Vatican & Prati Rome – All our local tips

Bella Calzature is a shoe shop and therefore loved by many women. The store is in the north part of the city so in theory it should be less crowded. But the store is so popular that people are attracted like bees to honey, especially during sales season (in January-February and June).

I went there during the winter sales started and stayed there for a long time since there was so much to choose from and I could not decide which pair of shoes to bring home with me.

After a very difficult decision (if you are a woman that loves shopping you will understand how hard the decision is), I picked two cool boots; one brown and one black so that they matched anything that I have in my closet.

I come back here often, even if there are no sales going on just because of all the different shoes to decide from, it is like a shoe heaven and I always leave with a new pair!

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Bella Calzature | Shopping | Boots on sale € 35.00
Piazza dei Giureconsulti,38 | Vatican & Prati | +390666000213
Mon 16:00 – 20:00, Tue – Sat 10:00 – 12:00 & 16:00 – 20:00

When I crave for Aunt Jemima’s pancakes I come to this delicatessen top class supermarket. If you get home sick and you miss your favorite food, this store sells everything from all over the world.

I usually go to the US department where I find the best maple syrup, creamy and crunchy peanut butter, condensed Carnation milk, Betty Crocker chocolate fudge brownie and super moist golden vanilla mix, cookies, cashew nuts, Heinz Ketchup, corn tortillas and other special and exotic treats coming from all the continents, such as Indian rices, curry, spices, Himalayan, pink Australian or green Japanese salts, German sausages, Austrian goulash, you name it they have it.

The Italian section is rich of specialities from each region of the peninsula. From aromatized basil, rosemary, red hot pepper oils to different kinds of balsamic vinegar matured in wooden barrels, starting from €3 upto €250 depending on how many times it has been decanted. From wines to sauces, from jams to jar food, tuna, gherkins, dried tomatoes are my favorites.

There is also a biological section that I like and a candy department I’m in love with, where one can find the best chocolate on the market. I don’t drink coffee but I appreciate the aroma. On sale here only excellent Italian coffee in grains or ground.

The pasta wins over everything. You can find the best Italian brands form each region, just to mention a few: Tuscany’s Martelli, Veneto’s Cipriani, Marche’s Latini, Campania’s Gragnano, Puglia’s Benedetto Cavalieri.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Castroni | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks | Balsamic vinegar € 3.00
via Cola di Rienzo 196 | Vatican & Prati | +39066874383
Mon – Sat 08:00 – 20:00

Da Gildo il Cacciatore, located in Rome’s Boccea neighborhood, is a favorite spot for dwellers of this scarcely touristy area.

It is an unpretentious restaurant, with moderate prices and a simple, Roman cuisine. People who eat in this place are typically groups of young people hungry for pizza, groups of not-so-young people looking for a way to spend the evening, families celebrating some event, or simply people who cannot be bothered to cook and who find at Gildo a good compromise between laziness and cost.

Although the name (il cacciatore= the hunter) might indicate a preference for meat, fish-based courses, pizzas, pastas and fried foods are equally delicious. As a result, I always end up ordering rather “unorthodox” meals composed for example of mussels antipasto, supplì rice balls, spaghetti all’amatriciana, fried calamari and shrimp, lamb ribs “alla scottadito” and puntarelle salad (raw chicory greens). I should say that besides my meal’s bizarre composition, I hardly manage to finish everything I order since portions are quite generous for Italian standards.

While the main hall, a former terrace that has been ‘encased’, will give you the chance to sit with the rowdy locals, the smaller room close to the kitchen will give you a chance to admire some old photographs featuring the restaurant forty years ago. You will be surprised by the fact that, at the time, it was a diner in the middle of the countryside.

Service is accurate and quick and there is no need to reserve on weekdays. On weekends, you may have some problems finding a table, especially if you are a large party.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Da Gildo il cacciatore | Restaurants (Italian) | Meal € 25.00
Via di Boccea 348 | Vatican & Prati | +39066624800
Thu – Tue 20:00 – 23:00

At first sight, as the store’s name suggests, you would think that you are entering a normal store selling household and kitchen items.

In reality, though, Kitchen is something more. It is the ideal place for both the cooking buff and the perfectionist. While having different needs from those of a professional cook, both seek the most suitable tools to give free reign to their passion and creativity.

While the store isn’t very big, you will be able to find many useful items that you never knew existed, or whose function you will not immediately understand.

In addition to odd chestnut roasters and futuristic salinity measurers, you will find beautiful aluminum Agnelli cookware, copper pots, woks made of a good half centimeter of iron, practical and durable salad-spinners, bizarre-shaped tools to separate egg yolks from egg whites, knives, dishes, glasses, kitchen towels… the list is simply too long! All this is offered with an eye towards design. This makes a simple saltshaker an object that is worthy of being shown off on your table.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Kitchen | Shopping
Viale degli Ammiragli 10-12 | Vatican & Prati | +390668802244
Mon- Sat 09:30 – 13:00 & 15:30 – 19:30

Makasar is the place for Rome’s tea lovers.

This tea room opened just few months ago and it gives an abundant choice of teas and infusions (more than 200). The owner, Elena, usually organizes events to convey the culture of tea in Italy; from time to time she chooses a different country and and introduces to the audience its teas, delicatessen and the best way to associate them!

When you get inside, you will be captured by the silence and the oriental atmosphere; accompanied by Indian benjo’s music in the background and by flow’s zen style fountain, you will enjoy to nose around cast-iron and porcelain tea-pots,bamboo filter and particular cookies to associate with your favourite tea.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Makasar tea room | Coffee & tea | Cookies & tea € 4.00
Via Plauto 33/33a | Vatican & Prati | +39066874602
10:00 – 13:00 & 15:30 – 20:00 daily | Closed some days in August

Via Marcantonio Colonna seems to be a normal street of Rome located between Piazza del Popolo and the Vatican, but it should belong to Sicily: you smell and taste all Sicilian flavours if you eat at Mondo Arancina.

