On the first weekend of December, my husband and I travelled to my hometown Rome to attend a friend’s wedding. While we spent Saturday at the ceremony and reception, on Sunday we had time to wander around the city centre and have lunch with my parents. It was a gorgeous sunny day and Rome was beautiful!
The view of Ponte Sisto and St Peter’s Basilica from Ponte Garibaldi
My husband hadn’t been to Rome since our wedding two years ago and the first thing he asked for was to eat maritozzo! This is sweet brioche bread sliced lenghtwise and filled with whipped cream. LOTS of it!
The best maritozzo in Rome!
The best place to eat maritozzo is Bar il Maritozzaro, near Trastevere and Porta Portese. The best time to eat it is at night, before going home after a night out. That’s exactly how we did it, stopping “dar maritozzaro” at two in the morning after the wedding party.
Then we went back the next day to take photos, but they had sold out all the maritozzi so instead we ate a pain au chocolat filled with whipped cream. I prefer the brioche bread, but this was still very tasty! The secret is in the sweetened whipped cream. ;)
Pain au chocolat filled with whipped cream
Oh, I forgot to tell you about breakfast: espresso macchiato and bignè alla crema di cioccolato (choux pastry with chocolate cream).
This is not a typical Roman breakfast, as bignè are traditionally eaten as dessert at the end of Sunday lunch, but clearly my husband didn’t care! ;)
Bignè al cioccolato
We met my parents in Trastevere (read my post about Eating Italy food tours) and walked together towards Campo de’ Fiori to have lunch in a local trattoria.
A friend of mine recommended to us the Hosteria Grappolo d’Oro, which served authentic Roman dishes accompanied by delicious local wine.
Spaghetti alla Carbonara
After lunch we walked towards Piazza Navona, Largo Argentina, Corso Vittorio and then back to Campo de’ Fiori where we stopped at GROM for gelato! Even though this is a chain which you can find across Italy, I love their ice-cream as it’s creamy, tasty and simple. I always order Crema di Grom (custard cream with chocolate chips and cookies) and Gianduja (chocolate and hazelnut cream)!
As the sun began to set we crossed the Sisto bridge and arrived back in Trastevere. It was time to drive to the airport to catch our flight back to London.
See you in a few months, Rome!
[…] best way to eat like a Roman is to join a guided food tour in Rome, an absolutely fantastic option is the Rome Trastevere food […]
[…] de mantequilla, a sweet yeasted bun filled with a thick layer of butter that reminded me of the maritozzo in Rome. All the bakeries I have been to had trays filled with these buns, sometimes smothered with custard […]
Your husband is a man with excellent taste! It’s been far too long since I was last in Rome and your post brought the memories flooding back. I usually stay at a little, family-run hotel between the Piazza Navona and the Campo de’ Fiori, so I know that area very well!
So many places to visit, so little time!
Brian.
Live the maritozzo…and your grey nail polish!
Now I’m hungry!