun and has inspired me to start “trying” to learn Italian…that may require many more trips to Italy!
When we finished the language workshop we hopped on the #40 bus to go back gto Largo Argentina. On the bus we started talking with an older woman, an American living in Rome for the last 50 years! She got off the bus where we did and walked with us for a bit to show us a favorite restaurant of her, the Ristorante Da Pancrazio, which was on my restaurant list (from Kristina’s Rome trip report). The neat thing about this place is it is above the ruins of the Theater of Pompey.
When we walked into Pancrazio I got a little concerned because it was 8:15pm and there were very few people there. However, within 45 minutes almost every table was full.
I had a great bread salad with pecorino romano cheese and arugula. Mom had the chickpea soup. Both were very tasty. We both had the eggplant parmesean, because, well, it wouldn’t be a day in Italy for me without having eggplant in some fashion! It was very good…full of cheese, warm and filling. With a bottle of wine and 2 espresso the bill was €72.00.
After dinner we took the 5 minute walk back to the hotel and hoped the weather would improve for tomorrow!
Monday, December 29, 2008:
This morning started in a sunny way in more ways then one. The weather was much better, no rain and there was sun!
Mom and I went across the street for Bar Rossana for 2 cappuccino and 2 corronetti, for €6.20.
When we came back into the hotel lobby to meet our guide for the morning there she was, Francesca Caruso (chris.fra@mclink.it), waiting for us…Yay! She was just as wonderful as we remembered. We had Francesca as a guide last year during our group tour of the Colosseum/Forum and then again at the Borghese Gallery. She really is a fantastic guide; she is affiliated with Rick Steves, but also does private tours.
We started with a walk through the Jewish Ghetto, seeing the turtle fountain and the theater of Marcellus. We then crossed the Tiber and saw how high the river rose a few weeks ago because we could see the trash still in the tree branches along the river.
We meandered through the streets of Trastevere with Francesca giving commentary all the way along, but it was really more like a relaxed conversation among friends, lots of questions and answered going back and forth. Our next stop was the Church of St. Cecilia in Trastevere. What a beautiful church with a sculpture of Cecilia laying down that looks like she is just sleeping there…quiet remarkable. The great thing about Francesca is that she can point things out that I would probably miss because I wouldn’t know exactly what to look for…she is worth the price of her private tours…in my opinion.
We continued walking through Trastevere and made our way to the Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere. Francesca did a wonderful job of explaining the mosaics in the church, just beautiful!
We had by now, spent 3 hours with Francesca and we asked her one more favor. To walk us to the Villa Farnesina where mom and I would part with her. This walking tour was probably the most enjoyable 3 hours of the entire trip, well, except for some of our meals!
Mom and I went through the villa seeing the beautiful painted rooms by Raphael. Then we decided to go to lunch, but the places I wanted to try (Pizza San Calisto and Pannetti) were closed, but by now (12:30-ish) we were near the #8 tram, so hoped on and took it 2 stops to Largo Argentina and went to lunch at Obika, the mozzarella Bar we had found last year (Via dei Prefetti, 28) ( http://www.obika.it/).
I had the smoked mozzarella with capponata (there’s that eggplant again!) and it was delicious. Mom had a soft and creamy mozzarella with salumi. We shared so we could each try something different and both were great, but I have to admit I think the smoked mozzarella was excellent. With 1 glass of wine, 1 bottle of water and 2 espresso the bill was €40.
After lunch we wound our way to Piazza del Popolo. We found Ristorante Matricianella at Via del Leone, 4 (http://www.matricianella.it/) an Ekschruny recommendation and made a reservation for 7:30pm tomorrow.
We continued up the Via del Corso and went to the Pincio for great views of the city. This was actually a mistake because I was looking for the nativity exhibit. But I’m glad I made this mistake because I was able to get a few nice sunset pictures. We eventually found the nativity exhibit and went in. We spent about 45 minutes walking through. There were some really interesting nativities and as I recall it was €5 per person entry fee.
At about 5:30pm we walked to Gusto, the wine bar, at Piazza Augusto Imperatore, 9 and Via della Frezza, and had a few glasses of wine (€26).
When walking to Gusto we passed a restaurant called La Buca di Ripetta at Via di Ripetta, 36 (http://www.labucadiripetta.com/). This was another spot I had a recommendation for, and the menu looked good. So just after 7pm we walked back to the restaurant. At that time there were few people inside, but by 9pm when we were leaving the place was packed.
