Bells, Balls and a Basilica – Cooking in Abruzzo; Eating & Drinking In Rome

Prologue…Pre-trip Details: 



Me & Mom at the top of Carunchio

After reading a Fodors trip report last year about a Groupon deal for a cooking school vacation in Abruzzo I couldn’t stop thinking about a visit to Italy to cook.  My mom and I had been eyeing cooking vacations in Italy for a while and were familiar with the going rate of a week-long vacation.

When the Groupon deal for the “Taste of Abruzzo Culinary Vacation”, at Abruzzo Cibus Cooking School – Italia (http://www.abruzzocibus.com/index.php ) came up in January 2013 we didn’t dawdle on deciding and bought the Groupon deal right away.  Frankly, it was a combination of the enticing price,  a region of Italy we had not been to yet, the previous year’s Fodors trip report - called Top Chef Abruzzo on the Fodors Europe message board, which really was a big persuading factor- and the fact that this trip included round-trip transportation from the Rome airport to the cooking school at Palazzo Tour D’Eau in Carunchio, Italy, (because I am scared to death to drive in Italy, but I’m really digressing here!) that truly sold us on booking this trip.

Booking the trip through Groupon, but ultimately via Epitourean (  http://www.epitourean.com/ ) was a lengthy process, because, as I was told, this was one of the most popular deals Groupon ever had and when calling to book the dates I wanted for October 2013, I had to make multiple calls at various times of day for 3 days until I actually got an agent at Epitourean.  However, once I spoke to an actual person the booking process was smooth and there were no glitches.  It’s my opinion that the company was simply overwhelmed with the response to this vacation deal and hopefully for future bookings the backlog of waiting customers won’t be so large. 

Mom and I selected the second week in October to take this trip for several reasons.  The first and most important was because that would be mom’s birthday week and who wouldn’t want to spend their birthday in Italy (at least that’s how our minds “tick”!).  But also, we felt the weather would be a nice mix of cool and sunny.  I’m happy to say our weather forecast was spot-on! 

Since the cooking vacation was based in the hills of the Abruzzo region, but we needed to be in Rome for the transportation to and from the cooking school, before we purchased our plane tickets we decided that if we had to transit through Rome anyway, how could we not stay in one of our favorite cities in the world, so we hatched a plan.  

We would fly into Rome the day before we were to meet the rest of our cooking class-mates (we did this because it was a four hour drive from Rome to Carunchio and neither mom nor I wanted to be on a bus for that length of time after a trans-Atlantic flight) and stay at the Fiumicino Airport Hilton ( http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/italy/hilton-rome-airport-hotel-ROMAPTW/index.html ). I redeemed points from one of my credit cards for the room and this worked like a charm.  Then upon finishing the cooking vacation we would be transported back to Rome and stay in the Eternal City at the Albergo del Senato (http://www.albergodelsenato.it/ ) for a week before going home, it was the perfect plan for us. 

Once we had our accommodations worked out, I began scouring the Delta website for airfare.  Since both mom and I have our frequent flier miles through Delta’s Sky Miles program we try to fly with Delta or their partner airlines.  For this trip, we choose to book on the Delta website, but we flew Air France in their Premier Voyager cabin, which is the Air France version of premium economy.  Our route would take us from Savannah, Georgia to Atlanta, to Paris and then into Rome.  This may appear to be slightly out of the way since Delta does have a flight from Atlanta to Rome, but we really like the Air France premium economy seats and with our Sky Miles Gold status, we can take advantage of the lounges in Atlanta and Paris, which we did.

And now the trip begins…

Friday, October 11, 2013

Our travel day began with leaving from home at 2pm for a 5pm flight. We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the security check point to find the Savannah Airport has implemented TSA Pre-Check, although there was no separate lane yet (that would come on Oct. 19^th), we each got a green card with Pre-Check written on it that allowed us not to have to take off shoes, or belts and we were allowed to keep our liquids bag and computer inside our carry-ons. Finally I feel like Savannah is catching up to the rest of the airports!

We Love Air France Premier Voyager!

All our flights ran on time and as I’ve mentioned previously, we really do find the Air France Premier Voyager seats to be much more comfortable than regular economy.  When we arrived in Paris we had a couple hours before our connecting flight to Rome.  This was plenty of time to make our way through passport control and find the Air France lounge to relax, check emails and have a bite to eat.

Saturday, October 12, 2013 

Before we knew it, the time had come to board our flight to Rome and in less than 2 hours we landed at Fiumicino right on time at 4pm.  We made our way to the baggage claim area and waited and waited and waited for the conveyor belt to start up.  Once it got moving bags started coming around, but it was like an episode of the old I Love Lucy Show.  The conveyor belt started and five bags came around, then nothing for 10 minutes, then five more bags, then nothing for 10 minutes, this went on and on.  I turned to my mom, shrugged my shoulders and said with a big smile, “This is so Italian”. Our bags did make in on the fourth or fifth go-around. 

Fortunately we did not have far to go.   We walked from baggage claim through the terminal and followed the signs for the Hilton Hotel.  It’s not a far walk, but when traveling for close to 24 hours, it seemed like it took forever.  We walked into the hotel lobby and were greeted with a smile and a speedy check-in. 

The Hilton at Fiumicino is exactly what one would expect of a chain hotel at an international airport.  It suited our needs perfectly, had comfortable beds, a clean bathroom and most important of all, there was a lounge in the lobby where we could get a couple glasses of wine. 

We tossed our bags in the room, ran a brush through our hair and toddled down to the lounge.  We snagged a couple seats at the bar and in honor of our friends K and S, who were traveling in Puglia, we ordered a bottle of chardonnay from Puglia.  With the little aperitivo snacks the bartender put out for us we were two happy ladies, even though it still didn’t feel like it was Italy to us, being in a hotel lobby lounge! 

Aperitivo at the Fiumicino Hilton

While at the bar we noticed two other ladies sitting a few feet away from us and they were speaking with another couple, telling them they had just spent a week at a cooking school in Abruzzo.  When mom and I heard this, our ears perked up and when the couple they were talking too moved on, we introduced ourselves and asked if they had just come from the cooking school in Carunchio.  As it turned out they did and they were also a mother/daughter traveling together!  Well, our intention to have a couple glasses of wine and then go to sleep, turned into several hours (and more wine then we want to admit to having) of chatting with these ladies about their experience.  By 8pm, mom and I were exhausted and said our good-byes to our new friends and took the elevator up to our room.  I think I was asleep before my head even hit the pillow!

Sunday, October 13, 2013

When I opened my eyes this morning all I could think was, that was the best first night of sleep on a trip I ever remember having.  Maybe the beds at the Fiumicino Hilton are that great, or more likely, I was just exhausted. 

We had a leisurely morning because we didn’t need to be back at the airport for our pick-up until just before 1pm.  We wouldn’t typically go for a big buffet breakfast but, we had plenty of time and since dinner the night before was only aperitivo snacks and wine we were fairly hungry.  I know hotel restaurant buffets are not always a great deal, and IMHO, this was no exception at €25 per person. But, after taking a look at the ala carte menu and knowing we both wanted the fresh squeezed orange juice (priced at €8 a glass ala carte), we figured, we’d go for the whole “she-bang”, since the other selections available looked pretty good.  I will say the food was abundant and the eggs were a welcome addition to our empty stomachs.  

Just before 12noon, we checked out and walked back to the airport and to the designated meeting point in Terminal 3.  We arrived at the café in the arrivals hall and while mom went to order 2 cappuccini for us, I wheeled the cart with our bags to an empty table.  As luck would have it, the two women sitting next to us were also on the same tour we were and we chatted with them until we saw our driver come in. 

