Jars of Pesto - Cinque Terre

The Ligurian region is the birthplace of the Pesto sauce.  More precisely, it was in Genoa, on the north Ligurian coast, that Pesto originated.

Basil, a main ingredient of pesto sauce, grows well in the Ligurian temperate climate. Travelling around Liguria, you’ll see that this sauce is used extensively in dishes.

Traditionally, families would use a mortar and a pestle (hence the name) to make pesto. The grinding action of the pestle brings out the flavours of the various ingredients as well as allowing for a smoother pesto texture.

If you’ve got a mortar and pestle at home, you may like to try making the pesto in the traditional way at least once so you can discern the difference in flavours. I personally don’t like spending a lot of time in the kitchen and using a blender is much easier even though there is a difference in quality.

Genovese Pesto Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 cups tightly packed fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup good quality extra-virgin olive oil – don’t use cheap olive oil as it’ll affect the flavour of your pesto
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts
• 2 cloves of garlic
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Process:

• Wash the basil in cold water and pat dry
• Put basil, pine nuts, garlic and pinch of salt in the blender
• Drizzle olive oil in the blender and process until creamy
• Scoop blended pesto into a bowl or jar and stir in the grated cheeses

Note that ground basil oxidizes quickly turning into a dirty green color so use it immediately or store your pesto with a protective layer of olive oil.

Pesto is commonly used in pesto pasta dishes like Trofie al Pesto or Fettuccine di Pesto alla Genovese. It is quite a versatile sauce that can be served with potatoes and French beans as well. I like spooning it over a plate of sliced smoked mozzarella, avocado, tomatoes and basil leaves. Served with bread, this makes for a quick and delicious snack when friends drop in.

Rome and Lazio

Rome; Tuscania; Viterbo; Tarquinia; Cerveteri; Ostia Antica; Frascati; Monte Cassino

The best insalata caprese is made with mozzarella di bufala

Perhaps the most savoury of all Italian regional cuisines, and perhaps due to its central location, the food in Rome and the surrounding district of Lazio offers an incredible variety of dishes and ingredients. Classic southern Italian flavors such as garlic, black pepper, rosemary, and parsley are all present with an added predilection to mint.

Lazio is justly famed for making products from pork such as salted ham, centred around Lake Bracciano and in the province of Frosinone. And for more than 2,000 years, Lazio cheeses made from the milk of sheep and goats have claimed to be Italy’s best, notably "pecorino romano" and "ricotta" made from sheep’s milk, which is prepared inside wicker baskets. However, the main attraction, especially for those of us who like "insalata caprese", is around Terracina, Formia, and Gaeta where "mozzarella di bufala" is produced – all those other ones are just pale imitations! And the region also produces excellent vegetables, such as the "Romaine" or cos lettuce, peas, fava beans and "carciofi romaneschi", round artichokes, cultivated in Cerveteri . Excellent olive oil comes from the Sabine hills and a good selection of fish from the Tyrrhenian Sea as well as from the region’s many lakes.

Roman cuisine has very old traditions and is based on simple cooking with inexpensive ingredients. Famous dishes include "Abbacchio" (a suckling lamb seasoned with fresh rosemary), "Spaghetti alla Carbonara" ( a bacon, egg and cheese sauced pasta), "Saltimbocca alla Romana" (marsala braised thin slices of veal topped with ham), and "Suppli al Telefono" (addictive deep fried rice balls filled with mozzarella guaranteed to boost your cholesterol count). Beans, as in all parts of the country, are important, they love their "fagioli" (they have a Bean festival in Sutri in September).

Here’s a warning for vegetarians: the Romans have a particular liking for offal. You name it, they’ll eat it, especially around Testaccio. In keeping with this, Romans are a dab hand at "fritto misto" – mixed fried meats. "Porchetta di Ariccia" suckling pig, boned and roasted with a seasoning of rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper is sold sliced in every market place. "Abbacchio", the youngest suckling lambs which have never eaten grass, is traditionally roasted (arrosto); but is also often prepared "alla cacciatora" (simmered in olive oil, vinegar, rosemary, and garlic), or stewed with a sauce of lemon and egg ("abbacchio brodettato"). Fish and snails are also popular. "Filleti di baccala" are deep-fried cod fillets, originally a Jewish speciality, that are now a Roman favourite.

