Less than two week’s ago I received the nod from Expedia that I would be going to Rome as one of their guinea pigs for a new blogging initiative. Three bloggers would be looking at Rome from three different angles – Rachel, art and culture, Laura, shopping and fashion, and myself, food and wine. How could I refuse?
Although I have been to Italy many times before, I had never been to this wonderful country’s capital (apart from a flying visit for an Audioslave concert which doesn’t really count) so I was particularly excited that I would finally get to see the sights of Rome. Images of exquisite marble statues, menacing Roman gladiators and plates of spaghetti carbonara filled my mind.
Pasta on a budget by the Spanish Steps
And so, last Thursday, I hopped on a plane to Rome. After checking into my hotel, in a superb central location, just above the Spanish Steps, I was greeted by Diana from Browsing Rome. We had connected on twitter and she had kindly offered to introduce me to a couple of her favourite eateries – first stop, Pastificio. You’ll find this down Via della Croce, just off the Piazza di Spagna, surrounded by stylish restaurants and designer boutiques. If you weren’t looking for it specifically, you would probably not notice it, but here you will find a great lunchtime meal with wine for just 4 euros. A popular place for locals, you will need to arrive fairly early before they run out of just two pasta dishes that are on offer each day. When I visited one dish was gnocchi, as it was a Thursday (the day this is traditionally eaten) the other was spaghetti carbonara (a very traditional Roman dish dating back to the time of the gladiators). While this may not have been the best food I would come across in Rome it certainly was the best value. Plastic glasses and bottles of water are left out for you to help yourself from, as is a carafe of wine. A simple meal, served on plastic plates with plastic cutlery, in unassuming setting, popular with locals and perfect for lunch on a budget, in a location more known for its designer boutiques and fine dining.
The best gelato in town
As Diana well knew from following my tweets, I am very fond of gelato (who isn’t) so for dessert we headed off to Il Gelato*, off Via Tomacelli (update – this branch has now closed but details of other branches can be found at the end of this post). Tucked away in a side street, next to a small fruit and vegetable market, this too could be easily missed. However, make the effort to find it, or one of the other three branches in Rome, and you will be rewarded with over ninety flavours of artisan gelato including seventeen varieties of chocolate!
Artisan gelato at a glance
A great way to tell if the gelato is the real deal is to check the colour of the pistachio; if it’s bright green it was probably made from a powdered mix. Equally dubious, is finding a flavour on offer out of season, such as strawberry in winter! At Il Gelato the pistachio is a pale brown,with just a hint of green, and all the gelato is made from only the best and freshest ingredients. You’ll find some surprisingly good savoury flavours too such as toasted sesame seed, which is grey and visually unappealing but actually very popular. Other unfamiliar flavours included salted peanut, red pepper and celery, but, on my mission to find the best chocolate gelato in Italy, I couldn’t resist 100% manjari chocolate (made with Madagascan beans) with zabione (an Italian dessert made with egg yolks, sugar and sweet wine) a sublime combination!
Thank you Ana from Mrs O Around the World for introducing me to Diana.
Thank you Diana from Browsing Rome for the perfect start to a really amazing long weekend (and I can assure you there are plenty more treats yet to come!)
Lastly, thank you to Expedia for giving me this wonderful opportunity to discover Rome’s food and wine.
If you can’t get enough of all things Italian before my next post do check out my fellow travel bloggers’ sites – Rachel, The Nothernist and Laura, Explore du Jour who has already written some wonderful articles about our long September weekend in Rome.
Here’s a link to my map of Rome, showing all my favourite locations including Pastificio and Il Gelato.
Il Gelato branches in Rome
Viale dell’Aeronautica, 105
Viale Aventino, 59
Via Prissila, 39
*Piazza Monte d’oro (betweenVia Tomacelli and Via dell’Arancio)
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More Posts from Rome
Going solo in Rome
How did I find travelling on my own in Rome plus a few handy tips.
Roman pizza and peaches in red wine
Learning to cook pizza in Rome including the recipe plus a simple dessert of peaches drenched in red wine.
The authentic taste of Rome!
Join me on a wonderful food tour of Rome including the oldest market, numerous tastings and where to find the best coffee and the best food souvenirs.
Pairing Italian Wine and Food
Learn the basics of wine tasting and pairing food and wine.
