We had roughly twenty-four hours to show friends what we like so much about the magical city on the Tiber River. The overnight flight from the US brought us to Leonardo Da Vinci Airport early enough that we were able to check into Hotel Mozart, Via del Greci 23B, Roma, 00187, tel: +39-063-600-1915, which is between Piazza Popolo and the Spanish Steps. Piazza Popolo contains the Flaminio Obelisk, which was built in Egypt sometime during the 13th century BC and brought to Rome by Augustus during the 10th century BC. It is one of thirteen ancient obelisks in Rome. Piazza Popolo is overlooked by the Borghese Gardens. Just a few blocks south of Hotel Mozart is the Spanish Steps, which cascade down from the Scalinata di Trinita dei Monti Church, which was ironically built by French monks in the early 1500s and remains French property in Rome to this day.
From this location it is easy to walk to the major sites of the city, but in a compressed schedule and with the temperature hovering near 90 degrees Fahrenheit at the end of August, taxis became the favored means of getting from place-to-place.
The hotel arranged for a taxi to take us to the Coliseum, which was the first and most important stop. One of our traveling companions had been a high school teacher and coach, who taught World History, but had never traveled to Rome previously. Gary researched the sites before the trip and was able to highlight aspects of the times and culture of that ancient period. The reconstruction of the Coliseum is in full effect, with workers spread across the site and the construction equipment and materials staged everywhere. The photogenic nature of the site has been compromised by all the workers and equipment blocking the most memorable sight lines. I often wondered why the producers of the movie “Gladiator” had simply not approached the city and agreed to pay them the roughly $50M dollars spent building a partial replica for the movie set. That much money would have gone a long way towards bringing that pivotal site in world history back to life.
After the Coliseum, we wandered through the Roman Forum area and ultimately reached Trevi Fountain. We decided to return here later when another of our group would arrive. We have often stayed at Hotel Fontana, Piazza di Trevi, 96, 00187 Roma, which overlooks the fountain. Although the rooms are tiny, noisy and difficult to reach, we love the opportunity to rise early, have breakfast from the top floor breakfast room. The ability to look down at the fountain at dawn, when there are no crowds, or sounds, other than the security people who maintain vigilance around the clock makes it all worthwhile.
One of our favorite restaurants in Italy is Da Fortunato, Via del Pantheon, 55, 00186 Roma, (www.ristorantefortunato.it), which is on a side street adjacent to the Pantheon. That was our next destination, although we arrived before they were open (12:30 for lunch). So we went down and toured through the Pantheon, which is one of the oldest religious sites in the city, predating the Christian era. It is now owned by the Catholic Diocese of Rome and has assumed a new life as a Basilica and mausoleum with ornate in-laid marble and the memorials to many famous Romans.
Da Fortunato did not disappoint. Even though it was lunch, we opened a bottle of a nice Mt. Etna rosso. Light and pale red, not quite pink, it complimented the pasta dishes we selected. Had this not been the first meal in Rome, we probably would have sought out something lighter, but the cacio e pepe pasta dish is a Roman favorite. Simple oil and pepper on the standard spaghetti noodles, it is not as heavy as a traditional tomato sauce covered dish. Karen and I both tried it as we had recently sampled a version of it by a chef of Roman descent in Dallas. The major difference between the two locations was that in Dallas they augmented the pepper portion with chili pepper, making the dish slightly spicier. Interestingly, at dinner that night I found a restaurant at Piazza Navona used chili pepper in their version of cacio e pepe pasta.
After lunch, we returned to Hotel Mozart, rested and prepared for the evening.
We met the rest of our party at Trevi Fountain, took pictures and walked the short distance to Piazza Navona where the first task was to select a restaurant for dinner. Mathiew used an app on his phone deciding that one across the square from where we entered was the candidate. This particular restaurant, Ristorante Tre Scalini has a special dessert: a chocolate confection they call a Tartufo. They apparently sell a lot of them as they have trays in the kitchen stocked full. For this meal our group included Alex and Taryn in addition to Mathiew, Christina, Gary and Cindy. An eclectic group, we had great conversations about Alex and Taryn’s quick side trip to a small island off Rome named Ponza, where to store their suitcases for that short trip across, the bed and breakfast where they were going to stay and another very small island next to Ponza they hoped to visit.
Unfortunately I didn’t take down the menu information and the restaurant does not post their menu on their website. What I can tell you is Mathiew, Christina and Alex all had veal dishes, Cindy had chicken parmesan and Gary, Penne pasta. Karen and I started out with an interesting fennel salad, I had a tagliatelle with walnut sauce, and Karen and Taryn, a tomato gnocchi. Everyone thought the meals were excellent, although the Tagliatelle most different. Mathiew chose two wines, a Piemonte Barbera d’ Asti and a Sardinian Cannonau. The unanimous consensus was that the Cannonau went better with the choices that evening.
We ended the evening with the short walk back to Via Corso, took a taxi back to Hotel Mozart knowing this was the end of our short stay in Rome.
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