A magical flower festival
Plus, Roman addresses to bookmark
Ciao amici,
Can you believe we’re already in August? This year seems to be flying! Have you been able to get back to Italy yet, or is your trip coming up soon?
This week, I wanted to share some information on a magical festival in Umbria I was lucky enough to attend in June. It’s one to put in your calendar for 2023 and beyond and sure to inspire some wanderlust dreaming.
I also wanted to tell you about a new (well for me anyway!) Roman neighbourhood we recently visited that is far from the tourist track in case you’re looking for more local areas to explore on your next visit to the eternal city.
And finally, I wanted to tell you about a Roman rooftop bar you need to add to your bookmarks.
Spello’s Infiorata
Have you ever heard about Spello’s Infiorata or flower festival before? It’s a once-a-year event held to celebrate the festival of Corpus Domini. The town comes alive in the most dazzling display of tapestries made entirely from….flowers!! The villagers break up into different teams and spend most of the year growing and collecting fresh and dried flowers before this weekend event. On the Saturday evening, they kick off creating these ‘flower carpets’ all over town and don’t sleep all night until they are finished around 7am on Sunday morning. The priest walks over the flowers through town and up into the Church to celebrate mass.
It’s a tradition that has been going in Spello since the 1600s which just blows my mind! Incredibly beautiful, this festival is worth visiting at least once in your life to get a sense of everything that is good about Italy. Community, passion, togetherness, connecting…it’s truly incredible. Read my blog post for my top tips if you’re planning a visit.
Pigneto: The local Roman neighbourhood you need to visit
During the week, we headed off to Pigneto to visit our Australian friend who’s been living there for the last few months. From San Saba it’s only a 10-minute drive away, however, it could take you at least 40 minutes on public transport to get out there which might detract you from visiting. That said, if you’ve been to Rome a few times before and are looking for somewhere new to explore that is a little more local, it’s definitely worthy of a visit.
Pigneto is really popular with students and has a fantastic street lined with bars and restaurants where you can get any kind of spritz your heart desires. We tried the Select Spritz (my forever favourite from Venice), and the Cynar Spritz (made with Artichoke liqueur) and both were delicious. For an excellent Napolitan-style pizza, head to Pizzeria Margari where you can eat in a beautiful courtyard under the vines! PS, top tip if you want to give yourself away as a tourist you’ll order wine with pizza. It’s something most Italians never do (akin to drinking red wine with fish for example). Italians will always order a beer/coke/water with pizza and never wine. In fact, I made the ultimate faux pas when I met my boyfriend’s group of friends for the first time this way which was rather hilarious as they all sheepishly tried some Nebbiolo with their pizza for the very first time with me a few years ago!
A gorgeous Roman rooftop bar
Rome is full of beautiful rooftops where you can enjoy an aperitivo and watch the sunset. They look out onto fabulous piazze and often Ancient Roman ruins which adds to the whole fun. We went to Oro Bistrot Rooftop Bar last weekend to reunite with one of my friends from Australia and it was spectacular. It overlooks the Roman forum and Altare della Patria (also known as the ‘wedding cake’ or ‘typewriter’) and honestly took my breath away.
Aperitivo isn’t cheap but you’re paying for the view! For a spritz or cocktail plus some nibbles it’s 18 euro/person. Make sure to look up what time sunset is before booking so you can get there at the right time. Better yet, you can book online so you don’t need to worry about not speaking Italian on the phone either. Booking is strictly necessary.
This weekend we have another friend visiting and are heading to a cool restaurant (I’ll report back!) in Rome. I’m making a very quick trip back to Torino and then we have some Torinese friends coming to stay next week also.
Hope you have a fabulous week too!
x Liv
I would love to see this festival.. how fascinating