RETURN TO ROME
The Chief Penguin and I determined that it’s been 45 years since we visited Rome for the first time and about 12 years since we last were here. We initially came for a scientific conference for him and then visited fairly frequently through the years, bringing our son when he was just 2 and again when he was three, with more trips for all of us and later just us.
On our re-introduction yesterday, Rome was busy and bustling with groups of tourists midst the locals, but overall appeared cleaner, trendier, and more au courant. We’re staying around the corner from Campo de’ Fiori, and enjoyed a light lunch of tomato bruschettas and then melon with prosciutto and mozarella at a cafe in the square. After, we navigated through the throngs around the olive oil vendors and produce stands, busy on this Saturday afternoon, and headed for some favorite spots.
Piazza Navona was lively with a Michael Jackson wannabe dancer, a combo of three older guys playing vaguely classical music, and lots of people just milling around. The day was perfect—sunny, dry and about 75 degrees. From there to the Pantheon was a short walk. We wanted to go inside, but the huge crowd was off putting. We’ll do that another day, not on the weekend.
After a short break at our Roman abode, we walked past high fashion shops, art galleries, tech stores and the like, to dinner at Pianostrada Laboratorio. This restaurant with its contemporary décor is helmed by women and serves creative Italian food with a twist.
The bulk of the menu is starters arranged by type (everything from fried to veggie to focaccia to small sandwiches and burgers) with a small single sheet of entrees. Given that it was our first night and, we were dragging from jet lag, we opted for three selections from the starter menu.
Our focaccia had Gorgonzola, pine nuts and honey on it with a hint of cinnamon. Four luscious squares of it. We then had their fish and chips, a riff on the traditional which was a variety of chips along with four fish cakes of tuna and lemon. Light and delectable!
We also sampled deconstructed fried zucchini blossoms layered with mozzarella and a bit of anchovy. The meal was a creative and tasty experiment, but not for those hungry for spaghetti and meatballs!
You might wonder how we ended up at this intriguing restaurant. Although we do know Rome well, we used the online travel specialists, Journy, to help plan this trip. They did an excellent job for us for our earlier trip to Mexico City and so far their recommendations here have been spot on! They made this restaurant reservation for us plus several others.
For the day we logged a reasonable 12,000+ steps. Now for some sleep!
Note: Photos and text ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).
