Favorites of Rome

In just a few short days, I will be leaving Rome after a six-week stay in the Eternal City. Last summer, I spent just as long here. Between the two summers combined, I’ve had quite a bit of time to explore all of the best things that this beautiful city has to offer. Between amazing restaurants, interesting sights, lively nightlife, and more, I’ve experienced so much of this city and still feel like there’s so much left unseen. That said, as I prepare to leave, I have been thinking about all of my favorite things in this city – that’s what this two-part post will be dedicated to.

Disclaimer: I no longer have access to the USB cord for my camera, so until I can update it later, this will just be text.

Sightseeing

The more obvious ones

St. Peter’s Basilica/Sistine Chapel/Vatican Museums

Especially if you’ve never been before, it’s best to set an entire day aside to see these. The wait to enter the museums and Basilica when I went was over three hours long. The skip-the-line pass I bought for 20€ that let me in within 15 minutes (for a security screening) was well worth it.

Roman Forum & Collosseum

I actually didn’t go inside either of these places, because like other major tourist sites in Rome, the lines are crazy long. Both this summer and last, my program coordinators organized a guided tour around the area to learn the history of these sites. Going inside the Collosseum is definitely still on my bucket list, as is the underground tour.

Trevi Fountain

It’s finally no longer under construction! For over a year, restorations were being done to this beautiful, larger than life fountain. It pained me when in summer 2015, I had to throw my coin over a clear construction wall instead of directly into the fountain. But hey, my wish still worked because I returned to Rome this year - and my wish came true! ;)

Piazza Navona & Pantheon

I didn’t spend too much time here – I walked around Piazza Navona and the Pantheon for no more than ten minutes on both occasions that I visited. Luckily, I still have a free day and a half in Rome, so Piazza Navona may just get another visit from me.

Spanish Steps

Although the Trevi Fountain is accessible to the public once again, the Spanish Steps unfortunately have replaced them as Rome’s latest construction project. As of now, the Steps are closed for restoration and cleaning and hidden behind a clear construction panel. The area is still beautiful, plus busy and bustling as ever, and worth a visit. There’s also great shopping near here!

Hidden Gems

Baths of Caracalla

This ones just a short walk from the Circo Massimo metro station. The ruins of an ancient Roman bath, you can visit where Romans used to hang out and socialize back in the day. It’s incredible to see just how large some of these structures were. Plus, there aren’t too many tourists here, so it’s an extremely tranquil way to spend an afternoon. The underground displays were some of my favorite here.

Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli

Although it’s by no means a small church, this one definitely doesn’t pop up on any top-ten things to do in Rome lists. I found this one while wandering around Piazza Repubblica with my boyfriend and his mom, just across the street from where our hotel was located. It’s very plain on the outside, but the inside is absolutely gorgeous (pictures coming soon!)

Chiesa di Sant’Ignazio

Another small and beautiful church, Chiesa di Sant’Ignazio has an interesting story and feature to it. I’ll be posting photos soon that will show exactly what I’m talking about, but the dome of this church is actually an optical illusion created by the paint. I never would have known if someone hadn’t pointed it out to me!

Villa Borghese

This one is less hidden – it’s one of the largest parks in Rome and located very close to Piazza del Popolo. Despite this being a large, beautiful attraction, there was hardly anyone there! I would recommend going on a warm day in the early morning or late afternoon, as it’s extremely overwhelming at high noon on a Roman summer day.

Nightlife

I’ll admit that for the most part, I tended to stray towards more American bars and clubs during my time in Rome.

Anywhere in Campo dei Fiori you can find a place to sit down and grab a drink, and English speakers can be found all over this area. Most nights here started at The Drunken Ship, where you can buy cocktails by the pitcher and there’s a beer pong table in the back. At one point in 2015, I found a little caffe that served delicious frozen drinks like banana daquiris and strawberry margaritas, but was unable to find it again when I tried again this year.

