Rick's Roman Holiday
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| To meet friendly Romans, flee the tourist crowds and find a tucked-away wine bar. |
Wine Bars
In Rome, an enoteca (wine bar) is a popular, fast, and inexpensive option for lunch. Surrounded by the local office crowd, you can get a fancy salad, plate of meats and cheeses, and a glass of good wine (see blackboards for the day's selection and price per glass). The area around the Parliament (popular with that crowd) has plenty of enoteche handy for your sightseeing lunch break.
Osteria Enoteca al Bric is a mod bistro-type place run by Maurizio, a man who loves to cook, serve good wine, and listen to jazz. With only the finest ingredients, and an ambience elegant in its simplicity, he's created the perfect package for a romantic night out. Wine-case lids decorate the wall like happy memories. With candlelit grace and few tourists, it's perfect for the wine snob in the mood for pasta and fine cheese. Aficionados choose their bottle from the huge selection lining the walls near the entrance. Beginners order fine wine by the glass with help from the waiter when they order their meal (daily 12:30–15:00 & from 19:30 for dinner, closed Mon June–Sept, reserve after 20:30, 100 yards off Campo de' Fiori at Via del Pellegrino 51, tel. 06-687-9533). While Al Bric can be pricey, feel free to establish a price limit (e.g., €40 per person) and trust Maurizio to feed you well.
Ristorante Enoteca Corsi is a wine shop that grew into a thriving lunch-only restaurant. The Paiella family serves straightforward, traditional cuisine at great prices to an appreciative crowd of office workers. Check the blackboard for daily specials (gnocchi on Thursday, fish on Friday, and so on). Friendly Juliana, Claudia, and Manuela welcome diners to step into their wine shop and pick out a bottle. For the cheap take-away price, plus €2, they'll uncork it at your table. With €6 pastas, €9.50 main dishes, and fine wine at a third of the price you'd pay in normal restaurants, this can be a superb value (Mon–Sat 12:00–15:00, closed Sun, a block toward the Pantheon from the Gesù Church at Via del Gesù 87, no reservations possible, tel. 06-679-0821).
Restaurants
Ristorante il Gabriello is inviting and small — modern under medieval arches — and offers a peaceful and local-feeling respite from all the top-end fashion shops in the area. Claudio serves with charisma, while his brother Gabriello cooks creative Roman cuisine using fresh, organic products from his wife's farm. Italians normally just trust the waiter and say, "Bring it on." Tourists are understandably more cautious, but you can be trusting here. Simply close your eyes and point to anything on the menu. Or invest €40 in "Claudio's Extravaganza" (not including wine), and he'll shower you with edible kindness. Specify whether you'd prefer fish, meat, or both. When finished, I stand up, hold my belly, and say, "La vita è bella" (€9 pastas, €12 secondi, dinner only, Mon–Sat 19:00–23:30, closed Sun, reservations smart, air-con, dress respectfully — no shorts please, 3 blocks from Spanish Steps at Via Vittoria 51, tel. 06-6994-0810).
Ristorante alla Rampa, just around the corner from the touristy crush of the Spanish Steps, offers Roman cooking, indoor/outdoor ambience at a moderate price, piles of tourists, and impersonal service. They take no reservations, so arrive by 19:30, or be prepared to wait. For a simple meal, go with the €10 piatto misto all'ortolana — a self-service trip to their antipasto spread with meat, fish, and veggies. Even though you get just one trip to the buffet (and fried items are generally cold), this can be a meal in itself (Mon–Sat 12:00–15:00 & 18:00–23:00, closed Sun, 100 yards east of Spanish Steps at Piazza Mignanelli 18, tel. 06-678-2621).
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| Treasures and trinkets clutter toe Porta Portese flea market. |
Porta Portese Flea Market (Mercato delle Pulci)
For antiques and fleas, this is the granddaddy of markets. This Sunday-morning market is long and spindly, running between the actual Porta Portese (a gate in the old town wall) and the Trastevere train station. Starting at Porta Portese, walk through the long, tacky parade of stalls selling cheap bras and shoes. Along the way, check out the con artists with the shell games. Each has shills in the crowd "winning big money" to get suckers involved. Hang on to your wallet — literally, in your front pocket. This is a den of thieves. The heart of the market for real flea-market junk (hiding a few little antique treasures) is the area from Piazza Ippolito Nievo to the Trastevere station (6:30–13:00 Sun only, on Via Portuense and Via Ippolito Nievo; to get to the market, catch bus #75 from Termini station or tram #3 from Largo Argentina; get off the bus or tram on Viale Trastevere and walk toward the river — and the noise).
