San Pietro

A Fantastic Restaurant

Located in Testaccio, this is winner for pasta  carbonara and tonerelli cacio e pepe. YUM!!

More to love...Mortadella

Truth & Beauty

My Italian is good enought to read this...& laugh!!

Reasons this is beyond true:

GELATO

Pizza Hebraico at Boccione

Corneti

Ravioli con ricotta e limone

Parmesano Hunks as an appetizer (?)

Pasta Cacio e Pepe ever

Pasta everyday

Pizza Florida whenever possible

Pizza Bianca as a snack!

Pouring olive oil on everything

More cheese!!!!

In my top 10

One of the best things about being in Rome for more than a few days is that there is time to just SOAK IN all the amazing art and architecture.  Meandering, not rushing through the streets.  Peaking into places 10 times when no one else is there.  It is just wonderful.  What a gift.  Sometimes I just have to pinch myself to know that it is not a dream.  If I could redo all my studies and be 19 again, I think I would be an architecture student or an art historian.  My brain can't hold it all now, hence my need for lots of books of information on what I am looking at, but I sure do love the looking!!!  (Of course, I would therefore already be fluent in Italian already, having studied architecture in Italy for so long...alas, this language is killing me.  What a mess with Spanish!)

Anyway, back to churches.  Santa Maria della Pace.  So lovely.  Almost never open.  But I walk past it at least twice a day and admire the gorgeous Baroque facade.

St Ivo della Sapienza is hard to even get a peak inside of especially in the Winter.  But during the summer, there are concerts and Voila!, open doors.  The courtyard is the best part in my humble opinion.  Another Baroque beauty designed by Borromini.  

I don't (yet) have a picture of my last new fav.  It is called San Lorenzo in Lucina. We walk by it often (itis near Giolitti's :-) but I never went in until this visit.  Now we visit often.  I just love the the portico outside and the amazing main altar and art around it.

Things I love in Italy #1001

Little packs of pancetta, all neatly chopped.  It's not like I can't get this at Traders Joes.  But here there are 20 varieties to choose from at the supermarket, all higher quality and all under $3.00.  Seriously.

There is a "funny" story that mirrors this.  According to one of our foodie tour guides, further explaining the gradation of olive oils that we heard at Volpetti's, the best olive oil stays here, the next best goes to European countries & the stuff that does not make the grade...to the US.  Haha.  Not.  Bet it is the same with all that parmesan and romano...maybe France and Spain are joining Italy in dumping their leftovers in the US?? And it is all bought by people like me at Dean and DeLuca and Taj MaTeeter?  I'm just sayin...