I approached the driver to give him our names and while I was waiting I introduced myself to a gentleman who was also on the tour.  He really threw me for a loop when he said, “Oh, yes, aren’t you celebrating a birthday today?”  The look on my face must have been priceless, and then I said, “I’m not but my mom is tomorrow” and then he gave a quick smile and said, he was at the Hilton Hotel lounge the night before and overheard us talking with the other mother/daughter duo who had done the tour the week before.  I had a feeling we’d get along just fine and we sure did!  Our fellow class-mates on this adventure came from all over the United States and one Canadian.  Colorado, California, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, Ohio and of course, South Carolina were well represented in our group and ages ranged from 20’s to 70’s, it was a diverse group with a mix of culinary skills. 

Once we were all accounted for, we loaded onto the bus for the 4 hour drive to Carunchio.  There’s not much exciting to view on the A-1 Autostrada outside Rome, but once we got off the highway and looped our way through the mountains of Abruzzo the views got more and more interesting. Once we reached Carunchio we took the winding roads to the palazzo that is perched at the very top of the village. 

We arrived at Palazzo Tour D’Eau at just about 5pm and were welcomed with a variety of savory snacks and Campari and soda, this trip just kept getting better and better.  We each introduced ourselves to the group and the palazzo staff and were then shown to our rooms.  We had a room that looked out over the beautiful countryside, and we felt so high up we could reach out and touch the clouds.  The room was comfortable, basic and spacious. 

Once we were settled in, it was time for a quick spin around the lanes surrounding the palazzo and then before we knew it, the time for our first meal together as a group had arrived.  The large table was set in the dining room so we could all sit at one table.  The meal started with puff pastry filled with truffles on a bed of saffron sauce. The pasta course was gnocchetti (half potato and half flour, made this dish incredibly light) served with porcini mushroom sauce.  The main dish was wild boar marinated in wine, wrapped in prosciutto and puff pastry (yes, there was a puff pastry theme going on, actually by the end of the week, we had enough puff pastry to last us a lifetime!) with roasted vegetables.  The boar was perfectly tender.  The dessert was a fresh lemon semi-freddo with wild berries, and the best part was that it was not cloyingly sweet.  Red wine flowed freely (as it did at every subsequent meal) and we ended our first night in Carunchio with espresso and grappa.  The espresso was great, the grappa…ummm, not so much.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Harvesting Grapes in Abruzzo

Today was mom’s birthday and the original itinerary had us scheduled to go on a truffle hunt.  We loved everything we did on this trip, but this was THE one thing mom was looking forward to the most.  Unfortunately it was not meant to be.  We were told the night before the truffle hunter had a medical issue and we could not go on the hunt.  But Massimo (the host/owner) and his team are a resourceful bunch and we headed out to the family vineyard…it was harvest time! 

The vineyard was a short drive from the palazzo and the sweeping views of the vines, mountains and countryside were stunning, it was shaping up to be a great day.  Until mom and I realized we were not just going to snip a few clusters of grapes, nope, in groups of 2 we each took one row of vines and worked our way down the entire row snipping and tossing grapes into large plastic baskets.  I’m making it out to sound like it was a herculean task, but it was actually quite a lot of fun, and with the sun shining down it gave us a great way to work off some of the calories we had started to consume!  The other benefit of this grape harvesting adventure is that now we are a little more appreciative of where our wine comes from and the process to produce it. 

Mom harvesting grapes in Abruzzo

It was a good thing we worked off some calories harvesting grapes, because when we arrived back at the palazzo we were lavished with a three course lunch!  We started with a rustic Abruzesse torta (yes, more puff pastry!) with a delicious filling.  The second course was a perfectly cooked risotto with peas and saffron and dessert was a millefoglie with amaretto cream (more puff pastry, see I wasn’t joking!). 

After lunch mom relaxed with a book and I decided to check out the town.  I took a walk down, down, down the winding streets of the village to a little church Antonio (one of the staff members) had told us about.  It was a nice walk and a cute little church.  Now it was time to walk back up the steep streets to the palazzo at the top of the village.  More cardiovascular activity is good I kept telling myself and then I could justify eating the dessert at lunch! 

The afternoon cooking class was the first time we were all in the kitchen together.  The kitchen where we had our instruction is the converted wine cellar of the palazzo and Massimo and the staff have pain-stakingly placed mosaic tiles on every inch of wall space.  The walls look terrific, and it’s a very inviting atmosphere. 

Now we were ready to meet Chef Dino and get started cooking.   Dino’s English is very, very good (as is all the staff’s) but a woman by the name of Cheryl was there to assist with translation and cooking instruction and she was very helpful.  Our first lesson included preparing stuffed eggplants and peppers, the stuffing of bread, cheese and herbs was very flavorful.  We also made a starter, which was a version of involtini using prosciutto, arugula, and pecorino cheese, I’m a master at rolling up ingredients!  The arugula was the most peppery tasting we’d ever had.  For dessert we made a limoncello sorbetto, what’s not to love about limoncello!  The stuffed eggplants and peppers were served in a delicious tomato sauce, which Chef Dino seemed to whip up magically in a matter of seconds.  Our rustic, homey dinner was a great ending to a beautiful day in the mountains of Abruzzo.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Personal Tiramisu!

By now we were really beginning to embrace a laidback vacation lifestyle and had a late morning cooking class.  On the menu was pasta!  Yes, this was one of the things I was looking forward to the most!  But, the lesson did not start with pasta, it started with dessert, and it couldn’t have been more appropriate, because it was my favorite dessert, tiramisu.  We each made our own individual cup of this luscious dessert and I would savory every spoonful at the end of the meal. 

Once dessert was prepared and setting it was time to make the pasta dough.  I’ve taken a pasta making class before in Bologna and I was surprised to see in this version we made the dough in a bowl, so there was no need to “keep the well” while mixing the ingredients together!  The pasta shape we made was called cavatelli rigati.  Chef Dino would portion out wedges of dough and then we would roll it into a long, thin strand, then cut off pieces which were then rolled on a pasta paddle which would make the ridges on the pasta.  It was so much fun, I loved every minute of making the pasta.  We also made a sausage and tomato sauce to go with the pasta and the staff helped put together an extremely refreshing fennel and orange salad for each of us.  It was the perfect lunch! 

We had a few hours of down time after our morning cooking lesson and leisurely lunch and we re-grouped in the evening for a wine pairing class and rustic dinner.  Massimo the host/owner lead the group through a couple hours of wine education.  If I had one criticism about this wine education experience it was that I felt it could have been a bit broader in scope.  Two red wines were presented during the session and no white wines were offered.  I understand Massimo is not a white wine fan, but (and this is strictly my opinion) I believe in a room of 20 people with varying degrees of wine knowledge it may have been enjoyable to present a variety of wines to compare and contrast.  I will say, the food that was paired with the wines was delicious and abundant.  There was everything from a variety of bruschetta, salumi, and cheeses to frittata, and I’m sure dessert was somewhere in there too but my food notes are slim for this evening and my memory is fading. 

I will also mention here, being the big coffee and digestivo fans mom and I are, whenever we requested espresso at the end of a meal or a digestivo we were happily accommodated.  The espresso was excellent and I particularly liked the amaro digestivo we were served one evening.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013 

Today was the first and only day of “iffy” weather while we were in Abruzzo.  I had debated (according to mom at nauseating length) about bringing a raincoat or not based on the weather forecast prior to leaving.  In the end we brought raincoats and wore them today.  Although it was overcast, it never did rain so I’m going with the philosophy that because we had the raincoats with us it did not rain! 

