Refined Rooftop Dining from Rome's Hotel 47

In the first installment of “Ask the Italy Expert,” a feature in which I ask Italy travel specialists to help me answer reader inquiries, Stefania Troiani of Rome Shopping Guide about outlet shopping and pastry shops in Rome. This week’s questions are also about Rome and eating. What can I say…? Those are two topics I get asked about the most!

So, I called in another Rome expert. This time it is Erica Firpo behind the gorgeous travel blog Moscerina, to which she has been posting anecdotes about life in Rome since 2005. If you follow Italy travel news on Twitter, you may know Erica as @moscerina or @NG_Rome. The “NG” in the latter stands for Nile Guides, for which Erica is the local expert in Rome. After contacting Erica, I also learned that she wrote the Rome Little Black Book, a dining and entertainment guide for the Eternal City. Once again, I knew I had called on the right Italy expert for the job!

Following are the questions submitted by real Italofile readers and Erica’s expert advice.

Question 1: Rooftop Restaurants
Hi, Melanie! Can you recommend the best restaurants in Rome? Non- touristy and relaxing? . I am looking for a client. I’m not sure where she is staying, she has not set a budget- just wants great food and nice atmosphere- any rooftop restaurants with views maybe? Thanks, Laura

Rooftop restaurants in Rome are almost always, as a rule of thumb, atop hotels, which can mean they are touristy and perhaps a little too stuffy. Since a Roman sunset is a sight not to be missed, my advice would be to have a champagne toast on a rooftop– St. George Hotel (panorama of all the domes of Rome), Hotel Raphael (above Piazza Navona), Grand Hotel de la Minerve (view of the Pantheon’s dome), or Forty-Seven Hotel (looking toward the Tiber to the Temple of Fortunus), and then make your way around the neighborhood to a fabulous dinner. My favorite restaurants? Santa Lucia and San Teodoro — both are nestled in piazzas, away from the hubbub, and have delicious menus. Santa Lucia’s specialty is fish, while San Teodoro is creative interpretation of Roman cuisine.

(I also recommended San Teodoro in this post about Restaurants Near the Roman Forum.)

Question 2: Special Occasion Restaurants in Rome
Hi, Melanie. I wonder if you can help please. It will be my daughter’s 21st birthday on the 15th July. As a surprise, we are looking to take her (and her sister who is 26) to Rome for a few days. On her actual birthday, I would like to go to a nice restaurant (but maybe somewhere that’s more fun than posh) and as part of that, I would like to arrange a special birthday cake (which they would bring at the end of the meal). Would it be possible to arrange something like this in Rome and have it booked in advance? Any ideas appreciated! Thanks, Linda

Most restaurants will ask that you choose from their desserts, or if desiring a cake, choose from their pastry chef of choice. Casina Valadier, which may be more posh than fun, has an excellent pastry designer whose cakes are fantasies in marzipan. La Pergola‘s pastry chef is perhaps Rome’s most creative: his chocolate creations are unique to the world. [La Pergola is also Rome's most coveted restaurant with 3 Michelin stars for cuisine, service, and price.] For a fun evening of eating (and less taxing on the wallet), Felice a Testaccio has excellent Roman cuisine and a fun, hip atmosphere. I just asked about birthday cakes since I’ll be celebrating there- the chef suggested a pick from his desserts, and order one in advance especially for the evening.

Laura and Linda, I hope these answers will help you plan the perfect Roman holidays for your client and your daughters. Thank you so much, Erica, for your extremely useful answers.

If you’d like to submit a question or if you are an Italy expert who’d like to offer some advice, contact me. Hopefully, we can collaborate on the next installment of Ask the Italy Expert!

Photo © 47hotel.com

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So, today I am starting a new feature called “Ask the Italy Expert,” in which I utilize my network of Italy experts to answer your travel questions. I’m really excited about the first installment of this feature because it is all about SHOPPING!

Two readers, Dominika and Niek, recently asked me questions about shopping in Italy. Dominika, who is getting married in Rome, was particularly interested in finding out about factory outlets and pastry shops/cake makers in and around the capital while Niek wanted to know about outlets in the southern Italian regions of Basilicata, Calabria, and Puglia.

