Appio Tuscolano Rome – All our local tips

You probably have already tried Italian dessert Tiramisù but if you feel like trying a very good one, try visiting Bar Pompi.

This is a pretty typical bar/coffee shop near Piazza Re di Roma which has specialized in tiramisù and successfully made this its differentiating factor. In fact, it self proclaims to be the “kingdom of tiramisù” and all Romans know it for this. To say the truth, its fame has grown so much over the years that it is somewhat of a cliché to end up there for dessert. Nonetheless, I think it is still worthwhile, especially compared to the disastrous versions of “industrial” tiramisù often served elsewhere for dessert.

I recommend going there in the afternoon for “merenda” (snack/tea-time) when the hordes of Roman night partiers are not yet crowding it, or double/triple parking scooters and cars in front of it. In the evening, (this bar is open until 01:30), you may have to battle with the locals and wait to be served.

Bar Pompi serves classical coffee-flavored tiramisù as well two newer versions: the strawberry one and the banana & chocolate one. All of them are scrumptious. You can get yourself an individual portion to eat then and there, or larger ‘vats’ in all sizes to take away.

Judging by the multitudes that crowd this place, Italians may seem rather unaware of the ‘ongoing cholesterol problem in the country’, to quote one of my favorite movies!

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Bar Pompi | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Tiramisù € 3.00
Via Albalonga 7b-9 -11 | Appio Tuscolano | +39067000418
Tue – Sun 07:00 – 01:30

Dal Bersagliere is your typical, local, ‘garden-variety’ Roman pizza parlor, established in the ’50s and frequented by Romans.

Here, in the evening, near the closed stalls of the adjacent market, you will find a highly informal environment frequented by couples, friends and families alike. Dal Bersagliere is renowned to serve excellent, thin-crusted pizzas ‘Roman-style’. These are preceded (as is the custom here in Rome) by equally excellent fried antipasti, which are never too greasy and always served piping hot.

So, if you’d like to have a pizza “as the Romans do”, try Dal Bersagliere. Sit at one of the wooden tables outside -warmer climate permitting- wait for the waiter to quickly set your table with a paper tablecloth and then order: supplì, fiori di zucca, olive ascolane, verdure fritte, some bruschette (either simple or more elaborate) followed by whichever pizza best suits your tastes.

Most Italians have beer to accompany their pizza meal. I am told they also serve good meat but I never tried it. Dal Bersagliere is very close to the subway. Also, while there might be a line at times, don’t be put off, waiting times are never too long.

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Dal Bersagliere | Restaurants (Pizza) | Pizza € 15.00
Via Gino Capponi 16/22 | Appio Tuscolano | +3906789909
19:00 – 00:00 daily

La Caraffa is a typical trattoria (that means it’s a simple restaurant with genuine food) for people with big stomachs who love generous portions (if you have weak stomach,you can get half-portions …), that like informal service and want to feel like at home.

The restaurant is famous for offering good fish at affordable prices. On the menu there are several starters, but I recommend the buffet, with a different gratin and grilled vegetables,several fish, fried food and buffalo mozzarella.

Among the first dishes,you should try “linguine all’astice”, “farfalle con amatriciana di mare” and “gnocchetti di patate with lobster cream”; as regards the second dishes, you must absolutely taste the crust turbot with potatoes and pachino tomatoes or the mixed grilled fish.

Obviously you need to accompany your meal with a good wine: you can choose from a list of about ten wines, but frankly I suggest home made wine, which, in spite of the name of the restaurant, is brought to you bottled and not in the jug.

As a desert you can also taste cakes like fruit tarts or ricotta cake with orange peel. After your meal, I really suggest to have a digestive walk in the neighbour Caffarella park!

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La Caraffa | Restaurants (Pizzeria) | Full meal € 20.00
Via Giovanni Villani 44 | Appio Tuscolano | +3906786513
12:00 -15:00 & 19:00 – 23:00 daily

Monello Accessories is a tiny shop in the Appia area and it is easily reached by the subway at the Furio Camillo stop. I stumbled upon this store with a friend and as soon as I saw the items they had in the exposition window, I immediately fell in love with it.

The prices of the store are competitive especially since they are not in at too touristy side of the city. The store is very unique and has a lot of different accessories; in particular with the colors that are in fashion now the purple and the pinks but of course you will find classic colors such as black and beige. My friend bought herself a cool black and white ring, and I went a few days later again and I got a small speedy purse and purple dangling earrings with less than 20 Euros! And I got a lot of compliments on the earrings too.

This is definitely a cute little store to go visit.

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Monello Accessories | Shopping | Dangling earrings € 5.50
via Appia Nuova 444 | Appio Tuscolano
Mon – Sat 10:00 – 20:00

The city of Rome isn’t bike-friendly yet but luckily some of its parks are. One of these parks is the Parco Regionale dell’Appia Antica and, every once in a while, on Sundays, when it shuts down to traffic, I like to ride my bike there.

