Rome: a lifetime is not enough. The old saying is true. Before you even get to discover the many culinary delights of Rome, there are endless historical sites, amazing shopping, churches, cathedrals, and so on to keep you occupied. 3 days is nowhere near enough to get a full experience of Roman food, but we were lucky to eat very, very well.

A tourist's day in Rome will always be very busy and involve a lot of walking. I find it's always good to start the day with a cappucino e cornetto at a bar near your accomodation. (By the way, in Italian, bar means cafe). Any bar full of Romans will undoubtedly serve excellent coffee.


Un cappucino e un cornetto perfavore!

After a hard day of shopping on the Via Del Corso, I like to stop at Spizzico for lunch. My bro and I got addicted to it when we came to Rome 2 years ago, and I was very excited to return there.


Spizzico, baby! Spizzico is a chain of fast-food pizza joints across town - and before you roll your eyes at me, they do good pizza. If you're already in a touristy area, I think it's a safer bet to hit a Spizzico, where you'll get good pizza at a reasonable price, rather than wandering into a random bar or ristorante where you'll likely be overcharged and possibly not get brilliant food. My margarita had buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil and delicious ripe tomatoes atop crispily puffed, burnished dough.

The following 3 photos are from a trip to a touristy and expensive (but still good) restaurant on a square just off the Corso Vittorio Emanuele. I don't have the name or exact address anymore, but don't worry, restaurants like this are not hard to find.


Fried Cheese, zucchini flower stuffed with mozarella, grilled radicchio


Salad with carrot, tomato, rocket and fennel


Gorgonzola spaghetti


Enoteca del Corso
Corso Vittorio Emanuele 293

We stumbled across this place whilst looking for O'Pazzariello, a fabulous Naples-style pizza joint which I was recommended by a local guy named Umberto, whom I met at a festival on the River Tiber the last time I came to Rome. I did indeed follow his recommendation on that trip, and enjoyed some of the best pizza I'd ever eaten. On this trip, sadly, O'Pazzariello seemed to be closed. We went past it every day for 3 days and it never seemed to be open. Oh the pain! However, nearby we found the Enoteca del Corso, which was a more-than-memorable dining experience.

As Clarice says...

I can recommend the Enoteca del Corso... It's a beautiful wine shop selling condiments, preserves, etc, but there are tables at the back that serve delicious and reasonably-priced food. The menu made our mouths water!... Sarah and I had a really fab meal there - carpaccio and lasagne, as far as I can remember- along with a glass each of Prosecco and Chianti from their shelves. So nice.

Inside the enoteca


Side wall of enoteca


prosecco e chianti e PRETZELS!


Bread


Clarice's Carpaccio


Lasagne - so damn good. Really rich and creamy, with a great, flavourful meat-and-tomato sauce. I crave that lasagne every day.

Here are my photos of most of the gelati I ate whilst in Italy (Venice & Rome).

I have a love-love relationship with gelato, which began when I was a child, being treated to gelati on Lygon street by my Dad on weekends, and severely escalated 2 years ago when I made my first trip to Europe, during which I spent 2 weeks in Italy. In prepration for my first visit to the land of Gelato, I took Italian lessons, dutifully studied my Lonely Planet and Vogue Entertaining and Travel guides for the best gelaterie. When I arrived, ate all the gelati I could - checking out all the recommendations from the guidebooks, and stopping in at any decent looking one I came across. This ended up being about 3-5 gelati per day. It was awesome.

On this trip, however, I only had 5 days in Italy, but Clarice and I certainly did our best.


My first Gelato in Venice - Lemon and Peach


Sarah = Happy


Strawberry Gelato and Caffe Freddo in Venice


"Omg, Enough with the freakin' photos!" This one, again in Venice, is Ferrero Rocher flavour, I think.


Gelato! Banana and Fior Di Latte (double cream). The best gelato flavour combination ever! This is from some random gelateria in Rome.


Gelateria della Palma
Via della Maddalena 20, Roma

I read about this gelateria in the Lonely Planet. I think the photos speak for themselves, but this is the hugest, craziest, most awesomest gelateria ever! Repeat visits are a must.