But vegetarians, don’t despair! The Jewish ghetto in Rome has developed its own variation on Roman cooking and today produces the best deep-fried baby artichokes around ("carciofi alla giudea"). Interesting trivia coming up: it was the cooking in the Jewish ghetto that discovered the eggplant, a member of the nightshade family, was not poisonous. Think of that when you’re enjoying your "parmigiana di melanzana" in Naples (or everywhere now). And of course, Rome is where "Romaine" lettuce comes from…

Food in Italy:More than pizza and spaghetti bolognese!

Food in Northeast Italy: Trentino-Alto Adige; the Veneto and Friuli.

Food in Northwest Italy: Lombardy; Valle D’Aosta and Piedmont; Liguria.

Food in Central Italy: Emilia Romagna; Tuscany; Umbria; Le Marche.

Food in Southern Italy: Naples and Campania; Abruzzo, Molise and Puglia; Basilicata and Calabria; Sicily and Sardinia.

Other Italy pages:

Italy travel is more than a Roman Holiday!

Tour Routes in Italy

When to travel to Italy: weather and seasons

Useful facts, dates and links to help you plan your tour of Italy

Book your sightseeing tours or day-trips in Italy online

Book your hotel in Italy online

http://www.travelsignposts.com/Italy/wp-admin/post-new.php?preview=true

ITALY TRAVEL WITH US: PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS

Trentino-Alto Adige; the Veneto and Friuli

Padua; Bassano del Grappa; Vicenza; Verona; Lake Garda; Trento; Bolzano; Cortina d’Ampezzo; Misurina; Trieste; Venice

Canederli are a speciality of Trentino-Adige

Food in Northeast Italy often comprises dishes rich with creamy and meaty sauces, and risotto and polenta are often eaten instead of pasta.

Trentino-Alto Adige stretches from the Dolomite mountains in the north and east to undulating hills covered with vineyards and fruit groves in the south. Germanic/Hungarian influences, especially in Alto Adige, show in the gnocchi (potato and flour dumplings), soups flavoured with caraway seeds, "speck" (a smoke-cured prosciutto), strudels and the use of sauerkraut and vinegar in their cooking. Hey, in Alto Adige street signs are even written in both German and Italian!

Dishes to look out for include "canederli", large balls made with stale bread, flour, milk, and eggs with liver, bacon, salame and sometimes green vegetables. "Canederli" are served as a soup, boiled in water or broth and placed in a tureen with boiling broth, or boiled and then served with goulash. They can also be prepared with dried prunes where the pitted prune is inserted in the canederli, dipped in crumbs, and boiled.

Desserts are important in cold climates – gotta get those calories! Try a cup of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream, a piece of "strudel" or a slice of "zelten,"(a cake-like bread filled with dried fruits, walnuts and other goodies).

The basic element of the cuisine of Trentino (and Friuli) is "polenta", really just boiled corn (maize) meal, but there’s a whole raft of ways it can be served. Sometimes corn meal is mixed with flour from saracen corn, producing the famous "black polenta". In other areas the polenta is prepared with potatoes and local cheese served with cucumbers, pickles, or bean salad.

Trento has a famous produce market that’s worth a look. Apples from Val di Non and, it’s claimed, 250 varieties of wild mushrooms are sold, including porcini (I’d kill for these), chanterelles and chiodini. Best in summer and autumn.

Desserts in Trentino are similar to those of the Veneto. The "fregolotta" cake is a crisp and crunchy mixture of flour, sugar, and almonds. "Grostoli" are blended drinks made with flour, milk, eggs and grappa flavored with orange and lemon peel. Other desserts include lightly fried fruits, jams, pies, and cakes made from chestnuts covered with whipped cream. Yum!

