Mama & Papa in Roma

Sometimes my roommates and I talk about the random things that make us homesick. One of the buildings I walk by always smells like a bonfire for some reason and I miss camp. It smelled like a barbecue the other day and I longed for my cottage. We crave Mexican and Chinese food despite the fantastic pasta we are surrounded with. I wanted to call my sister the other day until I realized I don't really have a phone and it's a six hour time difference. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE life in Rome, but sometimes I want to curl up in my bed, have dinner with my family, or watch a movie with my friends back home.

Enough of that, however, since I was lucky enough to have a taste of home in Rome. A few weeks ago, my parents flew in to visit for several days! It was so great to see and hug them.

wednesday

My mom is still learning to know when she can send messages to me, aka when she is connected to WiFi. Which I also taught her that no, her phone does NOT automatically connect to it and it can actually be hard to come by when you're traveling in Europe. They had my Italian number and all was fine, however, when I met them at the train station! They had made it on their first flight across the ocean together :)

After hugs and pictures, I dragged them into the bar for a true Italian breakfast - a pastry and cappuccino. Actually, they wouldn't try a cappuccino and just the sweets. Oh well.

I walked them up the hill [since everything is up hill here] to drop their bags at the Carini Guesthouse. Phil, a Naples born, New Yorn raised man, gave us the friendliest greeting.

Off to the Monteverde market. We picked up ingredients to make my best attempt at an "authentic Italian meal" later that night. We almost lost my dad a few times as I weaved through the stalls and he was still watching the "macelleria" [butcher]. 

We headed to get some lunch at Pinsere, some of the BEST pizza in Rome! It's really highly rated on TripAdvisor, and for good reason. They make little round, personal sized pizzas, more for a carry out lunch than the true Roman style dinner pizza tonda. Their crust is so yummy and fluffy, the super fresh ingredients packed on, and it's baked in the oven before your eyes to get the cheese all melty. My mom and I shared a bufalo mozzarella, fresh tomato, and basil pizza [always a good go to] and my dad tried one with speck, a usual cut of meat here. We got it to go ["porto via," as I just learned they say in Italian] and took it to Villa Borghese to eat. Alayna, Gianna, and I did the same thing a while ago, and I can't think of many more perfect days to repeat. It was sunny and warm as we sat in the park, eating, people watching, and chatting since I hadn't seen them in months!

My Art of Rome assignment that week had been to visit Galleria Borghese and choose three paintings I was interested in analyzing. I reservered a ticket, but when I went back to get one for my parents, they were sold out :( I don't think they minded, as they explored the park while I went in for my allotted two hours between 5:00 and 7:00. It's kind of nice that they only let so many people in - the museum isn't crowded and it's much more enjoyable. I wasn't sure what to expect, but Galleria Borghese ended up being incredible. I guess just about any museum in Rome is. The collection of sculptures was amazing, especially Bernini's flawless works. There was a Giaciomedi exhibition, as well, and I love his quirky human figures. Upstairs, the paintings are gorgeous, as well. The collection is mostly Renaissance and Baroque work. Since the museum used to be the residence of the Borghese family, the entire building is a work of art. In one room, I even laid down on the bench in the center to simply stare up at the ceiling. It's amazing how much more you see when you actually stop to look up. 

We had a long way home as the Villa & Galleria Borghese are north of Termini and I live in the south part of town. Basically, we covered a lot of ground and my parents saw lots of Rome! Back at my apartment, my mom helped me make dinner. Have I mentioned yet that I love to cook? Especially when I can shop at little stores and markets in Rome? So fun. And so delish. On the menu:

stracchino & arugula bruschetta

tomato & garlic bruschetta

roasted rosemary, lemon, white wine chicken

zucchini coins

brunello [red wine] from tuscany

apple dessert from the best pastry shop nearby

I've heard the whole, "you're supposed to match the color of your wine to your meat," theory, but when I went wine tasting in Tuscany, that wasn't the case! I learned your wine should never be sweeter than your food. We had roasted chicken and potatoes with the same brunello I brought home and drank with my mom and dad! I also did a project for class on wine and we found an interesting wine pairing guide. It has so much more than simply red or white. 

[click the link above to see it bigger from the Wine Folly website]

It says that medium reds go with roasted food, so I think it was a success!

The bruschetta was the same I made with Chef Andrea in my cooking class and I think I managed to replicate it :) Of course, dessert from our favorite pastry shop on Viale di Trastevere was delish. I don't know if it actually has a name because outside all it says is "pasticceria" but it's really close to Stazione Trastevere. 

