Pizza, Porchetta & Prosecco….......8 Food Focused Days in Rome, Italy

In March mom and I made visit number 6 in as many years to Rome and it never gets old for us. Exploring this city is a joy for both mom and me and with each visit we get to know Rome better and better.

Since we are not strangers to Rome I was uncharacteristically laid back about planning for this trip (since I’m generally the one doing the research) and hadn’t done much in the way of research until about a month before our departure. Flights and accommodations were booked and we had an idea of some of the places we wanted to see that we never had time to on previous trips, but there wasn’t any “absolute must go to” places in our minds.

For this trip we originally planned to rent an apartment near Campo dei Fiori and we paid a deposit in late autumn only to be notified a few weeks later the rental company made an error accepting our booking and the apartment was not available. After careful consideration of alternative apartments with the company we quickly realized their small inventory had nothing else available that would meet our needs. Our deposit was completely refunded and we were left looking for accommodations for 8 nights.

There are several hotels we like in Rome and we started looking at hotel options. We considered staying at hotels we had been to on previous trips but there was one hotel we had not stayed at, but had always coveted. That hotel is the Albergo del Senato ( http://www.albergodelsenato.it/ ). We reviewed their website, checked availability and rates for the dates we needed and took the plunge and booked 8 nights at this absolutely lovely hotel. We could not have asked for a more central Rome location in Piazza della Rotonda, just 10 steps from the Pantheon.

As you can probably gather from the title of this trip report, we had a food filled week +1 day in Rome. Our other visits to the Eternal City have always included some good meals, but this time I tossed away my 25 page personally researched restaurant list (yes, it was liberating) in favor of 2 “foodie” apps for my phone from 2 ex-pat bloggers living in Rome who I have come to have a great affinity for. These apps were (1) Rome for Foodies by Katie Parla ( http://www.katieparla.com/ ) and (2) EatRome by Elizabeth Minchilli ( http://www.elizabethminchilliinrome.com/ ). Let me say the cost of these apps were the best money I spent and the total for both was less than $6. I began to affectionately call them my “Rome food bibles”. Each evening meal topped the one from the night before using the restaurants recommended in these apps. And the apps have not only restaurant recommendations, but wine bars, specialty shops, bakeries, and food/wine tours to name just a few. And with the map function on the EatRome app, even when I thought I had taken a wrong turn I was quickly righted by looking at the map on the app.

I’m always a little surprised when I’m speaking with people about spending time in Rome and they tell me they had the worst food in all of Italy in Rome. I’ve had some great food experiences in a variety of Italian cities, but this trip we had some of the best meals I have ever had anywhere, and that includes Italy, France, or here at home in the United States.

So, if you like reading about food and wine experiences with a museum and a church or two tossed into the mix this will be the trip report for you!

Saturday & Sunday, March 24 & 25 – Arrival in Roma!

Our flights on Delta were uneventful. Since we got a reasonable airfare, we “splurged” and paid for the economy “comfort” seats on the transatlantic flights. For us that meant $80 tacked onto the final price of the tickets, worth it for that price, we thought yes. However, I will say this, the Air France version, called Premier Voyager, which we flew in December is head & shoulders above the Delta version. Did we have more room on the Delta aircraft than we would have in regular economy? Yes, but after a 9 hour flight it certainly didn’t feel like an extra few inches.

Since we had only one connection, in Atlanta, and it was a couple hours we decided to check our suitcases, usually we do carry-on only, but hey, we’re all getting a little older and the less I have to heft bags over my head into a cabin bin, the happier I am! Prior to this trip I put the Delta app on my phone and one of the features is a bag tracker, well, let me say this, don’t rely on that to be accurate. Before boarding the flight to Rome the bag tracker was telling me only one of our two bags made it to Atlanta. I figured if I was left bag-less in Rome I would happily spend time clothes shopping.

We landed at Fuimicino and from touchdown to going through passport control and collecting our bags (both were on the luggage carousel waiting for us!) it was just under one hour. We were meeting our Rome Cabs ( http://www.romecabs.com/) driver 55 minutes after de-planing.

Now for a slight digression here to illustrate the power of the social network. About a week before our trip the owner of Rome Cabs began following me on Twitter. I had been following him for a while, but he wasn’t very active on Twitter. In a tweet I thanked him for the follow and said I have used his car service several times on my visits to Rome and liked his and his drivers’ professionalism. Now, cut to the drive from FCO to the Albergo del Senato, we arrived at the hotel and began gathering our belongings to get out of the car. We walked to the rear of the car to help with maneuvering our bags out of the trunk. As we got the last bag out I turned to walk into the hotel, but the driver gestured to wait and out of the depths of the car trunk she pulls a silvery shining wine bag with the owner’s business card and she says in hesitant English, “from our company”. I was blown away; mom said she wished she had a camera to take a picture of the look of surprise on my face. What a way to begin the trip! The only way this day could be any better was if, at 9am, the Albergo del Senato staff could give us a room straight away.

30 seconds later as we stepped up to the hotel front desk and were greeted warmly by Alessandra, our dream did come true. I was in no way expecting a room to be ready for us at 9am; I figured we’d be lucky to get in a room by 1pm. My game-plan was to ask to store our luggage, and head out to find our first cup of cappuccino, an ATM and to purchase our 7 day transportation pass. You can imagine my utter shock when Alessandra said the words, “Let me see what I have available” and a broad smile came across her face, yes, there was in fact a room available for us. This trip was getting better by the minute!

We were shown to a room on the third floor at the rear of the building. Some may think this was a bummer, since the front rooms look out onto the Pantheon and Piazza della Rotonda, but for us, this was perfect. It was quiet and when the curtains were pulled on the 2 windows in the room it was ideal for sleeping. The room was a fairly good size, when we walked in we were in a very small hallway that linked the sleeping area on the right (with 2 twin beds, a desk and small sofa bed/love seat), and the bathroom room on the left which had a giant tub/shower and a sink area long enough to have space for all the toiletries 2 women would bring with them.

Once we were settled in we decided a cappuccino was in ordered, so we sauntered over to Café St. Eustachio for a couple cappuccini and flaky, cream filled cornetti. Our idea of a perfect start to our Roman adventure.

When we were sufficiently “fueled-up” on caffeine and sugar we popped over to an ATM in Largo Argentina (one affiliated with Bank of America, which meant no transaction fees!) and since we were in a public transit hub, made our way to one of the ticket machines (and it never fails, I always pick the out of order machine, so have to traipse across the street to the other!) and purchased our 7 day transit passes for € 16 each.

We happen to really get our monies worth out of these 7 day passes and it worked out perfectly because we would need public transportation for the whole 7 days. For us, this was the best option because we used buses, metro and trams. If nothing, I am learning the Roman transit system!