The Adriatic Coast Line in Vasto

Our little group of 20 piled into the minivans at the palazzo and took the 40-ish minute drive to Vasto, a town on the Adriatic Coast.  Maybe it’s because we live in a coastal area, but mom and I really enjoyed our time in Vasto.  Massimo spent about an hour guiding us around town and showing different points of interest. The view from an outlook point in the upper part of Vasto was stunning, the sandy beach curled around the shoreline was spectacular.  We also saw the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Vasto with its relic, which is a torn said to be from Jesus’s crown. 

Center of Vast

We had a bit of free time to wander the atmospheric lanes with stone buildings and mom and I found ourselves drawn to a ceramics shops.  Inside the shop was all hand-made pieces made in the area.  I immediately admired an olive oil/vinegar/salt/pepper holder set in a tray and at €50 I decided to make my first purchase of the trip.  The shopkeepers were very accommodating and wrapped each piece individually and then as a whole in paper and bubble wrap for easy transport back home.  I’m happy to say it made the journey back with me in one piece! 

After our little shopping excursion, we met back with the group and went to a seafood restaurant for lunch.  I neglected to get a business card and now don’t remember the name but the food was very good.  We started with a mixed plate of local seafood starters, then we had orcechiette with clams.  Our main dish was a beautifully prepared and deliciously tasting branzino.  However, in my opinion, the best part of the meal was a new wine discovery!  Finally, we were served white wine and this was a local wine called pecorino.  I’d heard of pecorino cheese before, but never pecorino wine.  Well, this is now my new favorite wine and when we got to Rome later in the trip I was on a personal quest to try as much of it as possible (and I did, with good results!) 

When our 3 hour lunch came to an end it was time to visit a Trabocco.  This is a fishing house which sits out in the middle of the Adriatic Sea that is accessed on foot via a raised boardwalk over the water.  During the summer months nets are dropped from the trabocco and used for fishing and the trabocco functions as a restaurant serving what has been caught in the nets.  Although the one we visited was closed for the season as a restaurant, we were able to walk out onto it and get a feel for what it would be like to dine there.  To read more about these interesting structures, here’s a Wikipedia page:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabucco  

Trabocco on the Adriatic

Once we had our fill of salt air we took a short drive to an olive oil factory and got to see first-hand the olive oil making process and we got to taste some of the oil being made by this producer.  All the oil was very good, but we were particularly taken with the lemon olive oil and promptly bought 2 small bottles. 

The afternoon was slipping away quickly and we all climbed back into the mini vans for the ride back to the palazzo.  We had some time to relax and dinner was another delectable delight of “deconstructed” eggplant parmigiana and an Abruzesse twist on lemon meringue pie.  We sure were not starving on this trip!

Thursday, October 17, 2013
 

Abruzzo Balls!

Today was “peasant food” day, or as we liked to call it…Abruzzo Balls!  The morning cooking class was devoted to vegetarian fare, and it was absolutely delicious!  First we started with an almond biscotti recipe.  I learned a trick, to soak the almonds (raw with skin) in the liqueur used in the recipe.  This will help the almonds evenly distribute throughout the dough.  Then you can always add more liqueur to the dough if you think it needs more “zip”!  Along with almonds we used Sambuca and chocolate in the recipe.  These were some pretty tasty biscotti.

For the cheese and egg dumplings, affectionately called Abruzzo balls by our class, we used eggs, bread, pecorino cheese parsley, garlic, salt and pepper.  We mixed the ingredients together and then formed balls.  Once the balls were formed (about golf ball size) they can be sautéed in oil, or simmered in a tomato sauce.  Chef Dino also fried enough for each of us to taste, so we could compare the difference between fried in oil and simmered in sauce.  To accompany the balls, we made a brothy sauce with tomatoes, peppers and onions.  This was such a simple recipe (I could easily manage it on my own) and really filling.  For lunch we each had a bowl with at least 3 balls and sauce and I could barely finish 2 of the 3 balls.

Mom, Davide & the Masterpiece

In the afternoon we had an option to either go on a hike or take a mosaic making class with the in-house mosaic artist, lovingly referred to as “The David”.  Mom and I decide to do the class for 2 reasons, the first reason was because it sounded like a fun way to spend a couple hours, the other reason, they were serving Prosecco to the mosaic class participants, and I never turn down a glass of bubbly! 

The class was fun and Davide was a trooper, especially with me, I’m no Leonardo DaVinci!  Oh, and Davide doesn’t speak English, we had some help from other staff with translation, but it was good for me to get some practice with my non-food related Italian words, as limited as they may be!  What mom and I thought would be a couple hours turned into close to 4!  Yes, we really “got into” placing each and every tiny hand-cut (by Davide) stone onto our masterpieces.  By 7pm we were ready to call it quits and fortunately our “works of art” were done.  What we didn’t count on was each mosaic piece weighing 1.5 kilo!  Our bags were getting heavier by the minute!

When 8pm rolled around we found ourselves back in the dining room being served another delicious meal.  This time it was all about balance and each course was planned out by Chef Dino and a local nutritionist.  We started with a wonderfully light farro salad followed by a “purse” made of dough stuffed with porcini.  We ended the meal with a round of enjoyable espresso.

Friday, October 18, 2013 

Mom & Me and Caciocavallo!

This was our last full day in Abruzzo and we had an excursion to the town of Agnone in the Molise region, which is less than a one hour drive from Carunchio.  Our first stop was at the Di Pasquo cheese factory.  One of the local cheeses produced in this region is caciocavallo. This cheese is shaped like a teardrop, and looks like saddlebags used on horses “back in the day”.  To read more about this cheese check out this link:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caciocavallo  

The aroma wafting about on the factory floor was wonderfully cheesy but during our visit the factory was not making caciocavallo, they were making mozzarella, so we got a first-hand look at the cheese making process.  Lucky for us we did get to walk through the storage areas where the caciocavallo was hanging, and this producer not only makes plain caciocavallo, but also a caciocavallo with truffles!  We were able to buy one “saddle bag” to take home with us!  And it worked great in a macaroni and cheese recipe! 

Once we had our fill of cheese our next stop was the Marinelli Bell Foundry in Agnone (http://www.campanemarinelli.com/inglese/index2.php ).  This is one of only two bell foundries in the world which manufactures bells for the Vatican, the other is in Avignon, France.  I have to say, this was one of the most interesting events of the week in Abruzzo for me and mom.  At the foundry there is a museum, and before going through the museum we watched a 20 minute video on the process of making a bell.  I knew nothing about this meticulous process and how interesting it is.  Once the video was over Massimo gave us a tour of the on-site museum.  Although small in size, it was really quite interesting and we got to walk through the area where the bells are made and we got to listen to one of the bell makers “tune” a set of huge bells, he could really “jam” on them!  If you venture to this bell foundry, just be aware, no photos are allowed inside, they can’t risk having a bell making secret slip out!

Porchetta!

By the time we were finished at the bell foundry we were hungry, I know, hard to believe.  But we were looking forward to having one of my favorite Italian dishes, porchetta.  We ambled into a local shop where they were slicing fresh porchetta and piling it into long soft rolls.  Massimo handled the ordering and everyone got their own porchetta panino.  Massimo had pre-arranged for us to eat at a bar around the corner where we got to bring in our panini, order a beverage from the bar and sit and have lunch.  I couldn’t think of a better way to have a porchetta panino than with a glass of local beer, so mom and I slid into our chairs, unwrapped our panini, bit down and slurped our beers.  It was pretty darn tasty! 

After lunch we made our way back to the palazzo in Carunchio for our last evening cooking class and what a fun night it was.  This was our pizza making class.  We could each make our own pizza “invention” using a huge variety of toppings Chef Dino had provided.  Chef showed us how to turn a ball of dough into a beautiful oval of pizza and helped us with deciding which toppings would go best, not too many, maybe 3 at the most. The pizza oven had been fired up and we were really “cooking” now. 

