ONE PERFECT DAY RomeAncient monuments and bold new architecture, traditional trattoria and sleek bars, local haunts and tourist traps – all manage to coexist in the colour and chaos of Italy’s Eternal City. WORDS LEE MARSHALL PHOTOGRAPHY NASSIMA ROTHACKER The Colosseum Home to emperors, popes and Italian presidents, the Eternal City is a fascinating historical layer cake, but also a vibrant contemporary capital with a vocation for good food and wine. Quartieri of the moment include boho-chic Monti and the new cultural hub, Flaminio, but don’t write off Centro Storico (old Rome) where cool insider venues sit cheek by jowl with tourist magnets such as Piazza Navona and the Trevi Fountain. Dog-walking contessas and businessmen on their way to work 07:30 stop here for some of Rome’s best The most central of the Roman coffee and house-baked pastries such aristocratic estates that have become as girella (sponge roll) studded with public parks, Villa Borghese is every sultanas and pine nuts. Grab a terrace local jogger’s favourite workout space. table and watch the Roman street In its 80 landscaped hectares, which theatre unfold in the piazza. take in formal gardens and woody glades, the running route combos are endless (fitrunning.it/borghese.htm). Clockwise: retro 10:00 scooter; inside Dive into the church of Santa Maria church of Santa del Popolo, just across the square, Maria del Popolo (9am); L’Asino where Caravaggio’s two dramatically 09:00 d’Oro delight (12pm); Something of a tourist trap from lit canvases in the Cerasi Chapel come fashion at Tina lunchtime on, the elegant 1920s across as frozen cinema – three and Sondergaard (11am) aperitivo spot and literary cafe, Rosati, a half centuries before filmmaker Opposite: Villa in Piazza del Popolo (barrosati.com) Federico Fellini, who lived just Borghese (7.30am); coffee at Rosati is more relaxed in the morning. around the corner in Via Margutta. (9am) 114 QANTAS SEPTEMBER 2013 SEPTEMBEr 2013 QANTAS 115 ONE PERFECT DAY First Luxury Art Hotel (left, 8pm); MAXXI gallery (5pm) L’Asino d’Oro (The Golden Donkey, Clockwise from Novembre, palazzovalentini.it), beneath treatments are offered separately, or circuit boards and flow charts to create More at Tr AVELINSIDER 11:00 06 4891 3832) is the fiefdom of Lucio top left: Via del the headquarters of Rome’s provincial combined in the Wonderfool Brand a dynamic container that can be more Boschetto (11am); Rome is not fashion-brand central – you Sforza, a chef who honed his fresh and Wonderfool government, Palazzo Valentini. In what New Man/Woman package. Skincare impressive than its contents. ASK THE CONcieRGE Lucian Zamberlain, the need to go to Milan for that – but it local slow-food approach in Orvieto (3.30pm); was once the home of a wealthy family, and fashion items are also on sale, concierge at Hotel Hassler, knows Rome better than almost does a nice line in quirky boutiques. before relocating to this unfussy Kely Paucar’s missing mosaics and wall frescoes are including Zimmerli and Orlebar Brown. anyone else, so if in doubt, ask the concierge. travelinsider. jewellery (11am); One good hunting ground is cobbled modern bistro, which also has a few Panzanella with video-projected on the walls as you qantas.com.au/ask_the_concierge_rome.htm Via del Boschetto in the central, but still much sought-after pavement tables. craft beer at walk through the space, accompanied 18:30 DESTINATION GUIDE: ROME Everything from villagey, Monti district, between the For around €13 ($20) you will get soup NO.AU bar by an audio narrative and sound effects. Craft beer is the big new thing in Rome, daylight saving dates through to phone area codes, (6.30pm) Colosseum and Via Nazionale. Danish of the day, a pasta course and a main Book ahead for an English-language tour 17:00 and NO.AU (16 Piazza Montevecchio) electricity voltages and the weather throughout the year. designer Tina Sondergaard makes (such as chicken drumsticks in pizzaiola (daily except Tuesdays, tosc.it). Rome isn’t just about old stones and – co-owned by Italian artisanal ale guru travelinsider.qantas.com.au/destination-guide-rome.htm exquisite dresses, skirts, tops and coats sauce with vanilla puree), accompanied old masters. For a glimpse of the city’s Teo Musso – is a good place to sample ITALY: THE ART OF ORDERING FOOD Kylie Flavell with a retro touch. Peruvian