Rome: Love at first taste

Although we had eaten some pretty good gelati along the Amalfi coast, we had no idea what we were in for when we tried pistachio gelato in Rome. Avocado green in colour with a texture as smooth as silk, permeated by real pistachios and perfectly balanced with both sweet and nutty flavours…. it was love at first taste! Which pretty much sums up how we feel about beautiful Rome!

Engage in a conversation with anyone about the highlights of their visit to Rome and you will almost definitely hear about the history, museums, ancient ruins and monuments, cathedrals, piazzas, fountains and other impressive architecture. We spent six nights in this incredible city and visited all of the major sights – the Colosseum, the Vatican, Saint Peter’s Cathedral, the Pantheon, the Roman Forum, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. You only have to walk around Rome for a day to be swept away by its incredible preservation of history and intricate detail of its architecture. For us though, it wasn’t the history that completely stole our attention, it was the modern day atmosphere of this ancient city and ultimately the food! (Surprise!)

The Roman Forum

The Colosseum

One of the many beautiful streets of Rome

Rome for us, was the perfect place to just sit and watch the world go by. Unlike Paris, it has affordable coffee, wine and cuisine that rivals every other city in the world and we took full advantage of this. After we’d seen the major sights, we’d find a good café or wine bar, sit down with good glass of wine, a plate of antipasto and watch as people went about their day. I can excuse all our eating and drinking by saying that these times were really important because they gave us time to reflect and enjoy the beauty of Roma. Ok, ok, so we did a lot of eating….isn’t that what you do in Italy?? If you’ve had enough about me talking about food, then don’t read any further! ;-) Maybe this whole blog needs to be renamed to ‘A Foodie’s Global Odyssey’!

Piazza Navona

Campo Di Fiori

Watching the world go by

The tiny streets of Trastevere, one of our favourite spots, were lined with quirky shops, bars, cafes and restaurants, each with their own rustic design and we did our research about the best places to eat in the area. Our most divine experience of food in Trastevere and all of Rome however, was not found from our own research, but was recommended by a local man walking his dog. We stopped to ask him for directions to a particular restaurant and he went on to suggest that we consider Mel Gibson’s favourite place to dine when he is in Rome and also where the locals eat – Taverna Trilussa. It was here that we decided to celebrate our 7^th wedding anniversary and what an incredible culinary treat that was!! The entry area and restaurant itself, was graced with an artistic display of gastronomic delights including numerous different meats hanging from high above. I just knew this was going to be good and couldn’t contain my excitement as the waiter showed us to our table. The pasta, served in the pans they were cooked in, could not have tasted any more heavenly and although the following two courses were also amazing, the quantity of food was more than we could handle! Needless to say, we rolled out of there that night completely full to the brim! We walked a mile to the bus which gave us good opportunity to let the food go down and to contemplate just how much we love this country! We were certainly settling into the lifestyle of Italy and our own love for all things culinary meant we were fitting in just nicely.

Taverna Trilussi