Rome blog for Bed & Breakfast Chaplin Hostel

This Rome information blog entry is written for the English guests of the Bed and Breakfast Chaplin Hostel in Rome.

Traditional Italian breakfast

Romans, and Italians in general, do not eat a big breakfast, traditionally no more than a capuccino or a coffee (a caffè, or an espresso, as foreign tourists usually call it) with a croissant (cornetto) in the café around the corner.

Hotel breakfasts

In Rome bed end breakfasts and hotels breakfast is usually, though not always, included in the price. Do not expect too much from an Italian breakfast, though: it is not unusual for a 3 star hotel in Rome, to serve no more than some dry biscuits and a cup of coffee, which is rather little for tourists about to explore Rome for the day. Bigger hotels often serve a buffet breakfast.

B&B’s without breakfast in Rome

This may sound strange, but bed and breakfasts often do not serve the breakfast themselves. You are given a ticket which allows you to get one cup of coffee and one croissant in the café next-door. And if you eat more, you will have to pay for it out of your own pocket. Bed and Breakfast Chaplin Hostel Rome and B&B Little Italy provide you with a genuine, hearty breakfast.

This Rome blog article is written for the guests of the Chaplin Bed and Breakfast Rome.

Eat till you burst

Traditionally lunch (”pranzo“) is the most important meal for Italians. An antipasto, a first (usually a plate of pasta) and a second (meat or fish) course with maybe some dessert afterwards: a typical Roman lunch used to last hours.

Lunch hours in Italy

Restaurants in Rome tend to open around noon for the lunch crowd and close their doors around 3pm.

As everywhere else, also in Italy the traditions change: nowadays it is just as common for Romans to go to a bar and have a quick panino (“bread roll”) or tramezzino (a rather weak, white sandwich) instead of spending hours at the trattoria or osteria.

The entries in this Rome information blog are written for the English speaking guests of the B&B Chaplin Hostel Rome.

Rome restaurant opening hours

Foreign tourists in Rome, and Italy in general, will have to adapt to the opening hours of Italian restaurants, especially in the evenings. Visitors to the Eternal City used to to eating at 6pm (or still earlier) will have to suffer for at least an hour, since the various osterie and trattorie traditionally do not open their doors till 7pm.

Avoiding tourist traps in Rome

Of course there are eateries that open earlier than that, but those are bound to be restaurants that cater especially for tourists, and that will in turn also influence the quality of the food served.

Best time to arrive

Another reason to eat slightly later is that, by arriving too early, one misses the chaotic, noisy yet cozy atmosphere characterizing the authentic Italian restaurant. Therefore it is best to arrive at around 8pm when it is still early enough to not have to fight for a table. Half an hour later the restaurant will be packed.

This information blog about Rome is written for the English speaking guests at the Rome B&B Chaplin Hostel.

Ristorante, trattoria, osteria?

There are several kinds of restaurants in Italy. According to most guidebooks the osterie are cheapest, followed by the trattorie and then the ristoranti, the more expensive eating places in Italy. The osteria’s and trattoria’s tend to be smaller and are often run by families.

Those crafty Romans

The owners of ristoranti in big tourist destinations like Rome read the guidebooks too and have therefore started calling themselves osteria or trattoria as well. As a result the distinction shave disappeared and we recommend that you have a look at the price list (which is supposed displayed near the entrance) before entering a restaurant.

Recommendations

The Little Italy Bed and Breakfast and Rome Hostel Chaplin B&B provide you with several recommendations for good, and cheap, restaurants. Some trattoria’s in Rome will even give you a discount when you mention our name.

This Rome information blog is written for the guests of the Bed and Breakfast Chaplin Hostel Rome

When to eat pizzas

The pizzeria is a separate story. Although restaurants and trattoria’s often offer pizze on their menus, we recommend that you visit a real pizzeria, with a more extensive choice of pizza’s.

Note that traditionally pizzas are only eaten for dinner, so if the lunch menu offers pizzas as well, you are likely to find yourself in a tourist restaurant.

Pizza slices

It is however very normal to visit a “pizzeria a taglio” for lunch, where you can get, often extremely original and delicious, slices of pizza for lunch.

Some excellent pizzerias in Rome

Our favorite Rome pizzerias are Formula Uno (which is not a pizzeria chain, despite its name) in the San Lorenzo area near the Chaplin B&B and Ivo in Trastevere.

Click here for a list of Bed and Breakfasts in Trastevere.

This Rome blog entry is written for the guests of the Chaplin Bed and Breakfast near Roma Termini.

Parks in Rome

The center of Rome is not short of delightful parks (Villa Borghese, Colle Oppio) where you can go for an enjoyable and relaxed pick-nick. Go to a supermarket, or even better, visit the so-called alimentari (greengrocer) and get fresh bread, cheese, meat and whatever else you may like, something to drink, and have a quiet meal on a bench or on the grass, away from the noise of Rome’s traffic.

Several hotels can be found near the Villa Borghese park in Rome.

Have your sandwich made for you in an alimentari

In an alimentari you can usually ask the people who work there to prepare your panino for you. That way you do not have to take knives or other kitchen utensils with you, which might make things less embarrassing when your bag gets searched at the entrance of one of the museums in Villa Borghese.