As the evening wore on and the families of some of the staff came to join us the atmosphere became more and more familial.  Before we knew it, Massimo, Chef Dino, Davide, Mattias, and Antonio were breaking into song and what voices they had. They could cook and sing!  Especially Mattias, he is a truly gifted musician and his guitar skills are fantastic.  The wine was flowing, the pizza was baking, and our singing was getting better and better with each glass of wine or Peroni beer. 

Fresh tomatoes & arugula pizza!

As mom and I were enjoying the conviviality of this night, we couldn’t help but remember back to evenings just like this, spent with long-time family friends who had immigrated to the U.S from Italy in the 1950’s & 1960’s, to us it felt like we had been transported back into our friends basement for a big Italian celebration.  Our time in Abruzzo could not have ended on a better note.  It felt like it may be a sad drive back to the airport the next day, if it weren’t for the fact that we had another week to spend in Rome and we’d be able to see several of our Roman friends!

They can cook & sing!

Arrivederci Carunchio!

Saturday, October 19, 2013

We said our good-byes to the palazzo staff and boarded the mini bus and headed back to Rome.  It was an uneventful 4 hour ride (with one stop at an AutoGrill on the autostrada) back to Fiumicino.  Prior to the start of this trip I booked a pick-up at Fiumicino with Rome Cabs (http://www.romecabs.com/ )  I found this car service years ago on Fodors and have used it during all my trips to Rome.  To be on the safe side I made the pick-up time for 1pm which worked perfectly because our mini bus arrived at the airport at 12:30pm.  By the time we unloaded our bags and made our way to the arrivals area in Terminal 3 we only had a few minutes to wait before our driver arrived.

We have always had first-rate service from Rome Cabs and this time was no different.  Our driver, a very nice young lady, spoke excellent English and within one hour we were pulling up in front of the Albergo del Senato, it felt like we were coming home!  This was our third stay and we can’t speak highly enough of this hotel. The location is great, the rooms are comfortable and the staff is outstanding (they are even starting to recognize me and mom from our previous visits!). 

We quickly settled into our room, which was the same room we had on our very first stay at the Albergo del Senato.  It’s probably a room many people wouldn’t necessarily like, it’s at the back of the hotel, so has no direct view, but because it overlooks an interior courtyard area (and the back of other buildings) it is incredibly quiet, which is perfect for me for sleeping!  And we were happy to find out the rooftop lounge was still open in late October, so we could get our beautiful views from there each night while having a glass (or 2!) of wine. 

Cappuccino Freddo

After taking a few minutes to freshen up, we “hit the streets” and walked over to Café Camilloni at Piazza San Eustachio, 54 for an iced cappuccino.  Sitting outside, enjoying the warm sunshine was a perfect way to kick-off our week in Rome.  On our way back to the hotel we stopped to buy our Integrated Weekly Ticket for the public transit system at one of the ticket machines in Largo Argentina.  We tend to use the public transit (buses, metro, trams) system in Rome a lot when we visit and this ticket is valid for 7 days, so at the price of  €24 this is a good deal for us. You can read more about the ticket here:  http://www.atac.roma.it/page.asp?p=14  

Shortly before 5pm we scurried back to the hotel because we had a Roman Street Food Tour booked with Sophie Minchilli, the daughter of Elizabeth Minchilli.  Sophie is starting to do food tours and we happily did this new itinerary she has developed.  We made three stops on the tour and Sophie was full of interesting information about the street food of Rome and how it has evolved over the years. 

Arancini

The first stop, which was my favorite, was at Rosticceri, located at Corso Rinascimento 83/85.  I can’t tell you how many times during our visits to Rome we have been up and down this street and never would have thought to stop in this place.  It looks non-descript at first glance, but if you take a moment to stop and really look inside, you will see some of the best looking take-away food you have ever seen.  This place is small, it’s meant to be a place Romans would stop at on the way home where they can pick up prepared foods and believe me, if we had been renting an apartment, we certainly would have brought a meal or 2 back to the apartment to eat.   There is also a counter running along the length of the shop with stools so you can sit and eat a quick bite (if I were an office worker in Rome, this is where I would go for lunch!).  Since we were there shortly after 5pm, it wasn’t very crowded (they do an incredible lunch business, because when passing by on a bus one day, the place was packed to the gills at 1pm), so there were stools and counter space available. 

Sophie started us off with 2 different types of arancini.  The first was the typical, rice, tomato and cheese version, the second was rice, gorgonzola and radicchio.  Oh Wow!  The second one scored high marks with both mom and I, but we love gorgonzola and radicchio, so that wasn’t hard to do!  And, these arancini, were not little tiny orbs, these were the size of mini footballs.  With a glass of wine for each of us, this Roman Street Food tour was off to great start.  If you are interested in knowing more about Rosticceri, here is their website: http://www.rosticceri.com/ 

Forno Roscioli

Our second stop was at Forno Roscioli at Via dei Chiavari, 34.   Although we had been here before and tasted their pizza bianca, Sophie brought so much more to being in this bastion of pizza goodness.  We had 2 different types of pizza, which was right out of the oven, but then we had a mortadella panino. This was no ordinary panino, it was slices of mortadella wedged into a sliced piece of pizza bianca, that my friends, was pure pizza perfection! 

The last stop on the tour was at Dar Filettaro located at Santa Barbara Largo dei Librari 88. This is truly a “hole in the wall joint” that specializes in fried bacala (salt cod).  Mom and I love fish and this fish, was light and fluffy on the inside with a crispy-crunchy, non-greasy fried coating.  I was glad we had a local guiding us through this experience, because I may have been a little hesitant to dive into this place on my own.  It’s a fairly narrow space, filled with scruffy tables and chairs.  The menu has a small variety of typical Roman dishes, but the star here is the bacala.  You can sit down and place an order with a waiter and eat there, or you can walk straight back to the kitchen door, and place your order for fried bacala “to go” with the chef.  He will fry the fish, wrap it and hand you the bag, then you walk to the front and pay.  It’s a quick and tasty meal. 

Before we knew it, our 2 hours with Sophie were over and what a lovely 2 hours they were. Sophie was fun, funny, and knowledgeable about Roman Street Food and a great guide to all things tasty!  I have a feeling she will do very well guiding this tour. 

View from Rooftop Lounge at Albergo del Senato

We said our good-byes to Sophie and since our dinner (yes, we could still find room for dinner) reservation was not until 9pm, we decided it was aperitivo time.  We toddled back to the hotel and availed ourselves of the rooftop lounge.  With the sun setting, the cool breeze, a beautiful view of the Pantheon and couple glasses of Prosecco we were two happy ladies. 

Shortly before 9pm we took the short, 10 minute walk to Renato e Luisa at Via dei Barbieiri, 25.  (http://www.renatoeluisa.it/ ).  We decided on this restaurant because it was a short walk from the hotel (since we hadn’t validated our bus passes yet) and the reviews we had read.  As we turned the corner onto the street the restaurant was on, I couldn’t believe the crowd standing outside the door.  There was a large group that was having dinner in the front room of the restaurant.  We slid past them and made our way to one of the servers. There was a bit of confusion and at first they said they did not have our reservation. But Luisa brought over her reservation book, and there was our name.  I do have to get better and pronouncing my last name with and Italian accent! 

As we looked over the menu and started to decide on what we would have I began to look at the wine list.  To my surprise and delight, there was a Pecorino wine from Abruzzo on the menu, we took it as a sign and ordered it.  Mom and I both had delicious starters, mom had the smoked provolone wrapped in speck with warm prunes and I had the stuffed zucchini flowers. 

