Passing Through Time in The Eternal City
- Tahsan Scott
- Nov 3
- 5 min read
Getting out of London was a bit of a hassle. I had a flight booked out of London’s Stansted airport, the other airport in London. I booked a ticket on the Stansted Express, a train with expedited service to the airport. But due to a broken rail, that train was not in service. I ended up having to take another train to a place called Bishop’s Stortford (all the villages in England have funny little names like…Henham and Little Henham or Widford, or Much Hadham) and waited in line for 30 minutes to hop on a bus that took me the rest of the way to the airport.
After a delayed boarding process and sitting on the runway for 45 minutes before take off, I eventually landed in Rome safe and sound. I stayed at a nice little guest house not too far from the Trevi Fountain.
After checking into my accommodation and having dinner at a fancy little restaurant inside of the W Hotel called Giano, I decided to go for a stroll and check out the legendary fountain.
The Trevi Fountain at night is gorgeous- overrun with hundreds of tourists all trying to get a good photo or selfie, but gorgeous still. I grabbed a cup of gelato from one of the multitude of shops surrounding the fountain, and sat down to take in the view. It’s immaculate, detailed, and honestly makes the replica in Las Vegas look like it came out of a Happy Meal box. Although I was pretty beat from the long travel day, I’m glad that I decided to visit at night.
The next morning, after finding a small cafe and indulging in a cappuccino and a cornetto pistacchio I decided to walk back to the Trevi Fountain to see it in the morning sunlight. I think it’s more magical at night, but more welcoming and less crowded earlier in the morning.
My Italian friend Nicola (he’s from Genoa originally) had recommended a restaurant in Rome, La Taverna Del Ghetto, in the historic Jewish ghetto area. I enjoyed probably the lightest meal I had throughout my time in Europe: a traditional Jewish fried artichoke and some roasted sea bass with potatoes, olives, and tomatoes. It was very tasty and the perfect fuel for the long tour ahead.
It was hot that day, like 98 degrees, but I had pre-booked a tour of the Colosseum and Roman Forum that I was not going to miss.
The Colosseum is simply magnificent. The architecture, the history, the grandiosity, and perhaps most beguiling is the fact that it is still standing after nearly two millennia. Over the years it was of course used as an arena for the gladiator shows and executions, a cemetery, a castle, workshops and even apartments. It’s survived earthquakes, fires, bandits, and had numerous restorations in different eras.
It’s really hard to conceptualize how long this place has been standing.
I was just a time traveler passing a few hours in a place that stood millions of hours.
After walking around the ancient ruins in extreme heat, I was ready for a cold adult beverage and some pasta. In Rome, there are four quintessential pasta dishes, the most famous of all being carbonara. I made my way to Roscioli Salumeria con Cucina, a family run deli and restaurant that has been making delicious bites for over 50 years.
I sat at the counter and ordered a spritz and some of the house made cured meats to start. Forget what you hear about Arby’s my friend, it’s Italy that has the meats. Salty, decadent house cured prosciutto, salami, and sinful slices of cured pork fat called lardo restored all the electrolytes I had lost sweating like a gladiator in the Roman sun.
But then…as I dove into my second spritz (this time a limoncello flavored one) came the carbonara. I’ve made carbonara at home once or twice before. I’ve had very good carbonara at restaurants in LA and even Mexico. But this…this was definitely the best I have ever had.
Perfectly cooked spaghetti, delightful pecorino romano cheese melded together with the egg and pasta water to create a smooth and ingratiating sauce, and to that a light dusting of fresh cracked black pepper, and the crispiest, crunchiest, most decadent pieces of guanciale you could ever hope to find in this lifetime.
It was pure magic.
Later that evening I went for a tipple or two at Drink Kong, a trendy cocktail bar with Japanese street art inspiration and seriously interesting, complex cocktails. I struck up a conversation with Julia, a school librarian from Massachusetts who was backpacking across Europe for her summer break. We had a nice chat about the sweltering heat in Rome, libraries (I worked at a joint middle school/public library for a few months after graduating college), and the beauty of some of the national parks in the U.S.
Needing to soak up some of the wonderful cocktails, I wandered over to Ce Stamo A Pensà, a tiny local spot serving up perfect late night bites. I had a Peroni, some meatballs, and a wonderful little fried pizza with stracciatella and sun dried tomatoes.
On my final day in Rome I walked. A lot. Like 15,000 steps. Most of those were at the Vatican Museum.
It’s huge. It’s beautiful. It’s overwhelming. They should do an entire season of MTV Cribs on this place.
There are artifacts from all around the world, almost every room or hall leading to the Sistine Chapel is completely painted from floor to ceiling with intricate, ornate depictions of religious and historical scenes.
It’s honestly hard to comprehend the amount of art and history on display.
That evening I had a wonderful dinner at an inconspicuous little restaurant called Taverna Lucifero. They make delicious Italian food but specialize in truffles. It’s quaint, the service is friendly, and the food is quite wonderful. I ordered the smoked duck breast with honey, which was tender, salty, smokey, slightly sweet from the honey, and all things you want in an appetizer.
The main course was a veal scaloppina with a butter sauce (some type of beurre blanc I believe), with fresh shaved truffles. It was simple, delicious, and probably the single best thing I ate during my three weeks in Europe. I finished the meal off with a nice cognac that came with some dark chocolates and miniature biscotti. It was perfect.
I finished the night off at a cool underground speakeasy that the hostess at the restaurant Giano had recommended: Drop. You ring the buzzer, the gate opens, you go downstairs to the reception area where you are required to pay a nominal membership fee before you can enjoy your drink at the bar. The space reminded me of another great cocktail bar in Kuala Lumpur, PS150. The cocktail menu was a trippy interactive website that was a map of the world and featured cocktails based on certain countries or continents. The cocktails were creative, complex, and delicious.
I took an Uber home and got a good night’s sleep as the next day I was on the train to Florence.
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