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Presented by Capital One. Rome is home to iconic landmarks like the Colosseum, Vatican City, and Trevi Fountain, but the real magic happens between the monuments. Condé Nast Traveler’s Hot List explores the authentic side of Rome, from Campo de' Fiori market and Trastevere cafés to hidden artisan boutiques, classic Roman trattorias, rooftop aperitivo spots, and one of the city's most exciting restaurants. Use this guide to plan the perfect Roman holiday.
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00:00Rome is filled with greatest hits.
00:02The Colosseum, the Vatican, Trevi Fountain, the list goes on.
00:05But it's also a city layered with masterpieces of everyday Roman life.
00:12Vespas whipping through the squares.
00:15Bars where you can sip your morning coffee.
00:17I'm certainly not saying don't see the big sights.
00:20Do see them.
00:21Rome is not a city where you have to pick a lane.
00:23So definitely don't skip on the monuments.
00:26Just seek out those pockets of local Roman life that happen in between them.
00:31And I'm going to show you how to do it.
00:42So we're at Campo di Fiori, which is the very famous market in the middle of Rome.
00:46I came here for one really specific reason.
00:48It's this Forno, which is a bakery.
00:50You're going to find Fornos all over Rome.
00:52I really love this one.
00:54And I've been coming here for years.
00:55And it's for one really specific reason.
00:57I think they have the best zucchini pizza in the entire city.
01:00And it's perfect to get for just a really quick bite.
01:03They will cut you the amount that you want to eat.
01:08I got a little bit just as a snack.
01:10It's going to be perfect.
01:15It's so good.
01:16Okay.
01:17I'm going to eat this while I go explore the market.
01:26What I love about the Roman markets is that the produce here changes all the time because it's hyper-seasonal.
01:31And I'm really excited that we are here during one of my favorite seasons, which is the season for Pontarelle,
01:36which is so delicious.
01:37It's sort of the slightly bitter green that Romans love to cook.
01:41It's delicious, served hot.
01:42And also, really importantly, artichoke season.
01:45Very famous Roman carciofi, which you can see right here.
01:48I'm sure we're going to see a lot of these ingredients pop up on the plate.
02:06We're in the Trastevere neighborhood at Bar San Calisto, which is actually more of like a coffee shop.
02:13In Italy, when you say bar, you really mean like a cafe, like a place you're going to get coffee.
02:17However, this place doesn't just do coffee.
02:19Of course, you come here for coffee. It's in the morning. I'm having a coffee right now.
02:22But people come here all times of day to get Negronis, to have beers, just to like catch up.
02:28It's a nice cross-section of all the different types of people you come to find in Rome.
02:54Where to stay?
02:55On this trip, I'm staying at one of my favorite new hotels, which is part of our hot list this
03:00year.
03:00The Orient Express La Minerva.
03:04No one knows a city like the concierge.
03:06So let's go get some recommendations.
03:08Ciao, ciao!
03:10Buongiorno!
03:11To get really the feeling of Rome, you have to walk the little streets, go around, and that's the best
03:16thing to do.
03:17Apart from the biggest things like the Colosseum and the Vatican that you can do afterwards,
03:22the first thing to do is to go around and explore the neighborhood and explore the market, explore the little
03:30places around,
03:31which is more, you know, less touristic.
03:34It's so nice to do this little tour of Rome and you go and you try to find these things,
03:38but if you get lost, it almost doesn't matter.
03:42Doesn't matter because you're going to find something else.
03:43Because you'll find something else.
03:44The whole city is a treasure hunt.
03:46Yeah, nice.
03:46Yes.
03:47What I really need is a local recommendation for lunch.
03:49So where do you go?
03:50When you get to Ponte Sisto, you go to the right, towards the Trastevere area on the right side,
03:57and there is a little restaurant called Ziumberto, which means Uncle Umberto.
04:02And it's like typical Roman, paper on the table, but the food is amazing.
04:17Yes.
04:20Thank you very much.
04:21Thank you very much.
04:22Thank you very much.
04:22Thank you very much.
04:23So this is Ponte Sisto.