While these were popular with the rest of my group, my personal favorites include: Scholar’s Lounge (not too far from Campo dei Fiori), which is an Irish Pub style bar with a separate room for a DJ and dancing meaning that you have the choice between sitting down to enjoy a drink or getting on the dancefloor; Coyote Bar in Testaccio, a multi-room bar and club that plays amazing music and has an extensive drink list; and Highlander Pub, not too far from the Spanish Steps – it’s the perfect place to have a casual drink, or on busier nice, take advantage of the cover charge that allows you to gain drink specials for an hour and then gain free entry to another club that they take you shortly after happy hour ends.

This is just the tip of the iceburg when it comes to Rome – there are so many things to do and see in this beautiful city, and I’m sure I even missed naming a few of the things that I enjoyed seeing and doing here. In a few days, I’ll post a part two dedicated to all of my favorite eats in this city, plus a reflection on the experience overall. Photos from my Canon will be posted as soon as I get access to a USB cord again (which I was silly and forgot to pack, oops).

Perugia & Porto San Giorgio

Last night, I returned from a week-long trip to two very different but both equally as amazing places in Italy. It was a long and exhausting week but definitely worth the many hours I spent on the bus to get there and back.

First stop: Perugia!

Perugia is the capital city of the Umbria region, located right in the middle of the country. The city is also home to a relatively large university, so although it had quieted down for the summer session when I visited, during the school year the place is flooded with college students from all over Italy and the world. Bonus: the hotel, the Brufani Palazzo was absolutely beautiful.

We arrived early evening on Monday, just in time to drop off our bags at the hotel and find a restaurant and sports bar to watch the Italy vs. Belgium soccer game (we won!!). We stumbled into an underground restaurant with ivy covering the brick walls. The best part though was that they had beer towers, perfect for watching an Italian soccer match! We finished eating by the halfway point of the game and moved on to a real sports bar. It was packed to the brim with people standing in the street to watch through the doorway, but the ten of us managed to snag some spots inside by the bar. Locals had brought face paint to draw the colors of the Italian flag on their faces, and a few offered it up to my friends and me. It was so exciting being in an authentic Italian bar with locals from the town and watching with them - it made the experience feel so much more legitimate, especially when Italy won and everyone in the bar went wild, cheering, blowing horns, and clinking glasses.

The rest of the time in Perugia was a little more low-key during the last two days, but filled with beautiful sights. Umbria is known for having great truffles, so it was no surprise that we found an amazing shop that sold almost every truffle product imaginable. I ended up leaving with some truffle salts and sauces to bring home as gifts for my family. We also stopped at a little caffè each day to enjoy an early afternoon glass of prosecco.

Afternoon prosecco at Bottega del Vino

Etruscan Arch (Arco Etrusco) in Perugia

The best thing you can do in a small Italian city is wander - you're guaranteed to find something beautiful around every corner

Restaurants

Because everyone knows that the food in Italy is to die for almost anywhere you go. Perugia certainly has no shortage of amazing restaurants, and we found a couple of the best ones (thanks TripAdvisor!)

Tuesday night at Al Mangiar Bene

You definitely need a map to find this place, or at least a good eye. I personally found this restaurant on TripAdvisor and after looking at the menu, knew that it would be the perfect place for a small group dinner. It's located on the Via della Luna which is actually a small side street off of one of the main streets. Everything is made in house or from local ingredients. I would highly recommend any of their pizzas (the crust was perfection) or the tagliatelle al tartufo, which is truffle pasta and absolutely amazing. Plus, the wine is only 7€ a liter.

Via della Luna, the small side street where Al Mangiar Bene is located

Wednesday lunch and dinner at Bottega del Vino

We actually stumbled upon this place Wednesday for lunch and drinks because it has a very cute sign that can be spotted from the neighboring Piazza IV Novembre. It's a little pricier for drinks, at least from the perspective of a college student, but the food and atmosphere is to die for. We made a reservation for almost twenty people here to celebrate a friends birthday, and we took up almost three-quarters of the restaurant! The menu changes daily, offering a varying selection of three or four pastas (primi piatti) and meats (secondi piatti). Reservations are recommended because the place is tiny!