When we ordered our main courses mom and I decided to have the same dish, the eggplant involtini.  But, our server, who later told us it was her first night working at this restaurant brought us the brasciole. As we cut into the dish, we thought, “hmmm, this seems more difficult to cut than eggplant”, once we saw and tasted it, we knew.  We considered calling the server over, but it was busy, we like brasciole and so we just “rolled with it”.   To finish out the meal we each had an espresso and a limoncello.  The total cost of the meal was €70.

You may be asking, why didn’t we send our food back if it was wrong.  I think, we had the server we did because she was the only one who could speak English, but being her first night, she was probably trying to keep the orders from all of her tables straight in her head.  In hind-sight, we probably would have fared better with an Italian speaking server since we have passable restaurant Italian language and comprehension skills, but we didn’t mind, we were enjoying ourselves and the food, no matter what.

 

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Prior to this trip, I was looking for something interesting to do in Rome which we hadn’t done before and I came across this Context Travel blog article from a few years ago about the Quartiere Coppede http://blog.contexttravel.com/a-hidden-gem-of-architecture-quartiere-coppede/

This caught my interested and I talked with mom about it and we decided to put it on our agenda, but if time didn’t permit a visit, it could easily be bumped.  I’m so glad it didn’t get bumped!  We had a leisurely morning and then took the #63 bus from near Largo Argentina directly to the Piazza Buenos Aires stop, it took about 20 minutes on this Sunday morning.
 

Il Quartiere Coppede

Upon getting off the bus, I promptly made a couple wrong turns, my Google maps app wasn’t working properly so I pulled out Elizabeth Minchilli’s Eat Rome app because I knew there was a restaurant in the area and using the mapping function on Elizabeth’s app, I was able to navigate right to where we wanted to be. And in the process did a little window shopping and saw some really interesting eyeglass frames.  They were wooden and tres chic, but unfortunately, or maybe fortunately (because we couldn’t see the price tag) the shop was closed and we never made it back to this area.

As we crossed the tram tracks at Piazza Buenos Aires, we first came upon a nice looking church.  We walked up the steps and started looking around.  Three well-dressed older Italian ladies were standing in front and started speaking to us.  I smiled and in my imperfect Italian told them I didn’t understand Italian.  This did not deter them and they continued to speak with us and pointed to an area around the corner of the church.  What we think they were trying to convey to us, was that the church would be open in 30 minutes.  We thanked them profusely and walked down the steps and around the corner to the most architecturally interesting (to us) neighborhood in Rome, the Quartiere Coppede.
 

This neighborhood was designed by Gino Coppede, an architect from Florence and was built in the 1920’s.  There is a cluster of several palazzos all with different architectural styles.  It’s quite lovely to walk through the area and if you are an architectural or photography buff I highly recommend a visit.

We had a beautifully sunny day to meander about the streets of this area. As we were admiring one particularly lovely palazzo an older woman was standing outside the gate.  She said hello and asked mom if she was a member of the American Woman’s Club in Rome.  After we had explained we were simply visitors to Rome she continued to chat with us.  I noticed she wore and Irish Claddagh ring (as I do) and asked if she was from Ireland and she said, yes, that is where she was originally from but she and her husband had lived in this area of Rome for 40 + years .  Her husband was from Padua and they had raised their sons in Rome, and they lived on the top floor of the palazzo mom and I had just been admiring, and they have views out to the Castelli Romani and can see Castel Gandolfo, the Pope’s summer residence.   If this neighborhood didn’t already feel like a “high rent district” it sure did after speaking with this kind woman.  After a few minutes her husband pulled their car around and we said our good-byes as they drove off to church.  Only when I’m with my mom would something like this happen, we are always joking that mom makes friends in the cash register line at the grocery store!
 

After a final spin around the small piazza which is the center of this neighborhood, we hopped back on the bus and rode down into the Centro Storico to check out a new store we had heard about called Peperita, which sells all types of peppers.  The producer is in Tuscany, but she has a cute little shop just near the Jewish Ghetto in Rome.  Here is the website:  http://www.peperita.it/index_en.asp  and here is a blog entry about the Rome shop from Elizabeth Minichilli:  http://www.elizabethminchilliinrome.com/2013/06/peperita-hot-peppers-in-rome-tuscany.html

Peperita in the Jewish Ghetto

Mom bought several varieties of ground pepper.  I love the packaging and the rating system for hotness is very helpful, 1 being the most mild to 16 being burn your tongue to complete numbness.

The Peperita shop was in the perfect location for us because our next stop was to meet our friend from VinoRoma for lunch at Beppe e i suoi formaggi (Beppe and his cheeses).  Here is the website:    http://www.beppeeisuoiformaggi.it/

Although we had booked a tasting for Monday at VinoRoma, Hande would not be leading that tasting.  But we were eager to see her and talk about wine, food and Rome and fortunately we were able to meet up with her for a glass of wine and a selection of cheeses and more importantly to chat about what had been going on in our lives since our last visit to Rome.  The great thing about having lunch here, is the cheeses are extraordinarily delicious and we had a bonus of a sommelier joining us, so we left the wine selection to her and she selected a delicious regional white wine from Lazio.

Two hours flies when we are having fun and before we knew it Hande had to get to another appointment.  We said our good-byes and mom and I walked back to the hotel to put our feet up for a while. 

Aperol Spritz at Baccano 

Not wanting to “jinx” any of our future intentions to visit Rome, after a short rest, we walked over to the Trevi Fountain and toss in our coins to ensure a return visit to Rome.  Since it was coming up on aperitivo hour and we were walking by Baccano, we decided to duck in to have a glass of wine (for mom) and a spritz (for me).  I do love my spritzes!  Baccano is very close to the Trevi Fountain and we discovered it on our last visit to Rome.  We’ve never had a meal there, but we do enjoy stopping in at the bar for an aperitivo and the prices are fairly reasonable given the location.  At €6 for a spritz it’s a pretty good deal.

When we had finished our drinks at Baccano we meandered towards Largo Argentina to get the #3 Tram to the Monteverde neighborhood.  Our dinner this night was at L’Osteria di Monteverde at Via Pietro Cartoni 163/165.  This was a repeat visit for us and we were as happy this time as we were on our first visit last year.  Here is their website:  http://www.losteriadimonteverde.it/

Quail wrapped in lardo at L'Osteria di Monteverde

L’Osteria di Monteverde is in a bit “off the beaten path” location, but using the #3 tram makes for easy access.  The interior is not sleek or fancy, it feels like a comfortable neighborhood trattoria.  For our starters mom ha the sweetbreads, which were flavorful and delicious, she was kind enough to let me have a taste and it was the first time I’d had sweetbreads.  If others taste this good, I would happily order it elsewhere.  I had the quail wrapped in lardo for my starter and it was moist and fall off the bone tender.  For our main dishes, mom had duck and I pork belly.  Both dishes were expertly cooked, had a lovely presentation ad tasted wonderful.  We asked the server/owner to recommend a red wine for us and he selected a red from Calabria. Our first Calabrian wine and it went perfectly with the meal.  This is the restaurant with the best tiramisu we have ever had, so we splurged and split a small order and it was as good as we remembered.  We ended the meal with espresso and anise digestivo.  We loved the espresso, the anise digestivo, not as much, but we have to try it to see if we will like it!  The total cost of dinner with a bottle of water was €74.

Tiramisu at L'Osteria di Monteverde

We took the short walk back to the tram stop and in less than 20 minutes we were at Piazza Venezia and another short walk back to the hotel.  This week in Rome was started to rack up memorable meals already!