With Yugoslavia on its eastern border and Austria to the north it’s not surprising to see their influences in the cuisine of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia. Spices such paprika, poppy seeds, cinnamon, cumin and horseradish; rice and polenta instead of pasta. If you’re into sausages, this is the place and if you like Goulash (beef stew made with red wine, tomatoes, paprika and plenty of onions) there’s no need to go to Hungary, you can get it here! Any carnivores should not miss the local "prosciutto di San Daniele" – cured raw ham from San Daniele.

Soups from Friuli are usually based on beans, greens, or pig’s ribs, with plenty of lard (not so great for vegetarians!). But I liked the salted cheeses such as "frico", a seasoned cheese which is cut in pieces and fried in butter – goes well with polenta.

Cooking from Trieste and Grado reflects the Venetian style of cooking seafood, with strong Austrian and Slavic influences. Specialties are "brodetto", a fish soup, made with pieces of various fish, and "mesta", a kind of polenta cooked in water and milk and eaten with fish.

Incidentally, Trieste has a tradition of so-called literary caffés, the last of which is the San Marco in Via Battisti (italian link).

One thing to remember is that Venice is not the Veneto. The cuisine of this region offers well prepared, simple, almost country food. Two well known dishes are "risi e bisi", a porridge-like risotto/soup made with fresh peas, rice and parmesan cheese, and often bits of bacon; and "pasta e fagioli", a stew-like concoction made of tomatoes, tiny pasta and beans.

Proximity to the Adriatic means seafood is a big item in the Veneto diet, all the usual suspects are available. If you want something a bit different, try "risotto alle seppie", it’s made with cuttlefish ink and the rice is black! "Sarde in saor" is a traditional Venetian dish of grilled fresh sardines with a light sweet and sour sauce, while "anguille in umido" comprises eels in a tomato, garlic and white wine sauce.

There are also a few good vegetarian treats in this area. Apart from being the place where the delectable dessert "tiramisu" was created, Treviso is famous for its radicchio rosso, delicate, slightly bitter red chicory, (try it grilled "radicchio alla griglia") as well as for its asiago cheese, which the region has been producing for over 1,000 years. The most common asparagus in Italy is green and comes from Ravenna, but it is the white asparagus of Bassano that is most prized, so much so that it has won official government recognition with a legal name of its own: Asparagi DOC di Bassano. Not to be missed.

Food in Italy:More than pizza and spaghetti bolognese!

Food in Northwest Italy: Lombardy; Valle D’Aosta and Piedmont; Liguria.

Food in Central Italy: Emilia Romagna; Tuscany; Umbria; Le Marche.

Food in Rome and around: Rome; Lazio.

Food in Southern Italy: Naples and Campania; Abruzzo, Molise and Puglia; Basilicata and Calabria; Sicily and Sardinia.

Other Italy pages:

Italy travel is more than a Roman Holiday!

Tour Routes in Italy

When to travel to Italy: weather and seasons

Useful facts, dates and links to help you plan your tour of Italy

Book your sightseeing tours or day-trips in Italy online

Book your hotel in Italy online

ITALY TRAVEL WITH US: PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS

Naples and Campania; Abruzzo, Molise and Puglia; Basilicata and Calabria; Sicily and Sardinia

Pompeii; Sorrento; Capri; Positano (Amalfi Coast); Bari; Matera; Castellana; Alberobello; Lecce; Taranto; Calabrian Mountains; Taormina; Syracuse; Ortygia Island; Piazza Armerina; Enna; Selinunte; Agrigento; Mondello; Palermo; Naples

Pizza is a speciality of Southern Italy

The south of Italy, especially the far south, is a different country when compared to the north, and food in Southern Italy is similarly different. Pasta is usually bought in its dry state, as opposed to the fresh homemade pasta and polenta of the northern regions. Pizzas served hot from the wood burning oven and topped with an assortment of vegetables, seafood, meats and cheeses are a lot different to foccacia, the flatbread of the north. Olive oil, especially extra virgin, is used instead of butter. The cuisines of the South are earthier and more peasant-like, with stronger flavors and bolder combinations of foods, mirroring the extremes of the climate and environment, and perhaps the hot blood of the people.

