As the sayings go, ‘a picture tells a 1000 words’ or ‘every picture tells a story’.
So here is a collection of some of my fave pictures of the past few months. Collectively they do tell a story – they tell my story of living in my Rome and I will cherish them always! Will keep adding as I go… Enjoy!
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Autumn has well and truly set in now. It has been raining quite a bit, but for the most part, we are still getting some nice sunny days. Averaging about 18-20 degrees during the day and about 8-10 overnight. Each day I wake up waiting for it to be cold but so far, so good!
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Gianicolo hill in Trastevere. Amazing view of Rome city. Just beautiful.
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The keys to my apartment! My first apartment in Rome. The keyring was given to me by a special friend as a houswarming gift.
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My street – or vicolo I should say (which means little street). My street is right in the centre of Trastevere. It’s a popular spot for tourists to take photos because it’s characteristically Roman.
The rustic brown building is my apartment block. The first apartment you see with the shutters open on top of the brown door on the left is my apartment!
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Every single time I’m in a taxi, car or bus and go past the monument to Vittorio Emmanuele II (known also as the wedding cake!), I can’t resist taking a photo. It’s as if I don’t have enough or I’ve never seen it! It’s just so breathtakingly beautiful that I feel as though I need to capture it in some way!
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The view from my balcony. I love nothing more than coming home and opening the shutters. The view is of the street and I like to see the restaurant downstairs and all the people spilling out of the bar on the corner. It’s a really lively area, so pretty loud until at least 1am during the week and obviously later on weekends, but I love it!
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Cooking my first meal in my apartment back in September. Pasta carbonara of course – the most Roman of dishes to kick it all off!
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Tiramisu – classico and al pistacchio from Bar Pompi – regarded as the best in the city.
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Me at the Moda concert at Rome’s Pallalottomattica. My first stadium concert in Italy.
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A very well known Trastevere drinking hole, just around the corner from my house. Ma che siete venuti a fa` in Roman dialect translates to ‘What are you here for?’ or ‘What did you come for?’
I had a drink here almost 3 years ago – little did I know then that I would now be living in Rome and just steps away! The bar is tiny but it doesn’t matter, because people buy their drinks and congregate out the front. Drinking on the street is legal here!
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Tasting porchetta d’Arricia for the first time in Rome at a paninoteca (sandwich bar) in front of Hadrian’s Temple, between the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain. So yum!!
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I pass this most beautiful street almost every day walking from Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere to Piazza Sidney Sonnino or Viale di Trastevere (main road and where I catch the tram or bus). The first time I saw it, I stopped because there were just people hanging out on the corner and staring or taking photos… I had to stop to see what all the fuss was about. It’s the quintessential old Roman street.
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La Fontana di Trevi – looking at it, sitting in front of it, throwing a coin, or taking a photo of it – it will never ever get old for me. It’s my favourite place in the whole city. It signifies Rome to me and I just love it.
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When walking home to Trastevere across Ponte Sisto, this is the view I enjoy of St Peter’s Basilica. There are many beautiful bridges on the Tiber River but Ponte Sisto is a pedestrian bridge, so it’s a constant hybrid of activity with tourists taking photos, street art and buskers.
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My kitchen is quite small but I’ve become quite attached to it. This breakfast bench is also my dining table!
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Franchi in Prati area. It’s a wine bar, cake shop, bar, food store, everything! The gourmet products they sell are to die for. On the shelves you find home made egg pasta, truffle and truffle oil and at the counter you don’t know where to look first. You have all the traditional cold meats – salumeria, cheeses, baked ricotta, stuffed eggplants and artichokes, rice balls and croquettes, smoked fish, beef carpaccio, shall I continue?? It’s just fantastic.
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Just a street sign on a very famous street in the Prati area, Via Cola di Rienzo. Prati is an upmarket area near Vatican and this street is great for designer but also high street and regular shopping, bars and restaurants.
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Aperitivo time at a friend’s house. Suppli (rice balls), croquettes and cheese. Oh and a Spritz cocktail of course!
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On my way to Prati one night, I drove past St Peter’s Square and the Vatican. I’d really only ever seen it up close during the day. At night it’s just beautiful, illuminated like a beacon of the city.
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This pic was not taken in a regional area but in Rome!!! Shetland ponies in the city – outrageous!
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Lunchtime in Roma. Brodo con tortellini (beef broth with tortellini). Too good on a cold autumn day.
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Saltimbocca alla Romana. Veal escalopes pan fried with prosciutto and sage. Saltimbocca translates literally to jumps in your mouth. I absolutely love it!y
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I was sitting having a coffee the other day (ok ok I lie, you know I don’t drink coffee – I stopped to have a tiramisu.. it’s not a crime!) and this woman was just casually sitting on her scooter on the phone absolutely loving herself in her Roman couture!!! Adidas track pants and black stiletto boots! Not normal!