Sights
In the Center: Galleria Doria Pamphilj, filling a palace on Piazza del Collegio Romano, offers a rare chance to wander through a noble family's lavish rooms with the prince who calls this downtown mansion home. Well, almost. Through an audioguide, the prince lovingly narrates his family's story, including how the Doria Pamphilj (pahm-FEEL-yee) family's cozy relationship with the pope inspired the word "nepotism." Highlights include paintings by Caravaggio, Titian, and Raphael, and portraits of Pope Innocent X by Diego Velázquez (on canvas) and Gian Lorenzo Bernini (in marble). The fancy rooms of the palace are interesting, with a mini-Versailles–like hall of mirrors and paintings lining the walls to the ceiling in the style typical of 18th-century galleries (€8, includes worthwhile audioguide, Fri–Wed 10:00–17:00, closed Thu, from Piazza Venezia walk 2 blocks up Via del Corso and take a left, Piazza del Collegio Romano 2; tel. 06-679-7323, www.doriapamphilj.it).
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| St. Paul's Outside the Walls: A heavenly sterile slice of the Vatican. |
In South Rome: St. Paul's Outside the Walls (Basilica San Paolo Fuori le Mura) was the last major construction project of Imperial Rome (c. 380) and the largest church in Christendom until St. Peter's. After a tragic 19th-century fire, St. Paul's was rebuilt in the same general style and size as the original. Step inside and feel as close as you'll get in the 21st century to experiencing a monumental Roman basilica. Marvel at the ceiling, and imagine building it with those massive wood beams in A.D. 380.
It feels sterile, but in a good way — like you're already in heaven. Along with St. Peter's Basilica, San Giovanni in Laterano, and Santa Maria Maggiore, this church is part of the Vatican rather than Italy. The church is built upon the supposed grave of St. Paul, whose body is buried under the altar. (Paul was decapitated two miles from this spot, and his head is at San Giovanni in Laterano.)
Alabaster windows light the vast interior, and fifth-century mosaics decorate the triumphal arch leading to the altar. Mosaic portraits of 264 popes, from St. Peter to the present, ring the place — with blank spots ready to depict future popes. Pope #265 — Benedict XVI — should show up here any day now; the portraits are put up near the start of a pope's reign. Find John Paul II (to the right of the high altar: Jo Paulus II) and John Paul I (to his right, with a reign of only one month and three days). Wander the ornate yet peaceful cloister — decorated with fragments from early Christian tombs and sarcophagi of people who wanted to be buried close to Paul (cloister closed 13:00–15:00).
The courtyard leading up to the church is typical of early Christian churches — even the first St. Peter's had this kind of welcoming zone (free, daily 7:00–18:00, modest dress code enforced, Via Ostiense 186, Metro: San Paolo).
Montemartini Museum (Musei Capitolini Centrale Montemartini) houses a dreamy collection of 400 ancient statues, set evocatively in a classic 1932 electric power-plant among generators and Metropolis-type cast-iron machinery. While the art is not as famous as the collections you'll see downtown, the effect is fun and memorable — and you'll encounter absolutely no tourists (€4.20, €10 combo-ticket includes Capitol Hill Museum, Tue–Sun 9:00–20:00, closed Mon, Via Ostiense 106, a short walk from Metro: Garbatella, tel. 06-3996-7800, www.museicapitolini.org).
Daytrip to Ostia Antica
For an exciting daytrip, take a Metro / train combination from downtown Rome to Ostia Antica, Rome's ancient port. The most underrated sight in Rome, it's similar to Pompeii and a lot closer. Tour the ruins and museum using my self-guided Ostia Antica Tour (written with the help of Tom Rankin, who runs the American Institute for Roman Culture in Rome).
To maximize sightseeing efficiency on your Ostia daytrip, you can easily visit the sights in south Rome when you return from Ostia to Rome. Catch the train from Ostia to Rome's Piramide Metro stop, where you'll find a cluster of sights: an ancient Roman pyramid and gate; a Protestant cemetery (with the tombs of poets Shelley and Keats); and Monte Testaccio — an ancient trash-heap of pottery turned into a lively restaurant and nightclub scene. Nearby is the Montemartini Museum (described above; Metro: Garbatella) and St. Paul's Outside the Walls (described above: Metro: San Paolo).
Updated for 2008. For lots more information, check out our best-selling Rick Steves' Rome guidebook — or join us on one of our free-spirited tours in Rome.