We noticed the same thing every time we walked by Ai Tre Scalini - it's really popular and usually bursting.

On the day we stopped, we were there early, probably getting there at 6 or 630. There were about 5-6 seats at the little bar directly inside the door, and maybe 3-4 cocktail-sized tables against a back wall, some with reserved signs on them. There also seemed to be a second room, but I didn't poke my head in to see how big that was. It's definitely tight inside the room we were in, without much room at all for standing, either -- which is probably why people spill out into the street.

We did go to another enoteca very close by called La Barrique on Via del Boschetto, 41. This place had more indoor seating, but was much more modern inside and not as 'quaint' as Ai Tre Scalini. We found the service to be friendly, too, though I see on the EatRome app that people disagree with that assessment

http://theromedigest.com/la-barrique/

Maurizio was great! I was sad not to get to meet VinoRoma herself, but no complaints at all about Maurizio. He really made it easy, and FINALLY got us to understand what tannins are!

jmct...now you have a reason to return to Rome...going for a tasting with Hande at VinoRoma! LOL! ;-)

We've walked by La Barrique too, it's been on my "radar" for a while and it does look very inviting, but when we went by it was after dinner at L'Asino D'Oro and believe me, we didn't need any more vino!

<<<We also intended to visit the Protestant Cemetery. [Snip] Unfortunately we couldn’t seem to find the entrance,>>>

The entrance is always locked you must ring the bell to have an attendant open it for you.

http://rometour.org/non-catholic-cem...y-english.html

LCI, I already have an April trip booked to take Italian lessons, and can't believe how long the "to do" list is already getting! and I hadn't even thought of doing another vinoroma tasting -- great idea!

Rostra, thanks for that info

jmct - which school are you going to? Are you going with a group or by yourself.

I went to Rome last year with my italian class, and this year we are going to Sorrento. Our teacher is italian and comes with us so we have a built in guide as well but I have also been by myself which I enjoyed very much.

Hi Ann,
I've read and enjoyed your reports and took some of my inspiration to go from you! I'm going the Scuola Leonardo da Vinci, on my own. It will be just a week since that's all I can manage at this time, but I'm really looking forward to it. I hope to go for two weeks somewhere else next year (if this is a good experience), so I hope you write another report on your trip to Sorrento. I have my eye on a school in Chiavari. Sounds like you're going with students again? or just adult learners this time?

I said at the beginning of this report that we have a vow never to return to the Vatican Museums. We both enjoy art and museums, and go to them even when not on vacation, but we’ve been to the Vatican Museums twice and that’s plenty. It’s just too much. Too many people and too much to see (and appreciate). BUT, we love our Mom and she loves the new Pope, so on Tuesday we made our way to Vatican City for some Papal souvenir shopping.

I think the best way to manage a trip to the Vatican is to bookend the visit with great pizza and wine, which is what we did.

First up was the hole-in-the-wall gourmet pizza-by-the-slice shop Pizzarium. We were there a bit before noon and beat the crowd that showed up shortly after we ordered. The gentleman behind the counter explained to us what the offerings were for the day, there were about 8 or so, and we selected three and made our way to some counter space outside the shop. Delicious.

As an aside, the owner/chef of Pizzarium also has a cookbook out, which I got K for Christmas. I’m waiting for my invite for a pizza party at her place.

http://tinyurl.com/l5mg3nq

One last stop before the Vatican – the Trionfale Market. This is a huge covered market, selling all kinds of produce, poultry, cheeses, household goods, fish, meat, honey, and a minimum of junky things that sometimes dominate markets. It was fun to poke around all of the goods, some of the meats and poultry a little “fresher” than we’re used to seeing in our local markets.

And finally we’re off to the Vatican, where even in the driving rain the surrounding streets and St Peter’s Square were teeming with people and every variety of hawker. I was feeling a little achy and tired at this point from some of the walking (and the rain, probably), but K was very patient with my crabbiness (another reason she’s my fave travel buddy), and did a great job finding Pope tchotchkes for Mom. And I know Mom appreciated it, so I am glad that we went.

