Author Archives: Raya

Damplings: Asian Street Food in Rome

In the heart of Rome’s Vittoria district, which lies just beyond Prati, there is a small restaurant tucked in the alleyway. Outside its glass doors are two blackboards with menu items that are hard to find anywhere else in the Eternal City: Taiwanese potstickers, grilled pork buns, guabao (pork belly burgers). Inside, there’s a minimalist […]

Santa Marinella: Picturesque Beach near Rome

boat in the port at santa marinella

How does a weekend day trip to the beach sound? It’s especially wonderful during offseason, when there’s plenty of space on the sand and the water is almost exclusively yours to relish. The best part? Santa Marinella beach is just 45 minutes away from Rome by train! There are direct trains from Rome to the […]

Claudia’s Feast: Lunch at Agritourismo Parco dei Cimini near Viterbo

Most people think of Rome and imagine the empty ruins of the Forum or the aerial grandeur of St. Peter’s Basilica, but Rome is also filled with the sounds of screeching trams, car honks, and a never-ending stream of ambulances. If you want to get away from it all, you can retreat to an agriturismo […]

Farmer’s Markets in Rome: Speaking to Campagna Amica’s Pietro

man cutting prosciutto by hand at a farmer's market in Rome

Where did you last do your grocery shopping? Chances are, you probably went to a supermarket–I know I did, and so did many Italians. In 2016, there were some 30,000 supermarkets in Italy, and that number has only grown since.  Traditionally, Italians did their shopping at mercati rionali, open neighborhood markets usually held in the main square […]

How Food Labels with DOP and IGP Help Preserve Italian Culinary Heritage

Note from the Editor: I have a Masters Degree in Food Policy and it still took me years to decipher Italian food labels because they seem to be stamped and stickered with all kinds of abbreviations. However, there is a rhyme and reason behind the madness of exactly what DOP and IGP (and all of […]