Today we got to visit some less visited sites in and around Rome. In the morning we boarded a train to Tivoli
Tivoli is about 20 miles outside of Rome in the hills. There are some lovely villas including one made by emperor Hadrian. We got to explore Villa d’Este, it was constructed by a cardinal in the 15th century. Its a large palace surrounded by a lovely garden filled with dozens of elaborate fountains. Unfortunately we weren’t able to make it to Hadrian’s villa (the buses were terrible) so we headed back to Rome after lunch.
I needed a pick me up once we got back to Rome. There is a small chain of gelaterias called Grom and I think they might have the best gelato in Italy (might be an exaggeration but they are featured in a lot of travel blogs), and they have a location at Roma Termini. So I got myself an affogato, its a scoop of gelato with a shot of espresso poured over the top, and it was excellent.
We stumbled into the National Roman Museum across the street from the train station. It is filled with roman artifacts found during excavations around Rome. They had so many statues including busts of the ancient philosophers, Socrates, Epicurus, and Democritus. They had several complete mosaics. And they reconstructed some of the rooms as well. It was an amazing museum and surprisingly we practically had the place to ourselves.
For dinner we went to Alfredo alla Scrofa. Now supposedly Alfredo Di Lelio invented fettuccine Alfredo in 1907 while working in his family’s wine and oil shop. Then in 1914 he converted the shop into the restaurant and they have been serving fettuccine Alfredo ever since. They make the fettuccine Alfredo at the table and tell you the story of it. It was one of the most delicious meals I’ve ever had and it came with tiramisu at the end. I would highly recommend eating there.
After diner we wandered over to the Trevi fountains and threw our coins in (I guess we’ll be back in Rome sometime). I ended the evening with gelato from a place that has been making it since 1947.