Eat Rome

Some friends just returned from a week in Rome and regaled us with stories of a wonderful food tour they took with Elizabeth Minchilli, an American food writer who lives in Rome. They took the Campo de Fiori and Jewish Ghetto tour you can see under the Food Tours tab at Minchilli's website. Their description was mouth-watering as they ate and drank their way across Rome through markets, cafes, butchers and bakers, and prompted us to move Rome up near the top of the list of our next trips.

Minchilli also has a blog that you can subscribe to by email and the EatRome app for iPad and iPhone ($2.99) that lists great places to eat all over the city (including an interactive map that informs me, sadly, that I am currently some 7,400 km away from the restaurant). There is also an app for Florence.

I have spent some wonderful times in Rome and had some great food, from a hostaria I literally stumbled into and ate their delicious menu du jour to an elegant restaurant with a patio overlooking some of Rome's hills where I had my first sole filleted at the table. One of the nicest meals I had was at the home of some American friends in Rome who I was visiting over Christmas, because good food and the good cheer that goes with it is not confined to restaurants.

There are many other reasons to visit Rome -- art, architecture, history, shopping, and for many, a pilgrimage to the Holy See. But I'm fairly certain that our trip to Rome will put a top priority on a food tour from Elizabeth Minchilli if it can be arranged.