We had a sampler platter as our starter. It included fried zucchini, cheese wrapped with prosciutto and 2 salad samples, and it was great. Mom had the rolled rabbit with artichokes, cheese & pine nuts with mashed potatoes as her main dish, she said it tasted fantastic. I had the pasta carbonara, which was great. I indulged in the molten chocolate cake served with a panna cotta cream, it was absolutely heavenly. With 2 glasses of house white wine, a bottle of water and 2 espresso the bill was €70.
Unfortunately I didn’t read the bus schedule before dinner and we ended up walking back to the hotel, which took about 40 minutes, not too bad.
Tomorrow we look forward to the Testaccio Market tour!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008:
Today was another great weather day, sunny and warmer! Maintaining our new morning ritual, we had coffee and coronetti across the street at Bar Rossana. Today we added a glass of the fresh squeezed orange juice and it was delicious! We thought it would be since they used what looked like 6 oranges for one glass!
Just after 9am we caught the tram from Largo Argentina and went into Trastevere. From there we got on the #3 bus. I thought is was the #3 tram, but a bus was running with the #3 on it and so we hopped on, I’m guessing that there was maybe work being done on the #3 tram line and buses were running in it’s place, but I don’t know that for a fact. And, there may have been a better way to get there from Largo Argentina on a bus, but this was the way I figured it out and it worked for us. We got off the bus at the second stop on Via Marmorata and went to the Café Barberini (just a few doors down from Volpetti) where we met our Context Rome guide, Francesca (not Francesco Caruso mentioned above) for the Testaccio Market tour.
This was the first Context Tour we had more than just me and mom. There were 6 of us. We started first with a look at the Mount of Testaccio that was created by years and years of people throwing pots in piles and a mound grew over the years…pretty interesting.
Then we made our fist stop at a local bakery and I regret not getting the name. The shop was packed with locals and our guide deftly maneuvered her way to the counter to purchase a few savory baked goods for us to taste which were very good. Then we walked through the market where Francesca gave us explanations about various foods at each market stall, meats, fish, cheeses, breads, fruits and vegetables.
We ended the tour at Volpetti where we tasted some fabulous cheeses, balsamic vinegar and fried vegetables. This shop was also packed, but it was fun to see the variety of foods there.
I have to mention that although the guide for this tour undoubtedly knows her food, I sometimes found it difficult to keep up with her commentary. While walking through the neighborhood and market instead of addressing the whole group, she would speak to just one or two in the group and I sometimes missed what she was saying. One thing we did learn during this tour was a new vegetable to us, punterell (forgive my spelling!). While at the market we tasted it raw and it was good, but our guide said if we saw it on the menu anywhere to order it, since it was in season and it would be prepared in a savory dressing…more about our punterell later…
The tour ended at 12:30pm and we walked down the street to the Pyramide Metro stop and took the metro to the Colosseum stop. Wow! W hat crowds at the Colosseum today, probably the beautifully sunny day helped! The lines to get in to the Colosseum and Forum were extremely long and since we had been to both sites last year, we decided to take a pass on going in and it was almost lunchtime afterall!
We took a leisurely walk back towards our hotel and stopped for some great pizza at a bakery right around the corner form our hotel, Roscioli. When we walked in the place was crowded, but we made our way up to the counter where the long pizzas where and by using hand gestures had the lady behind the counter cut 2 generous pieces of pizza. Mom had a piece with mushrooms, sausage and mozzarella, I had tomato and mozzarella. Both were delicious, but mom “won” with her selection! We then went for coffee at “our” breakfast spot since it was just a few steps from the bakery and our hotel!
At about 5pm we left the hotel with the thought of going back to Gusto for a glass of wine. Via del Corso was packed with people and by 5:45pm we had reached Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina and we decided to stop at an outdoor café (Café Teichner in Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina, 15-18) there and have a few drinks until our dinner reservation. This was a good move since our dinner reservation was at a restaurant just a few steps away! For 2 glasses of wine and 2 glasses of prosecco it was €26.40 and we got a plate of complimentary tapas…mini pizzas, olive and mozzarella skewers and 4 mini sandwiches.
