It’s funny how it all started. I have spent years talking about moving to, or maybe just part-time-living, in Italy. Then at one point someone brought up the fact that I had never even been to the country. Killjoy. But, it was the truth. How did I really know if I would even like it? Maybe my romanticized ideas (which I now realize have led me astray before) were only that. A few months later I was climbing on an airplane. I made my first trip and discovered my fears unfounded. I loved it so much I have been doing it now every year since.
My whole life I had been a family man. I worked hard but loved traveling with my wife. We always got along so great, particularly so while on adventures. But suddenly I was unexpectedly single. Going to another country all alone. Where I had never been before and didn’t speak the language, I thought, “this is how missing person reports start.” Initially I thought I had a daughter joining me, but then that plan fell apart. On a lark I asked a new friend to join me and she said yes. …An amusing story for another time. The trip was fantastic, but that trip was strictly exploration.
I became a remote worker long before Covid when a bunch of you joined me. I spent twenty-five years telling people my job was great, and I could work from anywhere. But then where did I work from? The desk in my family room. Last year I conducted some tests and worked some days to see if technically I could connect to the things I needed to at my job. Those tests went great! Much of the intranet infrastructure in Italy is government owned. In a city of 1500 year old buildings, every one of them is connected with fiber internet. My connection speeds to work were better than I had at home! This year’s trip is my first where I will be working full time. And, we’ll see how this goes, but maybe I will do some travel blogging as well.
My first destination was Rome. In the past Rome has not been my favorite city. It’s so big, and so spread out. It had been tough for me to walk the places I wanted to go. Cabs are super expensive and include a version of the Italian driving experience, intensified compared to other cities. The public transportation system was far too confusing for an amateur on year one. But over the span of three years I have learned much. Things like, bus tickets are purchased from tobacco shops and other odd quirks. I have learned a smattering of Italian. Enough to ask a question and sometimes even understand the answer. So my confidence has risen and this year I have found Rome to be much more accessible for me.
And honestly, giving credit where credit is due, this trip I am traveling with my friend The Seamstress, who has made a few appearances in this blog over the years. Her planning and organizational skills are far above and beyond anything I have previously had access to before. My thoughts out loud have turned into plans, timetables, events and tickets. It’s been great! It was one of those thoughts, mentioning I had never been inside the Roman Colosseum, and a day later we were walking there tickets in hand.
I was maybe a little less impressed with the inside once I saw it. The outside is so iconic, the inside a ruin. The crowds, I thought were massive, though at one point I heard a tour guide explain to her group “This is nothing compared to summer” February is the off season and tourism is lite. I can’t even imagine
What I feel differentiates Rome from other Italian cities is the architectural grandness and sheer bulk of some of the structures. How I can be walking down a skinny little street, round a corner and suddenly there is a massive two thousand year old Roman building. Similar things happen in Napoli but more often and on a grander scale in Rome. Plus the buildings are cleaner. Not likely to be so dirty and graffiti’d the way they are in Napoli.
I have come to the realization over the years I travel to eat. In Italy eating is a different experience. Take for instance the humble tomato. In America this equates to a tasteless, artificially ripened, sometimes even bordering on crunchy, fruit who’s function seems to be adding red color and moisture to whatever you are consuming. Not the same in Italy. They have flavor! Lots of flavor! The only way to get this flavor in America is to raise what we call heirloom tomatoes in your own garden.
The same can be said of olive oil. A few years back, pre-travel, I read an article in the media about how most oil in American grocery stores is on the verge of rancidity and bitterness the day you buy it. At the time I didn’t know what they were talking about. The oil was fine. I had no context. Coming here, visiting a public market where you are talking to the person who owns the olive trees the oil comes from, it all became crystal clear. I gained that context in my first bite of bruschetta. The tomatoes, the fresh mozzarella, the oil tasting so fresh and wonderful. I never went back. I took a years worth of oil home from that first trip and have done the same ever since. I will never buy another bottle of imported oil in America.
My first night in Rome was spent at a favorite spot. Pizzeria alle Carette on Via della Madonna dei Monte. This by coincidence was one of the first pizzas I ate in Rome. Great pizza and totally unbelievable price. I paid six euro for a pizza, three euro for a vino rosa making it what I believe is one of the best values in the city. (~$9.75 USD) I didn’t understand how they could make a living, but talked to a friend of mine. At a restaurant like this they are buying wine by the 55 gallon (metric equivalent) drum. He was guessing they had half a euro of wine in a glass. The pizza profits, given economies of scale could be even better. A family run place like this might have been paid off for two generations. He said there is really good money in pizza, even when there is a pizza oven every two blocks.
It isn’t all good news though. My next night I visited what I had discovered three years ago to be my all time best Indian food. Maharajah on Via dei Serpenti. I had walked by it for several days, reading the sign and saying “no way! An Indian place in Italy?” Then on one of my last nights I decided to go for it. The flavor exploded, the spice level was perfect. I couldn’t believe how good it was. I couldn’t wait to get back to it last year. …And last year I was confused. Lots of new faces and the food was just ok. I didn’t want to prematurely judge though so gave them another try this year.
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| Hard to believe but this was the high point of the meal! |
Wow, what a difference two years can make. The service seemed a little angry, the food quality reduced. I asked for it spicy, molto speziato, several times with no indication the waitress had even heard me. I received two dishes which were positively boring. There was some condition around ordering garlic naan so instead I had to get plain. But it was thick, bready and tasteless. Only useable as la scarpetta and marginal even in that capacity. I wonder, in times like this what happened? Did they lose their chef? Did ingredient budgets get cut? I wonder if it even changed hands. It wasn’t just the food either. After I finished my first plate I was nibbling and finishing my beer, a large Kingfisher, and three times had to chase away wait staff trying to take away my plate and remaining food. On their fourth visit I let them go ahead. Frankly the food wasn’t worth protecting. The meal was so bad I wrote a two star review on google maps while I was sitting there. Next trip to Rome I will be searching for a new favorite.
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