Italy Revisited-Rome

 

 

 

Twenty years ago when we started planning our first trip to Italy J. proclaimed that he didn’t care about visiting Rome. He thought it would be too big and too noisy. Knowing that we could only see so much in two weeks I wasn’t bothered that we wouldn’t make a stop in Rome. Somehow I knew we would eventually spend time there.

Two trips later and Rome was on our itinerary. Yes it is big and it can be noisy especially if your hotel is right on a famous piazza, but it is one of the most fascinating cities in the world.

Since then we’ve returned time after time and now when traveling to Italy we prefer to start in Rome for a few days and then end up there before heading home. There’s endless sites to see, neighborhoods to explore and of course meals to eat. No matter how much you see, there’s always much more to discover.

We’ve stayed in various areas of the city and discovered that we love the Testaccio neighborhood. A food tour by Eating Europe was our introduction to this un-touristy part of Rome and since then we’ve made it our base.

Home to a variety of family run trattorias serving Roman specialties Testaccio also boasts a well known Mercato with stalls selling produce, meat, cheese, fish, bread, pasta and prepared foods. Like most local markets there are also vendors selling clothing, shoes and household items.

Just across the river is the popular neighborhood of Trastevere. One of my absolute favorite restaurants in the city is located there-La Tavernaccia da Bruno. Their suckling pig with roasted potatoes is hard for me to pass up. If you’re there on Sunday definitely order the lasagna.

Here’s to the hope of making new Roman memories this October…