By 11am we were really “sucking wind” as my dad used to say and we were ready for a nap, so we walked back to the hotel and crawled into bed. I know what you’re thinking, “how could they drink cappuccino and eat pastry and in 90 minutes be ready for bed?” Well, having spent close to the previous 24 hours awake, we were running on empty and no amount of coffee would stimulate us!

We slept until about 4 or 5 in the afternoon, which was perfect timing because by then it was almost aperitivo time! Ahhhh yes, we are HUGE aperitivo fans!



Just after 6pm we decided to go to the hotel lounge just off the lobby for drinks. The rooftop lounge/bar was not open yet, but the lobby lounge was perfectly fine. Tiny, but fine, with a couple tables and sofas and the all important bar stocked with my favorite aperitivo item, prosecco. Could we have ventured to an outdoor café? Sure, but while we were napping earlier it had rained and outdoor seats were a little soggy, fortunately this was the only time during our entire 8 days in Rome when it rained.



Rooftop View at Albergo del Senato



Since our arrival day was a Sunday and I knew many restaurants are not open for dinner I consulted my Rome food apps prior to arriving and found a trattoria open on Sundays that looked very promising, so I emailed the hotel concierge and asked them to make a reservation for us prior to our arrival, which they did with speed.

After enjoying a few glasses of prosecco we were off to our first meal of the trip. At the time we thought this meal was wonderful (and it was), but as I mentioned earlier each meal kept getting better and better and this meal paled in comparison to others, but we had a terrific experience, thanks to not only the EatRome app, but a comment made by another user of the EatRome app. So, if you intend to only read the author’s information on these apps, think again, if there is a comment, read it! Because I did, and thankfully had a great experience because of it.

Dinner was set for 8:30pm at Settimio al Pellegrino, located at Via Pellegrino, 117. From the EatRome app I knew that even with a reservation, the front door may very well be locked, so be patient and wait for someone to come and unlock the door. It was humorous because as mom and I approached the trattoria there was a couple in the doorway trying to pull the door open, when they saw it was locked they started to walk away. I stepped up gave a little knock on the glass and a very nice gentleman came to the door. I explained in my extremely fractured Italian that I had a reservation and he let us in. The couple that had been in front of us were still standing in the street and when they saw we got in, they hustled in right after us.

Now, here is where reading the app comment really helped us. The commenter said, don’t even bother looking at the paper menu, just tell the proprietor (Mario, I believe is his name) you would like for him to bring you whatever is the special of the day and that is exactly what we did and boy were we happy with that decision because the other tables around us (all non-Italian speaking) were giving our plates longingly glances. In fact, there was an American family of 5 seated near us and the (what appeared to be father) turned to us, pointed to our plates and asked us, “What are you having?” I love when that happens…food envy!

We had a nice bottle of house white wine (€ 8!!), along with hand made tagliatelle with tomato sauce. For our main dishes, mom and I split everything and Mario had each item plated together on plates for each of us. We had veal involtini and veal meatballs and the contorni (vegetable side dishes) were out of this world delicious, in fact, we think the vegetables here won the show over the main dishes. Since it was artichoke season we had the most luscious artichoke I have ever eaten, seriously it was braised in olive oil and was perfectly cooked. The cauliflower was also delicious and I am not a big cauliflower lover! The woman helping serve was quick to tell us they only cook the vegetables with olive oil, no butter here! With a bottle of water and 2 espresso to end the meal we were 2 happy ladies, and even happier when the cost of the meal was a whopping total of € 65.50!

With full bellies we weren’t quite ready to call it a night, so we meandered over towards Piazza Farnese to our favorite outdoor café, Café Farnese, which is nothing spectacular, just a place we frequent when in Rome and have grown to really enjoy. By this time, the outdoor chairs were dry and we settled in to have some limoncello to cap off our arrival in Roma….ahhhh….perfetto!

Monday, March 26 – On a hand-bag mission, Hello Borromini & Parlez Vous Francais? And the Freshest Seafood in Town


I have a confession to make…I have a hand-bag fixation. I have been known to hunt down hand-bags in far away locals, such as Hanoi, Vietnam and Bangkok, Thailand. So why would Italy be any different, right? About 2 weeks prior to this trip I was perusing one of the Rome ex-pat blogger sites I frequent (and for the life of me right now, I can’t think of which one it is!) and saw a little blurb about a line of bags this particular blogger happened to like, so I clicked on the link and was taken to hand-bag nirvana at the Gabs Bags website (http://www.gabs.it/?lang=en )

These bags are made in Florence, Italy and are the most ingenious bags I think I’ve ever seen, not only are they stylish, but they are convertible. And, not just converting into 2 bags, but some models convert into 5 or 6 different bags. I was completely hooked and decided before I left home I was going to hunt down a shop selling these bags.

So as we roused ourselves on Monday morning and toddled down to the hotel breakfast room. I casually glanced to my right to see a small display case in the hotel lobby with a few strategically placed hand-bags, as I moved closer my heart started racing, Oh My God…these were Gabs Bags, right in our hotel. As I practically pressed my nose up against the glass case I spied a small business card of a shop just up the street which sold these bags. You can guess where our first stop was after breakfast!

After fortification of cappuccino and the usual hotel breakfast set up of yogurt, fruit, pastry and there were also a few hot items (eggs & sausage), we meandered a few doors up the street to check out the shop window with the desired bags. There was a nice selection to chose from and THE one I had my eye on from the website, BUT since it was our first full day in Rome I didn’t want to jump the gun and buy the bag right away, oh no, I waited until the afternoon to buy it!

Once we knew the shop had the bags, we were off on our merry way towards Via Frattina, because I had another hand-bag mission to accomplish. Our last time in Rome was November 2010 and I purchased an Alviero Marini hand-bag (http://www.alvieromartini.it/AlvieroMartini/page38.do ) I wasn’t home 2 weeks from that trip when the strap broke on that bag…grrrr! For some extraordinary reason, which I can’t explain, I saved the receipt. After much consideration I brought this broken bag with me and went back to the boutique to see if they could either fix the bag or replace it. I was willing to pay any shipping charges they might have charged in the event they couldn’t fix it during the week I was there.

After much explaining and consultation with the boutique manager, they agreed to contact the main office in Milan to see what could be done and would call me the next day to tell me the outcome. I’m happy to say the next day came and I got a call telling me to come by the boutique and they would replace my bag with a new one! This trip was really getting better!



Dome of San Carlino



Altar of San Carlino

 So, with the hand-bag hi-jinx out of the way we hopped on a bus heading up hill on Via Tritone towards Largo Santa Suzanna where we would get off the bus and walk down Via XX Septtembre towards the Church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, also known as San Carlino. This church had been on our “radar” for a while, having passed it numerous times in our wanderings around Rome. It became of greater interest to mom and I after we both read the book, “The Genius in the Design” about the rivalry between Bernini and Boromini. San Carlino, both the church and cloister were designed by Boromini and it is lovely. It’s fairly small, in size, but the dome is beautiful. I’d recommend a visit, if you are interested in churches and have seen the “blockbuster” ones in Rome already.