Monday, October 21, 2013 

Today we were on a mission to visit a spice shop in the Testaccio neighborhood.  The shop’s name is Emporio delle Spezie on Via Luca della Robbia, 20 and it’s an easy bus ride from Largo Argentina to the Testaccio neighborhood where the shop is located.  Here is the shop website:  http://www.emporiodellespezie.com/

We walked the couple blocks from where the bus stop is to the shop and you will know which street to turn down because you can smell the luscious aromas wafting out of this tiny little space.  The shop can barely hold 4 or 5 people and it is packed from floor to ceiling with every imaginable spice. We purchased Sicilian oregano for a fraction of what the spice vendor in Campo dei Fiori charges.  Mom also spotted a bottle of mosto cotto, which we had used at the cooking school in Abruzzo and isn’t easily found where we live, so we purchased that too, along with fennel pollen at a very reasonable price.  If you’d like to know more about mosto cotto, here is a link to a recipe to make your own and more of a description:  http://www.italyrevisited.org/recipe/Jams_and_Marmalades/180  

Once we had our spice purchases, it was time to catch a bus and head over to the Monti neighborhood for our wine tasting lunch at VinoRoma.  This was our 4^th tasting with VinoRoma and our second lunch tasting.  To our surprise we were the only two guests.  The difference with this tasting was that we had Maurizio as our sommelier instead of Hande.  We were thrilled to meet Maurizio, who is a very charming and capable sommelier.  He took the time to get to know us and the types of wine we typically drink and he walked us through the tasting, helping us identify flavors, aromas, and noting why a certain wine may work better with particular food pairings. 

We had 4 wines at this tasting and started with a Franciacorte (sparkling).  Having been introduced to this type of wine before by VinoRoma we were happy to taste more of this absolutely lovely wine.  If you have never tried Franciacorte and are looking for a champagne or prosecco alternative, I highly recommend trying this, although I will mention it is not widely available in the U.S.  You may have to do some sleuthing to find a shop or restaurant that carries it. 

In honor of our previous week in Abruzzo our next wine was a pecorino, this particular white wine was Cataldi Madonna Giulia, which is an excellent pecorino, in fact, we liked it so much that when we saw it on a restaurant wine list later in the week we had another bottle with that dinner.  Continuing with our homage to Abruzzo our third wine was a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo red wine which was delicious and we ended the tasting with a sweet wine from the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. The two hour tasting flew by and soon we were saying good-bye to Maurizio.  If you are interested in learning more about VinoRoma here is their website:  http://www.vinoroma.com/  

Our next destination was Via di Serpenti in the Monti neighborhood, which is a short 10 minute walk from Vino Roma.  We wanted to make a visit to an olive oil shop to stock up on oil we had enjoyed on previous trips.  As we walked down Via di Serpenti toward the shop, all of a sudden I heard someone calling my name.  I thought, “Who would be calling my name on a street in Rome”.  As I looked across the street there was Elizabeth Minchilli.  We took a couple quick strides across the street and said our hellos to Elizabeth. As she was doing a tour we didn’t chat for long, but it was really nice seeing her and quite a surprise hearing my name shouted out across a street in Rome, I felt like such a local! 

Mom and I spent the afternoon shopping and browsing and finally made it back to the hotel for a short rest before heading up to the rooftop lounge for our daily aperitivo.  After a couple glasses of wine we decided to leave the hotel at 7:30pm for our 8:30pm dinner reservation since the restaurant was in the Prati neighborhood and this would be a first time for us dining in that area, I wanted to make sure our bus journey went smoothly.  It was an easy bus ride and short walk from the bus stop to the restaurant Sorpasso at Via Properzio, 31-33.   Here is the restaurant website:  http://www.sorpasso.info/  

Sorpasso is not too far from the Vatican, and had some of the best pasta I've ever tasted in Italy.  We had a delicious dinner, but would definitely go here for aperitivo too. When we walked up, all the outside tables were full and people were streaming out the door with drinks in their hands. This place certainly had a fun vibe. The front area has beautifully displayed charcuterie, it made our mouths water.

In the back is a dining room. When we arrived at 8:30pm it was about half full, within 45 minutes every table was occupied. We started with the Italian proscuitto plate and the meat really did melt in our mouths. I had the pasta with a 4 meat sauce and it was very, very good, mom had the strozzoprezzi pasta with eggplant and that dish certainly "won" for the night as best dish. We are so glad we followed a tip from a local friend who said to get a pasta dish.

The menu was all in Italian, but the staff was kind enough to help us through our selection and between our limited restaurant Italian and their terrific English skills, we had a perfect meal that ended with two glasses of a lovely amaro digestivo.  With a couple glasses of wine and two espresso the total cost of the meal was €62.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Today we had a 10am tour booked with GT Food and Travel (http://gtfoodandtravel.com/ ). The tour we did was the Trionfale Neighborhood & Market Stroll.  I selected this particular tour, because although we had been to other markets in Rome we had never ventured to the Trionfale market, located in the Prati neighborhood and we wanted to see more of this area. 

We met our guide, Elizabeth (not Minchilli), at 10am in front of the La Fiorentina coffee bar on Via Andrea Doria. There was a young lady who was also waiting and she was on the tour too, so there were 3 of us plus the guide.  Elizabeth had a lot of knowledge about this market and the products available.  What we thought was great about this particular market, was that the shoppers around us, were truly Romans.  It did not have any of the tourist trinkets that can be seen at the Campo dei Fiori market.  We roamed throughout the covered market building listening to Elizabeth’s commentary and stopping every so often for sample tastes of various products.  We spent close to one and one half hours  checking out the nooks and crannies and our favorite stop was at the Norceria stall where we sampled hand sliced prosciutto and pecorino cheese, it was delicious! 

Once outside of the market we walk a few blocks to Panficio Bonci, a bakery by the maestro of Roman pizza, Gabriele Bonci.  There is no space to sit inside, but you can order any of the beautiful baked products and just outside the shop, in front of the windows are counters where you can stand an eat the baked goodies you may have just purchased. We had 2 different types of pizza and although they were good, I’ve got to say if it’s pizza you are after, walk the extra distance to Bonci’s Pizzarium. However, the other savory baked goods on display in the counters all looked delicious and I would not hesitate to return here to try something other than the pizza.  To read more about Pancifio Bonci, you may want to read this write up from The Rome Digest:   http://theromedigest.com/panificio-bonci/   

After carbo-loading on pizza we took what seemed like a very long walk, but I do have to say this was the warmest day we had in Rome and the temperature was probably in the 80F’s so maybe that’s why it felt so long to walk to this gelato shop called Vice Cafe.  The rest was welcome and so was the gelato.  Mom had the pistachio and zabaglione and I had the pistachio and chocolate with gran marnier. All the flavors were delicious and creamy.  If you’d like to read more about Vice Café here is a write up from The Rome Digest:  http://theromedigest.com/vice-cafe/ 

We had one more stop on the tour and that was for coffee.  We walked to Sciascia Caffe located on Via Fabio Massimo, 80A and it felt like we were walking back in time.  This was an incredibly beautiful bar.  The baristas were in white shirts, bow ties and black vests.  When we were there, mid-afternoon, it was not crowded, but our guide said in the mornings the crowds around the bar are huge and I can believe it because the coffee was excellent.  Since it was warm outside mom and I wanted an iced drink and with the help of our guide we ordered the best iced café I have ever had, seriously this stuff was magnificent.  I would definitely seek out this place again when in Rome, and it’s not too far from the Vatican. 

The tour ended around 1pm and we hopped on a bus and rode back towards the hotel.  Since it was warm and we had been walking for several hours mom took a break at the hotel while I went in search of post cards and stamps. I found the post office with no problem, but let’s just say figuring out the process of getting in line took longer than finding the building.  As I stood and watched how others were moving about I figured out I need to go to the front door and take a number, but then I had to figure out which button to push because different buttons on the number machine were for different services at each of the various windows.  It took a few minutes, but I put two and two together, pressed the right button and then seemed to wait for what seemed like forever for the stamp window clerk to press my number.   Could I have probably found a stamp machine somewhere?  It’s likely I could have, but at least this way I had human interaction where I could practice my non-food related Italian! 

