Food reaches deep into the soul of Italy

L'arte della cucina, the art of cooking, is every bit as revered in Italy as Michelangelo, Guiseppe Verdi, and the Pope. Flavors of Rome offers you itineraries and information incorporating all of these essential art forms in The Eternal City.

A few key contacts and a couple of addresses to great Roman restaurants can mean the difference between "I loved the Pantheon but I hated the food" to "Oh, my God, I had the best meal of my life after walking for hours through the Vatican museums".

Rome wasn''t designed for cars or for 21st century tourists. Unlike the laid-back, slower pace of Tuscany or Sicily where every native seems to exist solely to guide you along as you travel their cities and country sides, Romans can appear brusque, too busy, too uninterested in getting you from the Pantheon to the Trevi Fountain, let alone advising you where to get a fabulous dish of pasta.

You have to know your way around this city of the Caesars to get the best out of your trip, and this requires pre-trip planning.

Don't ruin your holiday with a poorly planned trip. Let Flavors Of Rome put you on the road to all that delights a first time or returning visitor.

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IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU:

• Your interests
• Your time frame
• Your budget
• Your willingness to lose your heart to Rome

My Customized Consulting & Trip Planning Services Include:

Itinerary

Flavors of Rome offers itineraries individually customized for you. From a wide selection which includes the Rome essentials (Vatican Museums, Roman Forums, etc.) along with the lesser known off the beaten Roman road adventures, Flavors of Rome will design a program specifically tailored for your interests, time frame, and budget.

So no matter if this is your first visit or you’re a returning pro, no matter if you’re counting every euro or the sky’s the limit, make Flavors Of Rome your first stop for creating a unique experience in the Eternal City.

A sample from our broad selection of tempting possibilities/special attractions:

• Tour a medieval castle once inhabited by Felice delle Rovere, the subject of Caroline Murphy’s best-selling book The Pope’s Daughter. Lunch under a white canopied terrace overlooking the blue calm of Lake Bracciano at a restaurant owned and operated by a marquesa and renowned expert on regional Italian cuisine.
• Celebrate the harvest of incredibly sweet wild strawberries during the month of June in the nearby Castelli Romani (hillsides of Rome). Enjoy a strawberry shortcake like no other while gazing at the placid volcanic lake below.
• Travel the road to the land of the Etruscans, interred 2500 years ago in necropoli revealing the past life of this amazingly sophisticated pre-Roman culture. Conclude your visit with a meal in a countryside inn offering homemade egg pasta enhanced with the seductive flavor of those oh-so-pricey truffles, all for the cost of hazelnuts

Exclusive Events

• A once in a lifetime experience: private entry into the homes of Italian royalty, descendants of kings and popes, those palaces adorned with the art and gold of the Renaissance, escorted by either a duke or a marquis. Select an option that suits your mood and inclination from Ancient, Medieval, or Renaissance Rome. Your hosts will recreate the past with you as the honored guest in a program culminating in a magnificent feast appropriate to the time period. This program is available only upon special request and is not widely advertised — an experience like no other.
• Dine in the most elegant of surroundings in a private home in Trastevere where the host, a renowned musician, will entertain and discuss the history and current state of Italian opera. Luxuriate in the exquisite flavors of a multi-course meal prepared by your hostess, a star of Gambero Rosso, Italian television’s version of the Food Network.

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All roads lead to Roman restaurants: hundreds of them, tucked into every corner, crowding every piazza, every alleyway, small ones, big ones, fancy ones, plain ones, good ones and, unfortunately all too often, bad ones. And then there are those spectacular restaurants, and these are the ones I go back to over and over again and the ones I want to lead you to.

Flavors of Rome can tell you where to go for:

• A no-frills trattoria serving daily specials of whatever classic Roman dishes the owner felt like cooking that day.
• A Florentine dinner of Chianiana beef and white beans in an elegant setting
• Moonlit dining and elegant service under whi
• Intimate, lively, and friendly atmosphere at the site of an ancient synagogue turned convent turned restaurant
• Spectacularly fresh seafood served by one of Rome's celebrity chefs
• Latest martini bar, (what's an oyster martini anyway?)
• Rome's best pizza bianca

But individual tastes and expectations are different.

For instance, I would never send my Aunt Angie and Uncle Sal from Pittsburgh to an upscale, trendy restaurant serving cucina alta with prices to match – as wonderful as it may be. I know they would not feel comfortable nor would they be able to justify the cost. I would send them, however, to a small family run trattoria steps from the Pantheon where they would unquestionably adore and devour the homemade lasagna.

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An important component in planning a successful trip is — like the proper pairing of food and wine — making the right connections for the client.

Through my extensive coterie of Rome professionals, I am able to connect you with:

• cooking schools, short or long term courses
• personal guide and driver
• gastronomic tours with a well-known cookbook author
• walking tours with an experienced and vivacious art historian
• wine courses
• olive oil, wine, or cheese tastings

On Site Bonus

Because I live in Rome part of each year, the timing often coincides with some of my clients’ trips, allowing us to work together on Roman soil.

Need on the spot advice?

Someone to accompany you to special destinations or events?

A practical solution to glitches such as bad weather?

Even though my heart belongs to Rome, I sometimes stray, so...

… I can give suggestions to other little-known places outside of Rome and Lazio, for example, a beautiful restaurant and hotel dripping bougainvillea blossoms from its balcony high up over the turquoise sea in the Aeolian Islands.

Click here for a free consultation!

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