Eating and Drinking in Rome (during Covid)

Travel doesn't have to be expensive. This is an idea I wish more folks would understand. Sure, traveling to a foreign country -- especially the way I like to travel -- takes you out of your comfort zone. It messes with your body, heart, and head because it upends at least some of what you assume to be true. But it doesn't have to be expensive.

Some folks will drop $1,000 for a weekend at Disney. Or spend $200 to take the family out for teppanyaki. Or debit $5.50 from their account five days a week for coffee. In my book, THAT is expensive. Truth is that we all spend and donate our money for the things we most value. Sometimes we make incorrect assumptions, though, that limit our values from being tested and expanded.

As an example, take eating and drinking in Rome. I am not exaggerating when I say that you can eat beautiful food in Rome for no more than you would pay for eating out in Fresno, Nashville or Pittsburgh ... and perhaps even less. Not every place in the world is equally affordable, but Italy most certainly can be.

Italy is ancient yet young, unified yet diverse. The roots of modern Italy go back millennia, yet Italy as we know it was not a unified country until 1861. Imagine that medieval and renaissance Italy was actually a jigsaw puzzle of city states and papal fiefdoms. Local customs accentuated regional differences that grew up over the centuries, and many of these persist still today.

The Italy of 2021 also isn't the Italy of 1921 or even 1961. Do you recall all those Italians who emigrated to the US back in the late 1800s and on into the 1900s? There was a reason for that. Poverty was high in Italy. People felt hopeless and followed their friends and relatives across the ocean in search of work and security. 

In recent decades, stability has brought prosperity to much of Italy. This means higher quality food and drink. The hearty dishes on restaurant menus across Italy today were hardly common fare in the 1950s. A Bolognese sauce might have been made with cheap cuts of meat, unlike the good veal or pork in today's sauces.

You don't need to know these things to visit or enjoy Italy. This helps explain, though, why there are so many layers to peel away as you become more deeply acquainted with it. On a first visit, every gelato is amazing. No pizza or cappuccino is bad to someone getting their first taste of Italy.

It's possible that there is no bad food in Italy. But as you go deeper into what it means to eat and drink in Italy, you discover there is good food, there is really good food, and then there is WOW food.

And it's not just the food or drink. It's the dining experience. Italian wines suddenly come alive when you're drinking them just a few miles from where they were harvested and produced. Cheese and ham have different textures and flavors. Pasta has a special crunch to it. It all tastes simple and fresh.

Rome is a great place to start to learn these differences.

Let's start with gelato. From my first visit to Italy in 2000, my motto was "there's no such thing as bad gelato" in Italy. While this might be true, I've been spoiled by the discovery of artigianale gelato. This designation can only be used by an ice cream shop that actually makes their gelato in house. And believe me, there's a difference. Once you realize this, your expectations change. Many gelato makers care deeply about their work from the quality of the ingredients to their unique steps of production. 

I have my favorite flavors that I tend to order over and over. Unlike American ice cream that is high in fat content, Italian gelato isn't heavy or overly filling. Plus, you're burning all those calories by walking!

I alternate between ordering fruity concoctions and nutty/chocolaty flavors. My baseline flavors for comparison are strawberry, lemon, pistachio and stracciatella. But there are so many other amazing choices to work into the rotation. How can you go wrong?

I usually get a 2-flavor cup or cone (small or medium). The cost tends to be about 3 euros or a little over $3. There's no shortage of great gelato spots across Rome, but my two favorite cups on this trip came from Mariotti Gelateria near Piazza Navona and from Otaleg in Trastevere.

One note about this half-eaten cup of gelato from Otaleg. Pictured behind it is an SPQR water fountain, a ubiquitous sight across Rome. These fountains provide a steady stream of spring-fed water that has been engineered to flow into Rome since antiquity. It's absolutely drinkable. And refreshing!

A quick note about coffee. When you enter a bar or caffe and order a coffee, the price is regulated by the government and is the same everywhere with little exception. The big condition is that you must stand at the counter to consume it. (You can sit down, but the price tends to change when you do.) Italians don't dawdle over their coffee. The reward is an amazing jolt of caffeine in the form of an expertly crafted espresso, macchiato or cappuccino. Where in the States can you order a coffee and pastry like this and pay only $2.50? No supersizing. No to-go cup. This is the Italian way, and it's hard to knock it once you've tried it.

A great afternoon and relatively new ritual in Rome is aperitivo. Romans sit outside bars and restaurants to unwind from the day. They don't eat dinner till late, 9:00 is common, so a little pick-me-up is on point. Sitting, drinking and talking with friends is a great way to debrief from a busy day. Some people honestly just make a meal out of this. Here is what an aperitivo spread might look like.

Finally, dining out in Rome can be an amazing experience. You can eat very inexpensively in Rome, or you can pay what you'd pay to eat out anywhere in the States. The prices aren't much different, but the quality of the experience can be vastly different from the States.

Not all restaurants are equally great, but we found our way into a well-acclaimed gem, Cesare al Casaletto.

We arrived at 8:00. Left at 11:30. Read that again. Three and a half hours. When you occupy a table for dinner in Italy, the table is typically yours for the night. No flipping tables. The wait staff assume you are out for a special occasion, and they provide you with a great experience all evening. No rush. No fuss. Just great hospitality accompanying excellent food. Not a minute of our 3.5 hours felt boring or burdensome. We shared the 4 holy-grail pastas of Rome: carbonara, cacio e pepe, amatriciana and gricia.

We feasted on appetizers of fried rice balls (suppli) and meatballs:

I haven't even gotten to the main courses yet. This was my own plate after scooping up some of each. 

How best to describe all this food? Simple. Made with love. Delicious. Not heavy or overpowering. And when you share food among friends, you don't feel bloated or stuffed, just satisfied.

And the final bill for our amazing dinner with multiple courses, wine, dessert and coffee? Under 250 euros. Split 6 ways, that's about $50 per person. From my own experience, eating and drinking in Rome doesn't have to be expensive at all.