We had planned to also visit the Church of Sant’ Andrea al Quirinale, just down the street from San Carlino, but it was getting close to the noon hour and by the time we made it there, it was closed until about 4pm. No worries, it gives us a reason to come back another time.

Since we were in the Quirinale area, we decided to check out the Tintoretto exhibit at the Scuderie del Quirinale (http://www.scuderiequirinale.it/Home.aspx ). This museum space was at one time royal stables and I was surprised at how modern the interior of this museum felt to me. The exhibit was not large, just enough for us to take 40 minutes to walk through. We aren’t big on spending hours in museums, but this exhibit held our interest.

After seeing all the Tintoretto we wanted to, we walked down the hill and caught a bus which took us back to a stop just a few blocks from our hotel. The bus pass was already starting to pay off since we’d taken the bus 3 times already in one day.

We were not hungry for a big lunch, but a Rome sommelier friend (more about her later) tweeted to us we should have a granita di caffe con panna…now how did she know our love of all things coffee only paled in comparison to our love of all things wine related? We gladly took her advice and walked over to Tazza d’Oro for this cool, slightly sweet coffee treat. This was a first for us and we loved it! How could you really go wrong with cream and cool icy/slushy coffee. Boy did this treat put the overly sweet & gigantic Starbucks frappuccinos to shame!

At 5pm we had a reservation for a tour of the Palazzo Farnese. Mom and I have walked by this building for years; it is the French Embassy in Rome. On occasion while walking through the piazza and looking up in to the windows we could see the interesting ceiling. However, we always hesitated booking a tour because tours were only given in French.

About a month before we arrived in Rome mom found a New York Times article about the Palazzo Farnese now conducting tours once a week in English, twice a week in Italian and 5 or 6 tours a week in French. I scurried over to my computer and pulled up the booking website and my fingers flew across the keyboard in search of the tour dates for the week we would be there. As I viewed the one date the English tour was given I thought to myself, “we’re a month out of arriving, there should be spots available on the tour”. Boy was I ever wrong! No spots on the English tour were available. So my next thought, since both mom and I have been taking beginner Italian classes, was to see if there were places open on the Italian tours that week, I struck out there too. My only other option if we were going to see this building was to see what was available on the French tours…Bingo! There were 3, yes, only 3 spots on the French tour open the week we would be there. I booked it.

At the appointed time we queued in front of the building and the tour guide checked our passports, yes, we needed them with us, and consulted her list, we were then waved through the door and over to the x-ray machine for our bags. Once everyone was checked in the tour began. And I really, really, really, wished I comprehended French!

This had to the most animated tour guide I had ever experienced. I was desperately trying to pick out words here and there, but my “restaurant French” knowledge was not helping me. However, getting to see the interior of this building, even though I had no idea what the guide was saying was great. The final room we entered was absolutely stunning. The paintings on the wall appeared, at first glance to be sculptures, but on finer examination you realize, “no, wait, that’s painted on the wall”!

The tour lasted about an hour and since we were in Piazza Farnese, our favorite outdoor café (Café Farnese) was right across the piazza and it was aperitivo time! We sat down and I was pretty impressed with myself when I actually ordered our wine and 2 glasses of water all in Italian and the waiter understood me! He even said my accent was perfect, he was probably just being kind, but we did manage to joke about it (in Italian!) and it gave us a good laugh.

Our dinner reservation was for 8:30pm at Osteria La Gensola in Trastevere in Piazza della Gensola, 15 (www.osterialagensola.it ) However, on our way to dinner we walked through Campo dei Fiori and happened upon a small grocery store where mom was able to pick up white truffle paste, which she had been kicking herself for not buying the last time we were in Italy!

Once the truffle paste was purchased we hopped on a tram and went into Trastevere and found our way to the restaurant. This osteria is known for their seafood and not only was it on the EatRome app, but I had a personal recommendation from a friend at home.

We really enjoyed La Gensola, it felt comfortable the moment we walked in. The staff was terrific, very friendly and willing to help with selections. The menu is fairly extensive and there are typical Roman dishes, but the seafood is the real draw here.

As we leafed through the menu I turned to the last page and noticed a tasting menu priced at € 44 per person and it included a bottle of wine. After looking at what the tasting menu offered, we decided to go for it.

The starter was tuna balls in tomato sauce, it sounds odd to some, but it was absolutely delicious. The next course was sepia in a lemon sauce and it was delicate and perfectly crispy, not dripping with oil. The pasta course was served with guanciale in a cream sauce and it was outstanding. In fact, it was so good, we wished we could have had more! The grilled octopus with panzanella salad was incredibly delicious and full of flavor, but the texture was on the chewy side and our least favorite dish on the tasting menu. Dessert was a decadent chocolate cake (I had it, mom passed). The espresso was excellent, as always in Italy and we finished things off with glasses of limoncello which was very smooth and refreshing.

We enjoyed our meal here so much; we decided to dine here again later in the week and made a reservation before we left. The total cost of this terrific meal was € 94.

Tuesday, March 27 – Ancient Artifacts, Olive Oil and Flavor Explosions

Today we decided to go to the Capitolini Museum to seed the Lux in Arcana exhibit (http://www.luxinarcana.org/). We have been to the Capitolini before, but when we found out about this exhibit we both knew a return visit was in order.

The Lux in Arcana exhibit is running from February 29, 2012 until September 9, 2012. The sub-title to this exhibit is “The Vatican Secret Archives Reveals Itself”. In our humble opinion it was the most interesting museum exhibit we had seen in a long time and we spent more than 2 hours here, and frankly, we probably could have stayed another hour.

This exhibit consisted of 100 original documents from the Vatican archives and it was truly incredible. Not only the documents themselves, which were fascinating but the way the documents were displayed and the multi-media presentations were beyond top-notch. The documents included such things as letters to the Pope from Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, during the United States Civil War and interestingly the letter from Lincoln did not mention the war at all, whereas the letter form Davis did. Along with the plethora of letters from heads of state, including letters written on silk from China which were hundreds of years old, there were manuscripts and the scroll from the deposition of the Knights of Templar. I was enthralled by it all.

Even on a Tuesday, in the late morning the exhibit was crowded but we did get to move slowly and read the information provided at each document, truly a visual experience I will not quickly forget.

As interesting as the hundred year old documents were on the first floor of the exhibit, we decided to venture to the top level to see the second part of the exhibit. As we arrived at the top of the stairs to the exhibit, I was surprised to see very few people. Once we started looking at the displays I couldn’t understand why people wouldn’t come to this level, because these last 4 rooms held some of the most interesting displays. These rooms showed the document restoration process. There were examples of books and papers destroyed by fire, water, humidity, bugs and so on and then examples of how those documents looked after restoration, incredible, the dedication that goes into this process. Mom and I were truly impressed and glad we took the time to come and see this, we loved it.