Do not buy food from stalls

We do not recommend that you buy anything from the stalls that can be found near the major tourist attractions of Rome. The prices are 10 times what they should be and hygiene is not their strongest pont either.

Tap water or bottled water in Rome?

Remember that you do not need to buy bottled water in Rome. The tap water is perfectly drinkable and the little fountains you can find all over the Eternal City even in mid-summer supply the freshest water imaginable. It is probably best to buy a bottle once and then keep filling it up from those fountains.

This information Rome blog article is written for the English speaking tourists staying in the Rome Bed and Breakfast Chaplin Hostel.

Price lists

There has to be a price list clearly visible, preferably on the door of the restaurant.

Cover and service charge

There is a so-called coperta or cover charge, which should not be more than 2 or 3 Euros per person. With this you pay for the use of the cutlery, the napkins and table-cloths (no kidding). Often the cover charge and the bread are under one heading: pane e coperta.

Restaurants in Rome often ask for a service charge (servizio) as well. This is also legal, but it is forbidden to charge both for the coperta and the servizio. If your restaurant does charge you for both, just refrain from tipping them.

Standing or sitting in a café

In an Italian bar (which is not the equivalent of a pub, but of a café) you usually pay extra when you sit down: the servizio again. Again, take a good look at the price list: banco means that you will have your sandwich standing up at the bar, tavolo that you will enjoy it sitting down.

A full meal in a café? Maybe better not

Many bars, apart from offering their usually delicious panini and other assorted sandwiches, also offer pasta dishes. Keep in mind that these are usually micro-waved, so we recommend that you go to the trattoria across the road if you want an authentic Italian meal.

Rome restaurants and their opening hours

Foreign visitors to Italy will have to get used to the opening hours of Roman eateries. Restaurants, though they may open at 7pm, don’t really start serving food until 7.30 and even then the atmosphere will be kind of dull. Since restaurants usually start filling up at around 8.30 pm, we recommend that you go around 8, when it is not too difficult to find a table, and you still get to enjoy the unique atmosphere that characterizes Italian restaurants.

Eating on a Sunday in Rome

Remember that on Sundays many restaurants, and especially the more traditional trattoria’s in Rome are closed.

This Rome information blog is written for the guests of the Bed and Breakfast Chaplin Hostel Rome

In a tourist capital like Rome there is of course an extensive choice of restaurants, pizzerias and other eateries and for a traveler making a short city trip to the Eternal City where to eat can be a difficult choice to make.

Best restaurant areas in Rome

Prices differ from quarter to quarter, though it is obvious that in the center of Rome you pay more than in areas that are slightly off the beaten track. The most popular areas, for Romans and tourists alike, are Trastevere and the area around Campo de’ Fiori, the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. Naturally these areas are also the more expensive ones. The Testaccio (take metro line B to the Piramide stop) and San Lorenzo (a short walking distance from both the B&B Chaplin Rome and Bed and Breakfast Little Italy) are also very popular, so much so that in San Lorenzo on Friday and Saturday nights traffic is not allowed into the area anymore.

Rome Restaurants recommended by guidebooks

As a tourist in Rome you can of course blindly follow the recommendations listed in your Lonely Planet or Rick Steves’ Rome travel guides, but doing that you will be more than likely to end up in a restaurant where everybody else is American, English or Australian too. Moreover, the people who write these guide books are not likely to have spent more than a couple of weeks in Rome (whatever they claim on the cover) and their restaurant experience will therefore have to be limited to a restricted number of eateries.

Look At Price Lists

Always study the price list before entering a restaurant. Some restaurants have started putting touts outside their doors. These are obviously best to be avoided, since they are likely to be tourist traps.

Eat where Romans eat

A good way to judge whether or not a restaurant is likely to be worth a visit is to try and see whether or not there are many Italians inside. Of course these might also be tourists, especially when you are in the center of Rome, but this still could be a good indication of the quality of the restaurant.

Eat in side streets

Avoid the main streets and squares if you want to save money. Eating on Piazza Navona itself is very romantic, but you are likely to eat a better meal at a cheaper price in a trattoria just off the square itself.

Get good advice

Ask the staff at the hotel or bed and breakfast in Rome you are staying at: At the Hostel Chaplin Bed and Breakfast Rome and at the Little Italy B&B Rome we have some excellent recommendations for you.

This Rome information blog is written for the guests of the Bed and Breakfast Chaplin Hostel Rome

Rome tourist menu

Almost every restaurant in Rome, whether centrally located or in quarters that are slightly more off the beaten track, will have a special tourist menu, usually in both Italian and English (the translations tend to be very funny sometimes), sometimes also in other languages.

A full dinner in Rome

If , when in Rome, you want to do as the Romans do, however, you need to follow this order: start with an antipasto, then have a primo (usually a plate of pasta) followed by a secondo (meat or fish) with one or more contorno’s (side dishes, usually potatoes, salad or vegetables). After this you can have the dolce (dessert) or a piece of frutta (fruit) and then the caffè (an espresso, and definitely not a cappuccino, since to drink milk after a meal is blasphemy for Italians) and an after dinner drink (which is an amaro or a limoncello, and supposed to be free, yet another tradition that is sadly disappearing).