Viva Italia Restaurants on Your Own

[whayes]

I see a lot of people are just about to start their Viva Italia adventures. I look forward to the upcoming trip reports!! One thing I would like to hear about is the restaurants. Please fill us in on the restaurants (names, if possible) that you visited on your own. Thanks!

 

[awatt]

In Rome we went to Alfredo de Scrofula, (or something like that, I amy have the name mangled a little) where fettucine alfredo was supposedly invented. It was delightful.

Others in our group went to the Four Rivers on Piazza Navona and spoke very highly of it as well.

Your guides will have lots of good recommendations.

 

[eva]

Thanks for the suggestions. Do you need reservations? If so, will the guides take care of that for you?

 

[awatt]

Yes they will happily do it or you. One of our guides had a whole book of phone #s and business cards.

 

[disneytraveler]

While in Venice, my guides recommended a place called the 40 Theifs.I had a wonderful meal . I did not need a reservation.

 

[nicolepdonnelly]

Did any of you take along guide books and use their recomendations or maps or anything? I have a couple of guide books that i am looking over before our trip to get familiar with the areas and get a little history etc. I was wondering if bringing them along would be overkill to what is distributed by ABD?

 

[ashky71]

Hey Nicole, I was on Viva Italia May 8 - 16. I took a couple guide books with me but I didn't carry them around, you do a lot of walking so I suggest carrying only what you need because you don't want the extra weight. I looked at my books on the plane or bus and it was mostly to find things we may want to do on our own time. I did take maps but the guides had small maps they gave you. As far a restaurants, we just walked around and found a couple on our own. In Rome we ate at a place that was good on the Via Vento not too far from the hotel (Sorry I don't remember the name). In Venice we ate dinner at a place called "Trattoria Pizzeria De Roberto", it was close to the Bridge of Sighs. It was very good, there were six of us who ate there and we all had different types of pastas and we all cleaned our plates. The waiters were very nice also. Hope this helps.

 

[nicolepdonnelly]

Thanks Ashky! Very Helpful! I can't wait!

 

[glassslipper2004]

Can you leave personal items (like guidebooks you don't want to carry) on the bus?

 

[whayes]

Thank you everyone for sharing!

 

[PiperPilot]

We had a great meal at Ristorante Maccheroni. I would suggest making a reservation, but if you go earlier (~19:00) you may not need one.

Here is there website: http://www.ristorantemaccheroni.com/

The restaurant is very simple in appearance and has fewer than 40 tables. The wait staff was extremely friendly. The food was the best we had in Rome and we paid 46 Euro for 1 appetizer, 2 primi, 1 secondi, 1 dessert, and house wine. This was the least expensive dinner we had in Rome and it was the best.

Great service, great food, great price in a simple setting. After trying a couple of other places we wish we had returned here for another meal.

It can be slightly tricky to find. The key is to note that the restaurant is located at the corner of Via delle Coppelle and Piazza delle Coppelle. We kept looking for #44 on Via delle Coppelle and could not find it. Turn the corner and there it was on Piazza delle Coppelle.

The ABD guides will not recommend this restaurant to most people since they feel it is a little too far away and tricky for people to find. It is only 0.6 miles away from the Bernini Bristol. It is near the Piazza Navona.

Maccheroni has gotten great reviews from TripAdvisor and Fodder's.

 

[whayes]

Bump for more advice!

 

[jackienut]

In Venice, we were on our own the first night and our guides, Vinnie&Marco recommended Ristorante Vesuvio. This was absolutely lovely. I had read in a travel book how there seemed to be a social event in the streets each evening around 7 p.m . As we sat at our table outside eating, sure enough, like magic, the street seemed to fill up with neighbors strolling up and down just visiting and enjoying each other's company. This was one of the hightlights of our trip! Since we stayed an extra night after the tour, we went back to this same ristorante to watch all over again.

 

[glassslipper2004]

Wow, restaurants to try in both Rome and Venice- thank you!