We flew into Rome on our way to drive through Tuscany and only had 36 hours in the Eternal city, so we were very choosy about what we visited. Our first priority for our quick Roman Holiday was not seeing the Sistine chapel, it was staying cool and managing jet lag during our brief stay while still seeing the sights.
We rented a darling studio in a primo location. Minutes from the Spanish steps, Trevi Fountain, and Villa Borghese gardens, so we could walk most places, which is our favorite way to see a city. Location is key when your time is short- book a place that’s centrally located to the sights you’re interested in, and confirm the air conditioning. Because dividing activities into mornings and evenings, with an afternoon snooze when it’s too hot to function, is our ticket to having the best time in a hot, crowded city. We pulled this pic from the listing, but the apartment is identical.
What We Ate:
Al Antico Vinaio A sandwich shop so good and so fun David made a reel about it, and we went to the original location in Florence, too. We loved the La quarantena and la favolosa. La tricolore was good but I don’t order it as often (loveeee that there’s now a location here in LA.) For reference, we arrived at 10:40 and the line was already up the block but the wait was only 15 minutes and well worth it.
Dar Poeta came so highly recommended, we were suspicious, but we loved this place. The charming little alleyway, the pizza, the cheugy Instagram sign. I always scope out other people’s food as we wait, and as I saw it circulate I was worried, but was way wrong. Maybe it was the walking spritz I had earlier, or that the jet leg was setting in, but this was some of the most flavorful pizza I’ve eaten IN MY LIFE. Our full order was supplì al telefono, supplì cacio e pepe, insalata del vicolo, fior di zucca pizza, amatriciana pizza. The salad was fine, a necessary infusion of greens, and supplì al telefono was lacking a little flavor, but everything else was excellent and would order again. And ALL OF THIS with drinks FOR 50 EURO. Y’all, it is a shame what what we in the United States have done to food. But that’s for another post.. If you’re looking for a lowkey dinner with cute ambiance, I cannot recommend Dar Poeta enough.
Shout out to Pepy’s bar– we landed at 11pm and after dropping bags off at our apartment we were out looking for take out at 1am. Fortunately it was Friday night/Saturday morning, they were open, and their Bolognese was solid.. especially when eaten at the trevi fountain.
Giolitti is old school in all the good ways. We love a morning stroll, stopped by to grab some gelato, coffee, and a pistachio croissant, and would have come back too if it wasn’t literally our last stop before training to Tuscany. This is a great place to start your day.
What we loved
The Trevi fountain was a two minute walk from our apartment, so we visited the Baroque fountain multiple times. From pictures of the fountain on the internet, we assumed that in must be in a massive piazza, but it’s really in a pretty small square. I think the small square adds to the grandeur of the fountain, but it also means that when it’s crowded, you’re packed in like a Ligurian anchovy. Our first trip there was easily the best. After landing late night, we brought our take out to the fountain for a late night supper- we shot this about 2am. Definitely still a fair amount of people but the vibes were mellow and the lit up fountain against the night sky is pretty magical. We also rolled by at noon (third image) and again at 5pm; then it was so jam packed, we hustled through without stopping to take a picture.
The Spanish steps. I may be biased, because our place was literally a stones throw from the top, but these 18th century steps are darling. Starting every outing by bounding down these made me feel like a princess skipping off on an adventure. David took these pics around 8:30 am. We definitely waited for people to clear to get some of these shots, but they were sparse, and we didn’t see the first tour group until nine. But then they got busy quick, and stayed that way till late night.
Villa Borghese Gardens We were there mid morning when the sun and temps were starting to rise, but fortunately the gardens have lots of shade. We enjoyed strolling through these vast and serene gardens. Walking through all this history, David and I couldn’t help but get sentimental.
What we did
Sunset on the Tiber David wanted to take in the sunset over the river and found this spot at Plaza de Puente Humberto to do so. I got a spritz for the walk and we swooned and laughed over a romantic Roman sunset.
St. Peter’s Square The size of both the basilica and the square alone is impressive. If you’re on foot, approach the square from the river, like we did, walking west up Via della Conciliazione. From there the basilica is visible from a half mile away and you’re able to really take in the scale of it. We walked around and through, and couldn’t help discussing the massive wealth of the Catholic Church when literally surrounded by it.
Colosseum/ Monti district We walked past the colosseum at night and that was enough for us. To quote David ‘eh, I’ve been to the one in LA.’ The walk to the colosseum is especially memorable if you’re walking down Via dei Fori Imperiali. The appropriately named street will take you past the numerous historical sights including the forum, and many statues of past leaders. Walking past all these statues, erected during Mussolini’s regime, along with the Colosseum looming large in the background, I can’t help but to reflect on the massive cultural and violent impact Rome had on the world.
what we skipped
Lots- with such limited time, we have plenty of Roman classics awaiting us for a return engagement. We hemmed and hawed deciding whether to tour the colosseum or not. Some of the reasons we decided against it: 1) the idea of touring around the place where thousands of slaves fought to the death for sport while our fellow tourists took peace sign pics made us both a little ew 2) during high season you need to prebook, and lines can be hours long 3) to avoid the heat we’d have to book an evening tour time (too heavy to start our day) and we didn’t want the inflexibility of having to be in the Monti district at a certain time on our only evening in Roma.
Love, Ravayna