Papal shopping done, it was now time for a wine break! On the radar was a place that I had read about on the Rome Digest website called Passaguai. Passaguai is a small (maybe 8 or so tables) enoteca with a light menu offering. It was cozy, a short flight of stairs below ground with dark wood and pleasant service, and a great way to relax from the morning’s activities. We ordered a few glasses of the franciacorta that we had sampled at Vinoroma, a cheese plate and a salad, and enjoyed a lovely hour or so relaxing and chatting. I loved this place, and wish there was a copy in my neighborhood. BTW, it’s the sister restaurant of Sorpassa, which I’ve read great things about here and on other sites.

http://www.passaguai.it/

Feeling refreshed, we reluctantly left Passaguai to find the tram and our way to the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna. This was in an area of Rome we’d not been to before, just north of the Borghese park on a street lined with museums. We were there to see an exhibit of works by Marcel DuChamp. The huge front room of the museum was really cool, with a floor made entirely of cracked glass (careful if you’re wearing a skirt!), but the exhibit was a bit sparse in material and not very interesting. Perhaps I’m spoiled since we have such a good selection of his work at the Art Museum in Philadelphia.

We finally made our way back to the apartment and had some terrace time before hopping on the bus for one of our favorite meals of the trip at Armando al Pantheon. We walked around the neighborhood a bit, admiring the Pantheon and taking in the scene. This place has been on my list for all three of our Rome trips, but this was the first time we made it there. So glad we did.

http://armandoalpantheon.it/

To start, we shared an order of porchetta which was unbelievably flavorful and delicious. I followed with a carbonara, and K the amatriciana, and we finished with an order of boiled meat (which I think was picchiapo, a Roman dish with boiled meat, onion, and tomatoes, but not sure b/c they only gave us the English menu. The parts were there. I should have asked for the Italian menu. Often it’s much clearer than the translation). I loved this and have been trying to replicate at home ever since. We finished with a tiramisu. Loved this place and glad we finally made it there.

I am loving/devouring (pun intended) your trip report! It seems like I (and my travel partner/mom) have a similar travel style to you and your sister.

We tried Sorpasso on our last trip to Rome and loved it, now I'll have to give Passaguai a try next time.

VinoRoma has completely convertered me to a Franciacorte "freak", I just found a restaurant near me at home that has 3 varieties on their wine list, you can guess where I went for Christmas Eve this year and what I had for my aperitivo drink there! LOL! ;-)

jmct - i thought that we had explored the area around the Vatican pretty well when we were there last FEb, but it turns out I was wrong - there is still more to see. SHame we missed Passaguai - it would have suited our group down to the ground. Next time!


<<Sounds like you're going with students again? or just adult learners this time?>>

We are going with the students again, though I think that they are likely to be in a different class to me and my "roomie" as we have both done far more italian than they have. I think that there will be 5 adult learners again, and about 12 students, with 3 members of staff including our italian teacher, another teacher from the college who came with us last year, and a n other who we don't know yet. We are staying with families this time, my friend and I with the same family but we actually have single rooms, which i think we are both relieved about as we have known each other quite a long time, but aren't that close. I will of course report back, as must you!

anyway, I am so glad that one of my trip reports has inspired you to try a language school. is this the one you're going to?

http://www.scuolaleonardo.com/Italia...hool-Rome.html

it's in a far more central location than the one we went to in Rome, in fact it's very near an apartment we rented last time i went with the family. It's a fantastic area to stay in, as although it's central, it's also full of Roman life and character. you should have a great time!

Yes, that's the school. I actually looked at one in Prati and the location was a drawback, though I think I'll try to get back to the area (and Passaguai!) again on my next trip. Prati seems quite nice, but I wasn't crazy about being so close to the Vatican (and away from the center) this time.

I'll look forward to your report and your experience with a family stay. It should give you plenty of time to practice conversation!

On Wednesday, we made it to an area that somehow we had missed in the past, the Jewish Ghetto.

