Eating in Italy - Rome

I've already confessed that my first meal in Rome was a quarter pounder with cheese, fries and a coke from McDonalds.  As if this didn't hint at my foodie explorations in Rome, I will just say that of all the places I visited, I ate the most poorly in Rome.  That doesn't mean it was without adventure, that it was unexpectedly bad, or that I didn't have any good meals here - I was coming to terms with what wasn't left of my budget, I wasn't in the mood to go searching for a good meal, it was a lot more about limited time and eating on the go, but I still had a few worth talking about.  So here is what Rome offered me and what I partook of:

I can't believe this is my final food post and I haven't talked about the AutoGrill:

 

 

The AutoGrill is Italy's answer to a rest stop.  There are basic electronics, groceries, coffe and tea, sandwiches, bakery items, and other things you'd find at a rest stop for quick purchase.  AutoGrills also have a sit-down, cafeteria-style restaurant in them.  Since our Rick Steves group bused between locations, AutoGrills became a regular stop for us.  On our first night in Rome as Ann, Melanie, Cathy and I were strolling, we came across an AutoGrill in the middle of Rome, and we stopped and got a gelato there. I got a panini once (they'll ask you if you want it hot or cold, so know those words), a doughnut, fruit and a potato quiche in the cafeteria, sometimes just a juice or bottle of water.   To eat something behind the counter, the M.O. is to go to the counter, tell the worker what you want and pay right away, and you are then handed a receipt.  If it is not busy, they'll get your food right away.  If they are swamped and you want a coffee or juice, as the coffee counter usually is, you take your receipt and, Roman style (all over Italy), you fight your way in to the front of the counter.  You hand your receipt to one of the baristas when you get his/her attention.  They will usually rip your receipt, hand it back to you, make your drink, and then it's up to you to remind them who you are when they are done.  You drink standing up either at the counter or at standing tables.  While I never ordered a coffee or tee, I thoroughly enjoyed a spremuta, a freshly squeezed orange juice.  Man, talk about refreshing!  In the picture at the bottom right, in between the man in the striped shirt and his companion, there is a white machine where the barista will insert whole oranges and our squirts your juice.  Ahhhh!

Our tour officially ended after our second day in Rome.  To celebrate our travels and new friendships, most of the members of our Rick Steves tour group opted to have dinner together.  Virginia arranged for us to eat an authentic Roman dinner at Target.  The following four pictures were not taken by me, but I found images that looked identical to what was placed in front of me.                                                                                                                                

After the bread was an arugula, fennel, olive, mandarin salad.  Honestly, I don't love the first three ingredients of the salad, but if I could get all four items in the same bite, it was pretty good!   

The first (pasta) course was pasta all'amatriciana, which uses a tomato and peccorino cheese based sauce with cured pork jowl.  It's probably better that I didn't know exactly what I was eating when I was eating it - the thought is kinda weird.  Pork jowl is chewy, so it was totally noticeable that there was something strange in the sauce (which didn't taste like American tomato sauce, by the way...was it the pork jowl? The pecorino?).  It wasn't until I looked up the restaurant menu to remind myself of what I ate that I realized how authentically Roman this dish really is (I thought they were dumbing down a generic spaghetti-like recipe for us uncultured Americans).

The second (meat) course was veal saltimbocca, another Roman dish, of lightly pan-fried veal cutlets with prosciutto and sage and a wine-based gravy.  It reminded me a lot of Thanksgiving because of the sage.  It was pretty good.  Then dessert!  panna cotta with raspberry sauce.  :)

Rome and Florence have a lot of take-away restaurants more than smaller towns do (obviously) to accommodate business people on the go.  These places stay open into the dinner hour as well, but see their biggest crowds for lunch, and sometimes those crowds are more like mobs.  Some are primarily pizza-by the slice places, others have a variety of sweets and sandwiches (as the one below did).  Again, they are the Italian fast food place.  If you take it to go (food) or stand at the bar (drink) it is cheaper than if you sit down.  I had a few meals at these places, both pizza and sandwiches.  They are pretty average (what do you expect for pre-made fast food?) but that it OK and the locals eat at these kinds of places too.  They aren't America's fast food prices though - cheaper than restaurants, but still not "cheap."

My favorite meal in Rome (though I'm not sure how authentically Roman it was) started with a caprese crostini...

followed by the BEST pasta dish I have ever had - fettuccine with pesto (and I'm sure there was butter in there too), shrimp, and grape tomatoes.

