Roma Roma. If there is one place you must visit in Italy it's here. The culture is so rich and different than any other place in Europe I could have easily spent a week in Rome alone. The first thing you'll realize here, and the first thing that made me love Rome, is that you can walk along a street that is completely modernized and seconds later turn the corner to find an architectural piece or monument from ancient times. Like the Colosseum: built in 70 AD, nearly 2,000 years old, and then down the street a sushi restaurant? Crazy. Rome is another place I would heavily suggest doing research before heading places, unless you want to be like me frantically Google searching who designed the Trevi Fountain and why (it was Nicola Salvi and took 30 years to build btw) once getting to destinations.
One thing is to definitely make reservations for tours ahead of time... as lines are always terribly long. The Colosseum is a must see, as is the Roman Forum. Rome itself is so culture heavy that you really have to narrow down what you're interested in and plan ahead, especially if you're going for only a few days. My absolute favorite part of Rome was Vatican City (which technically is its own country, fun fact for ya) because of its beauty, the art, and the amazing views if you're daring enough to work for them, but that will have to be it's own post 😉
Now for the best part of Rome...
Italian food. Obviously. I never have had 5 amazing meals consecutively until I came to Rome. My favorite part of town for food was the Market at Campo de' Fiori. Its suspicious at first because waiters are outside their restaurants convincing you to come eat there (which usually means they're desperate...aka food isn't prime) but here it wasn't the case. Every place we ate was amazing.
One thing to note about Italy is their aperitivo. A bottle of wine with a dish of cheese, olives, breads, etc. before dinner (so 6 o'clock) is only 10€ which is a no brainer. Other cities in Italy (I saw this in Florence a lot) had mini dinner buffets and cocktails for only 6€ so take advantage of Italian aperitivo while you can because once you're in Paris apero is back to being a glass of Kir for 12€ and that just isn't as fun...
There is one place you must eat at before leaving Rome, and that's Cacio e Pepe. Recommended to me by best friend (thanks Sue) who's an expert on Rome, this pasta is literally to die for. All the pasta is homemade and their house dish is pasta with parmesan cheese, olive oil, and pepper. This isn't your traditional bolognese or marinara but out of all the pasta dishes I had in Italy, this was the one I'd fly back just to have another one.
So although I did not find a Paolo, or was confused to be an Italian pop star like Lizzie Mcguire, Rome still was all it's hyped up to be.
Arrivederci!
