In the Eternal City Again

I discovered a delicious little restaurant just around the corner from the Campo di Fiori at 53 via del Pellegrino - the Cantina Lucifero. Just 28 people can fit in here. I ate there 3 nights in a row. Fresh tagliatelle with fresh porcini mushrooms - one night I had this dish with slivers of fresh white truffle from Alba, fragrant and with a sublime taste, and homemade ravioli of fresh spinach and ricotta. There are also meat dishes and the restaurant's speciality, various cheese fondues. Ask Francesco, who runs the restaurant, for his advice on wine. In this neighborhood you find a mix of tourists and locals and this holds for the Cantina as well. The staff is friendly and helpful and multilingual. Open only in the evenings 7 days a week.The parent restaurant, the Locanda Lucifero, is on a parallel street.

For breakfast, because I had rented a small flat, I walked to the Campo and ate at Obicà, a trendsetting mozzarella bar that also makes pizza, salads and other dishes. You never know what is inside an Italian croissant: sometimes jam, sometimes chocolate. And splendid coffee. There are three kinds of mozzarella to be had - delicate, intense or smoked. All the salads, for a small additional sum, can be enhanced with your choice of DOP mozzarella.

Off to the Vatican to visit the scavi, the underground archeological ruins. First, into what remains of Constantine's basilica and then down into the lowest level, into the Roman mausoleums,  many of which have mosaics and frescos, a whole city of the dead. And most moving of all there is the tomb of St. Peter, whose bones have been gathered into a small plexiglass box. I found the visit to be a moving experience, regardless of belief. You have to reserve on the internet in advance for a guided visit.


Tagliatelle ai funghi porcini as prepared at the Cantina.

For 4 people

Sauté 600 grams of fresh porcini, cut into small pieces or slivers, in 3 T. of extra virgin olive oil, with 1 minced clove of garlic. When the mushrooms and garlic are soft (do not let the garlic brown, or it will be bitter), add 4 T. of freshly chopped Italian parsley. Cook 360 grams of fresh tagliatelle egg pasta, and when al dente, drain, and toss with the porcini sauce. Pass freshly grated parmesan to garnish. Simple and delicious.

Puntarelle in Salsa d'Acciughe

It's Puntarelle season again. Puntarelle is a kind of chicory; you can see not so young ladies cleaning it and stripping it of its outer leaves at the Campo di Fiori market every morning. I have never seen Puntarelle except in Rome. So if you, too, cannot find it where you live, you can use Belgian endives, or curly endive, or radicchio. This is a very Roman salad.

Put one head of cleaned Puntarelle into a bowl and mix with the following dressing, which you can puree by mashing with a fork, or by using a robot or blender.

3 anchovy fillets - I prefer to use salted ones that I desalt by soaking in water for half an hour and then cleaning. But if that is too fiddly use canned anchovies in olive oil.
2 cloves garlic - peeled, core removed, and minced
3 T. white wine vinegar
4 T. extra virgin olive oil

According to David Downing, in the past, chopped hard-boiled eggs were added to the salad.