Spectacular view from the Albergo del Sentato rooftop lounge

At aperitivo time we popped back up to the rooftop lounge for a few glasses of wine.  We never got tired of the lovely view!  And after a couple hours it was time to catch a bus to the Testaccio neighborhood for dinner at Perilli, located at Via Mamorata, 39.   

Rigatoni alla Carbonara at Perilli

When I have 2 Roman friends who recommend a place, I listen and I'm glad I did. I don't think you could get more "old school" than Perilli, it felt like I was walking back in time, but in a very, very good way.  From the moment we walked in and were seated we felt completely at home. On a tip from a friend we ordered (it's obligatory, isn't it in Rome?) the rigatoni alla carbonara. Seriously, this was some of the best carbonara I have ever tasted. And I loved the serving plates, yes, they looked "old school" too! We also had the lamb with rosemary and it literally fell off the bone, no knife was needed. We had a half liter of the house red, which ultimately lead to another half-liter of house red, and for €8 per half liter, it was pretty darn drinkable.

The service was just terrific, we were well taken care of even with a full restaurant on a Tuesday night. I would highly recommend a visit to Perilli if you are looking for a "slice" of real Roman food. And it's now become one of our personal top Rome restaurants. The total cost of our meal was €71.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Me at St. Paul's Outside the Walls

Today we had a basilica in our sights.  A basilica we passed more times than we care to count on other visits to Rome.  Today we went to St. Paul’s Outside the Walls located at Piazzale di San Paolo, #1 and it was another easy bus ride from the Centro Storico.  Bus #271 in the San Paolo direction stops near Largo Argentina and if you take it to the very last stop, you will be right in front of the Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls. 

There are four major basilicas in Rome, St. Peter’s, Santa Maria Maggiore, San Giovanni in Laterano and St. Paul’s Outside the Walls.  We had been to all on previous trips, some multiple times, except for St. Paul’s and it was our one and only “must get to church” on this trip.    Here is the basilica website:  http://www.basilicasanpaolo.org/index.asp?lang=eng  

We were very glad we made the effort to see this beautiful basilica.  The exterior and surrounding grounds are lovely and the interior “knocked our socks off”.  We knew from the outside it would be a large church but upon entering it was massive inside.  We stayed for about an hour and meandered our way through.  There is also a cloister, which we decide to take a pass on during this visit. 

St. Paul's Outside the Walls

When we had our fill of this beautiful church we walked outside and waited for a few minutes for the next bus.  Our original plan was to stop at Eataly for a little wander around the massive food emporium, since it was on the bus route we were on.  But as we looked at the bus route sign at the bus stop we realized if we stayed on the bus and took it to almost the last stop on the other end we would be back in the Prati neighborhood and we thought it would be great if we could go to lunch at Romeo, locate at Via Silla #26a. This was a place that had recently opened and was a collaboration between Chef Christina Bowerman of Hosteria Glass in Trastevere and the Roscioli bakery brothers.  We had been hearing a lot of good buzz and really wanted to try it out.  It took about one hour for the bus to snake through the snarled traffic, but it was so worth it to have lunch at Romeo. 

Panini at Romeo

We had just about the most perfect sandwiches ever here.  The space was a former Alfa Romeo repair shop, but boy, oh boy, have they really classed-up the interior to be sleek and modern, and the staff was friendly and "put up with" my attempts to speak in Italian.

As we entered we were greeted with a smile and asked if we would prefer to have "fast food" or a slower-paced meal, we said, we'd prefer sandwiches, and were shown to a table in the front area of the space, towards the back is the more "formal" dining area (when I say formal, I mean a full menu is served, not just panini and pizza). But we by no means felt rushed during our meal, so it's not really "fast" maybe more just a limited menu.

As we perused the sandwich menu we noticed there were about 10 sandwiches on offer, but #5 was a sample plate of the first 4 sandwiches on the menu. We ordered 2 along with 2 glasses of Est! Est! Est! Wine (from the Lazio region). First let me say, the bread the sandwiches were served on was some of the best bread I have tasted in my life. We had four miniature versions of the top sandwiches. There was a chicken salad, a salmon, a cured meat & cheese and a vegetable. All were good, the best was the vegetable, with the chicken salad coming in at 4th place.

We loved seeing all the baked goods and meats and cheese on display at the front of the space in counters, we even bought 2 of their pannetonne to bring home with us. I would not hesitate to recommend Romeo and I would certainly return here on future visits to Rome.  Here is the website is you are interested in reading more (in Italian):  http://www.romeo.roma.it/  

After lunch we made our way back to the hotel via bus and put our feet up for a bit and had a leisurely afternoon.  We didn’t have a typical dinner reservation this night, we booked a wine tasting at Roscioli.  Here is the website for booking the wine tasting:  http://www.winetastingrome.com/

We arrived outside the tasting room and although we could glimpse a light on inside from the very top of the window I could not tell if anyone was there yet. Since we were a few minutes early we waited outside the door. In a few minutes the door opened and a man welcomed us in. The wine tasting room is around the corner from the Roscioli wine bar. 

There were 11 places set and we found ours and sat down. There was a U-shaped table (so the sommelier could easily pour and interact with guests) and the walls were full of shelves bursting with wine bottles and other wine-related items. It did have a certain atmosphere about the place, but I felt very cramped and crowded. 

Roscioli Tasting Room

When the other guests arrived the sommelier started by going around the room asking each guest what type of wine they like to drink. Uniformly person after person before us said they loved red wines (Big/Bold Reds was a term used a lot as the descriptor by these other guests). Several of the women in the group said "I drink whatever my husband/boyfriend drinks". And then it was our turn and both mom and I said we are "equal opportunity" wine drinkers and drink reds but prefer white wines then we went on to say over the last week we had been introduced to Pecorino wines and enjoyed them along with whites from northern Italy with a special appreciation for Franciacorte.  

In my opinion there was an astounding number of wine presented for tasting (11 in total) however, when we first sat down there were only 6 glasses at each place setting. The first wine was Metodo Classico Riserva Nobile 2009, D'Arapi, followed by Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blanc, R&L Legras. Next was Tocai Friulano 2010, Borgo del Tiglio and the last white was Pecorino Giulia 2012, Cataldi Madonna (which was the same as we had at the tasting with VinoRoma). Given an earlier comment from the sommelier about Italy not having very good white wines I was surprised we had this many.  

The six reds that followed the 4 whites were: (1)Etna Rosso A'Rina 2011, Girolamo Russo, (2) Nobile di Montepulciano Mulinvecchio 2009, Contucci, (3) Schioppettino 2007, Bressan (4) Barbera d'Alba Ceretta 2010, Giacomo Conterno (5) Barolo Cannubi San Lorenzo 2009 Giuseppe Rinaldi and (6) Barbera del Monferrato Superiore Rossore 2010. The final wine of the night was Moscato d'Asti Felicita, Cascina Baricchi. 

The food served with each tasting was excellent to average, the mozzarella and burrata were excellent. The pasta (rigatoni amatraciana) was average. It was interesting to experience this wine tasting versus the tastings we’ve done at VinoRoma.

Thursday, October 24, 2013 

This day was the only one during our entire time in Rome when we had less than fantastic weather.  It was very dreary and cloudy all day, but we donned our rain jackets and made the best of it because today was our day trip to Frascati. 

