3 Luxe Splurges for Your Rome Holiday

When in Rome! Which, to us, means putting the guide book down and stepping off the tourist trail. There’s no doubt that the Colosseum (even I couldn’t stay away after five previous visits to it), Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain and all the other must-see Roman attractions should be included in your Rome itinerary. But adding these three luxury things to do in Rome will make your visit to the Eternal City that much more memorable.

Photo courtesy of Sofitel Rome Villa Borghese

Dine with Breathtaking Views of Rome

La Terrasse atop the Sofitel Rome Borghese offers one of the most magnificent views across the city. As if the rooftop views over the Borghese Gardens and Villa (one of my favorite places in the city) and Saint Peter’s Basilica weren’t reason enough to go, the Mediterranean cuisine with a French twist still has us drooling.

I highly recommend the food and wine pairing tasting menu, with which Chef Giuseppe D’Alessio delights both your eyes and your taste buds.

Smoked salmon with spring vegetables

Our meal began with a smoked salmon with spring vegetables and subtly garnished with edible flowers. I’m not typically a fan of edible flowers because they usually taste exactly as though you’d imagine flowers taste. That is, just like being five again and deciding how a dandelion from the backyard tastes. But the tiny flowers were a beautiful, unobtrusive addition to the plate.

Foie gras wrapped with Parma ham and apple compote

I was excited when one of my French favorites arrived as our next course: foie gras wrapped in Parma ham with apple compote.  Picolit comes from the Friuli Venezia Giulia region of Italy, where we lived for the last seven years, and its potent sweetness isn’t typically my taste. But when the the Livio Felluga Picolit was paired with the foie gras, it was divine. Clearly, I had just been drinking Picolit wrong until this moment.

Lobster taglioni

Our favorite dish of the meal came next. The taglioni with lobster and saffron was paired with a 2015 Anselmi Chardonnay, also from the Friuli Venezia Giulia. The hand-cut pasta was generously topped with chunks of perfectly cooked lobster meat and tomato compote. I wanted to finish off my tasting menu and order an additional portion of the lobster taglioni. It was THAT good.

Fish soup

Fish soup followed. Simply calling it fish soup hardly does the dish justice though. The delicate and flaky fish lie atop a bed of creamy saffron mashed potatoes. It was paired with another of my French favorites: a 2014 Les Domaniers Rosé from the Côtes de Provence.

We were blissfully stuffed by this point, but who can say no to dessert when everything that came before it was so fabulous?

Chef’s dessert sampler

The plate of Chef Giuseppe’s assortment of mini desserts made my eyes go wide. I didn’t know quite where to start! A mini berry-topped panna cotta, a hazelnut praline, Chef’s tiramisu, a chocolate cake and more filled the plate. And you better believe we both finished off every single bite.

A leisurely three hours after arriving, I still didn’t want to tear my eyes away from the view. Go at lunch for a sunshine filled meal to remember or book a table for about an hour before sunset for a romantic dinner.

Blissfully exploring an uncrowded Vatican Museum

Breakfast and Early Access to the Vatican Museum

The Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel are pretty much the farthest thing from off the tourist radar, but you don’t have to cram in to the Sistine Chapel with hundreds of other pushing and rule-breaking photo snappers. Like the Colosseum, I’ve visited the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel no less than half a dozen times now and take it from me when I say that this VIP breakfast and early access Vatican Museum experience is worth the splurge.

I’m never much of a fan of being up before the sun, but 7am meeting time is worth avoiding the crowds that descend upon the Vatican Museums. This experience begins with a breakfast buffet in the Pinecone Courtyard where you and the small group limited to no more than 20 enjoys the setting privately. The buffet includes American breakfast favorites like pancakes and eggs, plus the traditional Italian breakfast items of pasties, meats and cheeses.

You might not know that the Vatican has its very own farm that produces milk, cheese, yogurt, eggs and more exclusively for the Pope and his staff. But with the VIP Vatican Museum experience, you’re one of a select few that get to drink the milk produced exclusively for the Vatican.

While you don’t have the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel to yourself for the entire tour since it opens to the public at 9am, having the advantage of the very first people in and a head start means significantly reduced crowds. With so much to see, the addition of the guide to point out the most important and key works helps to make the most of your visit.

The tour finishes at St. Peter’s Basilica by bypassing the line through a reserved door for a guided tour of the massive church.

Book the Vatican VIP Experience in advance; it is available daily Monday through Saturday.

Strolling around Trastevere

Dinner at a Gorgeous Villa in Trastevere

More and more tourists are crossing the Tiber to Trastevere, knowing that this historically working neighborhood is home to some delicious trattorias serving up the most authentic Roman cuisine in town. And let’s face it: finding actual authentic Roman (heck even Italian) food in Rome isn’t exactly an easy feat.

The best way to guarantee an incredible and authentic Roman meal is with this short Trastevere walking tour and villa dinner. The tour is intimate and limited to a small group. On our evening, we dined with just our guide and a mother-daughter duo.

The tour begins with a short walking tour of Trastevere as you take in the key sights of the narrow, cobbled neighborhood while making your way to the villa for dinner. As we left behind Piazza di Santa Maria, the heart and soul of the Trastevere neighborhood, any remaining tourists totally dissipated. It’s now that you truly see the hidden corners of Rome.

The hosts invited us to stroll around the garden and enjoy an apertif

Enjoying an apertif with new friends

After learning briefly about the mysterious villa that had been discovered hidden in the brush of the forest of Trastevere, our hosts invited us to the garden for an apertif.

Pasta all’Amatriciana

Our three-course meal began with a classic Roman pasta: pasta all’Amatriciana. It’s a sauce made with cured pork cheek and tomatoes and named for the town Amatrice, located about an hour from Rome and considered the birthplace of the best cooks of the region. Interestingly, it wasn’t prepared with tomatoes until the late 18th century because Italians actually thought tomatoes were poisonous up until then.

Tomatoes are not native to Italy.

Meatballs and mashed potatoes

And thank goodness tomatoes took off otherwise our next course wouldn’t have been nearly as delicious. It doesn’t sound like anything fancy – meatballs and mashed potatoes – but it was one of the best Italian meat courses I’ve ever had. Note the Italian cuisine would never, ever put spaghetti and meatballs in the same dish; that’s an Italian-American dish.

Italian cuisine, true Italian cuisine that is, is notorious for its simple and few ingredients. These meatballs, though, had over 20 spices, herbs and ingredients in them. We played a bit of a game with the chef attempting to guess all that he’d put in them to create the delicious concoction on our plates. And I loved that he gifted each of us with the recipe to take home so we can recreate the delicious dish.

Of course, we couldn’t end the evening without something sweet. You might be surprised to learn that there are few Roman desserts and they are usually only found around Carnevale or the holidays. Italy’s most famous desserts like cannoli come from Sicily and tiramisu comes from the town of Treviso in the Veneto region.

Creamy panna cotta with shaved chocolate and strawberries

Since our panna cotta was made by a Roman chef, this Piedmont dessert could masquerade as Roman for this one night.

Book the Trastevere Walking Tour and Villa Dinner in advance.

 

Our Trastevere Walking Tour and Villa Dinner was provided by Viator as part of our ongoing Viator Ambassador partnership and Sofitel Rome Borghese hosted us for lunch in order to bring you this story. However, Luxe Adventure Traveler maintains full editorial control of the content published on this site. As always, all thoughts, opinions, and enthusiasm for travel are entirely our own. This article contains affiliate links. When you book on Viator through our affiliate sites, we earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.