Naples is the most important city in the Campania region. Neapolitan and Campanian specialities include octopus prepared in a variety of ways, spaghetti dishes using a tomato-based fish sauce (particularly clams or squid), and dishes using the indigenous buffalo milk mozzarella, including of course, pizza (and my favourite, "pizza siciliana": tomato, mozzarella, garlic, basil, anchovies and olives – n.b. pizza napoletana has no olives). Two well-known dishes are "Pasta Puttanesca", a spicy tomato sauced spaghetti flavored with lots of garlic and capers, Gaeta olives and anchovies, and the ubiquitous Parmigiana di Melanzane, or Eggplant Parmesan. But the basic food staple beginning from 650 (long before Marco Polo!) has always been pasta.

Naples is of course on the sea, and Neapolitans prepare many seafood dishes like "zuppa di vongole" (clam soup) or "spaghetti con le vongole in salsa bianca" (spaghetti with clams in white sauce) or "cozze in culla" which are simply tomatoes cut in half, the pulp scooped out, and filled with cozze (mussels). A mixture of capers, chopped parsley, oregano and bread crumbs are sprinkled on top before baking golden brown in the oven.

Another basic Neapolitan dish usually eaten at home is "minestra marinata," a soup that combines pork fat and boiled greens. The richness of the soup depends on the richness (or otherwise) of the family, and it was the basic daily meal until the arrival of pasta 13 centuries ago.

Abruzzo and Molise are famous for their cured spicy meats, lamb, mutton, and pasta. Pasta in Abruzzo is made using a chitarra, a rectangular device strung with thin metal wires like a guitar, hence the equipment’s name. Sheets of pasta are rolled over this to form strips. The region is known for strong flavours including peperoncino (hot red peppers) and saffron from the town of Vanelli, near Aquila.

The cuisine of Abruzzo can be divided into that of the sea and that of the mountains. The first has the classic "brodetto" as a principal dish. Other dishes include fried fish and fish sauces often served with pasta, as well as fresh-water fish, mountain trout, and river shrimp. In the mountains, lamb now dominates. A speciality is pork liver mortadella. There are two different kinds of this sausage, that of "fegato dolce" that means with liver sweetened with honey, cedar and candied fruits, and that made up of “fegato pazzo ” (crazy liver), which is prepared with chilly pepper.

Peperoncino is used to flavour many dishes, to start with try pasta with aglio, olio, and peperoncino (garlic, olive oil and hot red pepper), fiery enough to burn a hole in the stomach. "Penne all’arrabiata" is one of my favourites, although now regarded as a Roman dish, apparently. This first course is often followed with "agnello all’arrabbiata" (angry lamb) but two in a row can be heavy going for those not used to such hot dishes.

To top off the spicy meal guests are frequently offered a "digestive" called "Centerbe ("one hundred herbs") di Tocco Casauria" made with more than one hundred herbs from the Maiella and other mountains in Abruzzo. This is cooking with an extrovert personality!

The saffron from the town of Vanelli, near Aquila, has a different flavour from Spanish saffron. The first saffron bulbs were brought to Italy in 1400 by a Domenican friar named Santucci who brought them from Spain. It’s used in cheeses and vinegars, but also is a key component of a wonderful pasta sauce with zucchini blossoms.

Abruzzo is also known for its food festivals which honour saints or simply celebrate. Their non-stop eating and drinking event is called La Panarda which traditionally serves people 30-50 courses of food and can last for a day or longer!

