Hi all. Since this board has always been very helpful to me with food and travel recommendations, I thought I would post a bit about food on our recent trip to Italy. Just got back a couple days ago after 12 days on the ground in Italy. We covered a lot of territory, perhaps too much, but that’s another story. Here’s my food (and some wine) journal. This was a family trip, not a wine trip, but I found some fun bottles on lists at remarkable prices relative to how tough it is, in general, to not get jobbed buying off lists in the USofA. Oh, the bottles you can find for $35 euros off lists in Italy!
Our itinerary was Rome > Montalcino > Positano > Rome.
ROME:
We stayed in Campo De Fiori- Highly recommend- lots of beautiful streets to wander and great food, coffee, and wine around every corner.
Our plane was two hours late getting out of Atl and we missed our first day lunch reservation, but squeezed in a quick mid-afternoon snack at Antico Forno Roscioli which was steps from our apartment. Pizza slices by weight and tasty treats at the counter. Worth a stop for afternoon snack.
Colline Emiliane
Dinner first night at Colline Emiliane. Family pasta shop that cranks out the fresh pasta daily and gets a good bit of buzz. Long line out front, glad we had reservations. Humble, slightly sterile room, maybe 20 tables. Not a terribly interesting wine list. Had some regional bubbles btg. Tortellini in Brodo and Pappardelle Bolognese were standouts. Oh, and that Charcuterie platter. Overall, didn’t live up to the hype, and was one of the less memorable meals.
Pizzeria Emma
Lunch: Part of the Roscioli empire, the best pizza we had in Italy. Paper thin crust that had just the right amount of chew, uncanny how tasty the red sauce is for a seemingly simple thing. The bufala mozzarella unlike any I’ve had. So good.
Roscioli Salumeria
Outside of the farm lunch in Montalcino, best dining experience of our trip, amidst many very good experiences. Crowded deli counter upstairs, wine cellar down stairs, bustling and joyful place that just makes you happy to be alive. Book weeks in advance and be thankful you did. We sat in the wine cellar. Food, ambiance (loud, fun), staff, wine list…all A+ and as good as advertised. We tried to visit again when we came back to Rome a week later, but all booked up and the wait here can be looongg.
Deli counter upstairs.
Downstairs dining in wine Room
Pieropan. $36 euros off the list. All day long. So many nice values, and a very deep list (all the way to verticals of DRC, Leroy and more) wish I had more time.
Meets and Cheeses. Remarkable at $18e. So freaking good.
Pasta Alla Gricia. omg.
Spaghetti Carbonara. omg x2
La Zanzara
Stopped in here on a whim after the Vatican as it’s in the neighborhood and I’d heard good things. More of a hipster-bistro vibe here, but this eggplant parmesan-grandma style. Wow. Is there bad food in Rome?
Sant Eustachio
Great place for an afternoon coffee break, just steps from the Pantheon. Campy, old school, and they disregard the Italian-no milky coffees after lunch- rule. It was bloody hot the whole time we were in Italy, the iced shakerato or granita with espresso and chocolate was the way to go.
Da Francesca Pizzeria
Da Francesca was recommended in one of the older Berserker posts and it was the surprise of the trip. One of the top 3 nights. Another humble room, old school wood paneling, kids running around, but the food is just so dialed in. Uncanny. Another excellent wine list with wish I had more time to work over. Tried to get a Valentini Trebbiano off the list for $90! but they were already gone. Our server took me across the street to their temp-controlled wine room/deli and turned me on to the Girolama Russo Etna Bianco that was wicked good for $35.
Sometimes, the simplest things are the best.
Fettucine alla gricia with black truffle shavings.
On to Montalcino