December 2005
Rome '05
by Celia Cheng
This mini feature is dedicated to my friends, Noriko and Stefano Villanti, and their beautiful baby girl, Lisa. I took a short trip last month to visit them in the Eternal City, and they greeted me with true Roman hospitality.
The weather was unusually gorgeous for the middle of November and I reveled in it, taking walks from Piazza del Popolo through the Spanish Steps area towards Piazza Navona to see my favorite, Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers. Then stopping by my other beloved Roman treasure, the Pantheon — a place where I become contemplative, inspired and awe-struck. I made a quick pit stop at the Trevi Fountain, trying to avoid the crowds but still enchanted by this iconic work of art. All the while I was peering into little shops along the way and just trying to take in Rome one step at a time. I didn’t tour the sites as I did the first time I visited Rome. Rather, I just wanted to relax and enjoy myself in a different setting, far away from New York, perfectly content as part of the Villanti household.
I stayed a total of four nights, and this gave me the opportunity to try a mix of restaurants and home-cooked meals. All were divine. My hosts considerately planned for me to try an old school Roman/Jewish restaurant, Piperno, the first night; a modern and hip enoteca, Ferrara, the second; a nice home-cooked meal the third night; and to satisfy my curiosity about what real tortellini and home-style Roman cooking should taste like, I was invited to dinner at the senior Villantis my last night — a real treat!
There were naturally many more restaurants that I wanted to try, but there just wasn’t enough time. This ensures, in a way, that there will be a next time. La Rosetta was the only place I requested to try on this trip since I’ve heard such great things about it and also love their New York restaurants: Teodora, Celeste and Bianca.
Rome evokes for me a very particular sentiment. The old, the new, history, culture, ruins, religion — the culmination of so many things, how do you begin to explain what it is? To me, it could not be described as anything other than the Eternal City — so great, and yet so forlorn, at the same time. How beautiful!