It has some excellent bike-routes which will allow you to get some good exercise while admiring beautiful sites of historical and artistic interest. You can choose to ride along the ‘queen of all roads’ the Appian Way, or along one of the different trails in the greener and wilder sections of the park, such as the Caffarella Valley or the Tormarancia estate.

On the Appia Antica, I think the most striking part is really the actual road –the cobblestones. They are simply amazing and beautiful. I also like the milestones. Here you really appreciate –physically understand- the true meaning of a milestone. If you choose one of the other trails, you will find yourself immersed in nature just at a stone’s throw from the city. In fact, you can watch the line where the buildings of the city stop and the green protected area begins.

Unlike Villa Borghese or Villa Pamphilj which are comely due to their aristocratic origin, the Caffarella and Tormarancia sections make this one of the more ‘natural’ parks of Rome. Here, you will find meadows, bushes, hills, ditches, hamlets, caves, a fully functional farmhouse, sheep, a river and springs –all interspersed with Roman ruins. Now, this is truly a bike ride!

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Parco Regionale | Art & culture, Relaxing | Bike for a day € 10.00
Via Appia Antica 42 | Appio Tuscolano | +39065135314
Park : sunrise – sunset daily | Bike rental: Sun & holidays 09:30 – 17:30

I stumbled across this piazza unexpectedly a few years ago. I was on my motorino, on the way to somewhere else and, all of sudden, among the tight-knit housing buildings, space opens up to a large square and an enormous church.

I stop and decide to take a look at this entirely new environment no one had ever told me about, after over three decades of being a Roman. The piazza has something of a déjà-vu feel. Its whole ‘feng shui’ is influenced by the colossal presence of the church with its dome. Then there are the Fascist-era looking buildings all around, cold and a bit gloomy.

All this, however, contrasts with the vitality I see in the gardens at the center: there are elderly people chatting on lawn chairs, mothers pushing strollers and kids playing football completely oblivious to their surroundings. I like this piazza and I recommend it.

Obviously, there are tons of churches and piazzas in Rome and most are of greater historical and artistic significance than Piazza Don Bosco and its church.

However, this is a good place to visit if you’d like a taste of life in the peripheries of Rome. Take a stroll here and sit on the park benches. A note on the area: this neighborhood sprung up with the creation of the Cinecittà Film Studios and the Don Bosco Church right after WWII.

The church was inaugurated in 1957. Fellini used this piazza as the setting for some scenes of La Dolce Vita since it was close to the studios and resembled the Rome’s EUR neighborhood.

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Piazza Don Bosco | Art & culture, Relaxing |
Piazza Don Bosco | Appio Tuscolano
Optimal time to visit: afternoon

This restaurant is especially made for lovers of the Parthenopean cuisine in all its nuances, including high quality pizza. Spaccanapoli is an ideal place to enjoy traditional dishes of the Gulf of Naples.

The appetizers are really “sundries” (absolutely don’t miss the Neapolitan and fried mozzarella), Neapolitan pizza is simply excellent and varied, high and soft and seasoned with fresh ingredients and genuine and almost always accompanied by buffalo mozzarella, such as pizza “Aversana” with pachino, buffalo mozzarella and mussels.

The dishes range from pasta with seafood, fresh fish cooked in all ways possible and imaginable, and seafood soups are an invitation to rediscover the true Neapolitan cooking.

To finish your meal I suggest one of the amazing pastries all cooked according to tradition, particularly “pastiera”,a real must in a Parthenopean restaurant.

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Spaccanapoli | Restaurants (Naples style) | Full meal € 25.00
Via Eurialo 10D | Appio Tuscolano | +39067847174
11:30 – 00:00 daily

I had never been to this park until lately. I had seen some of the aqueducts from the train when going south, but I never knew it was a park. Technically, the Parco degli Acquedotti is part of the Parco Regionale dell’Appia Antica but it isn’t all that immediate to think of it in that way since it is a bit removed and sandwiched in between Via Appia Nuova and Via Tuscolana. Anyway, its peculiarity -as its name suggests- are the numerous ruins of the various Roman aqueducts and these are simply breathtaking.

A stroll in this park, in addition to being extremely pleasant, can be the best way to rapidly review the last 2000 years of this city, almost a trip through time which will take you from the glory of the first years of the Roman Empire to the recent years of a neighborhood in the peripheries.

So, as one admires the ruins of the Aqueduct Claudio (52 AD), restored by Pope Hadrian I (776 AD), pillaged to obtain building material in the 15th century, one may happen to run into a pile of rocks with some flowers which may have been placed there by some dog-owner to commemorate some dog his pet (2006), or a flock of small parrots which have claimed this unusual habitat for them (2008).

Amongst old hamlets, ruins, meadows, flowers, common and less common people, relax and meditate on the interpretation of time, history and human nature that this park can inspire.

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The Acqueducts | Art & culture, Relaxing
Via Lemonia | Appio Tuscolano | +39065135314
Sunrise – sunset daily