Looking forward to using some of your tips in Rome someday.

Patrick, I enjoyed your report. You were there right before I was. That does look like a great apartment, and what fun to have the extra information Walter added! I agree with you about der Pallaro. I didn't even go there my last two trips. I'll make a note about a couple others you went to, though. Did you mean Osteria la Pegnol when you said Osteria Pigna? Just wondering, as I went to Pegnol last year after reading your recommendation. It was great.

No. Osteria Pigna is on Montevecchio, a tiny street running off Coronari. It's fairly small and very atmospheric, ususally with candles and lots of fresh flowers. The food is wonderful, and the delightful owner gives personal attention and takes all the orders.

Yes, that's the one! From my notes:

Author: Patrick Date: 08/30/2004, 02:02 pm
near Coronari, not far from Piazza Navona, called Osteria del Pegno, vicolo di Montevecchio 8. Family run, and the owner waits on you, very friendly.

I guess I just added an "l" on the end. :-d

Hi Patrick

I have very much enjoyed your trip reports, especially of Rome. Osteria Pegno is one of my favorite restaurants. I rented an apartment not too far from it off of Coronari a few years ago. I stopped by last year when I visited, also.

Glad you had a good visit.

Johanna

Ooops. And to complicate the issue, I changed an e to an i above. Yes. Osteria Pegno. That means "pine" doesn't it? Guess I was thinking in English but writing in Italian -- or vice versa. LOL

Actually, doesn't pignoli mean pine? I'm not positive, but I thought pignoli were pine nuts. Anyway, it's a great restaurant!

Pegno is a pawnshop in Italian.

Pignolo is a pine nut - plural, pignoli.

StCirq, it's good to know I didn't imagine that!

To be perfectly finicky about it:

"pegno" is the thing pawned; "monte dei pegni" is the pawnshop.

"pigna" is a pine cone.

The correct word for pine nut in Italian is "pinolo", pl. "pinoli".

"pignolo" is a fussy, over-pedantic person - such as the one posting this message.

<<there she was saying "this is Italy -- of course you are late" as if it made no difference in the world.>>

NP, I have to borrow from an Englishman quoted on a Globetrekker visit to Argentina: "Everyone here has a beautiful watch, and no one uses them!"

Or as Rick Steves said once, if you can't stand waiting now and then, maybe Italy isn't for you. Try Germany.

Hope you'll continue filling in any idle moments as they occur to you.
TC

Hi, Neopatrick!

Great report!

Among the best on these Fodors forums (forii?), as usual!

Thanks so much for sharing! :)

Well, I've certainly never proclaimed myself to be an expert at the Italian language, but since the Osteria Pegna features a pine branch on their logo, I just assumed. . . A pawned item, huh?? Interesting.

My Collins Sansoni dictionary gives this :

pegno (yes, masculino) 1.pledge, security: dare in pegno, to pledge 2.figurative= pledge, token, sign
pegno d'amore:token of love; camera (or casa) di pegno: pawnbroker's; dare in pegno: to pawn; polizza di pegno: pawn ticket

No feminine version given. However searching online I find a gourmet food store in Florence called Pegna:
Via dello Studio, 8
Florence 50122

There is also a Piazza Pegna in Florence, and there is a Wikipedia contributor named Lognes Pegna on a page about Florence. Seems to be a surname. Which might relate to the Spanish surname, Peña ... in Spanish it is a word, as well, meaning rock or large stone.

Makes sense that a restaurant or market would be named for the owner - rather than for a pawn shop!

My immediate apologies. Of course NP said PEGNO, not pegna.

So, a scandinavian named Janusmoos has this photo on flikr.com of ... the Osteria al Vecchio Pegno. Is this it?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/janus/471720168/

Yep. That's it. The guy puffing on the cigarette is the owner.

Now I'm so confused. I guess it is Pegno!

And so, The Old Pawnshop? The Old Pledge? (Token?)
But nutty to find that photo. The web can deliver amazing things sometimes.

Thank you, NeoPatrick, for the great TI. Each report that I read makes me even more eager....37 days and counting! I am adding to my "lists"! Thanks again. :>

What a wonderful trip you two had, Patrick! I am enjoying reading each TR and bookmarking every thing you've mentioned that I can find online. That apartment is great. I hope to get to see it in person one day.

You and Lee really know how to travel . . . 7 to 10 days in all those places would be absolute heaven to me!

I am so glad Lee can still travel with you and enjoy all the wonderful experiences you two continue to share. Your patience is an obvious sign of your love and respect for him. I am facing an illness but still want to do some traveling in the midst of it. I <i>need</i> to travel, if you know what I mean. I told my husband he has to be as kind and patient with me as you are with Lee (which he is).

Love Rome also and enjoyed your report. Was there in May for only 3 days, although I had been there a week several years ago. Went to Pallaro restaurant also-food not great but an interesting experience. Agree about Rampas-also enjoy their food.
It is interesting on another trip to explore what you have not done before. The cat sanctuary in the ruins was a treat for us this time. Free tour of those ruins by a volunteer. Great what they are doing there. Went to Aventine Hill this time for the view and the rose garden.
You could visit the city many times and always find something new. Thanks for sharing.