As soon as I saw that I had two specific shopping questions, I knew exactly who to ask. Stefania Troiani is the creative founder and owner of Rome Shopping Guide, a private tour company that offers personalized shopping tours of the Eternal City, from food markets to outlets to luxury boutiques. While I have never actually “met” Stefania, I have enjoyed reading her shopping advice on her website and Twitter for quite some time now. Certainly, she specializes in Rome, but I had no doubts of her ability to tell me about other shopping experiences south of the capital. Here are her superb shopping suggestions:

Question 1: Factory Outlets and Cake Makers in Rome
The best factory outlets for designer label handbags and clothes and shoes around Rome are:

Castel Romano Designer Outlet elegantly built around a style reminiscent of Imperial Rome that boasts 110 designer name shops with prices reduced from 30% to 70%. Many shops also offer tax free (from a minimum of 4% up to a maximum 16% of the selling price of the goods purchased). The outlet is located 30mins outside Rome (how to get there).

Another perfect place to find special accessories is the Bulgari outlet that carries all the end of series and unsold items from Bulgari shops. It is possible to find handbags, crocodile purses, ties, house furnishings, scarves, sunglasses, glasses, modern silver and also jewelry for which Bulgari has been famous for over 100 years, all to be discounted 30%. The staff speaks English and Japanese. The outlet is located on Via Aurelia, 1052 only a few miles outside Rome.

When in Rome you can also get some great buys on designer handbags, clothes and shoes and if you are looking for Miu Miu, Cavalli, Chloé, and Burberry you should pop into Outlet Gente conveniently located near the Vatican on Via Cola di Rienzo 246.

Antonella e Fabrizio is a discount store for men and women near Piazza Navona, on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, 247 selling Armani, D&G and Just Cavalli as well as other popular Italian labels.

Il Discount dell’Alta Moda is a boutique near Piazza del Popolo on Via Gesù e Maria, 16 overstocking at up to 50% off goods by Fendi, Gucci, Sergio Rossi, and Roberto Cavalli.

Pastry shops in Rome are all very good. I know many great good cake makers. My two favorites are the historic Marinari pastry shop in the Trieste neighborhood also well known for its delicious “torta della nonna,” it offers a wide range of desserts from ricotta cakes to Sicilian cannoli.

Another one to recommend to dessert lovers is Antonini on via Sabotino, 19 that offers one of the best selections of pastries in town.

(Those pastry shops sound delicious! Best bet is to shop for shoes at the outlets so you can indulge in the cake without worrying about fitting into designer duds!)

Question 2: Factory Outlets in Basilicata, Calabria, and Puglia
There are not many quality outlets in Basilicata and Calabria, whilst in Puglia there are several places to visit for value conscious travelers.

• Vestebene Outlet Storeon Piazza Dante Alighieri 85 – Galatina – Lecce
• Filanto Shoes Outlet – Casarano Industrial Park – Lecce
• Leather Company Outlet (excellent value and quality) – Via Provinciale Uggiano 44 – Otranto – Lecce
• Molfetta Fashion District (80 shops) Via dei Portuali, Molfetta- Bari

Great tips for outlets in Puglia, Stefania! If anyone else has tips on outlets in Basilicata or Calabria, let me know.

I really hope that you have enjoyed this new Q&A on Italofile. If you’d like to submit a question or if you are an Italy expert who’d like to offer some advice, contact me. Hopefully, we can collaborate on the next installment of Ask the Italy Expert!

Photo © http://www.flickr.com/photos/ezioman/ / CC BY 2.0

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• 2008 Year-End Article Round Up

This installment of Italy travel articles includes two videos that I thought were worth sharing. Enjoy the round-up!

Skiing in Abruzzo [The Guardian]
Luxury Bargains: Italy in Winter [The Independent]
If You’re Ever in Florence, You Have to Visit This Mediocre Trattoria I Know [The Onion]
CBP to Foodies: No Hiding the Salami [Update: Travel Better]
Is Italy the ‘Citizen Kane’ of Travel? [World Hum video, below]

Venice in Winter [Financial Times]
Alone (or Almost) with Michelangelo in Vatican City [New York Times]
Fresh Powder Meets Fine Dining at Cortina d’Ampezzo [NYT]
The 31 Places to Go in 2010 (includes Gargano, Puglia) [NYT]
Tuscany – Timelapse Impressions [Matador TV video, click on the link]

Photo © madiash

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Continuing on the topic of New Year’s resolutions: one of the things that people resolve to do with the arrival of a new year is improve themselves by learning a new skill. Italy holds numerous possibilities for the traveler looking for self-improvement (and not just fitness-wise). So here are a few ideas and tours to get your imaginative juices flowing.