After a slow start to the morning, we made our way to the bus and our Ghetto lunch destination, Beppe e i Suoi Formaggi. Beppe is a cheese + wine shop, with a case stuffed with all sorts of cheeses and cured meats. They also sell a wide selection of jams, honeys and spreads from Italy as well as France. We marveled at the cases and the variety of cheese before heading to a side room for lunch.

We started with a cheese plate, which offered a sampling of 10 or so different cheese and spreads. Some were great, some not our taste, but it was fun to try them all, especially since many on the plate were totally unfamiliar to us.

The cheese plate was a bit more generous than we had expected, and I briefly regretted my main course order – but not for long. The egglplant involtini was fabulous, a simple plate of perfectly cooked eggplant wrapped around a ricotta filling. This may have been one of my favorite things I tried on this trip. And yet, I still had order-envy hearing K gush over the beautiful salad that she had ordered. We paired this with a few glasses of wine from a bottle in the case, and it was a perfect lunch. Loved this place.

http://www.beppeeisuoiformaggi.it/

Time to walk off some of that cheese -- of course, we would have had to walk to the moon to do that. Next up was a tour that I had been really looking forward to - the Domus Romane di Palazzo Valentini. These are remains of houses discovered below a government building. You have to book a guided tour (there are a few English tours per day), and are lead through the house via a series of glass floors and passageways, to allow you to look down into the remains of the house. Projections are used to fill in the missing parts, to help you visualize what it would have looked like. A taped recording describes what you’re seeing and what life was like during that time. The tour ends with a film about Trajan’s Column.

This was a good tour and the presentation is really well done. The projections were a great technique to fill in the blanks. It did get to be a little bit long to us at 1.5 hours. I became more interested in watching our guide try to corral our group, which kept drifting apart, and my head was doing the bob-and-weave as I tried to fend off sleep during the film. But it was definitely informative and I really found it interesting to hear how the archaeologists piece clues together with little bits of info they find.

http://www.palazzovalentini.it/scavi.php?lang=eng

After the tour, we headed back to the Ghetto to pop into a few shops we had seen during our first pass. First up was a small shop specializing in Peppers. They sell pepper products in a bunch of formats - jellies, spreads, pastes, oils – and have a little sampling table so you can give some of the products a try. Everything is numbered 1 (not much heat) to 16 (hottest “in the world” per the lovely clerk). Naturally a couple of guys came in while we were shopping and jumped right in and tried the 16. A coughing fit of epic proportions ensued. I think 4 was my max.

We headed back to Beppe to pick up a few pots of honey and wine jams that looked interesting, and then spent a little time walking around the Ghetto more. It’s a small area, but charming and interesting and hard to believe we had previously missed it. I loved the Bernini turtle fountain.
We made our way to the bus and back to the apartment for a little break on the terrace, but soon it was time to rally and make our way to another area in which we hadn’t spent much time previously, Trastevere.

I still can’t say we’ve seen much of Trastevere, but I know it’s a popular place to stay and I can see why. The streets were bustling and packed with restaurants and cafes. We wandered around a bit and took in the street scene before finding our way to Santa Maria in Trastevere to get in one last site before aperitivo. We like to earn our cocktails .

The façade of this basilica is beautiful, with a campanile and mosaic along the top. Inside was even more magnificent. I loved the mosaics.

The piazza in front of the basilica was quieter than I had expected, but we still grabbed a seat at one of the cafes for a spritz before dinner. The activity picked up as we enjoyed our drinks. We were treated to some music by a jazz quartet that had assembled, and of course the omnipresent tchotchke hawkers. We liked “our” piazza better, but this had some good people-watching, too. I bet it gets busier as the night goes on.