04:25We started the farmer's market earlier, and here they've prepared it with olive oil and some anchovy,
04:32and they put it on top of some toasted bread, kind of like a crostini.
04:35Totally delicious.
04:36I love it.
04:37It's a really great light lunch.
04:38I'm going to dig in.
04:42It is absolutely delicious.
04:46Oh, grazie, che buono.
04:48Grazie mille.
04:49So I ordered a very typical Roman pasta.
04:51I'm a Cicciana.
04:53It's really simple, like pretty much all the Roman pastas.
04:55It's just tomato, it's guanciale, and a little bit of pecorino cheese.
04:59In Rome, you always get pecorino, you don't get parmesan.
05:02It's really simple.
05:02It's really, really delicious, and this place does it very, very well.
05:05The thing is with Rome is it's sort of like trying to find the perfect Osteria, Trattoria.
05:10It's kind of like trying to find the perfect pub in London.
05:15It's not about that, right?
05:16There's so many places that are good to eat.
05:18So it's not about finding the best.
05:19It's about finding that place that feels like the right place to be in.
05:23It's relaxed.
05:24The food is good.
05:25It creates the atmosphere where you just want to keep coming back.
05:33So we're on Via di Monserrato, and this is one of my favorite streets in all of Rome.
05:37I've been coming here for years.
05:38I love it because it's filled with these wonderful independent boutiques and artisans.
05:43So I'm outside of the atelier of Gilbert Alabe.
05:47Let's go inside.
05:50Hello.
05:51Good morning.
05:52Good morning.
05:53Good morning.
05:53A lot of the experience of Via di Monserrato can inform some of your work, right?
05:58I mean, I feel like this body of work, inspired by Via di Monserrato, but I know there's like a
06:03special story behind it.
06:04Can you just talk a little bit about that?
06:06Absolutely.
06:07These three are the last three of a larger body of work.
06:11It's an exhibition entitled Un Comédie Romaine, a Roman Comédie.
06:15A comedy because for me, Rome is a stage.
06:18It's a piece of theatre.
06:20I sit outside and read, and I see all of them, the nuns and the priests and the framer and
06:26the clocheurs passing by.
06:28So I started noticing one after the other, the nuns and the priests and everything, and I started painting them.
06:33And it was a success, actually.
06:35We opened in Via di Monserrato at my arte contemporanea in the gallery, and we had the priests and nuns.
06:41We invited them to come to the opening, and they were joyous.
06:44I love it.
06:45They loved it.
06:46Rome is not an empty soul.
06:48Like other big capitals.
06:51No, it still has its anima, the story, and we, here in Vietnam, we feel it every day.
07:02You're always welcome.
07:03Ci vediamo.
07:03Ci vediamo. Ciao.
07:10We're in L'Archivio di Monserrato, which is like a treasure trove of the most gorgeous individual pieces.
07:16It's from the brilliant and creative mind of the fashion and interior designer, Soledad Twombly.
07:23And really what she does here is she takes pieces and fabrics and textiles from all over the world, and
07:28she turns them into her own creations.
07:30And every time I come in here, it's just such a joy to see.
07:33This, for example, was from my last trip to Japan.
07:36And then this is some silk, raw silk from India.
07:40And then on the other side, it's completely reversible.
07:42And on the other side...
07:43Oh my gosh, I love that.
07:44There's...
07:45Yeah, this is ikat from...
07:46Cape.
07:47Yeah, this is ikat from Korea.
07:49We make everything in Rome.
07:50I supervise all the cutting.
07:52I do most of the handmade work.
07:55Hopefully, Italy will keep on making, you know, wonderful, one-of-a-kind things.
07:59So you're trying to preserve that sense of craftsmanship, and that sort of means taking...
08:03It's the core of Italy.
08:05Yeah.
08:05This is so beautiful.
08:11Amazing.
08:12You look beautiful.
08:13Such a pleasure.
08:15See you soon, I hope.
08:17So we're at Chez de Dey on Vélie Montserrat.
08:20This is the shop that kind of started it all on this street.