Culinary Travel
I’m going to paraphrase a very famous saying here: “If you give a man an Italian meal, you will feed him for today. Teach a man to cook an Italian meal, and you will feed him for a lifetime.” Indeed, eating your way through Italy is easy. But mastering the art of la cucina italiana is a gift that will keep on giving. I’ve profiled a few cooking schools on this site before, but there are a number of culinary travel packages and food-focused tour companies that you should know about.

Cooking Vacations, with headquarters in Boston, MA, and Positano, has several dozen Italy cooking and travel programs, from a 6-day program in Bologna and Emilia-Romagna (Italy’s culinary hub) to a one-week Kids Cooking Program in Positano (a great way to get the whole family involved). Cooking Vacations has women-only programs, tours that pair cooking with driving a Ferrari around Tuscany (!), and combination art and food tours.

The International Kitchen, which has been featured on The Food Network and CBS News among others, has cooking classes with both top chefs and Italian home cooks; wine-tasting experiences; and culinary walking tours that you can fit into your regular touring itineraries of Rome, Florence, Siena, or almost anywhere you happen to be.  In addition to International Kitchen’s daily a la carte programs, there are cooking vacations to 12 of Italy’s 20 regions, including the Villa d’Este Italian Cooking Holiday (Lombardy), Gourmet Sicily, and All About Umbria, a program that has been mentioned in the New York Times.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Divina Cucina, a cooking school in Florence run by cooking diva Judy Witts Francini. Even though she’s American, Judy is something of a real Renaissance woman, not only running her cooking school but writing her own cookbook and dispensing food advice and tips on her blog Over a Tuscan Stove. Judy offers one-week courses at her kitchen in Certaldo, Tuscany, and daily programs in Florence and Chianti.

Language Schools
Immersing yourself in la bella lingua is also a terrific way to organize your Italian vacation. You could just wing it by trying to speak Italian at every turn. Or, you could take a language class. Just about all the major tourist centers (Rome, Milan, Florence, Chianti, etc.) have schools or classes for tourists eager to learn Italian. So the hard part is choosing where you want to study.

For the serious student, there’s the Istituto Linguistico Mediterraneo, a school with campuses in Pisa and Viareggio and courses ranging from a one-week holiday course to intensive programs geared towards receiving Italian language certification. Centro Puccini, also based in Viareggio (on the Tuscan coast), has short- and long-term courses, including Italian classes for professionals, such as Italian for banking, law, or singing opera.

Less studious travelers may want to try some basic courses that can be easily integrated into an Italy holiday. The Dilit International House in Rome has individual and group programs for university students through the 50+ set. One of the best known schools, with campuses in Rome, as well as Florence, Siena, and Milan, is Scuola Leonardo da Vinci, which also has a blog.

Art Lessons
Combining travel with art or photography lessons is a no brainer, especially when you’re visiting a country as aesthetically pleasing as Italy. Painting, sculpture, ceramics, and photography courses are just a few of the options to engage the right side of your brain.

If you want a more urban experience, there are several programs and workshops to satisfy. The Venice School of Photography, run by British photographer Jonathan Maher, has workshops that concentrate on Creative Seeing in Venice and the Art of Street Photography. In Florence, the Accademia d’Arte has short (2-week) to long (3 year) painting courses and photography workshops. You can also try the Scuola Lorenzo de’ Medici for creative courses as diverse as art restoration and archaeology. If Rome is where you want to be, the Artist Retreat villa in Trastevere offers a handful of art courses for its guests, including painting, photography, and lace-making.

