Rome, the capital city of Italy and of the Lazio region, is situated in the central-western portion of the Italian peninsula, where the river Aniene joins the Tiber. It’s one of the unique and largest cities in the European Union. Rome is most crowded commune worldwide, with about 2.8 million residents. Rome is an exhilarating, thrilling and stunning city that always reminds people of its past.
Rome is home of one of the world's greatest antique civilizations, laden with history, creative and architectural treasures, pizzas, piazzas and the Pope, Rome's 3,000 years old Centro Storico is a must-see even for artphobes. According to legend, the city of Rome was founded by the twins Romulus and Remus on April 21, 753 BC.
Rome enjoys a temperate Mediterranean climate. The main tourist season starts at Easter and runs until October. It is good to visit Rome in autumn, spring and in the winter months. In the moths of July and August, the temperature during sunny days exceeds 35° C and weather becomes hot and humid. Rome is an excellent place to spend your vacations.
Amazing temples, residences, basilicas, churches, palazzi, parks, museums and fountains attracts lots of visitors every year. Colosseum, St. Peter's Basilica, Trevi Fountain, Forum Romanum, Piazza di Spagna, Arch of Constantine, Arch of Titus, Arch of Septimius, Severus Aurelian Column, Baths of Caracalla, Campidoglio Circus, Maximus Pantheon, Pyramid of Caius Cestius, Villa Borghese are most popular attractions of Rome.
During your vacations in Rome, you will really enjoy pleasure of a fabulous, delicious, tasty food and wine. Diet of Romans during early days was meat, wild fruits and nuts. Conventional Roman cuisine is made up of simple with strong flavors but low-calorie, scanty ingredients, that follow the seasons and which are therefore tremendously fresh.
Romans ate beef rarely. It was a mark of luxury and was eaten only on special occasions. Early staples were grapes, olives, grain and fruits. Apples, pears, plums, apricots, peaches, pomegranates, cherries quinces, were fruits preferred by Romans. There were no lemons and oranges at that time. Nuts that Romans ate were almonds, filberts, hazelnuts, pistachios, walnuts. Romans never ate corn, potatoes and tomatoes. The land around Rome is evidently infertile, sun burnt and with little vegetation.
Typical dishes of Rome are really exciting and no other city has so many restaurants, inns and hostelries like this. Roman cooking offers a wide variety of dishes, using fresh products, and it is very varied from one region to another. Roman seafood restaurants are some of the best around even though they may be expensive. There's also authentic thin and crispy pizza romana from wood fired ovens.
Pasta is still the staple of the Roman meal, especially spaghetti. There is the classic Roman dish of spaghetti alla carbonara, made with pancetta or guanciale egg yolks and cheese. ‘Pinzimonio’ is a very simple but delicious and yummy dish. It consists of celery or fennel dipped into a dressing of oil, salt and pepper. This dish goes well with other important dishes, like spaghetti, lamb chops, amatriciana, authentic pecorino cheese, fantasious salads and good Roman wine.
Dishes made from sheep meat, like ‘Abbacchio’, lamb meat and goat meats are much loved by Romans. Another dish is fried artichokes "alla giudia" that consist a fried fish prepared with typical way of cooking artichokes from Jewish-Roman traditional cooking. The "carciofi alla romana”, the most distinctive vegetable dish comprises artichokes packed with grated bread, anchovies, parsley, salt and pepper.
Plump, locally grown artichokes are fried in olive oil or served alla romana, with oil, garlic and Roman mint. Salt cod fillets are also popular when deep fried. Also taste coda alla vaccinara, saltimbocca alla romana, costolette d'abbacchio dishes. Try a couple of maritozzi, or freshen up with a lovely "grattachecca", the typical Roman crushed-ice drink.
For a wine lover, Rome is a great city to taste and enjoy different flavors of wine. Regional wines in Rome are cheaper and of good quality. The ‘Colli Albani’, one of the most popular Roman Castles' wines is a dry and sweet wine. This wine is made from various different kinds of grapes like White Malvasia, Latium's Malvasia and Tuscanian Trebbiano. ‘Colli Albani’ a golden yellow wine of Frascati is served with both fish and meat. Colli Lanuvini, Castelli Romani, Velletri and Montecompatri Colonna are well-liked flavors in Rome.
The ‘Cesanese Del Piglio’, ‘Cesanese di Affile’ and ‘Cesanese di Olevano Romano’ are three popular red wines of Rome that are prepared from Cesanese Affile and Cesanese Comune grapes. ‘Est!Est!Est!’ a light yellow wine having light taste, a bit scented and fits with all specialties of roman cuisine. It is made of Tuscanian Trebbiano and Tuscanian White Malvasia grapes and is produced in Montefiascone, near the Bolsena Lake and its surrounds.
‘Marino’ yet another wine preferred by Romans, is prepared from Candia's Malvasia, Malvasia Puntinata and Tuscanian Trebbiano plus other local grapes. This yellow colored and fruit-perfumed dry wine’s taste is like Golden-type apples and apricots. The ‘Aprilia Merlot’ is bright red color, dry wine and ‘Aprilia Sangiovese’ is rosy color, dry and strong wine. Both of these are meal wines. The ‘Frascati’ is a light yellow, fruity perfume wine made of Candia's Malvasia, Malvasia Puntinata and other local grapes. It should be drunk young and is perfect for an each and every meal.
Orson Johnson writes for
Holiday Velvet, a website providing listings for bed and breakfasts, villas, hotels and
Apartment rental Rome
