If you love your food & wine, then Rome is the place for you. From the moment I walked into the main city of Rome, the feeling I got was just un-describable.
I love all the little restaurants you find tucked away in little streets; every second shop is a gelataria. If you don’t stop and have at least one gelato a day, then you are missing out on all those yummy flavours. There was a day that I think I had at least 5 gelatos. I know, I know that is just outrageous, but if you see just how many flavours there are and then weighing it up with the amount of days you are there, you have to do your sums and make sure that you can try at least every flavour at least once.

The first place I walked to was the Fountain of Trevi. What a sensational place, it took my breath away. I reckon I sat on the steps and was staring at the fountain for at least 20 minutes before I had to pinch myself and remembered where I was. It was one of those places I have dreamt of visiting for such a long time, I can’t believe I was actually there. I made sure that every time I was coming back from a restaurant, shopping or making my way back the hotel, I would try and walk past it just so I can absorb the view and the feeling it gave me.
It was quite funny; I think I spent about 10EUR before I got the right photo of throwing a coin in. It was worth it though. It didn’t matter what time of the day - morning, noon or night, it was always packed with both tourists and locals. A MUST place to visit if you ever get to Rome.

Next stop was to find a fine restaurant with authentic Italian food, but then I realised, “I’m surrounded by restaurants” So it wouldn’t be a problem in having a decent meal. And it wasn’t. I soon found myself eating Penne with Quattro formaggi. One of my favourites! On the last night I wanted to have a great meal and I am glad that after one hour walking around, I finally found a restaurant that was absolutely delicious. They had a three-page selection on pasta dishes, so I am sure that you will find a dish to suit all. The name of that restaurant is La Maddalena, which is on Piazza Della Maddalena, right near the Pantheon. You can’t miss it, as it has this massive pasta display outside that catches your eye. Oh yes and they have my favourite dessert, Panna Cotta, yummy!!

I walked down to the Colosseum, and again the whole area was full of tourists and big groups. The entry fee is EUR11 but if you are lucky enough to hop onto a last minute tour group run by the locals for EUR15, they will take you around in small group of 6, so it is more intimate. If you are in a group, you will find that you will be able to skip the long queue. There are lots of souvenirs outside, which you will be able to find at markets as well, so I would hold off buying anything around there, they have marked up the prices at least 15%.

I went to Campo di Fiori, which was about a 15-minute walk from the Trevi Fountain. Its is like a market place where you can pick up delicious fresh fruit & vegies, spices, cold cuts, poultry and little souvenirs. Here I found a few great bakeries where you can buy a fresh Panini and then go next door into the salami shop and have them slice fresh mortadella or proscuitto into your bread roll. You can’t get fresher than that. While I was walking around I noticed hotels of all different grades in great locations. This is in between the Trevi and Pantheon, in Piazza Navona.
These hotels that I would recommend are:
Hotel Regno 3*
Hotel Accademia 3*
Hotel Rimini 3*
Hotel Della Nazioni 4*
Hotel Pantheon 4*
And right near the Trevi Fountain:
Hotel Trevi Palace 4*
Hotel Fontana 3*


I got to visit the Spanish Steps, and again it was just crazy busy. I had the pleasure in walking through a street that only had designer brands. So if you ever walk over to the steps, you must have your credit card with you. It’s like walking through Knox St Double Bay. At the base of the stairs, you had the option of buying a bag of roasted chestnuts, which were roasted in front of you, so they were nice, and hot, fresh flowers or some beautiful Italian pottery.

What a wonderful place and what a great time I had. The only bad thing about The Sheraton Roma was that they had scales in the bathroom, so on the last night I made the worst mistake of weighing myself and found that I had put on 4kgs. I was devastated. I knew that this needed to come off straight away, as soon as I landed in Sydney I was going back to the “Sushi” diet, but when I was flying out of Rome, I thought to myself; “I’m coming back and this time I am staying longer, but next time I will cut back on the gelato and pasta” Yeah right! 

Belinda July 2007