jeweller by a glass of wine. third millennium side, take a cab to the it. Squirrelled away in a residential has tips on how to order breakfast, lunch, coffee and sweet Kely Paucar’s creations at Perlei are of Flaminio district, where the MAXXI square not far from Piazza Navona, this treats like a local. travelinsider.qantas.com.au/ the moment, mixing modernist gilded 15:30 gallery of contemporary art and boho bar serves up a fine selection italy_the_art_of_ordering_food_dining_out_guide.htm silver with more funky items. Grooming time. Defining itself as a architecture (closed Monday, open of draught and bottled beers from THE ANTI-TOURIST GUIDE TO SeeiNG ROME 14:00 “wellness barber store”, deliciously cool until 10pm Saturdays, 4a Via Guido Reni, Musso’s own Baladin brewery, plus Rome can seem chaotic and overwhelming for the first-time It’s often difficult to envisage the Wonderfool (39 Via dei Banchi Nuovi, fondazionemaxxi.it), designed by Zaha several others. The wine list is also visitor. Learn how to avoid the crowds and seek out the time-weathered artefacts of ancient wonderfool.it) began as a men’s pamper Hadid, finally opened in 2010 after a good, and you can graze on fascinating quieter cafes and bars. travelinsider.qantas.com.au/ 12:30 Rome as they once were. Technology space, but has since gone unisex – all stop-start, 11-year gestation. It was gourmet snacks such as seppia stirata rome_the_anti-tourist_guide_to_seeing_the_city.htm Stay in Via del Boschetto for what must solves the problem in the recently except for the men-only barber shop. worth the lengthy wait. This exhilarating (cuttlefish cooked by briefly ironing it) be Rome’s best gourmet lunch deal. excavated Domus Romane (119a Via IV Facials, scrubs, massages and depilatory structure borrows ideas from computer or more substantial fare. QANTAS.COM/TRAVELINSIDER 116 QANTAS SEPTEMBER 2013 SEPTEMBEr 2013 QANTAS 117 ONE PERFECT DAY 0°300°, First Luxury WORd uP Art Hotel (8pm) ROME: A CulTURAL HISTORY Robert Hughes (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) An engaging romp through two and a half millennia by this always-readable bull in the cultural china shop. Hughes first visited the city as a wide-eyed 20-year-old. THE COmpANION GUIDE TO ROME Georgina Masson (Companion Guides) Opinionated, detailed, anecdotal, over a much simpler menu of raw fare this is still the best guide by far. It has 20:00 (vegetables and seafood) and non-carb been updated after Masson’s death Keep this perfect day golden – after wood-oven specialties, both fishy and by John Fort, a long-time resident of Rome, but is still unmistakably hers. lunch at L’Asino d’Oro – by dining at meaty. The third part of the All’Oro All’Oro. At the end of 2012, chef experience is the Misceliamo bar, next Riccardo Di Giacinto moved his to the downstairs restaurant, where Michelin-starred restaurant from the mixologist Patrizio Boschetto specialises northern suburbs to the First Luxury Art in gourmet cocktails such as the Hotel (14 Via del Vantaggio, 06 4561 7070, Amatriciana Bloody Mary. thefirsthotel.com), just off central Via di Ripetta. Although he trained under Spanish chef Ferran Adrià, Di Giacinto’s approach is less flashy, opening up to 22:30 the Roman tradition in dishes such as Housed in a cavernous brick basement I, ClAUDIUS risotto cacio e pepe, or sheep’s cheese not far from Stazione Termini, Micca and black pepper, served with smoked Club (7a Via Pietro Micca, miccaclub. Robert Graves (Penguin Classics) salt cod and candied lemon peel. The com) is the centre of Rome’s growing The evergreen fictional For airfares autobiography of a canny emperor main restaurant, cool and contemporary, call Qantas on burlesque entertainment scene, plus who survived the madness and is in a windowless ground-floor space. 13 13 13 or visit retro-flavoured music forays (courtesy qantas.com. For debauchery of ancient Rome by For views, book a table on the 0°300° of in-house DJs and live acts) into swing, holiday packages carefully cultivating a reputation roof terrace, a swooningly romantic rockabilly and doo-wop styles. Check to Rome call as a harmless, stammering idiot. perch amid Centro Storico domes and Qantas Holidays out the website for the latest listings rooftops, where Di Giacinto presides on 13 14 15. when you arrive in Rome. c 118 QANTAS SEPTEMBER 2013.