Bucolic settings are often best for getting in the artistic mood. The Abruzzi Mountain Workshop in the village of Anversa will operate eight one-week sessions in 2010, from “Reinventing the Still Life: Painting an Italian Kitchen” to Digital Photography for Artists. Meanwhile, Il Chiostro, a full-service artistic travel company with courses across the country, has jewelry making classes in Lake Garda; clay sculpture (and about a dozen other) classes at its Tuscan Renaissance Center in Chianti; and travel photography program during its Autumn Arts Festival (also in Chianti).  Artist in Italy is another option in Tuscany, where artists-to-be can learn about botanical and landscape painting. Located in a gorgeous old farmhouse halfway between Rome and Florence, Artist in Italy offers several 10-day programs, and looks like a very relaxing setting in which to spend a holiday (which you can see in the video below):

Writing Italy
I don’t even want to get into the many creative writing and travel writing courses that you can take in Italy. Think I’ll save that for another post. Though, writers and film buffs may be interested to know that from from August 12-25, 2010, you can attend a screenwriting school in Spoleto (Umbria).

Photos © The International Kitchen, majamaja, Thompson Photography

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Stendhal in Parma [NY Times]
The Cursing Mommy Cooks Italian [The New Yorker - humor, of course!]
Italy’s Reality is a Vita Not So Dolce [The Globe and Mail]
Italy Made Easy [The Telegraph]
Body Scanners Coming to Rome, Milan Airports [USA Today]
Sightjogging: City Walking Tours on Speed [Matador Network]
Make Yourself at Home with a Spot of House-Sitting (Puglia) [The Guardian]
White-Lie City (Rome) [The American]

Photo © Dave Yoder for the New York Times

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Here’s another installment of Five Favorites, this time from a born-and-bred Italian. Eleonora (Lola) Baldwin writes not one, but two food blogs – one in English and the other in Italian. I’m very excited that this native Roman wanted to share with Italofile readers her five favorite typical Roman dishes. And you don’t have to wait to go to Rome to try these as Lola has provided recipes!

Five Favorites: Recipes from Rome

I’m a favorites freak. I have favorites in every category – authors, colors, artists, foods, cities, wines, bands, movies – you name it. So imagine how excited I was to participate in Italofile’s fabulous new feature Five Favorites. And since I am a Roman citizen, and among my favorite activities are eating, cooking, writing, and traveling, here is my Five Favorite Roman Dishes, listed in dream-menu order starting with an antipasto, followed by a starchy opener, a protein entrée, a delicious veggie side dish, and a non-sweet meal ending. All of these are traditional and authentic recipes hailing from the Eternal City. Shall we begin? Unfold your napkin and prepare to salivate.

Fiori di Zucca Fritti – Fried Zucchini Blossoms
There have been millions of words written on the zucchini flower. The forerunner of the ever-burgeoning mottled cylinders, are edible. More than edible, they’re delicious! That which some just chuck away as waste, can in fact become a delectable antipasto, part of a pasta condiment or even a salad element. Gather those blossoms while you can and prepare for yet another true Roman taste bud epiphany.

15 zucchini flowers
4 salted anchovy fillets (optional)
200 gr (1 cup) mozzarella, diced
100 gr (1/2 cup) unbleached all purpose flour
Oil for frying
Salt

Trim pistils and stems off the flowers, paying extra attention not to break them, they are quite delicate. Wash carefully with water and baking soda, rinse with plenty cold water and pat dry with paper towel.

Cut the mozzarella in strips and finely chop the anchovies (if you’re using them). Stuff each blossom with some mozzarella and a dab of anchovy mash and uncork a bottle of white Colli Albani wine.

In a mixing bowl, blend a 1/2 glass (or more) of chilled sparkling water, flour and salt until fluffy and add a dash of beer or a pinch of baking soda for an even more lightweight batter.

Dip the stuffed flowers in the batter open side up and deep fry in scalding olive oil. Briefly park on paper towel and serve hot with the remaining wine, if any is left.

Bucatini Cacio e Pepe
This typical Roman pasta dish is a simple cheese and pepper combination hallmark of Testaccio, the ancient housing project development and ex meat slaughtering district in the southern section of the Peninsula’s capital. Cacio e Pepe is particularly suited as a rewarding quick fix for self-invited last minute guests or post-fornication midnight munchies.