Just before 7:30pm we paid the bill and headed over (all 20 steps) to Ristorante Matricianella at Via del Leone, 4 (http://www.matricianella.it/) for dinner..WOW! A great meal! We had a bottle of wine and a fritto misto plate a variety of fried vegetables, a Roman speciality and well known at this restaurant. I had the Rigatoni Pajata (cheese filled lamb’s intestines with rigatoni in tomato sauce), this is another Roman speciality and it was fantastic and I am very glad I decided to try it. Mom had the gnocchi and said it was great. For our secondi I had the eggplant parmesan and it was excellent. Mom had the roasted lamb with roasted rosemary potatoes, also excellent. We ended the meal with 2 espresso. The bill was €88. We really enjoyed this meal and it was one of the best of the trip.
I managed to find a shorter route (not walking down Via del Corso) back to our hotel and we arrived back at the hotel and were ready for another good night’s sleep.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008:
We were fortunate with another day of good weather today. After a quick breakfast at Bar Rossana we hopped on the #492 bus to Piazza Cavour which is near Castel Sant’ Angelo. By the way…love the #492 bus…hardly anyone on it compared to the #64 or #40!
We paid the €11 per person entry fee for Castel Sant’ Angelo and were off to check things out. In retrospect, we should have rented the audio guide. There was an art exhibit going on in the various rooms of the museum and it was bit disorienting trying to decipher the museum bits with the modern/visual art exhibit. But we did make it to the top for great views.
At the top I took lots of pictures and we finally got a couple pictures of the 2 of us together! We climbed down to the main entrance and then walked over to Castroni to check out the variety of foods they have at this shop. The shop was very crowded and I imagine it was due to people shopping for the New Year’s Eve festivities.
We wanted to try Dal Toscano for lunch, it’s just next door to Castroni, and it was a recommendation of a Fodorite, but it was closed. I pulled out my list of restaurants and checked what I had listed for this area. We decided to head toward Ristorante Arlu a San Pietro at Borgo Pio, 135. I had this place on my list since last year, but it was closed when we wanted to try it last year. Lucky for us it was open today.
Inside Arlu it is tiny, maybe 20 tables, there are tables outside, but no one was sitting outside today. When we went in, the dinning room was almost full. Always a good sign. There was one waiter working the whole room and my guess is he was the owner.
I had the orrichette with eggplant and black olives and it was very good. Mom had the tuna salad and said it was wonderful. The tuna in Rome is just not like it is at home, it’s so much better. We weren’t going to have dessert but then mom actually said, “Let’s have the pear cake”…this from a woman who does not “do” desserts! But, boy am I glad she suggested it, we both thought it was fantastic. It was about the size of a cupcake and had fresh warm pears in the middle and a ginger flavor, it was drizzled with a delicious thick chocolate sauce and powdered sugar. It was a great lunch and didn’t leave us too full. With 2 espresso the bill came to €36.
After lunch we walked over to St Peter’s but, it was closed and wouldn’t open until 4:30pm, (we never did find out why) and the line was already very long. Instead of waiting in line we decided we would come back another day and walked down Via Conciliazione to get the #40 bus back to the Campo dei Fiori area.
When we got off the bus and walked back to the hotel we stopped in the Basilica of Santa Andrea della Valle, another beautiful church. They do something in this church we hadn’t seen in other churches. They place a mirror on a table in the center of the church so we could see the beautiful art on the ceiling and dome without having to strain our next looking up. Very smart idea!
We did a little wander through the Campo dei Fiori area and stopped at Bar Farnese (in Piazza Farnese) for a glass of wine. After about an hour we headed back to the hotel to rest and get ready for our New Year’s Eve Dinner.
We left the hotel just after 8:30pm and took the tram 3 stops into Trastevere. After getting oriented and only going the wrong way once, we had no trouble finding Ristorante Spirito DiVino at Via dei Genovesi, 31a/b (http://www.spiritodivino.com/).
I found this restaurant on-line and then realized it was on an episode of $40 A Day with Rachel Ray a few years ago. It is a slow food restaurant. We arrived about 10 minutes before our 9pm reservation and were seated right away.
The interior is very bright (yellow) and modern looking, the outside of the restaurant is the complete opposite, very old and you could walk by without noticing it if you weren’t going there.
We were right away served a glass of prosecco. The restaurant was filling up. The owner and his family run the place and he translates the menu for any table that doesn’t speak Italian.
We had a bottle of red wine (a Montalcino…but I know nothing about wine, except that I liked this one). I had the duck pate starter which was delicious, very buttery smooth! Mom had the chickpea crepe filled with vegetables and ricotta cheese and she said it was terrific.
