Rome- Food Finds

Rome is such an amazing city.  Every time I visit I love it more and more.  Besides the obvious tourist attractions in Rome I love just wandering around small side streets, going in little boutiques, and of course eating at wonderful restaurants!

First up are my favorite pizza places.  Da Bafetto is a famous pizza restaurant (pictured above) at Via Governo Vecchio, 114.  It is only open for dinner and has long waits so get there early!  Another great pizza place is La Montecarlo at Vicolo Savelli, 13.  There are tables outside and it is really inexpensive- the perfect place to grab a quick lunch!  And finally Pizzeria dar Poeta at Vicolo del Bologna, 45 in Trastevere.  This is an amazing restaurant down a tiny street.  There are a ton of great pizzas to pick from.  We loved the pizza with buffalo mozzarella.  They have amazing bruschettas as well.

Ottobre 1980 is also on Via Governo Vecchio.  Cute little place with great food!

Another place we loved is Vinoteca Novecento at Piazza delle Coppelle, 47.  We sat outside and got a plate of meats and cheeses.  Yum!

And finally our favorite pasta restaurant in Rome.  Le Mani in Pasta is a wonderful little place at Via Dei Genovesi, 37 in Trastevere.  Amazing food, fun atmosphere and the prices were incredibly reasonable.

For gelato my pick is San Crispino (pictured above) at Via della Panetteria, 42.  They have really unique flavors like fig, ginger & cinnamon, honey and plum.  It was fun to try something so different!

Next week I will be featuring the Amalfi Coast!

Rome: Hotel Fortyseven

Our next stop was Rome!  This was my 3rd time in Rome and certainly not my last.  I absolutely love this city, and our hotel was in the perfect location for exploring.

Hotel Fortyseven is the lit up building on the right

We stayed at Hotel Fortyseven which was great!  It was just a short walk to the sights of Rome.  Plus we could easily walk over to Trastevere at night for amazing little restaurants and bars.

Standard Room

The suite that opens up to a private terrace- look at those views!!!

The hotel is really clean and modern, and has really generous room sizes for European standards.

The rooftop restaurant

One of my favorite features of the hotel is the rooftop balcony.  It has amazing views and is the perfect place to relax with a glass of wine after a long day of walking around the city.

Everyone at the hotel is so friendly and anxious to help in any way that they can.  I will definitely keep recommending this hotel to my clients after our wonderful stay here!

Next up- my favorite food finds in Rome!

Restaurant Suggestions: Florence

Now onto some of our favorite food finds in Florence!  

We were on a mission to find (in Summer's words) "life changing pizza".  And that we did!  We spotted a tiny restaurant buzzing with locals with a large wood burning oven and a small menu with just 2 options: Marinera and Margherita.  Sold!

I think the pizza chefs had a crush on us- they made our pizzas in the shape of a heart!  This restaurant is called Cucina Toscana Vini and is located at Via dell Isola delle Stinche 19.  Bonus- the incredible gelato shop Vivoli is just a few doors down!

Another favorite was Osteria Belle Donne located at Via delle Belle Donne 16.  This was a place I found on my first trip to Florence and have made sure to return on each visit since then!  Small hidden restaurant, hand written menu, friendly service, amazing food and really reasonable prices- my kind of place!

We also loved a small meat and cheese shop I had heard about called Il Santino.  We had a glass of wine and tried a number of different cheeses, salamis and prosciuttos.  Everything was so amazing and it was fun to try so many different things!  It is located at Via Santo Spirito 60.

A few doors down is their restaurant Il Santo Bevitore located at Via Santo Spirito 66.  We didn't get a chance to go there but I have heard amazing things so check it out and let me know what you think!

If you have any other restaurant recommendations to share I would love to hear them!

Florence

The first stop on my trip was Florence.  This was my third time visiting Florence- I love this city!  It is large enough to have a lot to explore, but not so big that it feels overwhelming.

We were in Florence because my travel partner Summer Watkins of Grey Likes Weddings was asked to style the wedding for Dale and Meredith Benfield.  Here are some pictures of the gorgeous reception taken by Becker.  See more of his amazing images here.

And the glowing newlyweds!  Thank you Dale and Meredith for allowing me to be a part of your special day!

And back to Florence.  We stayed at The Four Seasons which was just unbelievable.  It is a converted 16th century convent with expansive beautiful gardens.  It was a real treat to get to stay at such a fabulous hotel!  I would absolutely recommend this hotel to anyone visiting Florence.

Our room and our bathroom.  Everything felt so grand!

The Four Seasons is slightly outside of the main area of Florence, but still just a short walk to everything.  The street the hotel is on has many small restaurants and shops.  This area had a much different feeling than the areas directly surrounding the tourist attractions which I really enjoyed.

The view of the gardens from our room

Next I will be posting some of our favorite food finds in Florence!

I'm back!

I am back from an absolutely incredible vacation! I will be posting about each destination and hotels, as well as some advice for couples that will be celebrating their honeymoons in these destinations.

In the meantime, here are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip.

The duomo peeking out in Florence.

 The inside of the Colosseum in Rome.

Small, quiet little streets in Rome.

The unbelievable view from our room at the gorgeous hotel La Minervetta in Sorrento.

The beautiful coastline on the drive from Sorrento to Positano.  Look at that blue water!

Loved the town of Positano!

The unreal views from Villa Cimbrone in Ravello.

And a stroll through Hyde Park on a perfect spring day in London.

More to come soon!