500 gr (1 lb) bucatini, thick hollow noodles. They can be substituted with virtually any ribbed or long strand pasta (in U.S. supermarkets, look for perciatelli if you can’t find bucatini -MMR)
1/2 cup sharp Roman Pecorino cheese, grated
1 cup Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
Lots of freshly ground black pepper

Cook the pasta al dente in 1 gallon of lightly salted boiling water. Drain and save some cooking water for later. Toss with the grated cheeses and pepper, blending well and if necessary adding some starchy cooking water, should they become too thick and dry. Devour at tongue-burning temperature and revel.

Saltimbocca alla Romana
Roman-style “jump in the mouth” cutlets whose name is remarkably appropriate–you can never eat enough of these deliciously tender veal cutlets topped with prosciutto and sage. Serves a hungry 2 (or regular appetite 4).

500 gr (1.1 lb) lean veal, cut into 8 thin playing card-sized scaloppine
60 gr (2 oz) prosciutto, cut into wafer-thin slices, about 4
Unsalted butter for sautéing
8 Fresh sage leaves
Dash of salt
Wooden toothpicks

If your butcher was lazy when he carved the veal and your slices are too thick, hammer them with a kitchen cleaver held flat. Lay half a slice of prosciutto on each, and a sage leaf. Fasten these to the veal cutlet with one or two toothpicks.

Heat a couple tablespoons of unsalted butter in a skillet and sauté the cutlets until just done, cooking them more on the veal side than the decorated side (salty, overcooked prosciutto tends to become leathery). Season your saltimbocca to taste and hop them in your mouth, along with their savory drippings.

Puntarelle
Puntarelle are the sprouts of a chicory variety called cicoria di catalogna, puntarelle chicory or asparagus chicory, picked while still young and tender. They are in season from November to January.

The preparation of this salad is a little complex, fortunately puntarelle are sold in Rome’s farmers’ and corner markets already trimmed and “curled”.

The sprouts and shoots of the puntarelle are cut lengthwise into long, thin strips and soaked in acidulated ice-cold water for an hour. This causes the crunchy pale green chicory to curl up in extraordinary Shirley Temple-style curls, become juicier and less bitter. The recipe for the punchy dressing of this very particular salad dates back to ancient Rome.

Assemble the following ingredients for a taste of true Roman flavor.

1 kg (2.2 lbs) puntarelle (can be substituted with Belgian endive or the youngest curly chicory you can find)
8 anchovy fillets packed in salt, cleaned (can be substituted with regular oil-preserved anchovies)
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
The juice of 1/2 lemon
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Prepare a creamy pesto with minced garlic, anchovies, splash of lemon juice (not too much!) very little salt, pepper and plenty olive oil. Pestle and mortar would be best, but if you use a mezzaluna or a kitchen knife to chop finely and then mix with a wire whisk, I won’t tell anyone. Stir and allow the dressing to sit for 10 minutes.

Drain the puntarelle, dry with a kitchen towel or spin-dry carefully. Trickle the obtained velvety beige dressing over the chilled and curled puntarelle salad, toss, allow it to sit for another few minutes, and expect to face reduced social life for the next 3 days (garlic).

Note: If you’re particularly in a rush and decide to use anchovy paste instead of fillets, just cut down on the salt and–again–count on my discretion.

Fave & Pecorino
April 25^th and May 1^st are very important Italian National holidays. One celebrates the Country’s liberation after 20 years of fascism, and the other is Italian Labor Day. On both dates all activity stops, newspapers don’t go into press, all business shuts down and people migrate to nearby rural locations laden with copious amounts of packed picnic food. Bucolic folly and loud outdoor snoring are a must because the milder climate, blooming vegetation and diffused hormone surge, make a pastoral occasion on such holidays a necessity. Families and friends make for their countryside destinations loading their cars with picnic tablecloths, soccer balls and baskets of Pantagruelian delicacies, which require among them large amounts of fresh fava beans and sharp Roman Pecorino cheese. The tangy crunch of the raw beans and the aggressive dairy combo is downright divine. It is a synonym of Roman spring. And quite a potent digestive too!

Buon appetito!

