Roman Recommendations: Gelato

As I walk around the center of Rome these days and notice that it's infiltrated with tourists more so than any other part of the year, I can't help but feel dismayed when I see these tourists going to subpar tourist traps and so called authentic places which really in fact cater to out of towners more than anything. But as tourists in any foreign place, could we possibly know any better? I was around the Vatican running some errands when I saw what I think were Americans sitting around eating this gelato and raving how big it was. Ok...so the fact that it's gelato in Italy already means it's better than average ice cream found elsewhere. However, there's been many a time when I have wanted to interrupt these people and say, "Excuse me, if you want to find really good [fill in the blank], you should go here."

So I figured, I'd start a "series", if you will, of my favorite places in Rome. So if you ever come to Rome you should try to find these places. Most of these favorites and recommendations were suggested to me by Italians and have been thoroughly tested by me (mmmmmm) and all my visitors (yes...many of them) that have come by.

Since we're on the subject of Gelato, why don't we start with my favorite Gelato place (pictured above) called Da Quinto. Its address is:

15 Via di Tor Millina (right near Piazza Navona). Click the Map to go to Google Maps.


This place was recommended to me by Francesco as one of the bests in Rome. Unlike most Gelato places that usually show off the actual gelato, all you can see are the list of flavors. It's kind of like "we know it's good, you don't need to see it". All of their gelato is made in house by the husband and wife duo of owners. Their help is fantastically nice and proof is on the wall that they've had many famous customers such as Ben Stiller and the red head kid from "Harry Potter". They also have their gelato flavors listed in about 5 different languages. The decor is fresh with a tropical theme. And how can you go wrong when they have a Florida Gator t-shirt on their wall in addition to a lot of University of Illinois paraphernalia (that's for you LeAnne and Holly V.).

The key to this place is value. You can get a cone here for 1.50 euro. While most places limit you to either 2 or 3 (sometimes only 1) I've rarely seen them turn down a request to put how many flavors you want. My friends Holly H. & Melanie managed to pack in 5 flavors in a cone (see pic below). In fact during their 4 day visit to Rome, we went everyday to Da Quinto. Whenever my family was here we would go out of our way just to go. You can also get many other things when you're not in the mood for gelato, such as fresh squeezed juice, smoothies, slushies, etc.

My favorite flavors (and others favorites) at this place include:

• Fragola (Strawberry)
• Limone (Lemon)
• Kiwi (Kiwi...haha)
• Cafè (Coffee)
• Stracciatella (Vanilla with Chocolate Chips)
• Bacio (like the Baci chocolates)
• Melone (Cantaloupe)
• Pistacchio (Pistachio)

More Pictures (Click Thumbnails to Enlarge):

Florida is calling me home!

Ok, if you've ever seen the movie "Fools Rush In" you might remember how the main character (played by Salma Hayek) talks about being on the lookout for signs that hint something in your life. I definitely had a day that was suggesting it's about time to return to Florida. This morning, there was a guy on the bus I ride to school that was wearing an old school Florida Gator shirt (one with the old Albert logo). He ended up being a student that also studied/worked in my lab building. I must say that Gator shirts don't look so hot when worn with really Euro/Ital quasi capri pants and a fanny pack. THEN...on top of that on my way home, I saw this sticker on a car right outside my apartment. I did a double take and said out loud "Whaaaaattt??" I knew Ron Jon stickers are pretty prevalent in the US, but not in my small neighborhood in Rome. So I ran up to my apartment to get my camera. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera with me when I saw the Italian with the Gator shirt.

Out with the old...In with the new (Italian Mobile)

Most of you who have known me within the last 8 years have associated me with the car above, a 1993 Civic. It was a gift for my sister for her high school graduation in 1993. I eventually inherited it from her during my senior year of high school when she got yet another new car. Many of you that have known me longer knew that my first car was my family 1982 Dodge Ram conversion van, also remembered as the "Shaggin Wagon" or the "Mystery Machine". How many people can say that their first car was one that they rode in a car seat when they were a baby?
Anyhow, many of you already know that while I've been here in Rome, my civic has been losing its steam back in Florida. It has required so many random repairs in the last year that my parents deemed it not reliable as an everyday car. So it was a bittersweet feeling when my parents informed me I should be thinking about what new car I wanted. For the first time I got to choose a car that actually suited me. When I asked a friend of mine from high school (and fellow high school civic driver) for some car model advice, he reminded me that my old civic has had so much history. That is has. My Dad and I drove it back and forth to Cincinnati when I worked there the summer of 2004. It's gotten rear ended and broken into. Uhhh...and it's been pulled over a multitude of times. Oh yeah, it was at one time a rice burner.

So when my parents let me choose, I knew I wanted something adult like and practical for my daily habits. My parents tend to prefer Toyota's and Honda's. I originally thought I wanted something like a Camry, but then I also wanted something that made it easy to move crap around (I feel like a modern day nomad towing my crap all around the world every year) and something easier to haul my surfboards to the beach. I managed to carry both my shortboard and longboard in the civic but that meant I couldn't carry ANY passengers. So that brought me to the SUV market, but I also didn't want to buy some absurd SUV that guzzled up gas and was bad for the environment. So the Toyota Rav4 became my choice after some research. So as sort of a birthday gift/early graduation gift my parents scored me a new 2007 Rav4 this past week (similar to the one below).

As both of my previous cars had nicknames, I wanted to give a name to the future one. I also wanted to make it have some type of Italian name since it was bought while I was over here and because it will probably be carrying my 3 Italian roommates in Gainesville around. Even though I thought of some typical Italian people names I finally came up with "Il RAVioli Quattro". For all of you that loved my civic, don't worry, my family is still keeping it around. I may also keep driving it on my solo trips to the beach.