#OBSERVER DIS ROME NY MOVIE#
#OBSERVER DIS ROME NY PLUS#

Regulars spill out of the ivy-draped doorway and chat over glasses of Italian craft beer or new-style Frascati wine. If it's authenticity you're after, head for Ai Tre Scalini at Via Panisperna 251, a bottiglieria that has changed little since it opened in 1895. With aperitivo time approaching, you're spoiled for choice as Piazza della Madonna dei Monti is one big open-air bar these days.

#OBSERVER DIS ROME NY MOVIE#

For blockbuster shows to match those staged by London's Royal Academy or the Guggenheim in New York, you'll need to head a couple of blocks west to the Palazzo's classy sister venue, Scuderie del Quirinale, which has recently tussled with such greats as Titian, Vermeer and the Emperor Augustus.Īctors on the set of a movie being filmed in the Monti neighbourhood. In 2007 one of Rome's architectural ugly ducklings, the 19-century Palazzo delle Esposizioni, a huge cultural centre, emerged from five years of restoration work looking externally still its bombastic neo-classical self, but with luminous new spaces inside, a rooftop restaurant and, most importantly, the remit and resources to stage some worthwhile middlebrow exhibitions – such as the one on Pasolini's Rome that runs until 20 July.

#OBSERVER DIS ROME NY PLUS#

Or head for L'Asino d'Oro (Via del Boschetto, 73), fiefdom of gruff, Umbrian chef Lucio Sforza, who offers what must be the best-value sit-down lunch in town: three gourmet tasters of rootsy Italian cuisine, plus a glass of wine, all for €13. Try Aromaticus (Via Urbana 134), a delightful cross between urban gardening shop (potted herbs, pricey zinc watering cans) and daytime cafe, which serves healthy single-dish meals such as chickpea soup with guanciale (a bit like bacon) and sun-dried tomatoes alongside a good range of organic wines and freshly pressed juices. Lunch is never a problem in an area that is fast becoming a new foodie hub. Also on Via del Boschetto, check out cult-label fashion store Mikiway at no 40 and, at 1d, the loose-cut creations of Danish designer Tina Sondergaard, who also owns the Colpo di Tacco shoes and accessories store a few doors down at number 15a. One of the pioneers, who started way back in 1989, is Le Gallinelle at no 22, the unfussy but stylish line of Roman designer Wilma Silvestri, which recently moved from its original Via del Boschetto butchers' shop premises to a larger, stripped-back boutique just around the corner in Via Panisperna. Pretty Via del Boschetto is fast becoming the epicentre of the city's alternative fashion scene. In Piazza del Grillo, halfway up, pan around to take in Rome's glorious layer-caked history: in one sweep you get a baroque palazzo incorporating a medieval tower and a Renaissance house belonging to the Knights of Malta, plonked on top of a ninth-century abbey that itself was built into the ruins of the 1st-century BC Forum of Augustus. As you climb, check out the views of the Forum to your left. The steep lane that marks the western edge of Monti – it begins life as Via Tor de' Conti, then becomes Salita del Grillo – is one of Rome's most characteristic. You can also buy artisanal breads from Sardinia, Puglia and elsewhere to take away. Organic Italian flours go into the chickpea-flour farinata and chestnut-flour crepes that are wolfed down by Monti's snackers. Head on down Via della Madonna dei Monti, once the district's main drag, towards Dall'Antò at no 16, a radical bakery dedicated to the rediscovery of heirloom wheats and cucina povera (peasant cooking) flatbreads.

Observer dis rome ny