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I love love love supermarkets in Italy. I’m a foodie – how can you not! They have the best selection and variety of products that I love. I have been known to spend a lot of time walking the aisles! But my favourite thing to do at the supermarket is to buy fruit and vegetables. You have to weigh and price your own but it’s so easy and for me it’s fun! You select your items, put them in a plastic bag and you must take note of the number code. You then weigh it and press the number (which is usually accompanied by a pic, so it’s fairly straightforward). A sticker label prints automatically and you stick that on your bag. Too easy!
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Transport in Melbourne has never been really been my thing – well not since my uni days anyway. I have to confess I catch transport almost every day in Rome. I don’t have a car yet but I live right in the city and transport is literally on my doorstep. Only major nuisance is supermarket shopping. The supermarket I usually go to is about a 15 minute walk from home. So for big shopping days, I had to buy a shopping trolley. Never thought I’d see the day, but sadly I confess that I really can’t get by without one.
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Piazza San Cosimato is another really cool piazza in Trastevere. There are some nice restaurants off the piazza, but what it’s most known for is a fresh food market. It’s on every day until about 2pm. You can buy fresh fruit and vegetables, cold meats and cheeses, meat, poultry and fish.
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Christmas is definitely in the air here. Most shops have their windows dressed and panettone (traditional Italian fruit cake eaten at Christmas) have been in the supermarkets for weeks. There are so many different types that when shopping, I never see the same brand or flavour twice.
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Pizza with potato and pork sausage from Dar Poeta. One of the most popular pizzerias in Trastevere – and it’s in my street! Every night there is a queue of people out front. The pizza was great but not sure how long I’d stand there waiting – it’s not like good pizza is too hard to find in Rome!
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Pouring rain on Via del Corso. Rome has had such a good weather run since summer that it came as a bit of a shock last week when I walked out of a museum and it was absolutely bucketing down. Thankfully I had my umbrella that I’d bought off a street vendor a few weeks back!
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Every time I get off the tram at Largo Argentina (bout a 5 minute walk to Pantheon or Piazza Navona) I see these ruins – apparently the temple site and square in which Julius Caesar was killed. The city is just full of significant ruins like this on every corner – definitely no shortage!
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Just walking home on a Wednesday afternoon! It’s so nice walking around the area. The people at the restaurant downstairs say hello, good morning, good evening to me each time I’m leaving the apartment or coming home. The girls at the dayspa up the street always wave to me. My friends at the ice cream shop always smile and wave, the old man and his son at the local grocery store stop to say hi and the guy at the pizza place always asks how I’m doing. I feel like a real part of my neighbourhood! There’s a beautiful small town sense of neighbourhood you feel here, despite being in a big city. I’m an adopted Trasteverina!
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The main piazza in Trastevere, Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere where the Basilica of Our Lady in Trastevere or Santa Maria in Trastevere is. It’s a beautiful square with restaurants and bars. My street faces the right hand side of the church. I live about a minute walk from here. It’s one of the oldest churches in Rome and the interior is full of frescoes and 12th century mosaics. Just beautiful.
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Il coloseo. You sort of just forget about it and then sometimes you’re driving or walking around and there it is! It’s size, significance and sheer beauty still blows me away.
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An amazing calzone from Dar Poeta in Trastevere filled with ricotta and Nutella!! To die for!
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Not often do I dine alone, but every now and then it happens or in Italian we say ci vuole (every now and then you need to!).
Needless to say you’re not really alone as a woman dining in Italy… the wait staff are very attentive. This is an area of customer service that is not lacking! My lunch with a view in Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere.
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The cobblestones of Rome. In Italian they are called sampietrini. Apparently they are trying to phase them out of the city with proper asphalt paving because of the vibration of cars driving over them. However the sampietrini of Trastevere, will never be removed for heritage reasons.
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I finally tried Cacio e Pepe recently at one of my favourite restaurants in Rome Tanto pe magna` (Roman dialect which literally translates to To Eat) which is in the Garbatella area, another really old and lively quartiere of the city. Cacio e Pepe is a typically Roman dish of pasta served with pecorino cheese and pepper. So simple, but oh so good! It’s one of the three typical Roman pasta plates together with carbonara and amatriciana.
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As you can see, my first plate of Cacio e Pepe certainly won’t be my last!
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Graffiti or street art is rife in this city. I see it every day on the door of my apartment block! I just had to share this one. Young love in Rome.. Of course it’s only natural that you proclaim your love to the world after being in a relationship for – wait for it – 8 months!! 8 months with you. A dream if it could last forever. I love you.
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No no, I love you Roma! TI AMO ROMA!
Arrivederci da Trastevere,
Baci Maria