Exhausted after their trip and a long day, I finally sent them back to the guesthouse! 

thursday

I let them sleep in a long time the next morning as I had Art of Rome class from 9-noon. I met back up with them for lunch, though, which I ate on the steps of the fountain outside the Pantheon. I think Piazza della Rotunda is beautiful because the front of the Pantheon looms over such a small, bustling space. Walking up to it is the best, though, because the Pantheon doesn't look like much from the back. You have to turn the corner and be totally stunned by its magnificence. 

After gelato at the famous Giolitti, we hit all the main points in central Rome. I took them to the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Piazza Venezia, Vittoriano, Cat Sanctuary [Imperial Forum], Piazza Navona, down Via del Corso, and Piazza del Popolo. It was quite the walking tour! Oh, and we had to get roasted chestnuts from a street vendor. I have a strange love for the smoky, sweet flavor of them.

[fontana di trevi]

[piazza del popolo, a favorite of my mom's]

According to Carolina from Homebaked's suggestion, we went to dinner at Bucatino in Testaccio for some true Roman food. It was a hit! Starting off, we ordered house wine [of course] and prosciutto e melon. They like the sweet & salty combo just as much as I do! Since it was Thursday, or "Gnocchi Giovedi," we had to get the fresh pasta dish. The gnocchi literally melted in your mouth, covered in a fresh tomato sauce. My dad and I splurged and got the sea bass, too. Luckily they took the head off before putting it on our table, or my mom would have killed us. We got an order of pork and potatoes which she thoroughly enjoyed as well. The waiter gave us free Limoncello, which my dad and I liked, and I have to give my mom credit for trying :) Happy and full, we headed home.

[along the tiber river at night]

friday

Friday morning, I had a small problem waking up to my alarm, but I made it to meet them at Basilica di San Clemente, a church near the Colosseum, for our Underground Rome tour with Through Eternity. It was awesome! They took us down into the two basilicas beneath the current, medieval one. We walked to another basilica built on top of an old city with apartments and shops we descended into before ending at a third basilica/temple built on top of more ruins. Our tour guide was very interesting to listen to and we saw places we never would have known to see otherwise!

[bones in the basement of a buried church]

[old, beautiful road]

[temple built along the side of another]

The tour ended down near Teatro Marcello so we stopped over at "La Bocca della Verita," or the mouth of truth. Legend has it that a liar sticking his or her hand in will have it ripped off. Or something like that. There was a long line to get a photo, but of course, we waited...

[bocca della verita, the mouth of truth]

There's a really pretty church that it's located just outside of so we ventured in there for a few, as well.

I was starving for lunch and got to take them to the best pizza al taglio place by school - Pizzeria da Simone. It's really just a counter with huge sheets of pizza, fresh out of the oven. I went traditional with some margherita, my mom got my favorite broccoli & provolone, and my dad tried a classic prosciutto one. They have lots of daily specials, too, like gnocchi and lasagna. They also make these heavenly morsels called a suppli. It's a super Roman thing and more of a snack or appetizer. It's a fried ball of rice, tomato sauce, and mozzarella. I used to think I wouldn't like it until I actually tried it. It's impossible not to love the gooey, stringy mess. I had them try one of those, of course, as well as some of their broccoli. They make lots of "contorni" which is basically just vegetable side dishes. They're cooked with lots of oil and pepper which makes them delicious.

We took lunch to eat in the garden at AUR, a typical day for me, but they enjoyed it ;) The "tour" of school wasn't much as we only have two buildings, but we climbed to the rooftop terrace for a beautiful view.

  

For an even better view, I took them up the road to Gianicolo. It's the hilltop that my school is built on. There's the fountain that was in the beginning of the recent movie, La Grande Belleza, and a lot of statues of figures who fought in the war for unification. One side shows you the Vittoriano and the other the dome of St. Peter's. It's a favorite among many travelers and Italians to simply spend time taking in the view up there. That's exactly what we did!

[gianicolo]

Down the road, there's also a monument and if you look hard enough, a tiny cannonball in the side of a building! Also over there is where St. Peter was originally thought to have been buried. Tucked away near the Spanish Embassy is what looks like a mini St. Peter's basilica and yet another gorgeous view. 

[near school]

Before dinner, I had one more thing to squeeze in - the keyhole on Aventino! It's incredible and everyone who comes to Rome has to peek through it. There's a nice park nearby with yet another view of the city, too. Exploring up there, we also found a church, school, and some really nice houses. This city never ceases to open up new corners to discover!

[man selling chestnuts on aventino]

For dinner? More pizza! A family at our tour had actually asked about this place, as well, since it is SO well known for their brick oven fired pizzas. We ran into them when we got there. They loved it as much as we did! 

