The real reason to go to Rome: The pasta!

After all my lukewarm posts about Rome, I’m sure you’re starting to wonder how I can possibly claim to love it so much. The answer is simple. Italian food is the best in the world.

I know this is a strong statement. I really do. And I’m not saying this because I don’t love other cuisines. Lebanese, Pakistani, and Thai food all come to mind, not to mention Indian, Greek, Korean, French cheeses…I could go on. But I’d get too hungry.

But at the end of the day, I can always eat pasta. Because, honestly, you can do anything you want with it. And Rome has some of the best of it.

Armando al Pantheon had incredible bruschetta with buffalo mozzarella and spaghetti with pecorino romano cheese and black pepper.

Colline Emiliane had absurdly good homemade ravioli stuffed with ricotta and spinach in tomato sauce. They are also famous for their homemade ravioli stuffed with pumpkin in a butter sauce.

I’m not a big fan of regular spaghetti – I find it quite boring – but Eataly added buffalo mozzarella to theirs and it had us swooning.

All of our other photos are of food we ate in Pigneto. We had white pizza sandwiches at Opulentia (they don’t joke about their dough – which is left to rise for up to 72 hours to sheer perfection). Kalapa Roma had vegan & veggie pita’s literally oozing goodness (ok, not Italian, but still worth mentioning!). Vitaminas 24 had delicious fruit shakes – it took me 10 minutes just to read through their selection! Infernotto gave us unique combinations like gnocchi with guava and some delicious homemade tagliatelle noodles. And Necci dal 1924 had some of the best deconstructed tiramisu I’ve ever tasted.

There was more, of course. Random restaurants along Via del Pigneto and our pizzeria in Sperlonga. I can honestly say we didn’t have a bad meal our week in Italy.

And all that would be enough, it would make me fall in love with Rome again and again. But Rome also has the best dessert in the world: Gelato.

And no one does it better than Gelateria del Teatro, with locations near Piazza Navona and Campo di Fiori. After having been to both, I can tell you that you’ll never be disappointed at either. Chandler’s not a big ice cream fan in general, but even he had to admit the plumb sorbet was amazing.

If the food and dessert weren’t enough, Italy also carries some of my favorite wines like pinot grigio & verdicchio for whites and brunello & rosso di montalcino (especially from Castello Banfi) for reds. One of these days I’m going to take the plunge and spend the big bucks on an amarone and I know I’ll never be able to look back. Plus, the birthplace of prosecco? I’m still desperately trying to find a good one here in Accra.

So, when it comes to things you ingest, Italy really has my trifecta. Next time we go back though, we might skip Rome and explore the areas around (and inside of!) San Marino, Cinque Terre, and Sicily instead.