Hiii! I'm excited today to share the first recap post from my trip to Italy last week with my boyfriend, Joe. We planned this trip in December, so it's hard to believe it's already come and gone after months of anticipation. However, we had an absolutely amazing time, and I'm so grateful we could go, enjoy fabulous weather (it'd been raining for weeks all over Italy before we arrived), and spend 10 days together since we're usually long-distance. So let's get into it!
For the sake of readability, I'm including many of the photos at the bottom of the post! Note to self: redesign this website, LOL.
Back Story
Our trip started on Thursday, May 18. Joe was flying in the day before, and a few hours before he left Dallas for New York, our flight on Thursday to Milan was canceled without reason. Literally, just an email, "Your flight has been canceled. Sorry for the inconvenience!" I immediately texted Delta (this is a running joke because I change *every* flight I book, and I have status, so I'm pretty much always texting Delta, haha) and long story short, after a couple of hours of back and forth, we switched things up and decided to fly to Rome on Thursday instead of Milan. It didn't make a difference to either of us, and it didn't impact the rest of our trip, so off to Rome we went!
We had only planned to be in Milan for 24 hours before heading to the Cinque Terre, so we kept the same structure, but of course, spent the 24 hours in Rome instead. Fortunately, all of our Milan plans were cancellable/refundable, and my bestie Katie studied abroad in Rome and was kind enough to put together a 24-hour itinerary in Rome for us, so it was really not too difficult to arrange the last-minute changes.
24 Hours in Rome
We landed in Rome around 9:30 AM local time on Friday and took a taxi to our hotel. It was a gloomy morning, but fortunately nothing too unbearable.
We stayed at the Hotel Accademia, which I'd booked the day before (obviously), but it ended up being really, really wonderful! We were upgraded without reason to the new part of the hotel, which meant a fabulous room in a quiet, private wing, and a luxurious, full breakfast in the morning. The hotel was just around the block from the Trevi Fountain, so the location was incredible as well!
I'd been to Rome in high school with my grandparents, but I really didn't remember much, besides the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican, and I didn't feel the need to see those spots again, so we incorporated other big sights into our itinerary.
We started with a walk to the Spanish steps, and ended up finding the Celine store where I purchased this belt! I almost bought it when I was in Paris in April but didn't want to commit at the time, so I knew I'd likely purchase it in Italy.
After a little shopping, we were pretty hungry and walked to the Parione neighborhood for lunch. It was a precious little neighborhood with some shops and restaurants, and we found a lovely spot called E Passata La Moretta for lunch!
Post-lunch we needed a nap, and then we got ready for our evening! We ventured to the Trastevere neighborhood for Aperitivo and dinner. We had Aperitivo outside at a spot at the top of the hill called Ombre Rosso. If you’re unfamiliar, Aperitivo is kind of like a happy hour in Italy where they serve snacks with your drinks, for free! I couldn’t believe you could get two Aperol spritzes and all the snacks that come with Aperitivo for only 16 euro! Ombre Rosso ultimately had the best Aperitivo snacks of the trip – olives, little flatbreads, etc. There was also a nice view of Rome from the restaurant too!
We walked down the hill to the heart of Trastevere where there are lots of little restaurants. It suddenly started pouring so we popped into the nearest spot, Hosteria Del Roody, for dinner. It was so, so cute and the food and wine were delicious. It was very classicly Roman, we had carbonara, eggplant, and veal scallopini. We sat in a covered area outside, and the ambiance was perfect.
My outfit linked here
The carbonara was the star of the show!
After dinner, we walked back toward our hotel and grabbed gelato at a place called Don Nino near the Trevi fountain – delicious. We hung out and people watched by the Trevi Fountain for a bit, and then went to bed!
Saturday
On Saturday, we woke up and got after it. We, again, ventured over to the Trevi fountain, where the crowd was much, much smaller in the morning than it had been on Friday afternoon and evening.
Our big activity for Saturday morning was a walk to see the Colosseum. It was about a 20-ish minute walk over and definitely worth the visit.
Afterward, we partook in the breakfast at our hotel, and then left Rome for Cinque Terre! We were never planning to go to Rome, but I'm so glad we did! It ended up being the perfect 24 hours and was definitely a highlight of the trip.
Cinque Terre recap coming next…
xoxo
No comments
Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment, I love hearing your thoughts! xo