Roman Holidays

Rome. Need I say more? What’s not to love?

I actually had no real interest in going to a huge city in Italy at first glance. It seems that folks who travel a bit, say Europe maybe once a year or so, love to bash big cities. It was easy to get on board with that, until I ventured off to Rome to see for myself. I had the benefit of an introduction from flight crew, which is akin to visiting a new city with locals.

Maybe I should pause and explain how flight crews explore the world. We don’t have the same approach as someone going to a destination on vacation or even for a few days for business. We largely are dropped in a city (and with good luck, in a good central location) without any transportation and we only stay for 24 hours. Ideally, they are 24 useful hours. It is prime to arrive around noon, grab a quick refresh and then head out to enjoy one point of interest per trip and then a great meal followed by a good night’s sleep. It’s trickier when you have an odd number of hours or have to leave late at night or very early the next day because you have to devote most of your layover to rest and nutrition.

Location is important as well. Since we were on our own to get around, we really get to know the radius within a few miles of the hotel. Public transportation opens a whole new world for us. If we layover out at the airport for convenience, time or security reasons, we are pretty much just focusing on rest. We had a great location in Rome off of Via Veneto and central to everything including public transportation. Walking was our mode of choice after the confinement of the aircraft, and it allowed us to absorb the city through all senses as we explored.

Crews get to know the area right around their hotel really well and share good finds with each other. We don’t typically hang out as a group on layovers, it would be like herding cats to get 10 or 14 of us going in one  direction, and we all have our own personal interests. A lot of times we make plans to meet at the end of the day for dinner which is the perfect amount of socializing for our break from being “on” constantly when we work. If there was someone new on the crew, we would either point them in the right direction to see the “must see” sights or one of us would take them out and introduce them to the city. We gave each other space but took care of each other too. It was awesome when you had enough seniority to finally fly the Rome trip regularly. I mean imagine going to Rome every week for months on end! I would pick a different feature I wanted to explore in depth each time and give it my full attention. I did things you might not do on a busy vacation:

I attended church one Sunday at the Pantheon. Wow. Just wow. Yes, I cried. The history and majesty of the architecture were simply overwhelming.

Looking up, Seeing God

I took the time to crawl around in crypts under the city and take a balloon ride over it. I spent weeks heading across the river to get to know Trastevere where yes, they have a foodie walking tour. I learned about my favorite Jewish bakery over there from the Italian speaker from Rome on the crew and would save all of my calories for that spot. The earthy funk of the streets made that neighborhood a delight to wander and explore. You could feel the grit of everyday life.

Of course just stopping anywhere in a piazza for a lazy glass of wine and salad to watch the beautiful, emotive people could pass an entire afternoon. I loved how you could duck into any church on the street and step into a work of art.

So much of Rome is the food, though. If you think you’ve had Italian food before going to Italy, well, no you have not. I even had Italian relatives from Boston who immigrated from Italy, but this food absolutely transported me. I was struck by how fresh and truly flavorful the cuisine was. Not just a lot of dishes piled with cheese and tomato sauce. And this is where traveling with crew was a real bonus. We all LOVE food, and a crew goes out to eat every day in Rome so we cover a lot of ground and get away from the obvious places and find the great local gems. We leave cards recommending the greats in, you guessed it, the briefing room and pass them around and small local trattorias become crew legends. Then crews become legends showing up all of the time and we all develop a family relationship and it is a lot of fun and feels like going home in those great restaurants in a fabulous city. One of those places was a place we lovingly call “Nona’s.”

Nona’s is actually named: Ristorante der Pallaro. Trust me, it’s Nona’s.

It’s a non-descript building with a nice courtyard set up with 2 long tables lined with chairs. Nona (Grandmother in Italian) starts cooking every morning early, and cooks all day. There is one menu per day (what Nona made) and 2 seatings.

You are seated and some jugs of excellent house wine are set in the middle of the table with carafes of water. The fun begins.

The full meal starts with antipasto and ends with dolce and moves at a languid pace. Everything is served family style and the mood is always festive and friendly. Each course absolutely melts in your mouth like butter. I have no idea how the eclectic combination of fresh flavors comes together so beautifully, but each meal is a work of art. If you ever get to Rome, you must try Nona’s!

For the absolute best antipasto bar in Rome, wander over towards Piazza Barberini. Down a small side street, and trust me on this, you want to find this, is da Olimpio.

It’s at the end of Via degli Avignonesi, and just a storefront trattoria/pizzeria. When you enter, glance to your left. Feast your eyes on an antipasto bar that could easily be dinner. It is spectacular! After being seated at one of the white clothed tables in the intimate setting and enjoying your first sip of the house wine gracing the table, you can get a plate of fresh food that will make you linger. Save some space, though, because they rock some of the arguably best pizza in town. Winding down at da Olimpio is a sublime way to end a busy day in Rome. You can wander over to the Trevi Fountain just a short distance away and enjoy some Gelato at Gelateria Valentino afterwards for a sweet finish.

There are some of the most amazing fine dining options in the world in Rome. Staying in a hotel off of Via Veneto, there was no shortage of those options and they were impressive. I have to say that one worth your visit that isn’t a household name in tour books but a favorite Roman fine restaurant is Al Pompiere.

It’s not flashy and bold, but old school. Located in the Jewish Ghetto section of town, not far from where you cross the Tiber to head over to Trastevere, the surrounding area is a great niche to explore on its own. The food is very traditional Judeo-Roman and the staff is part of the fabric of the place. It’s an older world experience. They can do things with artichokes there that will amaze you, but you really do have to try the fried ones with some zucchini blossoms to start your evening. Just saying. You’ll enjoy a great meal in a beautiful historic setting without too many beautiful people trying to be seen ordering Nouveau-Roman food to spoil your evening. Can’t beat that!!

One of the best things, and surprising things about Rome for such a big city is its warmth. Take the time to appreciate that if you ever get there. Slow down to local time and take that 2 hour lunch and enjoy a bottle of wine and talk and watch the world pass by. Listen to the musical nature of the language and watch the effusive greetings between people. I highly suggest learning a few words of Italian before going, it is surprisingly similar to English and logical to learn. Italians are overjoyed when you make an attempt to speak with them in their language and will welcome you warmly. I found it so much fun that I decided to really work on learning the beautiful language, which led to another adventure of course.

Ciao! A domani!!