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Oh wow, that gelato looks fantastic! I never knew flavors like celery and red pepper existed, but I’m strangely curious now – did you try any wacky flavors while you were there?
I did try bacon and chocolate gelato and very good it was too!
I enjoyed my food tour of Rome, vicariously through this wonderful blog post, Kat. You’ve managed to capture the flavor of the cuisine. The aroma makes my mouth water. The smooth cool of chocolate gelato slipping on my tongue. . . no words describe this chocolate heaven. Thanks for taking me away, Kat.
Thanks Cat, and my pleasure. I’m guessing we have more in common than just our names! 🙂
Wow, what an amazing trip! Your descriptions are making me crave carbonara pasta, haha.
It was amazing and I felt very lucky to be there. I need to go back though for more carbonara and also the best pesto I have ever tasted. Then there’s the gelato… and the wine… I could go on… 😉
Sounds like a fabulous trip, and those gelato flavours are making my mouth water!
It was a superb trip and I’m really looking forward to sharing more of it with everyone.m 🙂
Lucky girl! What a great trip. Oh, sigh, gelato. I just spoke with someone today who was telling me she was in Cinque Terra in the town where gelato was invented, and they have a gelato school there. Booking my tickets!
Hi Vera, Just found your comment in spam folder! Yes, I did feel very lucky.
I love Cinque Terre! Only spent a day there once hoping on and off the boat and I had no idea about this school. This needs some serious investigation I feel! Do you know which village it is? (My copy of Harmattan arrived today, so thanks for the tip!)
€4 for a meal and wine?! Almost sounds too good to be true – what would you give it out of 10? I’ll definitely pop there if I ever make it back to Rome!
That’s a tough one! 10/10 for value, 10/10 for quantity, 8/10 for ambience (authentic rather than relaxing) but only 6 or 7/10 for taste. Note: my carbonara actually didn’t have any meaty bits in it which was a little disappointing! I’d 100% recommend it if you are on a budget (or in a a hurry!)
Hi Kathryn, congratulations for bagging the best assignment – food and wine!! You did your assignment well and looking forward to the future ones. Ahhh…those gelatos…I’ll fly back to Rome just for those.
Thanks Marisol. I had a superb time and learnt so much (which I’m looking forward to sharing with you over the coming weeks).
Seventeen varieties of chocolate – oh dear!!! This sounds amazing and I can’t wait to read more.
Still to visit Rome but it’s climbing higher up the list the more I learn about it. Great post 🙂
Rome really is a stunning place to visit on so many different levels. I hope to go back sometime to do some more gelato research amongst other things!
This sounds like it was a fantastic experience! And finding the best gelato in Rome is an important task. All those delicious flavors – thank you for sharing your research… 🙂
Always a pleasure to share such important finds with my fellow researchers 😉
What a great opportunity! Congrats and thanks for sharing! You were with Laura at Porta Castello? That calzone looked heavenly. Was it? Now I want one…
Thanks. I really did feel very lucky. I learnt so much in just a few days!
Sadly no, I didn’t manage to meet up with Laura on the trip. I did have a great meal with Rachel though but they’ll be more on that in another post.
I am so jealous, Italy is one of my most favorite destinations, look forward to reading more about the food and wine which is, of course one of the first reasons for choosing to visit Italy….well for me anyway…..will go see what the other bloggers have got to say to.
Thanks Cynthia. Hope my posts bring back a few happy memories and inspire you to make some new ones! Do you think you might visit Europe in the near future?
Wonderful post Kat – takes me back to my trip to Rome 2 years ago. Did you have afternoon tea at the English tea rooms next to the Spanish Steps? VERY expensive tea and scones!!
Thank you! No, I didn’t. I’m afraid I spent too much time rushing around trying to fit everything in. If I had spotted it I might have been tempted. I’d have been interested to see how it compared to a ‘cream tea’ in England!
Anything about Rome will always be a great read for me as it brings back childhood memories when my family stayed there for three years. Thanks for rekindling those memories through this post. Love it!:)
That’s great to hear Michael, thank you. I hope my forthcoming posts bring back more happy memories.
It’s quite cold today in Krakow but reading your post made feel warm and hungry for ice cream. Thank you 🙂
My pleasure! 🙂