When she’s not shooting on location around the world on a film set as script supervisor–or writing a food/travel column–you’ll most probably find Eleonora (Lola) Baldwin busy cooking in her Rome kitchen. Eleonora is currently editing her Italian cookbook/lifestyle manuscript, and is the author/editor of two popular weblogs: AGLIO, OLIO & PEPERONCINO, focuses on Italian cuisine, food history, travel musings, and local hang-outs. FORCHETTINE, written in Italian, is a food-lover’s online guide in which the author reviews restaurant facilities and regional specialties in Italy. You can also follow Eleonora on Twitter @passerotto.

Photos © francescav, madgrin, frabattista, Eleonora Baldwin, Italian Notebook

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Here’s a great way to bring Italy home – learn how to make Bolognese sauce! There are dozens of instructional videos out there, including this recent one from Epicurious.com. But two of the best I have found – that adhere to the original ingredients and techniques from Italy – come from Mario Batali, the Italian-American chef who used to have a fantastic show on the Food Network, and from ItalianFoodNet.com, an Italian language website devoted to food.

It’s fun to see Mario and Chef Alessandro preparing the ragù. I’m definitely inspired to make my own!

Chef Mario Batali’s Bolognese Sauce

Ragù alla Bolognese fron ItalianFoodNet.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHzN6232c60

Photo by Carpe Feline

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Virtuoso Life, a magazine tailored to luxury living and travel, has just released the winners of its Best of the Best Awards for 2009. Not surprisingly, the worldwide winner for the best culinary experience was in Italy.

Rosellinis, a 2-star Michelin restaurant in the Palazzo Sasso hotel in Ravello, received the top prize for a hotel restaurant among 800 properties surveyed. I took a look at the restaurant online and found these items on the  sample tasting menu: Giant squid ravioli filled with crab & courgettes, creamed potatoes sauce and ricotta dumpling; Cod fillet crusted with Gaetas black olives, Sorrento beef tomatoes and anchovies sauce; and Lamb filet wrapped in rose crust & rose liquor with white asparagus tip, mirror potatoes and anchovies sun dried tomatoes sauce. YUM!

I’ve no doubt these dishes are lovingly prepared with the best ingredients. Rosellinis and its star chef Pino Lavarra have earned 2 stars from Michelin, too – not an easy feat. Then again, this award is for the best culinary “experience” so I’m guessing the setting – in a palace on the Amalfi Coast, with terraces “looking down on the fishing boats 1,000 feet below” – had a lot to do with the decision.

Either way, if you’re interested in dining at Rosellinis, book far in advance. Also note that the restaurant is closed from November through March.

Click here for more information about the Virtuoso Best of the Best Awards.

Photo from the Palazzo Sasso website

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We missed March’s event round-up and we’re late for this month’s. So here we go…

Easter: Last month, we posted the Vatican’s Holy Week Calendar. The website whatsonwhen.com lists two of Italy’s most famous Easter celebrations: Florence’s Scoppio del Carro and Madonna che Scappa in Piazza (Madonna who runs in the square) in Sulmona (Abruzzo). Taranto, in Puglia, is also known for its hours-long Holy Week processions, a tradition from the days when Puglia was a Spanish territory.

Spring! A profusion of flowers and outdoor events usher in spring in Italy. Milan puts on the annual Fiori e Sapori gardening show and food fair on April 5. If you’re in Rome this month, you can expect to see the Spanish Steps abloom with flowers of pink, red, and white.

Food and Wine. In addition to the Fiori e Sapori fest in Milan (see above), there are a number of food festivals this month. From April 17-20, Genoa will  host Slow Fish, a tribute by local restaurants to fish and seafood done the traditional (slow) way. There will be wine festivals in Rome (April 25-26) and Porto Cervo in Sardinia (24-26) and, through April 6, Verona will host VinItaly, which brings together wine producers from all over the country.

Sport: In Rome, there’ll be the derby between Lazio and Roma (April 19). On the same day in Venice will be the Su e Zo per i Ponti, a sort of walkathon “up and down” the canal city’s bridges.

April also sees the celebration of Liberation Day (25) and the birth of Rome, which, on April 21, will be too old for me to calculate!

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Staying on the subject of food today, here is a wonderfully comprehensive guide to cooking schools throughout Italy (not just Tuscany) for anyone thinking of taking a culinary vacation. Thanks for all your research, Jessica!

Cooking Schools in Italy | Italy Travel Guide.

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