08:23And what they're trying to do with Chez de Dey is they're bringing something to Rome
08:26that they thought was lacking in the city.
08:28And that is the sort of idea of like a modern design concept store.
08:32I am obsessed with foulard.
08:33I never go out without a foulard, you know.
08:35Oh yeah, so it's your signature.
08:36For me, it's like maybe a dream.
08:39I always think that everyone is much, always more stylish with a foulard than without.
08:47What do you think?
08:48Look at that.
08:49Tarouëlle.
08:51Yeah?
08:51Yes, it's fantastic.
08:53I mean, it's the perfect souvenir.
08:54Yes.
08:54I love it.
08:55It is, yes.
08:56And somehow Chez de Dey has a modern rehab of the old style of souvenir, you know.
09:03A souvenir in the past was something very precious because very few could afford to travel.
09:09Yeah.
09:10You know, it was not like now.
09:12Rome belongs to everyone who loves her.
09:15I say her because for me, Rome is a woman.
09:19A woman that sometimes makes some bad adjustment on her face, you know.
09:24Some refill or something.
09:26But she's still beautiful.
09:28You can see she's beautiful over there, you know.
09:30Oh yeah.
09:31But yes, it's definitely a woman.
09:37The Orient Express La Minerva in one word, exquisite.
09:40I can't think of another recent opening in Rome that is as effortlessly stylish.
09:45I love the design here.
09:47Suites have these classic nods to the glamour age of travel.
09:50And throughout the lobby and common spaces are old relics from the Orient Express archives.
09:55But what will keep me coming back here is definitely the location.
09:59It is so rare to find a hotel of this quality literally within steps of one of the world's greatest
10:05monuments.
10:16We're on the seventh floor rooftop bar at La Minerva Hotel.
10:19It is a stunning spot.
10:21Not just because the way they've done this terrace is absolutely exquisite, but because you see all of Rome from
10:27like the skyline angle up here.
10:29Basically any famous monument in Rome, you can see its dome from this spot.
10:33And what I really love is you still get this slice of Rome in life.
10:36We can hear little kids playing soccer down in the square below and I feel like nothing is more perfect
10:40than that.
10:41But aperitif was a really important custom in Italy.
10:43It happens every day.
10:46It's essentially happy hour, you know, starts in the early evening, ends before dinner.
10:51And this is the time where people get together, they chat, they have a drink.
10:53And they kind of just let loose, you know, at the end of the day and sort of celebrate the
10:57end of the day.
10:58With dinner in Italy, it's very important to remember you're not drinking cocktails or drinking wine, maybe beer if it's
11:03a pizza.
11:04This is when you get the Negroni.
11:05I personally always get a Negroni, I just think it's always appropriate.
11:08And what's important to know about aperitivo is it's always served with a little bit of food.
11:12In this case, we have great snacks.
11:15So they have these meaty, amazing olives that are my favorite.
11:19Delicious spiced almonds.
11:21And then just some little potato chips.
11:23So really good food for just snacking, when you chat.
11:26Yeah, it's just always something I really look forward to at the end of every day in Italy.
11:32Ooh, perfect Negroni.
11:42So we're a little bit outside the Cinto Storico and we've come here for this restaurant, Santo Palato, which is
11:49such an exciting restaurant from a chef named Sara Ciccolini,
11:52who basically takes these amazing Roman techniques with using the offal, the off cuts of the meat, and she creates
11:58a really wonderful, satisfying modern cuisine with it.
12:01It's such a unique way of doing the meat and it's just delicious.
12:06You don't chase this anywhere else.
12:08For me, it's important to come to these places, not just because they're amazing and it shows new faces doing
12:14fresh things with the food here,
12:15but also to remind all of the visitors to Rome that Rome doesn't end in the Centro Storico.
12:20There are so many areas like San Giovanni and elsewhere that it's really worth coming to where amazing, creative things
12:26are happening.
12:30Another trip to Rome in the books.
12:32Thanks for coming along and I truly hope this has inspired you to keep your eyes open for the real
12:37Rome on your next trip to the Eternal City.
12:39For more on this year's Hot List winners, head to cntraveler.com.
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