It had been a few minutes since we had pizza, so we headed to a busy place we had passed during our wanderings. Ivo a Trastevere was slightly chaotic but a lot of fun, and we enjoyed our pizza and a few beers before heading back to the apartment after another full day.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/ivo-a-trastevere-roma-2

We awoke Thursday sad that it was our last day in Rome, but ready for another full day. We kicked it off with a final cappuccino at Er Baretto, before jumping on the bus to Via del Corso for an exhibit called “Modigliani, Soutine and the Accursed Artists” at the Palazzo Cipolla. The exhibit featured works of Modigliani and Soutine from a private collection, but also included fabulous pieces by Utrillo and Suzanne Valadon, among others. I especially enjoyed learning about these artists’ lives (Utrillo – ugh, what a mess) and I’m always interested in early 20th century Paris (we had a lot of Paris creep into this trip).

It was opening day for this exhibit, and I’m so glad that we were able to see it. What a great way to start our last day. It looks like it runs through April, and I’d suggest trying to catch it if you have the chance and enjoy this period of art. It’s small and takes only an hour or so to visit the rooms, but as you can tell I thought it was terrific.

http://www.romeguide.it/mostre/modig...glianieng.html

We poked into some shops as we worked our way back to Monti, where we picked up a few tasty Panini at the fancy –ish sandwich shop called Gaudeo. We often saw the neighborhood peeps walking around with Panini from this shop as well as another on Via Boschetto called Il Piadinieria, and we couldn’t leave without trying one.

http://www.gaudeo.it/

We began the sad task of packing and straightening up, but quickly decided the afternoon would be better spent with a glass of wine and a concert. For the first time in our week, we found ourselves in Piazza Navona. It was hard to believe that we had been in Rome for a week and not yet been here.
We took a spin around the piazza and took some pics of Bernini’s fountain (finally, not in scaffolding!) before heading to the church on the piazza called Sant’Agnese in Agone. We were here for the concert called “Music in Bernini’s Rome”.

http://tinyurl.com/p6zzrdy

This was a tourist concert that I found on the website called Classictic. It lasted about an hour and was a lovely way to see the church and learn a little about the architects Bernini and Barromini and their rivalry.

After the concert we decided to squeeze in one last visit to the Piazza dei Monti before our dinner reservation at Taverna dei Fori Imperiali. We had been here on a previous trip and really enjoyed it, and this time was no exception. I loved and devoured my carbonara vignarola, and K enjoyed her cacio e pepe. My notes get fuzzy after that, but I do remember that we left with smiles. The place was packed as usual, and we had fun watching the large table of Italian girls sitting next to us celebrating a birthday and having a ton of laughs. A terrific meal and a great way to end our trip.

Our car from Rome Shuttle Limo picked us up right on time on Friday morning, and our return was thankfully ordinary. We had a terrific time exploring Rome, yet I can’t believe how much is left on the “to-do’s” – so many neighborhoods to see, museums to visit and foods to sample. Can’t wait to go back!

Bravo! I wish this report wouldn't end! I enjoyed every bit of it, and I felt like I was walking along with you in Rome! Thanks for taking the time to post this.

Thank you. Loved your report. Very informative. Excellent.

Awww, thank you so much LCI! that's so sweet! It probably seemed somewhat familiar to you since so many of the ideas came from your reports You need to take another trip so I can get some fresh ideas.

Thanks Frances! so nice

Great trip report! Sounds like you got a fair amount of running around done.

What amazed me on my last trip was that there are at least a dozen stunning churches within 10 minutes walk from Piazza Navona. These include Il Jesu, San Luigi de Franchesi and Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. Also Sant'Andrea della Valle and Sant'Ignazio de Loyola. Hope on your next visit you will find these amazing wonders.

PS I bought my weekly travel pass at a tobacco shop, no problem. Sorry you had to "nickel and dime" it.

Thanks for the food recs. I'll make note of those for my next Rome trip!

*tobacchi (danged spellcheck!)

jmct714...I'm happy to report I'm heading to Sicily in 5 weeks, but sad that I will only see Rome while running through FCO catching a flight to Palermo! But, I do want to hear all about your language school experience in April!

Oh Sicily, how exciting! I've not been but it's on "the list". Are you doing it on your own? or with a group?