Add to List - #63
When in Rome, plus an exclusive author interview with Roxy Dunn
Hello, thank you, and welcome. I love you for being here!
Add to List is my Sunday round-up. It’s the small things that brought me joy, evoked an emotional reaction, or became some short-lived stability in the past seven days.
Obsession
The Italian language.
Since I started learning the language (properly) this summer, Italy feels like a new country to me. I enjoyed practicing while I was away — although my skills significantly improve after drink two.
Sometimes I get Imposter Syndrome on my small sprinkling of Italian heritage (actually, should it be called Impasta syndrome!?)
Whenever I doubt if I am Italian, I remind myself our family have pasta on Christmas Day. It is the country where I feel most myself. Living there for an extended period of time this summer, and getting to grips with the language has definitely deepened my connection with my heritage, and myself. This time, it felt almost as if I was returning for a plunge back into my soul. I was lucky enough to meet the most wonderful group of people and I left a little bit of my heart in Rome. I plan to go back to leave a little bit more in the not too distant future.
Confession
I got whistled at by police at the Trevi fountain.
Got there early at 9am in the hope the crowds wouldn’t be too large (the four strong cocktails I drank the night before prevented me from getting there earlier). Now, you have to wade through the hoards of American tour groups in the queue for your two minutes up close and personal with the monument. It’s frustrating but it does mean the pictures look at lot better. While sitting on the ledge, I was whistled at by marshalls. Smile and wave boys. The things we do for the gram, eh?
Shook
Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it was heavily explored in three.
Overwhelmed by just how much we managed to pack in. More details below.
Cook
Roman delights
In my personal opinion, Roman food is not the best Italian cuisine has to offer, but Italy is Italy. In any capital you won’t be stuck for choice of good food. It’s almost impossible to list everything I tasted— but a couple of stand outs:
Palazzo Ripetta - The hotel I was staying at had a fantastic kitchen, outstanding food, and a chef who kindly took us on a culinary tour of the city. Alongside presenting many of their reimagined Italian classics, the hotel also ran a cookery class for us one afternoon. Though a lot of the hardest baking parts (i.e. the precision of the measurements) was done for us, I’m pretty pleased with the outcome of this ricotta and sour cherry tart.
Il Marchese - A trendy joint which the staff from our hotel frequent locally. In true Italian style, we were introduced to absolutely everyone who worked there and they really took care of us. The cacio e pepe was sublime; the carbonara fantastic. These guys know how to nail the Roman classics. But the real highlight of this place? The cocktails. Here, I tasted one of the best drinks of my life: the father of the negroni, the Americano. Like most distressed-mirrored, enormous chandeliered and high-ceilinged cocktail bars, the drinks didn’t have names (just numbers). I opted for #1; the perfect blend of sweet and bitter featuring Campari, vintage vermouth rosso, black tea, pear and cinnamon soda, and chocolate bitters. A seriously sophisticated, subtle taste experience. I think this is how cocktails were intended; each sip revealing a new flavour that feels like a total in-body and out-of-body experience.
Mercato Trionfale - A food market filled with local vegetables, meats, fish, and cheese. I’ve never seen so many varieties of carciofi (artichokes) and was particularly enamoured with these minature versions called carciofini. Plus, after all our browsing we’d worked up an appetite at 10am, opting for a taglieri plate and a bicchiere di vino with the lovable Luigi from the market’s Salumeria and Porchetta stand.
Panificio Bonci - Gabriele Bonci is a man you might recognise if you’ve watched Netflix’s Chef’s Table. He’s known in the city as the ‘King of Pizza’ which he sells — al taglio — by the slice. There’s also sourdough, martozzo buns, and pastries which will have you feeling hungry, even when you think you’re about to burst. We sampled a huge range of different types. My favourite was the cheese, chard and smoked prosciutto.
Bar Ciampini - It’s not a trip to Italia until you’ve got your gelato fix. One of Rome’s oldest establishments. Picture: outdoor seating in a cobbled piazza, filled with glamorous women sipping espressos before heading back to the office, and men on the phone repeatedly shouting ‘pronto’; it’s more than a cafe, it’s a cultural moment. And this place is famous for its castagne scoop. Their marron glacé ice cream is the real reason to make a visit. Sampling it, groaning with pleasure at the huge chunks of the powdery sweet chestnuts within, I felt like I’d captured the magic of the mountains and brought them to the city on my tongue. I also opted for a torta della nonna flavour with Italian crema (custard) and pine nuts.
Book
A special author interview with Roxy Dunn about As Young as This.
I’ve been too busy eating and travelling to read much this week — but I do have a brilliant book recommendation along with a special exclusive book-themed interview for you all.
Last year one of my favourite reads was the brilliant Roxy Dunn’s As Young as This. I had the utter pleasure of interviewing her not long after publication. To mark the paperback release, I’ve published a highlighted version of an interview I did with her last year. She’s a pure talent, a total joy, and this is brilliant, important and emotionally astute book about heartbreak, fertility, friendship and self-acceptance is well, well worth a read. You can see a highlight of our conversation below.
Look
New wave Italian fashion
Rome is heralded at a go-to destination for fashion but my inspiration this trip didn’t come from the boujee designers like Dolce and Gabbana and Gucci.
Designer vintage stores are all over the city (via Vittoria has a really brilliant one).
And, I also loved Edicola Erno, a magazine kiosk which sells a range of global forward-thinking print magazines and rotates physical garment pop-ups with up and coming designers. The place isn’t an ordinary bookstall: inventive, collaborative, and creative; it restored my faith a little in future of fashion and journalism.
Can’t Stop Scanning
Italian lessons.
After seeing my (minor) Italian improvements, I’m determined to keep going and get beyond the basic small-talk to advanced conversational level. I’ve been looking at Italian classes to take here.
Forward Planning
Well, That next trip to Italy isn’t going to book itself…
My favourite city in the world 😍 loved reading your recommendations and thanks for the reminder that my next trip there won’t book itself 😅
Living la dolce vita