After attending a wedding in Perugia, our journey led us to Rome en route to Ibiza, Spain. Having previously spent 10 days exploring every major tourist site, this visit focused on savoring the city’s culinary delights and luxurious accommodations.
My itinerary only consisted of seeing the Trevi Fountain (which was somehow closed the last time I visited) and eating some delicious food.
I’ll admit that on my last trip to Rome, I was somewhat ambivalent about the experience. While we saw every historical site (including Pompeii) that I wanted to, the trip wasn’t exactly comfortable. It was incredibly hot, the lines were long, and our Airbnb didn’t have any AC. A lack of research when choosing restaurants meant that we didn’t really enjoy anything we ate. What can I say? I was a lot more inexperienced back then – I think it was the first trip abroad that I had planned without the help of my parents or my school (which I had done a lot of traveling with growing up).
This time around, I stuck mostly to some of the nicer areas of Rome (the area by the Spanish steps and Ludovisi) and booked a room at the W. I think both things really changed my perception of the city.
Table of contents
Food
Would eat again
Antico Caffé Greco
Seeking out a fun snack before we had to catch our flight to Ibiza, the hotel recommended we check out Antico Caffè Greco. Right at the bottom of the Spanish steps, I was originally weary about going somewhere in such a touristy area, but I was pleasantly surprised. When you walk into the café, there’s a pastry counter on the left and a coffee bar on the right. Originally, we considered doing table service, but we were tight on time and it genuinely wasn’t as fun as the front part of the cafe.
You can order pastries and coffee at the register. They serve your pastries on the spot and you bring your receipt to the coffee bar to claim your freshly made coffee. The jam filled and chocolate filled cookies were my favorite – I ordered them twice.
Drink Kong
Listed as one of the 50 best bars in the world, of course I had to try it. The list certainly has its misses, but by and large, I consider it to be a great starting point for choosing cocktail spots.
The bar was in Japanese street style. Neon signs and arcade machines are dotted throughout the wrap-around venue. The cocktail book was unique, ranking each cocktail on different characteristics, including its Kong factor. The cocktails were refreshing and light. It was a cool spot to check out with friends for a couple of casual drinks after dinner.
Roscioli Salumeria con Cucina
This was one of my favorite meals of my entire 2023 Europe trip. Roscioli has a number of food vendors around the same neighborhood, but we chose the restaurant that is inside their deli. It has two floors – the first floor has an extensive cheese and meat counter and dry good for sale. Tables are placed tightly amongst the shelves. The downstairs is an alcohol cellar, also packed in with small tables.
Upon arrival, we had a bit of a mishap with our reservation. The W had told me they made a 2:45 pm reservation for me, but it turns out the reservation was at 2:30 pm. Frankly, if I had arrived at 2:45 pm, it probably would have been fine as they have a 15 minute grace period, but I arrived around 3 pm. The restaurant, frustrated with my late arrival, told me it might be around a 20 minute wait, but a few minutes later, they found us a table downstairs in their wine room.
Being a deli, Roscioli obviously specializes in cheese and charcuterie. But, their pastas are also fantastic. We started with a meat and cheese plate, and followed by a cacio e pepe and a pasta carbonara. I adored the carbonara. It was incredibly rich and creamy.
I am so glad I had a chance to eat here. The restaurant atmosphere was super fun. It was one of the most stand out meals that I had during the trip, and the best pasta I ate.
When I return to Rome, coming here and eating the Pasta Carbonara will be at the top of my list.
Sad I missed
I was overly ambitious when planning my Rome itinerary, and had booked in two additional restaurants that we ended up skipping for options that were more accessible to our hotel.
Seu Pizza Illuminati
Apparently one of the best pizza restaurants in the city, known for an innovative menu, Seu Pizza Illuminati was one of my missed reservations. While it looked very cool, it was in a part of the city that looked fairly remote. I had thought that that wouldn’t be an issue for us, but I underestimated how tired we would be after our travels.
Marigold
Marigold is a cafe and bakery started by an Italian-Danish couple. The breakfast menu looked like a fun departure from the other ones I had seen in Italy, so I wanted to give it a try. Ultimately, we wanted to sleep in the next day and didn’t want to feel completely frazzled before our flight, so we skipped it.
Culture
Trevi Fountain
The Trevi Fountain is really incredible to see. I could probably spend an hour just taking in the details of it all. The only thing that stopped me was the horde of people seeing the fountain. In spite of the crowds, it’s still easy to get a good view of the fountain and walk down to the edge of it.
Spanish Steps
When I thought of the Spanish Steps, nothing really came to mind for me, but I realized I must have inadvertently walked down them last time when I was in Rome when I went shopping!
The steps sit right in front of all the luxury stores, so if you’re planning on stopping by those, the steps will be easy to see.
Accommodations
W Rome
The W Rome opened in December 2021, so it’s a relatively new hotel. I chose it because of the stylish decor and the positive reviews. It definitely met my expectations from a decor standpoint and while the room was on the smaller side, it was nicer than my room at the Westin Excelsior in Florence. We had a cute balcony that looked out onto the street in front of our hotel. The bathroom design was mediocre, especially when it came to the shower. The shower walls consisted of two accordion walls, which were really hard to navigate when coming in and out.
The spaces around the W were really comfortable to lounge around in. The courtyard, dining room, lobby, hidden garden, and lobby bathroom were beautifully decorated and fun to roam around in. The hotel itself did feel somewhat small though when it came to common spaces – it’s definitely a more compact building. A shallow pool sits on the rooftop, and during certain seasons, they serve pizza on the roof as well. A nice touch I noticed was that there was plenty of sunscreen and flip flops for guests to use while they were by the pool.
The service was a bit of a mixed bag. While the concierge and bell staff definitely intended to be helpful there was a mishap with one of my restaurant reservations and it took ages for them to call us a taxi when we wanted to go out on the first day.
Would I stay here again? Maybe. I actually quite enjoyed certain aspects of the hotel – the courtyard, the room, the breakfast, but next time, I would probably try a different hotel just for the sake of comparison. A friend of ours stayed at the Edition, and by comparison, the common space in the hotel was grander and larger. Perhaps that translates to the rooms?
Itinerary
After an afternoon arrival in Rome, we made our reservation at Roscioli, did a bit of sightseeing and finished the evening with cocktails at Drink Kong.
A quick morning in Rome started with breakfast at the W and coffee and pastries at Antico Caffè Greco.
AMANDA'S CHANTICS 