Since we had been to this museum a few years ago once we were done with viewing the exhibit we decided we did not want to spend any more time here, so we walked back towards the hotel for a little coffee break at Tazza d’Oro. Yes, we had another cup of granita di caffe con panna. It was the perfect treat for a warm and sunny day.

After our coffee break, mom went back to the hotel and I walked over to the Alviero Martini boutique to pick up my replacement hand-bag. The shop had called in the morning to tell me they would replace the bag! No having to repair it or ship it home! I took my time walking there and did a little more window shopping, always a fun thing to do in Rome!



Photo Courtesy of Elizabeth Minchilli

 By 4pm we were ready for our afternoon “event”. About 2 weeks before leaving on this trip I read a blog post from Elizabeth Minchilli (http://www.elizabethminchilliinrome.com/p/food-workshops.html) about several workshops she developed. One happened to be about olives and olive oil, which captured our interest. I wasted no time contacting Elizabeth and setting up a time for mom and I do this workshop.



Photo Courtesy of Elizabeth Minchilli

 Mom and I took a bus to the neighborhood where Elizabeth has the workshops (the Monti neighborhood, which by the end of the week we had spent a good amount of time in and decided we really liked). As we approached Elizabeth’s studio we could see her in front of the door and once she saw us, a broad smile widened across her face and she greeted us like long lost friends. Prior to booking this workshop, I had been reading her blog regularly and posting a lot of her articles to my Facebook wall and over the course of the last several months I struck up a nice rapport with her. She was as terrific as we thought she would be.



Photo Courtesy of Elizabeth Minchilli

 Elizabeth ushered us into her studio and introduced us to the other participant in the workshop, Hope, who has a cooking show in the Philadelphia area. I knew from the start this was going to be a fun few hours! Elizabeth shared a lot of great information about not only olives and how they are grown but also the process of making olive oil. We tasted 6 different oils from different parts of Italy. It’s just like wine folks, the soil, and the environment all work in forming the taste of the olives, just like with grapes and wine. I guess I never really thought of olives that way before, but I am a more educated olive lover now!

Two hours went by incredibly quickly but Elizabeth gave us some great take-away information about buying olive oil in the States and the name of a shop in the Monti neighborhood where we could purchase some of the olive oil we tasted with her, and we did purchase it a couple days later (and the shop is just great!)

The olive oil tasting ended at about 7:30pm and since our dinner reservation was for 8:30pm at a place only a few blocks away we walked up the street to the wine bar Al Vino Al Vino on Via Serpenti (it’s on the EatRome & Rome for Foodies apps).


Photo Courtesy of Elizabeth Minchilli


Mom and I had been to Al Vino Al Vino once before on a previous trip, but back then we did not know much about it. After following the Rome bloggers I do, it turns out this place is highly regarded. There is an extensive wine by the glass list and the small plates are delicious. They are known for their caponata here, but sadly since we had been snacking during the olive oil tasting we did not partake of any food this time (but we do later in the week!). I did however just about swoon when I saw not 1 but 2 Franciacorte wines on the by the glass menu and one happened to be a rose. This was a no-brainer for me, I had to have a glass of this and if you aren’t familiar with Franciacorte, wait until I get to Saturday of the trip report…all you sparkling wine fans, take note. That’s all I’m going to say about that!

We enjoyed our wine and just before 8:30pm we paid and walked one block over to L’Asino d’Oro at Via del Boschetto, 73/75. The website is http://www.lasinodororoma.it/ , but it does not have a lot of information, they do have a Facebook page.

The chef, Lucio Sforza is from the Umbria region and can I tell you, his food sings, truly, mom and I loved the food here. We enjoyed it so much; at the end of this meal we made another reservation for later in the week.

The interior is very basic, modern; you won’t feel like you are walking into an age-old trattoria, but it is comfortable. The staff was very nice and as usual, was very forgiving of my attempts at speaking Italian. At 8:30pm the restaurant was full, there were only 2 tables open when we sat down, ours and the one next to us, which became occupied shortly after we were seated. When we sat down, there was only one other English speaking table, everyone else was speaking Italian. I highly recommend making a reservation for dinner. I have not had lunch here, but have heard rave reviews about it, and the very reasonable price at € 15.



Barley Flan with Lentils

 As I look back at my notes from this meal the first sentence says, “Dinner was stellar”. We each had a starter; mom had the barley flan with lentils on a bed of pureed cauliflower. I had the asparagus frittata, good, but mom definitely “won” in the starter category. The flan was creamy and full of flavor. Mom is a huge liver and onion fan and when she saw it on the menu; she just had to have it. It was good, but in hind-sight she probably should have asked if could be cooked medium rare but we didn’t think about that at the time. My main dish was the veal meatballs with artichokes and candied orange…ding-ding-ding! I won the main dish category! Talk about riding the bus through flavor town, the meatballs were fantastic.

Veal Meatballs w/artichokes

Because we like wine, but don’t know a lot about wine and we were handed a wine list that was more like a wine encyclopedia, we spied a table near us who had a bottle of red wine (a merlot) from the Lazio region, the region where Rome is located. We figured a local wine was a good choice and it was, we really liked it. Well, at least with dinner, the morning after, that’s another story.

As we were eating I could see the chef checking on things in the dining room. I happened to catch his eye, whereby I clasped my fingers together put them to my lips and tossed him a little kiss, meaning the food was superb, he “got it” bowed his head slightly and put his hands to his heart…that just made my night!

We ended the meal with 2 espresso and didn’t even look at the dessert menu because we were just too pleasantly satisfied with the dinner. When the check came both mom and I were in shock, we could barely believe the price we were looking at for this delicious meal. The total cost including wine, coffee and a bottle of water was € 69. Our chins had rug burn (as we say) our mouths popped open in surprise at this price. This meal was more than definitely worth every euro.

After dinner we walked up to Via Nazionale, hopped on a bus and were whisked back towards our hotel. The lobby lounge was still open, so we stopped in for a limoncello digestivo to put a finishing touch on a terrific day!

Wednesday, March 28 – Lunch At a Pizza Paradise and We See a Michelin Star

When I started putting together a loose itinerary for this trip the original game plan for the day was to go to Orvieto, but sometimes, we just need to roll with the punches.

I got up early, as in 6am early, to get ready to for our little excursion. When mom opened her eyes she was not feeling very well, maybe it was the red wine or the franciacorte from the night before, who knows? After checking the train schedule online and with the constraints of having to be back in Rome for an 8:30pm dinner reservation I suggested mom go back to sleep and we call off Orvieto. We’ve been to Orvieto before, so it wasn’t as if we were going to miss out on something we hadn’t seen before. This is one of the nice things about traveling to a repeat destination for me; I don’t feel compelled to cram in a schedule full of “must sees”.

So, as mom rolled over and went back to sleep, my stomach starts to growl and I head down to the breakfast room for something to eat and then set out on my own for a few hours.

