Churches are a popular attraction for tourists and there are so many that it is almost impossible to see all of them in one visit. Of course there are the more popular ones and the Sistine Chapel, but there are also lesser known ones like this on in the piazzale of Ponte Milvio with great architecture from the early 1930′s. This chapel was requested by Pope Pius XI in 1931.

I like visiting Churches mainly for their art and architecture. Each church has a different story inside. Once you go inside this one, you will notice right in front of you a statue of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus and in front of the statue to your left Jesus on the Cross.

This Church is not a popular tourist attraction but it is worth it. Afterwards, you can go to one of the many bars that surround the area for either a cup of coffee or a glass of wine!

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Gran Madre di Dio | Art & culture | Free
Via Cassia 1 | Parioli & Flaminio
Open daily

This is also a popular venue in the North Rome area. It’s illuminated by candlelight, and has ethnic furniture, sofas and puffs. The atmosphere is warm and laid-back, where you can meet old friends and create new ones, where you can chat away in the corner seated on a puff or sofa.

It is more of a cocktail bar but they do have a Mediterranean kitchen too. They have a good wine list but the preferred drinks are martinis or even champagne.

But what makes this wine bar interesting is that a lot of the items that you see are actually for sale! If you like their leopard print dishes, you can take them home!

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Rere | Bars, Restaurants (Regional) | Glass of wine € 7.00
Via Flaminia Vecchia 475 | Parioli & Flaminio | +39063340483
18:00 – 02:00 daily

This place is located in Ponte Milvio and it is a very popular gelateria, it has a vast outdoors for you to sit down and enjoy your gelato or pastries.

The place established itself in Rome since 1959, and to this day they still use fresh ingredients for both their gelatos and their pastries.

They have different flavors such as the “indispensable” which is a mixture of raspberry and nutella and other interesting flavors.

This is a excellent place to hang-out during an afternoon and eat ice-cream, it is very family oriented.

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Mondi | Snacks | Small cup € 1.80
Via Flaminia 468 | Parioli & Flaminio | +39063336466
Tue – Sun 11:00 – 21:30

This is a new place in Ponte Milvio, and with its innovative design and a staff committed to customer service, you can only have but a good experience, even if the place is pretty small.

It is open in the morning so you can enjoy coffee, then at around noon, you will notice young professionals and students for a quick lunch break. But the real beauty of this place is during the evening for happy hour time and later, since it is open until 02:00.

I like to go a little early, maybe around 20:00 on Wednesdays to break from the week routine and enjoy some couscous with my Cuba libre or a good glass of red wine.

In fact Wednesdays is the evening in which it receives more clientèle, so you do not have to wait for the weekend to enjoy this place, and the area is not as crowded as in the weekends.

A wonderful thing about this place is that if you are an early riser, they are open at 6:00 A.M and you can enjoy a morning coffee and croissant and the silence before the chaos!

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Amoroma | Bars | Pink lady cocktail € 7.00
Ponte Milvio 5 | Parioli & Flaminio | +390697274015
Mon – Sat 06:00 – 02:00

This small cocktail bar is one of the oldest bars in Rome, since the 1920′s and it has been popular as a hang-out spot in many Italian movies. It is one of the hang out places where you can see almost the same crowd on a weekly basis. If the weather permits it, the tables outside are packed with people drinking either coffee, beer or a summer’s favorite – a mojito.

The first time I saw the place I was not excited about it. But all the people around it sparked my interest, so I decided to give it a chance and am delighted I did; their mojitos are to die for. It is located right next to the “Toretta Valadier” on the Ponte Milvio bridge and if you are not a local you would not give it a second look, because it looks like a shack, but their mojitos are worth it.

It is that time again to go and hang out at “Il Chioschetto”! I could not wait to go and have a refreshing mojito on a Thursday night with some friends and just hang out and chat for awhile.

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Chioschetto di Ponte Milvio | Bars | Mojito € 5.50
Ponte Milvio 44 | Parioli & Flaminio | +39063333461
Apr – Oct 18:00 – 02:00 daily

As a fan of Asian food and in particular Japanese food I picked this restaurant to enjoy a nice dinner with a few friends and I was pleasantly surprised.

The place has normal tables as well as tatami tables but it only gives you an illusion of sitting on the floor because you will sit down and there is a “hole” or space to place your legs. I prefer the tatami tables because it makes me feel that I take in all the culture that comes with the cuisine.

We enjoyed some Asian beers and some Ume sushi which is a plate with different sushi’s and for my friends that were not sushi lovers they also had a Malayan side of the menu and so we ordered some Malayan beef.

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Enso Sushi Restaurant | Restaurants (Asian ) | Main meal € 10.00
Piazzale Ponte Milvio 33 | Parioli & Flaminio | +390633221175
11:00 – 15:00 & 18:00 – 00:00 daily

This is one of Rome’s unknown gems because not many people know that the tower that is on the bridge is actually a small museum/art gallery.

You are able to see different types of arts and sometimes there are special events or a different variety of artists, but in the cases of events you may even find that every Sunday during a specific month you can enjoy wine tasting, not to mention the fantastic view from up there!

When I have visitors from out of the country or even the city I make sure to bring them here because it is such a surprise for people to know that the tower is also a museum. As a matter of fact, I actually recently went to a wine tasting event with a friend that has been living in Rome all her life and she did not know about it.

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Torretta Valadier | Art & culture | Free
Piazzale di Ponte Milvio | Parioli & Flaminio
11:30 – 20:00 daily

This is a great place for bargain shopping.

You can stay here as long or little as you want, depending on how much you like shopping in markets.

Here you can find anything from children shoes to shirts, jeans and bags and to fruits!

A lot of the items are real name brands for really low prices, sometimes as low as € 1.00 per item.

I like starting the day here around 08:00, when it is still not packed with people and do some shopping and catching up with friends.

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Olimpico | Shopping | Shirt € 1.00
Piazza Gentile da Fabriano | Parioli & Flaminio
Fri 08:00 – 13:00

Inside this winebar it’s quite dark and you may think “this is it?” because of the tiny dimensions of the wine bar.

But there is a vast list of wines, both Italian and International and beers (try the “birra piemontese” for a refreshing taste). It is a great place to go have “happy hour”.

If you feel claustrophobic inside, there are always plenty of tables outside to sit and chat with friends and enjoy the soft House music. I like sitting outside especially during the spring and summer months to have a drink and watch people.

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Jarro | Bars | Glass of wine € 5.00
Ponte Milvio 32 | Parioli & Flaminio | +393387079573
Tue – Sun 18:00 – 02:00

In the heart of Ponte Milvio there’s a brand new mall. The “originality” of this shopping mall are the fruit, vegetables and meat markets. These markets used to be on the streets and have been there for decades but with the opening of the mall they have been transferred inside. So come rain or shine, people can still go grocery shopping and do some personal shopping as well.

During the summer it is nice because the mall is air conditioned, and during the winter months it will be a nice distraction from the rain. The first time I ran into the mall was during the atrocious heat in the month of August. A friend and I had a drink and did some nice shopping in the mall nearby.

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Ponte Milvio Mall | Shopping | Cute top for women € 15.00
Via Riano 15 | Parioli & Flaminio
10:00 – 20:00 daily