Roma: Due passi a Trastevere, tra pizza, crostate e cioccolato

Roma, via del Moro: nello spazio di centro metri la mia cioccolateria di fiducia e il mio forno prediletto.

Primo step: un pezzo di pizza margherita al forno, alta come una focaccia, con tanta mozzarella, e una fetta di crostata ricotta e cioccolato. Poi una passeggiata digestiva dall’altro parte della strada, fino al numero 37, da Valzani, un negozietto angusto dove il tempo sembrava essersi fermato. Alla cassa sempre la stessa signora ottantenne, Romana doc: da più di cinquant’anni accoglie i turisti con fare burbero e una punta di ironia, alternando battute sul tempo con lamentele sulla crisi morale dell’Italia, invitando gli avventori ad addolcire la triste realtà con una benefica, virtuosa, antiossidante barretta di cioccolato.

E per finire, sì, una passeggiata oltre il ponte, per godermi lo scorcio visionario della città eterna oltre il Tevere fiume: l’isola Tiberina, via del Portico d’Ottavia, Piazza Mattei, Largo di Torre Argentina, Piazza Navona, Via dei Coronari.

Da provare al tramonto, in un pomeriggio primaverile di sole.

A walk in Trastevere, among pizzas, crostata and chocolate

Rome, Via del Moro: there you will find my favourite chocolate shop and bakery.

First of all, have a slice of margherita pizza at the bakery and then a slice of crostata with sweet cheese. Then take a stroll till the other side of the road, where you will find the chocolate shop (37, Via del Moro). The owner is a old lady: since 1970 she welcomes customers suggesting different chocolate for various moods, highlighting its curative power. Finish off with a walk over the bridge, to admire the eternal city behind the Tevere river: Tiberina island, via del Portico d’Ottavia, Piazza Mattei, Largo di Torre Argentina, Piazza Navona, Via dei Coronari.

Try this walk at sunset, in a sunny afternoon.

Sulla scia di Vacanze Romane: Palazzo Brancaccio

Photography: Giulia Venanzi

Old fashioned, glamorous, magnificent, luxurious, anachronistic: one thing is certain, Palazzo Brancaccio will not leave you indifferent. For many people, this palace will causes us a dilemma: to leave or not to leave?

As soon as you start climbing the magnificent staircase of this Patrician Palace you enter an enchanting world, far away from the loudness of Via Merulana. Your daily routine and business schedule forgotten, take shelter in hushed rooms full of elegance and beauty . Inside, you will be impressed by the finely decorated tapestry, frail ornaments and exquisite paintings, imagining how does it feel to take a nap in front of such deluxe fireplaces. Sumptuous rooms that have seen thousands of enchanting parties, plenty of mirrors to lose yourself while imagining another life, forgetting what’s outside.

Palazzo Brancaccio is a Roman Patrician palace built in 1880 for Princess Mary Elizabeth’s will, a magnificent building surrounded by a beautiful park full of Roman ruins and decorated with ancient trees and an elegant fountain. A glorious inheritance in the heart of the eternal city, the Palace is now rented out to well-off Roman families, who hold here their wedding parties, and so give a happy ending to the Roman Holiday’s fairytale. In fact, it’s from Palazzo Brancaccio’s elegant surroundings that the princess of Roman Holidays chose to escape. Denying her royal duties, Audrey Hepburn left these luxurious rooms to discover the real, vibrant beauties of Rome with Gregory Peck. Frustrated with her tightly scheduled life, she will almost renounce her golden future in order to embrace the spontaneity and passion of the Eternal city.

Old fashioned, glamorous, magnificent, luxurious, anachronistic: one thing is certain, Palazzo Brancaccio will not leave you indifferent. For many people, this palace will causes us a dilemma: to leave or not to leave? To remain secluded or to escape? Palazzo Brancaccio makes you wonder whether it’s better to escape from the world in a beautiful but perhaps artificial world or to plunge, even through daily fights, the passion of real beauties.