My first destination was the Chiesa Nuovo church. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve passed this church on foot and by bus while traversing Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and it was nice to finally have an opportunity to go inside. There is some beautiful artwork in this church, well, heck; there is usually some beautiful artwork in every church in Rome!



Castel Sant' Angelo



Once I had my fill of the church I headed over to the Castel Sant’Angelo. I’ve been inside this castle before, but my real mission was to approach the building from the bridge leading to the front door and take photos of the statues which line the bridge. I’m glad I had the chance to do this on such a terrific weather day. The sky was the perfect color blue and cloudless. My pictures of it may not be the greatest, but the setting sure was stunning!

Near 11:30am mom was vertical and moving about and since she had not eaten, and I had only had some cappuccino, we were ready for lunch and I knew just the place I wanted to go. I was dying to try the pizza at Pizzarium.
You can read about it here (http://anamericaninrome.com/wp/2011/03/pizzarium-the-best-pizza-in-rome/ ) and here from Katie Parla (http://www.parlafood.com/pizzarium-reopens-today-in-rome/ )

Gabrielle Bonci is the force behind Pizzarium located at Via della Meloria (near the corner of Via Cipro). And what a force he is! He has become known for revolutionizing pizza al taglio in Rome.

Mom and I set out to take bus 492 from Largo Argentina to the last stop on the line which is the Cipro metro stop. Of course, every other day we see the 492 whizzing by every other minute, ok, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but on this day, we waited more than 20 minutes for the bus. Fortunately when it did arrive, there were very few passengers, so we grabbed 2 seats and settled in for what would be about a 30 minute journey over to the Prati neighborhood, which is just in the shadows of the Vatican museum.

When we got off the bus at the Cipro metro stop, I know from consulting Google maps previously that Pizzarium was only just around the corner. I love when my anal-retentive travel planning skills come in handy because within 5 minutes we were walking in the door of Pizzarium.

Now, don’t expect a cavernous sit down restaurant, this is a small, take it & go joint, but they do have a very small counter area inside where you can stand and eat and a bench in front of the shop where you can sit down and woof-down, uhhh, I mean lovingly savor your pizza.

When we walked in, we were immediately paralyzed for choice, not because there were hundreds of pizzas to choose from, quite the opposite, there were maybe 10, but all looked absolutely delicious. If we really could eat with our eyes, we would have been bursting. The ingredients were very fresh, from the cheeses to the greens to the pancetta and prosciutto, we didn’t know which to pick. And of course, our eyes were bigger than our stomachs!

I tentatively stepped up to the counter and again, using my fractured Italian managed to order 3 types of pizza, because why order 1 or 2 when we could have 3. Clearly my pantomime skills in regards to pizza slice sizes needs improvement, because we received 3 whopping slabs of pizza each then cut into more manageable bite sized pieces. In the end we chose a pizza with prosciutto and potatoes on top, carmelized onions & liver pate (sounds really weird? It was our favorite!) and just for good measure we had a last minute addition of a potato only topped pizza.

We happily pulled the wooden tray topped with our pizza across the counter top, went to the cashier, paid our € 13.62 and snagged some space on the bench outside. We were even too preoccupied with the pizza to order drinks!

We were in pizza paradise! All three pizzas were terrific, and the crust, was perfection, not to doughy, not to crispy and talk about flavorful. I never knew dough could have such wonderful flavor. If you are a pizza lover and don’t mind getting off the tourist track, a trip to Pizzarium is well worth the effort (in my humble opinion!).

After getting our fill of pizza it was back on the bus and once we got near our hotel we hopped off and transferred to another bus that would take us to the Monti neighborhood. We wanted to go to the olive oil shop Elizabeth Minchilli recommended to buy some of the olive oil we had tasted with her.

The shop is Podere Vecciano on Via dei Serpenti, 33. This shop is fairly new in Rome, the olive oil producer that owns the shop is from Siena and the oil they produce is wonderful. The shop also sells olive wood cutting boards, and all kinds of olive oil products and some wines. It was well worth a visit and at € 8 a bottle for the olive oil we had to buy one bottle each.

Once we made our purchases, it was back on another bus so we could stop at our hotel to drop off our purchases. As we were making our way through Rome back towards the hotel, out of the bus window I spied another hand-bag shop with a greater selection of Gabs Bags. Of course, by the time I saw the shop, the bus started moving again and I was too slow to request a stop, and with our hands full of bags of olive oil, we decided to go back to the hotel and come back to this shop later.

It would seem this was the day for bus hopping, because once the olive oil was safely nestled in our hotel room, we went back out in search of a Gabs Bag for mom. We hopped on a bus and it wasn’t far, good thing I looked for landmarks when I spotted this shop earlier. Mom did indeed purchase a Gabs Bag, a different style than mine, and a wallet too! Once that transaction was complete, you guessed it; we were back on another bus going towards the hotel.

My gosh, all this olive oil and hand-bag shopping makes two ladies thirsty and by now it was apperitivo time! We walked over to Piazza Farnese to have a few glasses of prosecco (for me) and wine (for mom) before our 8:30pm dinner reservation.

Dinner was at Hosteria Glass (http://www.glass-restaurant.it/ ) in the Trastevere neighborhood located at Vicolo del Cinque, 58. This is in both the food/restaurant apps I used, but we also received a personal recommendation for this place from our sommelier friend prior to this trip. Once we checked the restaurant website we decided we would really like to have a meal here and asked our hotel to make a reservation for us.

This restaurant has a Michelin star and the chef, Cristina Bowerman, is excellent. From the moment we walked in, the greeting from the staff was incredibly warm and welcoming and frankly walking in felt like we were walking into a sleek New York City restaurant, but still a comfortable atmosphere. Before entering mom and I looked at the menu posted outside and thought we had decided on what we wanted, the prices are commensurate with a Michelin star and so we thought we’d try to have some restraint but still enjoy an excellent meal.

After we sat down and started to look at the menu more closely we realized the € 65 tasting menu had all the things we really wanted to try (there is also a €90 tasting menu). Since we had been doing extraordinarily well in the restaurant costs category so far, we looked at each other , shrugged and said, “hey, we’re on vacation, let’s go for it”. So, we had the € 65 tasting menu, and believe me when I say, we are very happy we did.

Once we made the tasting menu decision it was time for the wine “bible”, I’m still learning about Italian wines and how the wine lists are categorized by region, so I turned to the server for help. I said we wanted something similar to what as an American I would call a pinot noir and I didn’t want to spend more than €40. He came back with the perfect selection of a Franz Haas pinot noir for € 35.

And now for the meal:


Pumpkin Puree





The amuse bouch was a pureed pumpkin cream which was smooth, creamy and delicious. The first course was steak tartare with both a wasabi and an orange cream sauce. It may sound odd, but it was the best steak tartare we have ever had. We had an experience in Paris in December at L’Atelier Joel Robuchon with steak tartare there, and the version at Glass far surpassed Joel Robuchon. The meat was absolutely beautiful and it didn’t hurt that there was a small amount of caviar on top!



