Roma, Eataly!

Guest post by Momma Simmons

“Pounds can be shed, but culinary experience never fled, eat your face off.” – Gregory Luanne Berger

Ciao! Buon appetito! The Simmons arrived in Italy looking to eat their way through the country (thanks to the inspiration of Greg's text message that I received at the airport), and see some sights on the way. How lucky we were to have beautiful weather, despite all the warnings we had seen against traveling to Italy in August.

Our first day was the hottest, and we did our share of sweating and guzzling water as we met up with Kyle and Sammar and made our way in and around the Colosseum. But using our Roma Pass we managed to avoid the lines and survey the ancient site. In the evening we enjoyed our first, and possibly our best, true Italian dinner in Trastevere following the advice of our host - don't eat at a restaurant that opens before 7:30 or has people outside asking you to come in.

Our waitress Emilia was possibly the only person in the entire restaurant that spoke English and we were one of the first patrons since we were eating an “early dinner” at 8pm. After starting with a liter of Chianti for a whopping 8 euro, we decided this would be a big night. We ordered the Bruschetta Tavernaccia, a trio of bruschetta featuring eggplant, truffle oil, fresh tomatoes and mushrooms, and started with two primi dishes of pasta, a delicious tomato sauce featuring romana cheese and thickly chopped pieces of mouthwatering bacon, and fettuccini with a light creamy sauce featuring fresh mushrooms and a splash of truffle oil. Our first reaction was “no salt, no pepper, no parmegianna on the table, are you serious?!”, which we quickly retracted when we realized that the dishes were perfectly seasoned and they probably saved us from ruining them. While we initially planned to order a variety of secondi dishes, Emilia’s description of the Porchetta Chop, a nice hunk of baby pig with perfectly crisped skin, a juicy layer of fat, and amazingly tender meat, forced us to abandon the plan. This was clearly the right decision. We savored each of the three courses of the traditional Italian evening meal and sipped our wine throughout. Some of us even finished it off with a lemoncello! Of course we had to stop at our neighborhood gelato shop (refreshing limon) before retiring to our B and B's for a much needed good night's sleep and rest for our legs.

Much of our second day was spent at the Vatican, gazing at the artwork throughout the museums and sanctuaries. As we walked into St. Peter’s basilica we were greeted by three large rays of sunshine, majestically reaching down from the dome above the alter across the ornate building like the fingers of God himself......definitely our aha moment of the trip. Words can't describe the beautiful sight, but hopefully our picture gives you an idea. Our foodie fun for the day came from our porchetta lunch at the Angry Pig, conversing with the personable owner, and an evening outdoor dinner in Piazza Navona, looking at beautiful fountains and perusing paintings of local artists, and of course the mandatory gelato on our walk home.

Sauntering through picturesque streets, and shopping at the Campo de' Fiori gave us a break from the traditional tourist sites, and on the way we came upon beautiful church in the most obscure of places. The church was squeezed between two apartment buildings down a random side street and had a gelato shop just 10 meters from its entrance, but along with the bright blue sky behind it and the simplicity of its interior, it was a beautiful find. Later, we headed to the Borghese estate and museum where beautiful statues were the highlight. We revived with a beer break, and then took in the Pantheon, but didn't get to see rain fall in through the top due to our fantastic weather. Despite the lack of rain we tried to imagine how it was possible for rain to fall onto the huge marble floor without wiping out all tourists present and where the water would drain to. Discussions continued over dinner in a nearby restaurant, and then we went to the Spanish steps, where Sammar told us how our experience should have been, but we were sadly swarmed and annoyed by non-Italian vendors.

Our last day in Rome was both relaxing and exhilarating as we bought cheeses, meat and fruit at a small market and hiked up the streets from Travestere to Gianicolo, providing a fascinating hilltop view of the city. Since it was Friday it was necessary to celebrate with beers at a great local hotspot upon our descent. In fact, we had to do two rounds with a short sightseeing break in between, while waiting for the local and THE BEST pizza place to open! A Happy Friday it was indeed.....and did I forget our discovery of a Sicilian cannoli shop where Sammar literally skipped in the door and was ordering before we could catch up?