We didn’t know it at the start of the day, but we were going old school. We started new school with an Australian coffee place (📍Barnum) for our top coffee of the trip. That was it. We quickly moved into old school with breakfast at our favourite Roman pizza place: 📍Forno Campo de' Fiori. It’s old. It’s at least pre-dating the internet old. Nowhere could I find a decent history of the place. Bread was made there in the papal era (1400s) but it’s unclear if it’s in the building or in the campo de’ fiori (translated to field of flowers because it used to be a meadow). Still, they’ve been making Roman style bread and pizza for a long time and they are really good at it.
We then walked to the 📍botanical gardens. As they date back to the renaissance, while recent in Roman terms we still view it as old school. It’s been marked on our respective Google Maps for a very long time. It suggests we’ve been there on either of our two stays in the city but neither Karine or I can remember it. None of the multiple greenhouses, the rose garden or any of its features rang a bell. We surely would have remembered the butterfly garden. That’s the type of place where Karine gets into five-year -old mode and must meet every butterfly personally. The garden is also overgrown. Something we would have remembered I’m pretty sure. Maybe it’s all the rain that they’ve been having. Since none of that brought it back to us, we probably planned to go almost a decade ago but didn’t. We’re happy we did this time.
Rain showed up as it inevitably must this trip. We retreated home and waited for it to pass before heading to aperitivo and then diner at 📍Piperno. Without knowing too much, we went for the old school white tux, white glove service with old school vibes in the Jewish Ghetto, a part of Rome with a dark history that is now a vibrant neighborhood with significant cultural and historical landmarks. While the meal itself was not bad, I would even go as far as give it a OK, we’re more in the new wave of cooking and left disappointed. At least now we know the old school way of preparing oxtail stew and fried artichoke!
Places
Barnum Roma · Via del Pellegrino, 87, 00186 Roma RM, Italy
★★★★★ · Coffee shop
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Forno Campo de 'Fiori · Campo de' Fiori, 22, 00186 Roma RM, Italy
★★★★★ · Bakery
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Botanical Garden of Rome · Largo Cristina di Svezia, 23 A - 24, 00165 Roma RM, Italy
★★★★☆ · Botanical garden
maps.app.goo.gl
Piperno Restaurant · Via Monte dè Cenci, 9, 00186 Roma RM, Italy
★★★★☆ · Restaurant
maps.app.goo.gl
https://maps.app.goo.gl/brxMzngzq1UkDXSu6