Steak Tartare

The next course was pork belly with apples, pomegranate and a blue cheese mouse, talk about flavor! Next came my favorite dish of the night, amatraciana stuffed pasta with crunchy guanciale…need I say more. The pasta was wonderful, thinking about it, it could possibly be the best pasta I’ve had. The lamb dish that followed the pasta was so tender we barely needed a knife to cut through it and served with tiny little blue potato crisps, it was delectable.

Pork Belly



Amatraciana Stuff Pasta



Lamb

For dessert we were able to choose any of the items on the dessert menu. Mom had a semi-freddo that was not sweet at all, it had a big herbaceous flavor and I being the tiramisu titan that I am, I had to have the version here and I was not disappointed at all. The presentation was like no other tiramisu I have ever had. It was shaped like a cube and covered in chocolate. To end things we had a tray of petit fours. Some we enjoyed more than others, there were 4 or 5 different kinds but all were delicious. No coffee is served here so we settled the bill, which was € 165.

The chef, Cristina Bowerman, was floating around the restaurant checking in with tables and I happened to catch her eye and she came over. She was very pleasant and kind in thanking us for dining at Glass. It was a terrific dining experience and one mom and I will not soon forget!

Thursday, March 29- The Porchetta Pilgrimage


Before setting out on this trip I had been in contact with my friend Vincenzo, who lives most of the time on the Amalfi Coast. When he heard mom and I would be in Rome, he said he would plan to be in the city while we were there and we could spend some time together.

Not only does Vincenzo have a beautiful rental villa (http://www.grottadeifichi.com/ )on the Amalfi Coast, where I stayed with friends several years ago, but he is also a kindred “foodie spirit” and he offered to arrange some type of gastronomic experience with us.

About a year and a half ago I came across a blog entry on the Travel Belles website (http://www.travelbelles.com/ ) about a day trip from Rome to the town of Ariccia.

Ariccia is one of the Castelli Romani towns and there are several big claims to fame there, the Palazzo Chigi designed by Bernini, white wine and porchetta.

So when I corresponded with Vincenzo, I suggested a day trip to Ariccia and we could do it via public transportation, or so, the Travel Belles blog said. He was very agreeable to going to Ariccia and we set a time to meet with him at the Anagnina metro stop, the last stop (or first depending on which way you are going!) on Metro Line A.

Having waited 20 minutes the day before for a bus, I thought we might want to get an early start, not knowing exactly how long it would take the bus from Largo Argentina to Termini, so mom and I left the hotel at about 9:30am. Of course, as we walked up to the bus stop, a bus was arriving and we got to Termini pretty quickly.

Once at Termini we navigated our way down to Metro Line A, the station was very crowded and there was construction, so the route to the metro stop seemed to be very twisty. We negotiated a lot of escalators and finally walked onto the train platform just as a train was pulling in, perfect timing.

There were 15 stops between Termini and Anagnina and it took us about 20 minutes, from hotel to the end of Metro Line A took us slightly less than one hour. We arrived at our meeting point with Vincenzo 30 minutes early, but there were plenty of benches where we could sit and wait.

Just before 11am Vincenzo emerged from the metro and greeted us warmly and baring gifts. Jars of marinated olives and eggplant from his grandmother! What a nice thing for him to do.

We made our way to the Cotral ticket window. Cotral operates buses that connect areas of the Lazio region with Rome. At the ticket window, Vincenzo asked about the bus to Ariccia because when he called Cotral the day before he received conflicting information. At one time there was a direct bus from Anagnina to Arricia, but that bus no longer runs. In the end we had to take the Cotral bus to Albani and transfer to a smaller shuttle bus to Ariccia.

Once we had our Cotral bus tickets (€ 1.20 each), we climbed the stairs to the area where the Albani bus was scheduled to depart from at 11am. Well, 11am came and went and no bus. Vincenzo goes sleuthing out the situation and finds out the 11am bus has been cancelled, but there will be an 11:30am bus, no problem, we pass the time catching up with what is new in Vincenzo’s life. Then, 11:30am comes and goes. Vincenzo does some more sleuthing, and finds out the 11:30am bus has been cancelled, meanwhile he is now calling the restaurant where we have a lunch reservation to push back our arrival time with them.

Finally at 11:50am, a bus pulled into the boarding area, and we all dash for the door and grab the first 3 seats we can because by now there are a lot of people waiting for the bus. The bus lumbers along making stops here and there and about 30 minutes later we arrive in Albani and get off the bus. We wait in the little town at a bus shelter for about 30 minutes, with Vincenzo checking with every little shuttle bus driver that pulls up to see if that bus goes to Ariccia. Finally, about 30 minutes later the right bus pulls up, we get on and off we go up, up, up into the Alban Hills to Ariccia. I was never more grateful for having an Italian speaking friend with us. Honestly, if it were just mom and I making this excursion, we would probably still be trying to get to Ariccia!

By the time we arrive in Ariccia it’s just past 1pm and we walk to the fraschetta (type of osteria in this region) where Vincenzo has made our lunch reservation. As we walk into L’Aricciarola (http://www.osterialaricciarola.it/ ) located at Via Borgo S. Rocco, 9 it’s like walking into a warm, casual restaurant. The sizable tables are set up for communal dining, the wooden beams in the ceiling create a rustic feel, and the warm welcome added to the atmosphere.

As we walked in, there was a very long display case to our left filled with lots of tasty treats, all kinds of marinated vegetables, cured meats and cheeses, but the star of the show was the porchetta, displayed in all its juicy glory. Again, I was thinking thank goodness we have Vincenzo with us, because we would not have gotten the ordering process right off the bat.

First you go up to the display case and pick out the items you want to eat, then the item is weighed and you discuss with the counterman if you want more. Vincenzo told us later the counterman kept asking him, if the amounts we were ordering were enough, clearly locals must really pile on the food! The final step in the process is when a server brings what you have ordered to the table.



Delicous Porchetta



Mountain Proscuitto

 Everything in the display case looked so good, but we really tried to keep our wits about us and not over order. Of course, we had to have the porchetta, which was wonderfully moist and tender; the juices just flowed out of the meat. We also had a big ball of buffalo mozzarella, two types of prosciutto, one being the mountain prosciutto variety and it tasted like no other prosciutto we’d ever had, it was silky smooth. Not to neglect our vegetables was also had a couple marinated artichokes, which were delicious. The last item we had, just because we wanted to try it was donkey jerky. Yes, we had Jack*ss Jerky. Vincenzo was so cute when I pointed to it in the display case and asked what it was, I could see his mind trying to pull the English world. Fortunately we had a long discussion about L’Asino d’Oro with him, and he finally pointed to the jerky and said “L’Asino”…I caught on right away!