 Ann had a delicious ricotta and spinach-filled ravioli with a butter sage sauce.

 For dessert I had a chocolate mouse.  It was fitting that my first restaurant dessert in Italy was chocolate, and my last restaurant dessert was chocolate.

 Add another Margarita pizza, a pizza pocket kinda thing from a food cart (on left) which was pretty crappy, more coconut gelato, and suppli (REAL Roman street food on right), which is a fried ball of rice with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese (or vegetables or meat), and that rounds up my Roman food adventures!

Christian Rome

I saw dozens of churches in Italy.  I guess that isn't a very surprising announcement.  I saw churches that were "new," built in the 1600's, and others that were built before Columbus sailed the ocean blue - like, 300 years before.  Some churches were very humble, with crumbling frescoes that were almost washed away by time and room enough for no more than 100 people. Others were ornate, decorated with art and sculpture by masters recognized during their lifetimes and considered priceless today, enhanced with marble and gold leaf for their hundreds of parishioners to admire. It is amazing to me, regardless of the scale of the building and level of adornment, and I can't help but wonder how many prayers have been said, how many candles lit, how many tears have been shed, how many babies blessed, how many weddings...that's a whole lotta faith going on.

Santa Maria Della Vittoria - a lot of Roman Renaissance-era churches actually have a similar facade.  As opposed to a lot of Assisi's simple/more simple churches, Rome's are extremely ornate, this one being one of the most I saw.

the reason for the visit, Bernini's "Ecstasy of Saint Teresa"

Basilica of Sant'Agostino

"Madonna di Loreto" by Caravaggio

Rome trumps all with, of course, St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.  A grander, more jaw dropping Catholic house of worship can not be found.  It instantly draws your eyes up, and it is amazing how small one can feel in such a place.  After spending some time exploring the basilica, Ann and I took a Scavi tour, where we got to go underneath the St. Peter's to where it is believed St. Peter himself is buried.  There is actually a whole necropolis where pagans and early Christians were buried under there, and it was eerie walking along what used to be streets with above ground tombs that looked like home fronts.  Over time it was built upon, and then built up on again, creating layers of the Basilica, the lower chapels only available to the Pope and Cardinals (but which can be seen on this tour), as St. Peter's became the structure that it is today.  It is hot down there, most of it due to the visitors themselves.  Only small groups of no more than 14 are allowed at a time.  St. Peter's supposed tomb is actually extrememly unpretentious, and nothing has been done to set it apart.  The current Pope Francis is actually the only pope to have ever even been down to the necropolis.  The main altar of St. Peter's is built directly above the unmarked grave.  Of course, there is a whole story (see Wikipedia) of  how and why it is believed that this is the place Peter was buried, with archaeologists and historians involved in its verification.  But regardless if I or anyone else believe that Peter truly was buried there, it was a neat experience to see the "rock" that the Catholic church literally and figuratively built itself on.  

the wall surrounding Vatican City

passing through the wall and under the colonnade that leads to St. Peter's Square 

the fashion police - Literally, this is the modesty gate.  I saw people turned away.  I saw women with multiple scarves wrapped around them so they would pass the test.  I a family being escorted out, their little girl (maybe 7 or 8) bawling, because she was wearing a sun dress with spaghetti straps - the modesty clause applies to kids too.

Bernini's bronze Baldacchino and high altar of St. Peter's (directly over the tomb); this is about 1:30 pm

Michealangelo's "Pieta"

a mosaic of St. Peter holding the keys to the church

St. Peter

the high altar, also done by Bernini, called the "Throne of St. Peter"

another Bernini statue over an exit door

I talked to him...sort of

He actually came to Ann and me, with the help of the Italian  museum hottie on break.  I was too scared to walk through (everyone was staring and taking pictures of them), and "Only the penitent man will pass" kept running through my head

Yeah, talked to them too (we had to walk past them to get to the Scavi tour)

The Italian museum hottie.  Ann took this picture of him after asking him if he worked here.  He got this look on his face, tugged at the florescent vest, and gave her this "Would I be wearing this otherwise?" face.  We laughed and she took his picture.  Then he helped us with the Swiss Guard so we could figure out where to go for the tour (all I had was a confirmation email that said to go to the Excavations Office, but there were no signs indicating where that was.

The tour ended just underneath the Basilica at about 5:30 pm.  We could hear the organ playing for evening mass (that was cool), and we walked back in to see this:  the lowering sun beaming through the windows.  It was magnificent!  

the altar lit up for mass

this is from the very front entrance of the basilica