I’m traveling to Rome for work. I have three nights with not a whole lot of free time but going to try to take advantage of the limited free time I do have and see some of this beautiful city. I’ve been a few times and it’s one of my favourite places to visit EVER!!
Two hours 50 minutes gets you from Dublin to Da Vinci airport and I taxi to the city as it’s already close to 9pm when I arrive. €50 flat fee to the city. I’m staying at the InterContinental Rome Ambasciatori Palace. It’s very fancy!
I immediately drop my bags and take a walk. It’s only ten minutes to the Trevi fountain.
I throw a coin over my shoulder, which hopefully means I will get to come back.
It’s a bustling area of town, so I walk back to a restaurant. I spotted on the way for a quick bowl of pasta.
The restaurant is called “That’s Amorè” and as I walk in they are playing Dean Martin. There are loads of great photos on the walls and considering it’s so close to a lot of tourist action it’s not too cheesy! I order carbonara and a glass of red wine and it’s delicious. The restaurant doubles as a cooking school during the day with Chef Fabio Bongianni.
There are beautiful buildings and impressive fountains on every corner, and in every square, around Rome. As I pass Piazza Barberini I take a closer look at Tritons fountain which is from the 17th century and sculpted by Bernini… serious art and history is everywhere!! This is why I love Rome.
Next day is busy with meetings but we are served a delicious parmigiana for lunch with a tiramisu for dessert…. So good! After work we are treated to a walking tour which I just love. We start by the colosseum and get some history of Constantine.
The views of the Colosseum at night are fabulous. I think this photo below may have to replace the one on my wall at home.
As we walk around the periphery of the Colosseum, we look towards the Roman forum and other ancient gates.
It’s hard not to photograph from every angle
Onwards we go, crossing the new metro line and continue along the imperial forum. I like the statue of Julius Caesar with the basilica in the background.
As we walk along this main thoroughfare there are buskers playing music and it’s very atmospheric as we see the sites of Rome by night. The views on both sides of the road are impressive and the tour guide gives us lots of history to take in as we stop for photos.
We continue to Piazza Venezia (Venice square) and the very famous Monument to Victor Emmanuel II. This is where the tomb of the unknown soldier is housed and also a very famous landmark where you see traffic being directed in front of it at a large crossroads. We take a group photo and yes it’s cold so we are well wrapped up.
We continue to the Capitoline and see the beautiful square, conceived by Michael Angelo in 1536 and executed over the next few hundred years. The beautiful buildings house art and archeological museums which I’ve visited before and are well worth a visit.
This is essentially the end of our tour, but before we turn up a quiet street for the restaurant we see what looks like the colosseum again but that couldn’t be right… in fact it’s the Teatro di Marcello. This theatre of Marcellus was an ancient open-air theatre where in the days of Julius Caesar locals went to see drama, and song. Amazing!
The restaurant is fantastic and unexpected from the entrance!! Long tables full of bottles and glasses, bread, empty food plates, bright lights and bustling waiters – it’s very Italian!
We start with a glass of Prosecco and have red wine once the first course is finished. We have a lot of food! For the first course we have fried fish and vegetables – my favourite being the zucchini flower. The artichoke in the photo below was also very good (never had artichoke served like this!). Then we have not one but two pasta courses, the first is cacio e pepe with guanciale (so good); followed by amatriciana (always a favourite). Our host wants to make sure we taste both of these specialities of Rome and apparently of this restaurant.
The main course is Veal involtini which is rolled veal stuffed with ham and Mozarella with a mushroom sauce and served with chicory – apparently the Italians eat a lot of this, it’s a strange kind of vegetable. We have sorbet with limoncello and vodka for dessert and all finished off by a small glass of Amaro (a bitter herbal liqueur).
What a meal! We are all stuffed and start to walk back to the hotel but there’s a bit of rain. A couple of us jump in a taxi and have one sneaky drink in the rooftop bar before bed. It’s another early start tomorrow but it’s worth it!
Once the work day is over I take a 6 minute walk from the office to visit Santa Maria della Vittoria church as it houses the incorrupt body of Saint Victoria. I’m not entirely sure (based on my research) that she was actually incorrupt at the time of exhuming her – I’ve read conflicting reports!! Anyway here is her wax-enhanced skeletal remains
The church itself is beautiful and has a number of impressive works of art and a Bernini sculpture.
A short walk from the hotel is the Villa Borghese gardens. I want to check it out ahead of tomorrow as I plan to get a run in and check it out in more detail. The Via Vittorio Veneto runs by my hotel and straight through these arches to the park. Easy peasy.
There are lots of cool statues.
I particularly like this headless one… I’m sure there’s a story behind it but no plaque for me to study.
I walk back to meet a couple of colleagues for dinner and we head toward piazza Navona. We pass the Spanish steps.
From across the street there’s an interesting looking building that we check out. It’s Church Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza and it has study rooms upstairs. Very picturesque lit up at night.
More beautiful churches as we near the restaurant – this one is Sant Eustachio.
The restaurant that has been recommended to us doesn’t open for another half hour, so we choose another place across the street which ends up being fantastic. We order pizza, mine with mushroom and truffle and a Montepulciano red wine to go with it.
Next morning I go for a run around those beautiful Villa Borghese gardens. It’s easy to rack up 5km as I zig zag through the grounds.
Cold but fresh 😀
Lots of interesting monuments….
Great statues everywhere
Back at the hotel I have a quick breakfast and pack my work stuff away. I have a great chat with the taxi driver who says he’d love to see his home city of Rome through the eyes of a tourist! A final goodbye to the Colosseum en route to the airport.
Ciao Roma, hope to be back again soon!
odohertyelaine 