We had a bottle of local red wine, which a little fizz to it and if all that food wasn’t enough, Vincenzo said we really had to try the papparadelle cinghale here, since that is a dish this particular fraschetta was know for. We order one plate and it was plenty to share among the 3 of us, especially since we had already had so much to eat.

Vincenzo!

For all this food, the wine and a bottle of water the total cost for lunch was € 38. I think that’s a pretty good deal!

After lunch we took a little walk around town and went to the end of the main street which has a pretty terrace overlooking the hillside, a great way to end our time in Ariccia. We wandered back to the bus stop and as no surprise we had about an hour wait for the shuttle bus that would take us back to Albani where we would get the Cotral bus back to the Anagnina metro stop.

Once in Albani we waited about 20 minutes for the bus, of course, when the bus pulled up it was packed to the gills and we wiggled our way in and stood up for the 30 minute ride to Rome.

When we arrived at the Anagnina metro stop, luck was on our side because as we walked onto the platform a train pulled up and we hopped on going towards Termini. When we emerged at the front entrance of Termini we said our good-byes to Vincenzo and got a bus back to our hotel.

By the time we walked into the hotel it was close to 6pm and by our “inner clocks” it was apperitivo time! Instead of walking over towards Campo dei Fiori to our favorite spot, we decided to give the wine bar just next to the hotel a try. We’re glad we did. We snagged the last free table, had a couple glasses of wine and prosecco and sat and watched the activity in Piazza della Rotonda. The Pantheon is certainly a site to behold.

Our dinner reservation was for 9pm at Vino e Camino (http://www.vinoecamino.it/) located at Piazza dell’Oro, 6. This was another EatRome app discovery and we are certainly glad we dined here, we had another fantastic meal.

One word of warning if you dine here, the starters are huge! We didn’t realize this and we each ordered one, which could have easily been a meal in itself! Mom had the prosciutto wrapped smoked mozzarella on a bed of pesto, there were 4 substantially sized mozzarella balls. I had the Sardinian tomato bread and I still think about it. It was almost like layers of phyllo dough pizza with the freshest tomatoes, olives and cheese, and it was light and crispy. I won the starter category for this meal!

For main dishes, I had the grilled tuna steak with eggplant sauce, it had wonderful flavor, but it was slightly dry. Mom had the veal cheek and roasted potatoes, it blew the flavors of my tuna right out of the water. Mom even commented on how great the potatoes tasted and she is sometimes a “hard sell” when it comes to potatoes. We had a bottle of wine and another of water. Since we were so full from the whole day, we didn’t even look at the dessert menu, for fear of our eyes definitely being larger than our stomachs. The total cost of this meal was € 89.

We liked this meal so much, we made a reservation for Sunday lunch (the day before our departure) or so we thought…

Friday, March 30 – There’s a Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On

Today we had a very loose agenda, and so we took our time getting started in the morning. We skipped breakfast because we did want to see the basilica of St. John in Lateran. We hopped on the little #117 electric bus right near the hotel and took it all the way to the end of the route. The last stop on this line is right across from the church.

We entered through a side door into a lovely church interior bathed by sun light streaming through the windows. We made our way around the church in about 30 minutes before we realized we had actually come in a side door and not the front door, so we decided to exit through the front doors in order to see what the main entrance looks like.

Since the #117 bus stop was so close, we got back on and took the bus to the Monti neighborhood. Even though we had spent some time in this area already, we didn’t really have much time to poke around and check out some of the streets which have some really terrific little shops.

One of the shops, Aromaticus (http://www.aromaticus.it/aromaticus/Benvenuto.html ) is just too nice to pass by without stopping in. If you enjoy gardening, herbs and fresh food this place if for you. Mom bought some salts and they also do small plates for lunch and aperitivo. The salads looked incredibly fresh. And the owner was so nice, once he found out the item was a gift he wrapped it for us.

We thought about having lunch at TriColore, known for their delicious panini and another EatRome app recommendation, but when we walked by, they were not yet open for lunch and we kept walking. It will definitely be on my “go to” list for next time.

We hopped on another bus and went over to Piazza del Popolo to grab a seat at one of the outdoor cafes, because it was such a beautiful day out. When I opened the menu and saw they had caffe shakerato, I knew what I wanted and mom, being no coffee slouch, was up for the cool treat too. Since we hadn’t had anything to eat we also ordered a pretty average ham sandwich. I had to chuckle to myself when I placed the order with the server, because she asked, did we know it would be cold coffee? Oh yes…we have been well schooled in the thousands of ways one can order coffee in Italy!

If you don’t know what a caffe shakerato is, it is a cold espresso drink shaken with ice and then strained and served in a martini class. This particular one had a foamy sugary layer on the bottom and top, it was the picture perfect coffee drink and delicious!

In fact, mom and I enjoyed this coffee treat, so much and we were so comfortable sitting outside, enjoying the good weather and people watching, we each ordered a second one. Clearly our server thought she was doing us a big favor by bringing the second round in even larger martini glasses! But this time there was no foamy sugary layers and honestly, the second one just did not taste as good as the first. Of course, that did not stop us from drinking it all. By now half the tables around us were ordering the caffe shakeratos, we should have been given a discount for helping boost sales for the day!

Since that second glass was probably equal to 3 shots of espresso mom and I were seriously feeling the jitters. As we walked around the corner to the bus stop mom looked at me and asked if I felt ok, because she was feeling kind of jumpy. I had to admit, I was having the same feeling. Clearly there should be no coffee for us the rest of the day!

We took it easy for the afternoon until aperitivo time when we walked over to Bar Farnese for our usual wine and prosecco. It was another perfect evening to sit outside, and enjoy the scenes playing out in front of us in the piazza.

Our dinner was a repeat at La Gensola in Trastevere and this meal was just as delicious as the first one earlier in the week. Mom and I shared a starter of swordfish with eggplant caponata, it was very good, but then again, I never met an eggplant I didn’t like. For main dishes mom had the John Dorry fish with potatoes and it was excellent. I had the bacala with tomatoes and basil and it was full of flavor and perfectly cooked.

We asked the server for help selecting the wine and he chose a chardonnay from northern Italy and it was the perfect accompaniment with the fish. We skipped dessert and against our better judgment had, you guessed it, espresso. Yes, we are glutons for punishment! And to put the perfect finish on the meal we had glasses of very smooth limoncello. The total cost of this meal was € 98.

We were finished with dinner at about 11:30pm, and as we walked to the tram stop a tram pulled up and we were back at the hotel before mid-night.

Saturday, March 31– It’s a Sparkling Saturday!

Today was a fairly leisurely day; our trip was starting to wind down. Instead of breakfast at the hotel we went over to Café St. Eustachio for cappuccino and pastry. Mom then decided she wanted a Gabs Bag too and off we went to the shop not far from the Spanish Steps. We also made a stop at the Santa Maria Novella shop to stock up on mom’s favorite soap.

