Absolutely LARVIN Rome! Scooterboy and I have romped around for two days now and it is an indescribably amazing city. I love just wandering around all the little streets and alleys - beautiful buildings, courtyards and stunning doors everywhere!
Food has been very hit and miss so far. A recommendation from Tripadvisor, Ivo a Trastevere was only so so - good but nothing to rave about, and another recommendation we found online La Buca di Ripetta in Via di Ripetta, which was a lot more expensive than Ivo, was not particularly good. They managed to not get pasta right which must be some kind of sin in Italy... tasted like they had emptied the salt barrel into the dish (we ordered different pastas and both of us experienced salty hell). but the fish was nice enough. No standout but they didn't screw it up (hard to screw up grilled fish I guess).
However, we have found a couple of gems so far.
Giolliti in Via di Uffici di Vicario is SENSATIONAL! Fantastic selection of antipasti - the grilled eggplant, red peppers, green bean salad, roast potatoes, fish with tomato sauce were brilliant! and rasonably priced. And they are famous for their gelatis - and rightly so! Absolutely delish!! I will post photos once I get home to my camera chord : )
We have also sampled a sensational prosciutto and mozarella right here in the roof garden/restaurant of our hotel. Best mozarella I've ever tasted. And the prosciutto was as good as the other of my fave prosciutto of all time, which had been shipped by friends from Spain. I'll name the hotel once I leave Rome.
So glad Scooterboy and I opted for fewer destinations but a decent spell in each destination. It's great not feeling rushed and just wander, wander, wandering down all the nooks and crannies that we chance upon. We've checked out a couple of the usual suspects sites so far but by far, the standout experience has been just walking and checking out the laneways.
