Palazzo del Monte di Pietà

We initially planned on attending mass at St. Peter's Basilica, but sleep overcame us. We decided after all of the sightseeing and traveling we've been doing, a restful day was in order, especially since Rome is so bustling on the weekends and reserving tables at the top spots is difficult. So we decided to head to the grocery store and pick up some goodies for lunch. We got fresh pasta, pesto, parmesan, and Buffalo mozzarella, prosciutto, and some cheese and crackers as we were worried we would not have enough carbs. We're grateful our Airbnb host, Emiliano, was honest when we asked him for the best pesto genovese in Rome. He admitted that the fresh made pesto at grocery stores is so good, it is not worth it to buy at a restaurant. And he was correct! We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch of pesto with some Buffalo mozzarella and prosciutto on the side. After lunch, more lazing about and looking forward to our fancy dinner in the evening. Before dinner, we visited Largo di Torre Argentina, the assassination spot of Caesar with beers in hand. In the millenia following his murder, cats have taken over the space and it is now a cat sanctuary. Then onto the highlight of the day. More pasta. Our dinner was at Roscioli Salumeria con Cucina and we ordered pickled artichokes and steak tartare for appetizers. I ordered the carbonara and Dave ordered the amatriciana, both utterly excellent. We were too full from our appetizers and pasta lunch to get through much, but excitedly took home leftovers. Before hitting the hay, we stopped by a dive bar for a shot of bad tequila and then picked up some limoncello to round out our restful day ahead of our big Vatican adventure tomorrow!Lue lisää