I had the pasta with wild boar ragu and mom and the pasta filled with meat in a broth. I loved my pasta dish it was very tasty and mom said her pasta dish was very good. We both had the roasted lamb with potatoes and it was tender and flavorful, but we both agree the pasta course was the best.
At midnight they brought out more prosecco to toast the New Year and each table got a plate of lentils which are supposed to bring good luck for the new year and they were delicious.
We finished all this off with 2 espresso. For all this the bill was €130. Not a bad price for New Year’s Eve. We had seen many menus at other restaurants that were €100 + per person. Before leaving we got to go down into the wine cellar to check out the portion of the building that had been there since the 2nd century! We walked back to the hotel because I figured the buses and trams wouldn’t be running and it was a short 15 minute walk.
Now for the most interesting part of the evening….about half way through the meal I looked up to see a man coming up the steps in the dinning room and I looked at my mom and said rather matter-of- factly, “That’s John, Rachel Ray’s husband”. Fortunately for mom there was a mirror behind me, so she could see who I was talking about and for sure it was him. Then about 15 minutes later the man and a woman come up the stairs from the wine cellar area…yup, it was Rachel Ray herself. She and her husband were in Rome for the holiday. Along the stairs down to the wine cellar there is an archway and a tiny little room with only enough space for one table that looks over the wine cellar and sure enough, that’s where they were having their dinner. This was my second brush with Rachel, since I got to meet here when she was filming an episode of $40 A Day here on Hilton Head a few years ago. It was a fun way to end the evening…Felice Anno Nuovo!
Thursday, January 1, 2009:
Today we slept in and didn’t get out the door until 11am. Thankfully Bar Rossana was open and we had our coffees, coronetti, and orange juice.
Since I didn’t know the holiday bus schedule today we spent the day walking. Unfortunately the weather was not cooperating but we had our umbrellas, fortunately the temperatures were mild.
We started with Piazza Navona and got there just before the wine started, but I did get some great pictures of Bernini’s Fountain of the 4 Rivers. We then took our time walking over to the Pantheon and Piazza Minerva and took more pictures.
We continued walking in the intermittent rain to the Trevi Fountain where we had to toss our coins in to guarantee a return to Rome.
After tossing our coins we kept up our walk going up Via de Corso and came to an AutoGrill. I’ve heard a lot about AutoGrills and how great they are when traveling on the roads. I was kind of surprised to see one in the middle of Rome. It’s a cafeteria style restauarant/coffee bar/fast food place…BUT…the food is REALLY GOOD! Mom had an eggplant and zucchini sautéed mix, she said it was very tasty (€2.60). I had the risotto with ham and provolone, a bit salty, (€4.50) and we shared a plate of mozzarella and proscuitto, the best dish for €7.50. With 2 wines and a bottle of water the bill was €23.40.
After lunch we continued walking up the Corso to the Spanish Steps for more picture taking and we then walked down Via Baubino to Piazza del Popolo, it was still raining off and on. While in the piazza there was a marching banc from a U.S. high school performing. We stopped and listened for a while and then went to see if Gusto was open.
Lucky us, Gusto was open, so we went in to the wine bar for a glass of wine and to get out of the now pouring rain.
After about an hour we left and walked back to the hotel for a short rest before venturing out for dinner.
The game plan for dinner was to walk over to Piazza Cancelleria on the other side of Campo dei Fiori from our hotel and see if Ditirambo at Piazza Cancelleria, 74-75 (a Fodorite recommendation) was open. We figured if they were closed today we would go to our back up Trattoria Moderna, across the street from the hotel.
We were VERY LUCKY!!! We arrived at about 7:45pm with no reservationj and got the 2nd to last unreserved table. The place is absolutely adorable, very old world charm décor. There are 3 rooms, but since we had no reservation we were seated at the door (actually we liked sitting there). I can honestly say from the moment we sat down the place became packed, the other unreserved table was taken right after we sat down and there must have been at least 20 parties without reservations turned away or told to come back at 9:30pm, 10pm, or 10:15pm.
Our meal was fabulous. We started with the pasta course. I had bread pasta (which I had never heard of before) with pesto. It was interesting; it was flat and served in 3 large pieces with excellent pesto sauce. I’m not sure if I would order it again but I’m glad I tried it. Mom had pasta with goat cheese and pepper and it was delicious. For my secondi I had a port stewed with vegetables served with potatoes, the pork was tender and the vegetables very flavorful. Mom had the duck breaded with hazelnuts served on a hazelnut puree, mom gave it rave reviews.