Kiwi & Fig


Casa Della Palma 1


Casa Della Palma 2 - cream & fruit flavours


Casa Della Palma 3 - all the chocolate flavours


Casa Della Palma 4 - Flavours with bits of meringue crushed through


Casa Della Palma 5 - more fruit and caramel flavours


Casa Della Palma 6 - the sorbet type

Blue Ice

This one's a chain store, but don't let that put you off. I was recommended this place very enthusiastically by an American girl who I met in Paris on my first trip to Europe. Her recommendation went something like this.

You like gelato? Oh my god, you have to try this place in Rome, it's so amazing. Their chocolate flavour is just incredible, it's so dark and rich... and they give you the BIGGEST scoops! When you're at the Trevi Fountain, stand in front of it, facing away, and just go down the street on your right for like less than a block, and the shop is called Blue Ice... Oh my god, their chocolate is so amazing!

She wasn't wrong.


Blue Ice


Chocolate and Hazelnut

Harry’s Bar created the Bellini – that most delicious cocktail of prosecco and puréed white peach flesh. Today it is still a fantastic bar, attracting tourists from all around the world (mainly the US, it would seem) to try their famous cocktails and wonderful service.


Inside Harry's

And when I say wonderful, I do mean wonderful. There is absolutely no pretention or rudeness in their manner; they're fast, friendly and efficient; and if you happen to whip a camera out (and believe me, everybody does), they'll come over and take a photo of you.


Yes, Clarice and I ARE rich and posh. (If only!)

Bellinis are €12 a pop, which makes them super-duper expensive, but when in Venice...


Bellini

You may be interested to know that we eschewed a gondola ride in favour of sampling the original Bellini. We were on a budget, I'd done the gondola thing the last time I came to Venice, and Clarice really, really wanted a Bellini. They're so deliciously refreshing! We definitely made the right choice.

Venice in summer (or any time of year, really) is touristy, crowded, and overpriced. But why let that stop you? It’s one of the most beautiful places in the world, with gorgeous views, wonderful art galleries, local handicrafts and churches to hold your attention. I've been lucky enough to visit Venice twice now, and hope to return many more times.


View from a Vaporetto


Piazza San Marco

For a food lover, however, Venice might prove to be a challenge. For food lovers on a budget, (like Clarice and I – poor students, you see) Venice is a big challenge. Luckily, it’s not an unconquerable one. If you manage to wander even a little bit off the tourist track, you should be able to find friendly, reasonably priced, family run bars and trattorie. And if all else fails, just eat gelato for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Here are some culinary highlights of our time in Venice...

This is a bread thing filled with green olives and cheese, bought at a paninoteco near the main railway station. The counter was filled with enormous loaves of the stuff; it's sliced to order and sold by weight. It was cheap, tasty and filling, but a bit greasy. So be careful if you're carrying it in the same bag as anything you want to keep clean, such as a pair of red suede Zara high-heeled shoes.



Cappucino! 2 or 3 coffees a day in Italy makes Sarah a happy bunny.


Now, here's one of those "family run trattorie" I was telling you about. We were slightly lost walking back to the bus station one evening, which turned out to be a good thing, because we came across this place, and sat down for some delicious spaghetti.


Family Restaurant

It was great - the owner playing with her super-cute child, her husband preparing the food, waiters speaking to us in ITALIAN, and simple, delicious food. It was cheap by Venetian standards too! Less than €10 for a plate of food is a bargain.


Pretzels - so addictive!


Spag Bol - Just like my Mamma would have made if she was Italian.

This was some sort of festival going on one afternoon - we didn't get too involved, but it looked like fun! Food stalls and long tables and whatnot.

Some sort of festival

We stopped off at the Bar Royal, below, when we were absolutely starving during a hardcore day of sightseeing. It's run by a super-friendly Chinese mother-and-daughter team, and has a loyal clientele of old Venetian regulars, who pop in for an espresso, some vino rosso and some smiles.


Bar Royal


Turkey & Cheese melt thingo from Bar Royal