Pizza, Porchetta & Prosecco…8 Food Focused Days in Rome, Italy
May 1st, 2012, 05:21 PM
#21
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Weekender...I'm envious you will be having dinner with 2 of my favorite Frenchmen! Please send them my regards! (and I'll miss them in August...darn it!)
Denise...I'll do my best to remember every detail!
Denise...I'll do my best to remember every detail!
But, please keep going!
May 2nd, 2012, 06:46 AM
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Two Words - FOOD ENVY!
We loved RomeEats app as well - I think you were the one who recommended it.
Do you know if there is an App for Bologna??? We are there for 1 night in June and want to spend it filling out tummies with yumminess!!
We loved RomeEats app as well - I think you were the one who recommended it.
Do you know if there is an App for Bologna??? We are there for 1 night in June and want to spend it filling out tummies with yumminess!!
May 2nd, 2012, 08:25 AM
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Jamikins...I'm not sure if there are any food apps for Bologna. I was there in 2010 which was my "pre-iphone days". ;-) I'd imagine there probably are, but I don't have any to recommend.
I do recall, and it was on a suggestion from eks, a pretty memorable meal at a place called Gianni in Bologna. It was great!
I do recall, and it was on a suggestion from eks, a pretty memorable meal at a place called Gianni in Bologna. It was great!
May 2nd, 2012, 11:45 AM
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I have a question regarding the i-phone app > is there a charge to use these apps, after purchase - I'm from Canada (with horrible cellphone charge rules) - I know when I have downloaded games, there is a condition to not use out of country? I will have my phone with me on our trip (mainly for the weather & alarm), and will be using an ipad, but of course these are used "wi-fi" only. Any advice is welcomed.
May 2nd, 2012, 12:00 PM
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CalgaryDoll...I turned off my data roaming while in Rome, but the apps worked without needing cell service. The maps are usable "off-line". So you should be able to access the apps without accruing international roaming charges.
May 2nd, 2012, 07:39 PM
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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!
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.
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!
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.
May 3rd, 2012, 04:37 AM
#40
LCI - I am your antithesis, in that i have very little interest in handbags, until i need a new one. [or perhaps I am suppressing my interest in the knowledge that once i started, i wouldn't be able to stop!]
but even I was intrigued by the gabs bags when i came across them in Florence, and almost bought one [for DD of course, who IS a bag queen, not for me]. I think that they are the same ones - they convert into several different shapes, OR, as you say, several different bags. ingenious! in the end common sense, and the credit card limit, intervened.
I love the way you talk so insouciantly about jumping on the tram - I'd love to spend sufficient time in Rome to really suss out the transport system. one day perhaps.
but even I was intrigued by the gabs bags when i came across them in Florence, and almost bought one [for DD of course, who IS a bag queen, not for me]. I think that they are the same ones - they convert into several different shapes, OR, as you say, several different bags. ingenious! in the end common sense, and the credit card limit, intervened.
I love the way you talk so insouciantly about jumping on the tram - I'd love to spend sufficient time in Rome to really suss out the transport system. one day perhaps.