I was usually in charge of ordering and speaking Italian for us. I had done pretty good until dinner when the waitress brought out my dad an eggplant "parmigiana" pizza instead of a pork "amatriciana" one. Oops. They corrected it, however, and he dug in :)

[[dad's amatriciana pizza]

[mom & i ate our peperocino pizza too fast to take a picture!] 

What you really go to Dar Poeta for, however, is this dessert. SO GOOD.

[nutella & ricotta calzone]

saturday

I had scheduled a school trip to Assissi a long time ago on this Saturday, so I headed there bright and early. My mom and dad spent the day exploring the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. They LOVED it! You'll have to ask them for details of their visit :) 

We met at my apartment for leftovers from Wednesday before going to the BEST gelato place I've found in Trastevere. We got the recommendation from a waiter at a restaurant in Trastevere at the very beginning of the semester and have yet to find a cup of gelato to beat it. All of Fior di Luna's gelato is organic, made in the store, and gluten free. The cioccolato is like frozen chocolate frosting. Seriously delectable. I am also in love with the Crema Catalana, a sweet cream with sprinkles of what remind me of brown sugar. If you want to branch out, the pistacchio e nocciola [pistacchio and hazelnut] is great combined with giandula [the brainchild of Nutella]. You really can't go wrong, especially if you get it "con panna," which means topped with homemade whipped cream! Anyone can afford to splurge for only 2 euro a cup. 

Enjoying the night out, we walked along the cobblestone streets, enjoyed the musicians, and did a little souvenir shopping :)

sunday

Our last day came so fast! It was a great day, however, as biking the Appia Antica is by far one of the coolest things I've done in Rome. We rented bikes from the kindest woman, Laura, at Fuori di Ruota, a small business just off the Aqueduct Park. We hopped on the bikes around 11am and spent the whole day exploring!

First up was the Aqueduct Park. We rode alongside the waterways built by the ancient Romans. Crazy how in tact they still were! There are actually seven different systems to explore, but we passed through on our way to the Appian Way.

  

  

[aqueduct park]

Italians don't really do directions well and maps are more of a scribble than a guide. After a minor detour along Appia Nuova, we ended up on Appia Antica [two very different roads, I assure you ;)]! The cobblestones made for a very bumpy ride as we weaved among the people strolling along the ancient path and admiring the ruins. I can honestly say that it was one of the most beautiful things I've seen in Rome.

We stopped for lunch in this adorable little garden cafe for paninis. I had to make sure my mom and dad tried as much of our authentic food as possible!

Afterwards, we climbed this massive hill [yes, we walked our bikes...] up to the catacombs of San Castillo. It was SO COOL. You have to go in with a tour guide since you could easily get lost underground and would end up part of the site rather than simply visiting it. She told us about how they dug out each tomb for the unique size of the person and how the bones are all gone since pilgrims stole them thinking they were taking a piece of a holy martyr. No pictures were allowed :(

Biking back, we took in a lot more of the gorgeous road and sights along the way!

[via appia antica]

 

[typical photo shoot with mom] 

  

[funny goats with bells on them on the way home]

 It was a loooooong day, but incredibly worth it! 

We just barely beat the rain before returning our bikes. For dinner, we tried to go to Antica Roma, just near the bed and breakfast and my school, but they said they couldn't get us in! It's funny here that they will literally send you away because people sit for so long at meals rather than giving you a buzzer to wait for a table. The adventure continued as the waiter sent us to a restaurant two blocks away. Arriving, they spoke no English and had only Italian on the menu. It was seriously a test for me! The kind waitress and I worked together to establish what the pasta dishes were [getting through second courses was far too daunting]. We ended up very happy with an appetizer of fried veggies and focaccia. My dad had some awesome seafood pasta, I had tonnarelli with clams [always a favorite], and my mom the classic spaghetti with fresh tomatoes.

[focaccia]

[vegetale fritture]

[spaghetti con pomodoro e basilico]

[tonnarelli con cozze]

[tonnarelli con frutti di mare - he's looking at youuuuu :)] 

Happily full, we crashed for the night. Oh, and they bought me Easter flowers! How sweet!

monday

Sadly I had to say goodbye on Monday morning :( I woke up early to meet them for a pastry and a cappuccino from Phil before walking them to the bus stop.

The 75 bus took them to Termini train station so they could make it to Fiumucino airport and fly to London. They took this bus everywhere! Haha.

They are now off on a grand European adventure and loving life! Monday they return to Rome for two nights and I'm lucky enough to be invited to dinner with them again. I can't wait! I love showing them my city and my life here. Leading them around made me realize how independent I've become and how much I feel like I've changed. I can't imagine what I'll notice when I get home. Hopefully for the better!