We both had dessert. Mom had the pistachio with black pepper ice cream and it tasted creamy with a little kick, really delicious. I had the apple cake with vanilla ice cream, there were warm apples in the center of the cake and it was served with orange sauce, it was so good I wanted to lick the plate…but I refrained!
With a bottle of pinot grigio and 2 espresso the bill was €88.50. When we left at 10pm there were tons of people who were still coming through the door, no wonder, the food is fantastic!
Friday, January 2, 2009:
This morning started out with a pretty blue sky, but it didn’t last very long. WE had our last cappuccino and coronetti at Bar Rossana. All week we never paid more than €10 for breakfast for the 2 of us at this bar.
By 9:30am we were getting on the #40 express bus at Largo Argentina going towards the Vatican. By 10am we were faced with an enormous line wrapped around St. Peter’s Square, but we decided to brave the wait and got in line. It took about an hour to get up to the ex-ray machines/security. We spent some time walking around the cathedral, it’s one place I can go to time and time again and never get tired of visiting.
Around lunch time we walked over to Dal Toscano to see if they were open for lunch, they weren’t so we decided to take the bus back to Largo Argentina and then the tram #8 to Trastevere for Pizza at San Calisto. We were on a great roll because there was a bus #40 when we got to the stop and a #8 tram when we got off the bus. We had no trouble finding San Calisto since we had passed it the other day, unfortunately it was still closed. Restaurant Paris right next door, which I’d heard good things about, was open, but we passed on it.
We passed a few more restaurants, but none really interested us, so by now we were pretty close to the river so we walked over Ponte Sisto towards the Camp dei Fiori area and went to Pizza Re for lunch. We liked this place so much earlier in the week we thought it would be perfect for today. We had a starter of fried anchovies with mozzarella and basil and it was delicious. Today we ordered one pizza to split between the two of us and it had ham and ricotta cheese on it, another winner. With 2 glasses of wine and 2 espresso the bill was €28.50.
After lunch we walked back to the hotel and in route we stopped at Trattoria Moderna at Vicolo dei Chiodaroli, 16 (just across from the hotel) to make a reservation for 8pm tonight, our last night in Rome. Back at the hotel we spent time packing our bags for our departure in the morning.
At about 6:30pm we decided to walk across Campo dei Fiori to Bar Farnese for aperativo. We had a few glasses of wine and just before 8pm we walked back to Trattoria Moderna (http://www.trattoriamoderna.it/) for our 8pm reservation.
I am glad we ate here, it was wonderful. I started with the tower of layered eggplant, ricotta cheese and vegetables. It was absolutely delicious. Mom had the mozzarella with porcini mushrooms. Both dishes were good, but my choice was the “winner” here.
I had the roasted turbo with giant shrimp served with roasted potatoes and a small salad. The whole dish had excellent flavor. Mom had the fillet steak with green peppercorn sauce; she reported it was very good. But another winner was the punterell, we tasted it raw during our market tour, but at this trattoria it was tossed in an anchovy dressing and it was phenomenal, really crunchy and savory.
For dessert we shared the tiramisu, the house specialty and it really was fabulous, so light and coffee flavored. Seriously I think the best I have ever had. With 2 espresso and a liter of the house red wine, which was great, the bill was €89.
Literally steps from the front door of the hotel, we were back in our room at 10:30pm. We settled in for our last night a very satisfied duo!
Saturday, January 3, 2009:
The morning came all too soon and we were up and ready a little early for our 7am Rome Cabs pickup time. And believe it or not, when we came down to the lobby at 6:50am the car was there waiting for us!
We put our bags in the trunk and hopped into the car for our early morning drive to the airport. All went smoothly with the ride there and we were checking in for our flight at just about 7:30am. By 8am we were at the gate having our last cappuccino and coronetti at Tazza d’Oro.
As much as I prayed the night before, we did not get upgraded to business class for the return flight, but at least we did have the exit row seats, so we had a little more leg room.
The flight was uneventful and we arrived in Atlanta to major fog and flight delays. We eventually got back to Savannah 3 hour late, not bad in the big scheme of things, but because of all the delays our bags did not make it back with us, but at least we were home and our bags arrived the next day.
It was a terrific week in Rome and can’t wait for the next trip back…in DRUM ROLL PLEASE…April!!!!
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