Because we were doing a wine tasting today I wanted to make sure we had lunch, so we walked around the street from the hotel to Osteria dell’ingegno at Piazza di Pietra, 45. It was about 2pm when we arrived and from the minute we walked in, I loved this place.

The interior was fairly modern, with walls painted pretty yellow and dark orange colors. It appeared the other few tables that were full had Italian speaking patrons. I had (again) found this restaurant using the EatRome app and one of the things in the write-up about this place I liked, was that it said, this osteria had really good big salads. I thought that would be a perfect light, but substantial enough lunch.

I had a delicious tuna with radicchio salad and mom had a grilled chicken salad. We enjoyed both very much. The service here was polite and friendly. With a bottle of water the total cost was € 34. The really nice thing about this place is it’s location, it is just a few blocks from the Pantheon, but tucked in a corner. I’m glad we found it.
Our wine tasting with VinoRoma (http://www.vinoroma.com/) was scheduled to begin at 5pm, so mom and I set out for Piazza Venezia at about 4pm to get a bus that would travel up Via Cavour and deposit us just a block or so from VinoRoma’s front door.

I have to mention, this was a repeat for us with VinoRoma. Back in 2010 I found her on Trip Advisor and booked the “My Italians” tasting, ,we had such a wonderful time at that tasting, and I began to follow her on Twitter, keeping abreast of things going on with VinoRoma and wine related. When I saw she added a “Sparkling Saturday” tasting, I just couldn’t resist because I adore sparkling wines.

Mom and I arrived for the tasting a few minutes before 5pm and we were greeted warmly by Hande (aka, VinoRoma) and ushered into her new tasting room in the Monti neighborhood. Before long, my friend Vincenzo arrived, I had asked him to join us, in appreciation for ferrying mom and me to Ariccia! And we were ready to taste some sparklers.

Now, if you think the only sparkling Italian wine is prosecco, think again, there is a variety of lovely sparkling wines in Italy. There is Asti, Lambrusco, of course Prosecco and then the much less know and, in my humble opinion, one of the best, Franciacorte. We don’t see Franciacorte much on wine menus here at home; I’ve seen it once on a menu in New York City (at a Mario Battali restaurant). And, as Hande said, it’s not that common in Italy to see it on wine menus either. If you have an opportunity to try a Franciacorte and you like sparkling wines I recommend you trying it, you may find something new you like!

At the Sparking Saturday tasting we had five wines to taste, 3 Prosecco and 2 Franciacorte. It was really interesting for us to learn about the wine making process, the regions where the wines are made and then of course, comparing the wines. Hande, really knows her stuff and the great thing about her, is that whether you know a lot or a little about wine, she always makes you feel like you are walking away having learned just a little bit more.

After the tasting we said our goodbyes to Hande and Vincenzo and since we were in the Monti neighborhood made our way to Via Serpenti and to Al Vino Al Vino for a little aperitivo before our dinner at L’Asino d’Oro, yes we did another dinner repeat, but since we were in that neighborhood for the wine tasting, it made sense to us to go back since we enjoyed it the first time we were there so much!

We had a 9pm reservation and as we walked in, we were greeted warmly and seated at the last available table. Thank goodness we had a reservation, because we saw 3 parties turned away who did not have reservations.



Pasta Fagioli

 The food was just as good as it was the first time. Mom started with the pasta fagioli which was full of flavor. I had the prosciutto cinghale with percorino sauce, it was terrific. For her main dish, mom had the pork with artichoke and licorice, sounds like an odd combination, but it was wonderful and fall off the bone tender. I had the braised pork shank with green sauce, all I can say is Wow! It was knock my socks off flavorful and the piece of meat was huge, think “Fred Flintstone” food!



Proscuitto Cinghale with Pecorino



Pork Shank with Green Sauce



Fennel with Blood Orange

 We had a bottle of Orvieto Classico, and to finish dinner off we each had a glass of Vin Santo and a plate of biscotti. Honestly, the Vin Santo was the lowest part of the meal, it was ok, just not the best we’ve ever had. The total cost of this meal was € 86.

From the restaurant we had a short walk to Via Nazionale and caught a bus back towards the hotel. For us, it was a fairly early night; we were back at the hotel just around 11pm.

Sunday, April 1- A Quiet Ending

Since this was our final day in Rome, I purposely did not plan anything. My thought was we could do any last minute shopping in case there was something we had seen earlier in the week that we didn’t get and also, just to relax, after all, it was a vacation.

We took our time getting started and walked over to Piazza Farnese to stop at our favorite outdoor café for cappuccino. We had been to this café a lot, but mostly in the evenings for wine. After our first sip of cappuccino, we were kicking ourselves for not coming here more for breakfast. I can hardly believe I’m going to say this, but I liked the cappuccino here much more then Café St. Eustachio!

After enjoying our cappuccino and getting a good laugh from one of the street performers dressed as a clown, he was really good and keep everyone at the café laughing, we decided to nose around the market at Campo dei Fiori, which we hadn’t done yet.

We made a visit to all the spice stands in the market and mom found a few things she had been looking for but hadn’t seen until now and we popped into a small shop on a side street that had some lovely and reasonably priced scarves.

When we were at Vino e Camino earlier in the week, we had made a reservation for lunch for today, or so we thought. So, we walked over to the restaurant for our 1:30 lunch reservation only to find the place locked up tighter than a drum. We waited around for about 15 minutes, thinking maybe they weren’t open yet, but no one ever unlocked the door, so we left. Big sigh, we’ll just have to go back another time.
By now we were getting pretty hungry since we were only running on cappuccino. Our first thought was to go to a pizzeria we were familiar with, but the crowd was so big, we just kept walking. Eventually we sat down at a vinoteca we had been to before, called Mimi e Coco on Via del Governo Vecchio. We each ordered a pizza and glass of wine. The food was fine, nothing stellar and the service was ok, and it was nice to sit outside. So, a fairly uneventful meal. We made our way back to the hotel by mid-afternoon and decided it was time to pack up.

Since our flight was at 9:30am and we had a car pick-up scheduled for 6:30am the next morning we decided to have a larger version of aperitivo close to the hotel. At about 6pm we went to the wine bar next to the hotel on Piazza della Rotonda and started with a couple glasses of wine. Earlier in the week while passing this wine bar I had seen great looking antipasti trays on tables. So, instead of moving to a restaurant for dinner, mom and I settled in, ordered a bottle of wine and the house meat and cheese antipasti plate. I have to say the wine was great and the meat and cheese plate was one of the best I’ve had anywhere. It was a nice, quite way to end our time in Rome.

Until, we realized we hadn’t tossed our coins in the Trevi Fountain. So, after our light dinner, we walked over to the Trevi Fountain and although crowded, not terribly so, and we found a spot to toss our coins. Now, we will for certain return to Rome!