Puglia (the "heel" of Italy’s "boot") is proud of its homemade pasta, often formed into unusual shapes like the "orecchiette" (little ears). Favourite dishes include "Maccheroni al forno" or baked maccheroni, made with little meat balls, sliced hardboiled eggs, pieces of artichoke, salame, and cheese, often surrounded with piecrust and baked in the oven. As for meat, beef tends to be used either for meat sauce or meatballs. The dominant meat in Puglia is lamb, served on a spit, roasted, stewed, or even fried.

A typical snack of this region is the "calzone" (big sock) which is made from a lump of dough spread with onions, black olives, capers, tomatoes, pecorino cheese, anchovies and parsley, closed and pinched around the edges, and baked in the oven. Cheese made from sheep’s milk is very popular including fresh ricotta, pecorino, and "burrata di Andria," which must be consumed within 24 hours to be properly appreciated.

Puglia has the longest coastline of any Italian region so seafood is both abundant and popular. Sea turtle, oysters, mussels, cuttlefish, and octopus are cooked in simple ways, sometimes even eaten raw in the markets. "Spaghettini allo Scoglio" (thin spaghetti with shrimp, scallops, baby octopus, cherry tomatoes, capers and oregano) and "pesce spada" (swordfish steak, grilled or pan-fried with lemon and oregano) are favourite dishes.

Home-grown yellow and white melons, sweet watermelons, and grapes often finish a meal in Puglia.

Sicily has a subtropical climate along all of its coast and a harsher, colder climate inland near rugged Mount Etna. Expect to eat lots of seafood and rich, filling pasta dishes that are often highly seasoned with strong black or green Sicilian olives or the staple of the south, the eggplant.

You must also be careful what you say when talking about Sicilian cuisine. The island may export oranges but "Arancini" (little oranges) in Sicily are fried balls made with rice, meat, and grated cheese; "quaglie" (quails) are eggplants opened and fried in oil so that they resemble the tail of a quail, and "minni di Vergine", or virgin’s breasts, are small mounds of pudding encased in pastry dough with candied-cherry nipples (I am not making this up).

As you travel round Sicily, you’ll notice the difference in cuisine between the east and the west. Arab influence was stronger in the western part of the island, so from Caltanisetta to Trapani the influence is Saracen, with strong flavours and contrasting combinations stimulating the palate. On the eastern side, from Messina to Siracusa, and Catania to Agrigento, the cuisine is more rustic and restrained, avoiding the sweet and sour and less generous with sugar in the sauces.

But if you’ve got a sweet tooth, this is the place for you! Amongst all the regions of Italy, Sicily takes the gold medal for its veritable cornucopia of sweets, fruits, and ice creams. The most well known of these is the Sicilian "Cassata" (a layered, cake, not an ice-cream!) and "cannoli" (a crisp pastry tube filled with sweetened ricotta cheese, candies and sometimes chocolate).

Sardinia has more sheep than people, and as you might guess, lamb and ewe’s milk (in the form of cheese that’s often made into pies and topped with honey) feature frequently on the menu, along with suckling pigs and of course, seafood.

"Bottarga" (pressed mullet roe or ‘poor man’s caviar’), is sliced paper thin and drizzled with Sardinian olive oil as an antipasto, or tossed onto "malloreddus", tiny ridged gnocchi, as a first course. Fregola, a semolina pasta shaped into pellets, is cooked in soups with cockles or herbs, or boiled and layered with pancetta, tomatoes, and pecorino.The lobsters of Alghero are boiled live and served with olive oil, salt, and a few drops of lemon. Sometimes a sauce with bits of lobster is served with pasta, or "spaghetti alla bottarga" which is the eggs of the female lobster, pressed and dried in the sun. "Carta da musica" a frisable bread, light and tasty, is often carried by the shepherds as a snack.

Sardinia has its own sweets based on almonds, orange and lime peel, cinammon, raisins, walnuts, and honey. These include papassine, rich with dried fruit and redolent with orange, and sebadas, large round ravioli that are filled with Pecorino and grated lemon or orange zest, then fried and drizzled with warm, slightly bitter honey from strawberry plants. Long-standing traditions mean that every special feast-day has its own typical dessert. "Torrone" (nougat) is a Sardinian speciality that can be made simply with nuts or flavoured with chocolate. Yum!