Nightlife

Go to Dempsey's to meet other Americans or English speakers, as well as the locals that hang around during the summer. We were told by an owner at another bar that this is the place to go during the off-season, as the clubs tend not to be as fun.

Porto San Giorgio

Come Thursday it was time to head to the beach. After a short pit-stop in Osimo for lunch, we arrived in Porto San Giorgio around 5:00 to the Hotel Gabbiano. This happened to be my second trip to the small beach town, and it was just as cute as I remembered it. We were also pretty much the only Americans in the town, and we were asked by many of the restaurant and bar owners how we knew of the place.

Early mornings at the beach chalet Quadrifoglio

We headed straight to the beach for a couple of hours before dinner even though the sun was going down. The twenty of us then enjoyed another large group dinner at the chalet restaurant owned by our hotel, called Quadrifoglio. The restaurant is highly rated and offers an extensive menu ranging from pizzas, pastas, and seafood. Try the seafood risotto and fried calamari here.

Unsurprisingly, the days in Porto were entirely spent lounging on the beach and working on my tan. With a glass of prosecco in hand, of course.

Enjoying the sunset after a long day of laying out

Nightlife

Although Porto San Giorgio is as relaxed as any beach town during the day, the nights here can liven up very quickly once 11:00 rolls around. Head to almost any chalet along the beach and you'll find a great place to sip some drinks and let loose. Here are my favorites:

Calypso: often has live music and gets more lively after about midnight. Drinks are average price and the bartenders make great cocktails.

Betty Boop: the owner is from Cuba and makes the best mojitos I have ever had. This place tends to be packed, but most people are sitting around sipping their drinks rather than dancing.

There is one other chalet that I seem to end up at every night between Betty Boop and Quadrifoglio, but in the two summers that I've visited I have never figured it out. You'll just have to go visit and try all of the beach bars for yourself ;)

Cheers! Until next time, Porto San Giorgio

First post!

I've officially been in Italy for two full weeks! That means I'm done with the first of two Italian classes have had plenty of time to settle in and explore Rome. Finishing my first class obviously called for some celebratory prosecco (which I had plenty of at Caffe di Marzio in Trastevere but this photo is from the week before in Venice. After all, in Italy it's never the wrong time for wine!)

Most of today was spent lounging around my apartment and packing for my upcoming trip to Perugia. I was so tired from a week full of classes and activities since my boyfriend came to visit Rome from Monday until today. Anyway, last weekend I went on two day trips to different parts of Italy, which is what I want to talk about here.

Duomo of Florence

The first was this Saturday to Florence, or Firenze. Just an hour and a half by train from Rome, Florence is filled with tons to do, eat, and see. We started with a short walking tour of soe majorsites in the city, led by one of the two professors in charge of my program.

Selfies in front of the Duomo like every other tourist

After our tour, we had lunch at Il Bargello in Piazza della Signoria. We ate plenty of delicious bruschetta and drank lots of wine before our pasta came out.

Most of the day after lunch was spent walking (almost 10 miles!) and hanging out on the bridge next to Ponte Vecchio, where I was the unofficial photographer for all of my friends.

Sunday in Venice was a much more low-key day than Saturday. After a four-hour train ride, my group and I finally arrived in Venice. We started with a boat ride to the main piazza, San Marco. Afterwards, we split up and five of us dove into a small pizzeria for lunch. Later, we walked around and got lost in the city and found the cutest little bake shop where I bought some cookies and assortment of candies to bring home to the family.

By the time the day was over I was exhausted and ready to enjoy my prosecco on the ~scenic~ part of the boat tour through the canals. It was definitely the highlight of the day and the best way to pre-celebrate the midterm exam and arrival of my boyfriend the following day.

Stay tuned for more posts about my upcoming trips to Perugia and Porto San Giorgio this week, as well more about my experiences in Rome and Orvieto over the past two weeks!