Mondo Arancina is composed by two take away shops

The first, called Gelarmony,is where you can eat ice-cream: it’s superfluous to say that it’s wonderful. If you want to taste something different take a hot brioche filled with ice-cream!

The second is Mondo Arancina. You can find pizza, but the real attraction is the so called “Arancini”.

Arancino is a typical Sicilian food: a ball made of rice and other food. It’s named after the fruit arancia (orange) it looks like. You can find 15 kinds of arancino here. You can also order them by phone and they will deliver it to your place!

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Mondo Arancina | Snacks, Restaurants (Take away) | Ice cream € 3.00
Via Marcantonio Colonna 38 | Vatican & Prati | +390697619213
10:00 – 00:00 daily

The complex of S.Spirito in Sassia is composed by two parts: the Hospital and the Historical National Museum of Health Art. The complex was created in 727 a.c, when the king Ina, king of Saxons, founded the so called “Schola Saxonum” (from which the word Sassia derives) as guest house for people who wanted to visit the tomb of the apostle Peter.

The Hospital, which still works, is one of the eldest in Europe. It was built by Pope Innocenzo the 3rd as a recovery point for old people, sick people and for abandoned children.

Children were entered as “filius m. ignotae”, where “m.” indicated “matris” (mother) but, because the dot wasn’t pronounced, it was read as “filius mignotae”, from which derives the bad world in Roman slang “mignotta”.

On the other side, the Museum was inaugurated in 1933 and inside there’s the eldest chariot of the Red Cross, very old surgical and obstetric instruments and a fetter from the 16th century used to tie down insane people. There is also a huge library with more than ten thousand books, which is very precious for the history of healthcare.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
S.Spirito in Sassia | Art & culture, Relaxing | Free
Lungotevere in Sassia 3 | Vatican & Prati
09:00 – 19:00 daily

I was amazed by the fish: tasted excellent and perfectly served with no bones annoying my pleasant and relaxing dinner. That’s the way you do it.

The environment is quite easy going, but the cuisine is excellent and the way they present the food is highly refined and decorative. Each plate a work of art. And the wines are good as well. Not to talk about the desserts, which are literally climaxing!

At lunch or at dinner, you could meet local television stars who work at the nearby Italian State-run TV RAI. But it is also regularly frequented by professionals, especially attorneys belonging to famous firms in the neighborhood.

If you happen to be in the northern part of Rome, not far from the Tiber, and not too far either from the Vatican area, take a cab and come here for a good meal. It’ll be a five minute ride, depending on traffic of course. On your way back, maybe towards the city center, you can take a walk across bridge Matteotti, cross the Lungotevere and take a road on the right, you’ll end up in spectacular piazza del Popolo.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Settembrini | Restaurants (Mediterranean) | Average meal from € 30.00
via Luigi Settembrini 25 | Vatican & Prati | +39063232617
Mon – Sat 12:00 – 15:30 & 20:00 – 23:30

My adorable friend and colleague Eddie knows how to treat me well. He is one of the few classy journalists I know, cultured, stylish, very good taste for clothes and food.

When we meet he usually takes me here to have our favorite meal: Panelle (chickpea fritters) and mini arancini (fried riceballs with peas and a heart of melted cheese) as a starter. They are mouthwatering.

He often goes for a fish dish, while I prefer a pasta. Last time we had lunch together I had Spaghetti alla “pitipacchio” with small sweet red cherry tomatoes from Eolian islands (in the picture).

We both aren’t big wine drinkers, but the restaurant offers a huge variety of excellent Italian wines.

You have to try this place. You’ll feel like you’re in sunny Sicily even when it’s winter. Typical Sicilian ceramics and hand-made tiles decorate all the trattoria.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Siciliainbocca | Restaurants (Sicilian ) | Average meal € 25.00
via E. Faà di Bruno 26 | Vatican & Prati | +390637358400
Mon – Sat 12:00 – 15:00 & 19:00 – 22:00

The Amazon forest has been deemed the “green lung” of the world. Similarly, Villa Pamphilj is the “green lung” of Rome. It is Rome’s largest park and a shot of oxygen when life in Rome gets too stressful and smoggy. Indeed, Villa Pamphilj is an all-time favorite for Romans to go running, go for a bike ride, take a stroll, walk their dog, or have a picnic.

Like many other city parks, Villa Pamphilj was originally the countryside estate of a noble Roman family, which in more recent times became property of the Rome Council. It is an interesting, diversified park, with beauties of historical and artistic interest, as well as areas of naturalistic interest. An intriguing, curved bridge over the busy traffic of the Via Olimpica connects the two spirits of this park.

On the eastern side, you will find the civilized, historical part with the villa, its statues, fountains and landscaped gardens. On the western side, you will find the wilder and more natural section with its striking vegetation and unexpected fauna.
Additionally, Villa Pamphilj has one of the most active runners’ communities in Rome.

Every time I go, I tell myself that it would be nice to join the groups of joggers of every age who run here on a daily basis. There is even a gathering point and center with showers and dressing rooms. Needless to say, this thought remains one of my New Year’s resolutions and, for the time being, I join the myriads of other Romans who simply lie in the sun or watch the fish swim in the small lake.

You can enter the park via: Via Aurelia Antica, Via Leone XIII (Olimpica), Via della Nocetta, Via Vitellia & Via di Porta S. Pancrazio

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Villa Doria Pamphilj | Art & culture, Relaxing
Via Leone XIII (Olimpica) | Vatican & Prati
Sunrise – sunset