Rome: Trevi Fountain, Amorina Gelato and al Picchio restaurant

I threw a coin in the Trevi Fountain on my first visit to Rome and here I am returned.  But perhaps it is my final trip to Rome because I did not have any coins (the world does not need coins as much as when I visited Rome about 20 years ago)!  Even having seen the fountain before, I was still amazed and awed to see how large and detailed it is.  And if these are the crowds in January, imagine what it must be like at the height of summer. 

We took the underground metro to Barberini station and walked from there.  On the way, Sylvia gasped in excitement at seeing Amorino Gelato al Naturale (Via del Lavatore n.94/A, Via della Panetteria, n.42/D), 00187 Roma RM.  We could not pass up the opportunity to have a flower gelato.

Although not too fancy on the outside, the gelato store was pretty impressive on the inside.  All the flavours made it hard to choose but finally we ordered a chocolate and strawberry, and a mango and strawberry.  Once we had admired the skill of sculpting gelato into flowers we were directed to the cashier to pay.

Sylvia's rose looked more impressive than mine but she wasn't so keen on the mango.  We both loved the strawberry and I was so happy to have my favourite mixture of berry and chocolate.  As we walked down the Via del Lavatore towards the fountain, we had admiring glances from passers-by.

Then we got to the corner where the magnificent Trevi Fountain appeared before us.  There were so many others who also wanted to see it.  I n fact I think I was distracted by all the beautiful people posing for photos in front of the fountain that I could barely focus on it.  And navigating all the crowds to get a decent photo was also challenging,

I looked up the Trevi Fountain on my phone for some context.  Sylvia chided me for being there and looking at it on the web instead of in front of me.  But I liked the read a bit about it.  Then I could understand that the above statue was Abundance.  It seemed a fitting theme for the extravagant fountain. Though I also found that the overall theme is the Taming of the Waters.

Then I was surprised to be dragged into the nearby United Colours of Bennetton store by Sylvia.  Up the first flight of stairs, the windows gave great views of the fountain.  It wasn't a particularly sunny day and yet the water was still the gorgeous aqua green that made me want to plunge into it.  As well as the above photo, I took the top photo there.  Even there, we had to wait for a couple before us to stand at the window to take in the view.

I had a quick look in the the Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio a Trevi Baroque church.  Rome is overwhelming with so many wonderful views and buildings.  It seems crazy that a beautiful historic church like this one is so overshadowed by the Trevi Fountain that it seems so overlooked by many tourists.

By now it was dinner time and we were keen to try Rome's foodie offerings.  We walked a short way along Via del Lavatore looking at some cafes until we decided upon Ristorante al Picchio at number 39-40.  I had a good feeling about the place but also loved the whismsical wiindow display with pasta, a wagon wheel, flowers, chianti bottles, corks, strings of dried chillis and garlics.  It was befitting of a place whose name translates as The Woodpecker.  And the seats above were the ones where we sat, complete with blankets over the chairs to help us keep warm as the  night darkened and chilled. 

We ordered sparkling water and apple juice to drink.  Sylvia was not keen on her juice but we had plenty of sparkling water to share.

For starters, we had suppli al rice.  It was one of the dishes that Sylvia was keen to try in Rome.  These little crumbed, fried, rice croquettes were delicious with a tomato sauce and melty stretchy cheese in the middle.

For our main dish (aka Primi Priatti) we had big bowls of fresh pasta.  Sylvia had a traditional Roman dish of tonnarelli cacio e pepe (with cheese and pepper) and I had linguine al pesto genovese.  It was lovely but we had already had gelato and suppli so we ended up taking half home for dinner another evening!  

We were very happy with our choice of a dinner venue.  It was great food and a great place to people watch.  That is watching the tourists and the guy trying to sell roses.  The only downside was the man demonstrating his toys for sale which made really annoying squeaking noises.

By the time we finished dinner, it was dark.  All the better for the fairy lights to twinkle.  We had a last look at the Trevi Fountain and, after a visit to the aqueduct in the basement of Rinascente, we headed home.