While researching what to do during this visit to Rome and knowing we wanted to do something centered on wine, I had the great good fortune to stumble across The Old Minardi Farmhouse Wine Tour in Frascati, their website is here:  http://www.theoldminardifarmhouse.com/ .  This was a wonderful way to spend a day, you are not too far outside, of Rome, but it feels like a world away. 

Getting to Frascati from Rome could not be any easier, buy the train tickets at Termini, hop on the train and 20(ish) minutes later you are stepping off the train and into the capable hands of Dominique, who escorted us on a terrific walking tour of the center of Frascati. 

I've got say, why more people don't visit the lovely town of Frascati is beyond me, it's like a picture postcard and we were there on a cloudy day, I can only imagine on a clear day how terrific walking through the streets of Frascati could be! 

After a walk through town, the next stop was the Minardi family vineyard where we met Umberto who happens to be Dominique's friendly father-in-law. Here, Umberto talked about the olive trees and the olive harvesting process, and then we took a walk through the vineyard, all the while Umberto describing the vineyard and the land and Dominique translating for us. When it became apparent to Umberto we could understand every 9th or 10th word he was saying (we know a little, very little, Italian), it seemed to us, he slowed his speaking so we would be able to understand even more! Once through the vineyard it was into the area where the old wine making machines (presses) are kept and we had a lesson on how wine was made "back in the day" before all the modern machinery. 

Umberto, Me & Mom at The Old Minardi Farmhouse

Once we had gained as much winemaking knowledge as we could for the day, Dominique escorted us to the farmhouse terrazzo where we had a delightful olive oil and wine tasting with stunning views to Rome where on a clear day you can see the dome of St. Peter's. The wines were lovely, we tasted 3, but we were really captured by the white Frascati and the dessert wines. So, after a very generous tasting of each, we were happy to purchase several bottles to bring home. 

As if the wonderful wine and bread and pizza at the tasting wasn't enough, Dominique had arranged a lunch reservation for us at an adorable trattoria back in the center of Frascati.  The trattoria was Il Tettuccio located at Via Vincenzo Gioberti, 27.  We took Dominique's recommendation and had the gnocchi with porcini and were not disappointed at all, along with an antipasti plate of delicious cured meats and cheeses and bottle of the Minardi Frascati wine, we were very happy with our day trip from Rome.  And all of this, from the tour of the town, to the vineyard tour to the tasting on the terrace and lunch was €55 per person, we thought that was an great price for an incredibly fun day.  If you are looking for a fun and easy day trip outside Rome, The Old Minardi Farmhouse Wine Tour is an excellent option! 

Gnocchi at Il Tettuccio in Frascati

The train back to Rome leaves Frascati once per hour and we were on the 3:37pm train and arrived back at Termini in Rome at 4pm.  As we hopped on a bus and made our way back towards our hotel the first rain drops of the day began to fall.  Fortunately the rain did not last long and by aperitivo time the rain had stopped and the tables and chairs at the hotel’s rooftop lounge were dry and calling our names. 

We were pretty full from the ample portions of gnocchi at lunch in Frascati, but we had already made a dinner reservation at L’Asino D’Oro.  We considered canceling, but we both really love the food at L’Asino D’oro, so we kept the reservation and decide to try and “go light”. 

We arrived at L’Asino D’Oro located in the Monti neighborhood on Via Boschetto right at 8:30pm and are we glad we had a reservation, we were seated at the last empty table and saw many people without reservations being turned away.  The chef here makes the silkiest smooth soups mom has ever had and this visit was no exception.  Mom had the chestnut soup and I had pasta alla ghitarra in the cacio e pepe sytle with lemon and egg.  Fortunately for us, the portion sizes are not huge!  Then mom and I both had the sformata (it’s kind of flan-like) of porcini and potato on a bed of apple cream.  It may sound like an odd combination, but it was light and fluffy and delicious.  With a bottle of Frascati white wine and a bottle of water the total cost of the meal was €70.  After this day, we really did need to be rolled back down the hill towards our hotel!  But it was one of our most delicious days, and hey, that’s why I head to the gym at home!

Friday, October 25, 2013 

This was our last day in Rome.  When I start planning a trip I try my hardest to incorporate at least one day where we have nothing “in stone” on our agenda.  No tours, no tastings, nothing pressing.  We could do or see whatever we liked. 

As is usually the case, there were a few shopping errands we wanted to do, like stopping at the Santa Maria Novella shop to pick up some lovely soaps and creams, and meander in the Campo dei Fiori area and poke into a few shops we have come to like. We did have one appointment in the afternoon and that was to have coffee with a friend and to chat about our adventures in Abruzzo.  But the time we finished with our leisurely errands it was about 4:30pm, you can guess what was on our minds, yes, aperitivo. 

Aperitivo at Caffe Farnese

On previous trips to Rome we had just about “lived” at Caffe Farnese, getting our coffee and daily wine “fixes” there, but on this trip, we never seemed to be near there, well, today we were and timing was perfect.  We sat down for about an hour and enjoyed our last aperitivo in Rome (well, at least the last for this trip).  I was happily satisfied with my spritz and mom with her white wine and we wiled away an hour or so.  Before we knew it, we needed to head back to the hotel to start packing for our pending departure the next day. 

It took us about an hour to squeeze our possessions, (newly acquired and old) into our suitcases, but did manage to have a little bit of time before our dinner reservation to pop back up to the rooftop lounge to say our good-byes to our bartender friend. 

Rooftop Aperitivo

We decided to have an early dinner because we had to be out of the hotel by 4:30am for a 7am flight departure the next day. So, having heard rave reviews about the renovation that took place to the dining room at Armando al Pantheon and given the restaurant’s proximity to the hotel, we booked our final dinner there. 

Armando al Pantheon located at Salita dei Crescenzi, 31, is a long-established Roman trattoria.  The food here is the “real deal” Roman.  We had been here before in 2009 and we thought the food was ok at that time, but not necessarily special (maybe we just ordered the wrong stuff back then!).  I am really, really glad we went back. 

Since we had a 7:30pm reservation I thought we'd be walking into an empty restaurant, so I was surprised to see almost every table full (and glad we had a reservation!). As I gazed around at the new interior I could feel my excitement building, it was lovely, very comfortable and we could smell the deliciousness coming from the kitchen.

 

Service was terrific, and as usually the case with me, the server kindly "put up with" my fractured Italian language skills. We each ordered the same starter and main dishes. Eggplant parmigianna to start, which was lip-smacking delectable and since it was a Friday, we had the bacala main dish, which was perfectly cooked and placed in a sea of delicious red sauce. Since punterelle was in season and on the menu we had that as a side dish to share, it went perfectly with the meal.  To our delight the pecorino white wine from Abruzzo that we had at two of the wine tasting this week was on the menu and it was the perfect complement to the eggplant and bacala. We ended the meal with espresso and a limoncello for mom and an amaro digestivo for me.  This happened to be the most expensive meal of the week in Rome coming in at €105.  This meal capped our last night in Italy perfectly. I cannot recommend Armando highly enough and I will return on future visits to Roma!

 Saturday, October 25, 2013 

Our last night in Rome was not a restful one for me, I had booked Rome Cabs to pick us up at 4:30am, and I think I probably got 1 or 2 hours of actual sleep.  Knowing I could not over sleep and miss a plane, tends to keep me awake. 

As usual, Rome Cabs was there to pick us up, even slightly before the 4:30am time and we were whisked off to Fiumicino.  The check-in, boarding, flights, connections, re-entry through passport control and customs was a breeze and we were back home before we knew it.  Of course during our lay-over in Paris we couldn’t pass up a stop at the Lauduree shop for a few macaroons, and I was actually able to sleep for several hours on the flight home, now that never happens!

 

Here’s to dreaming of our next Italian odyssey!