Food in Italy:More than pizza and spaghetti bolognese!

Food in Northeast Italy: Trentino-Alto Adige; the Veneto and Friuli.

Food in Northwest Italy: Lombardy; Valle D’Aosta and Piedmont; Liguria.

Food in Central Italy: Emilia Romagna; Tuscany; Umbria; Le Marche.

Food in Rome and around: Rome; Lazio.

Other Italy pages:

Italy travel is more than a Roman Holiday!

Tour Routes in Italy

When to travel to Italy: weather and seasons

Useful facts, dates and links to help you plan your tour of Italy

Book your sightseeing tours or day-trips in Italy online

Book your hotel in Italy online

http://www.travelsignposts.com/Italy/wp-admin/post-new.php?preview=true

ITALY TRAVEL WITH US: PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS

Castel Romano Designer Outlet Mall, Rome

Rome is shopping heaven and people who love fashion and all things stylish will make time to shop when in Rome.  Designer outlet malls or villages have become very popular in Europe and more and more designer discount outlet malls, shopping villages and districts are popping up across Europe.

Everyone loves a bargain and dedicated followers of fashion hunt down Designer outlets if they know that there’s one in the city.  So when you’re in Rome and you’ve been defeated by the high prices of via Condotti then your best bet is to head for one of these outlet malls.

Castel Romano Designer Outlet Mall

Castel Romano is one such Designer Outlet mall. The place is run by the McArthurGlen Group who have outlets in several countries in Europe. At Castel Romano you will find a range of prestigious labels and quality items at discounts ranging from 30% to 70%, depending on whether they are current or previous season’s stock. Given the price tag of some of these labels, even a 30% discount would only make a mere dent on the full-priced item, so it may be necessary to hunt down those items with at least 50% discount. As mentioned in the previous post, the tax refund will also help in bringing down the final cost of purchase a little further.

There are over 110 boutiques in the mall, some more fabulous than others and certainly some of the labels that the girls in Sex and the City were dressed in are available here, e.g. Ferragamo, Gucci, Cavalli, Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana, and the list goes on.

By the way, this is not a ladies only domain as there are lots of menswear too. Apart from fashion wear you’ll also find sports wear, homewares and gifts, leather goods and fashion accessories.

Designer outlet malls and villages are usually located on the outskirts of town where the rents are cheaper and there is more space available. This is the case with the Castel Romano Outlet which is situated on the outskirts of Rome.  Although only 25 km outside of the city, there’s no easy way to get there on public transport.  For this reason, private tour companies have sprung up to capitalize on the gap and create guided shopping tours for tourists. A disappointing aspect of these private tours is the limited hours of shopping and the price is not cheap either, which means eroding into the savings from your discounts.

Getting to Castel Romano by public transport:

Our first expedition to Castel Romano was a bit of a hairy experience.  From Termini Station, we caught the train for Laurentina (Line B). Laurentina is the end of the line and there is a regional bus terminus here. There are different bus lines here and it’s the COTRAL buses that we need and one that is going in the general direction of Pomezia. The depot employees don’t speak any English and as long as they don’t shake their head in the negative, we assumed we were on the right bus.

**September 30, 2009 Update – It’s currently not possible to catch the public buses to Castel Romano.  Due to a stretch of road works in the vicinity of Castel Romano, the Cotral buses are no longer stopping at Castel Romano.  The good news for shoppers is that Castel Romano now have their own shuttle service to the outlet leaving from Rome Termini Station.

See our Getting to Castel Romano update.**

Once on the bus and not speaking any Italian, we tried asking people on the bus if they knew of Castel Romano. A couple of the men shrugged, others consulted each other, but generally it appeared that they didn’t seem to have any idea. The discussion reached the hearing of an elderly lady at the front of the bus and straight away she knew what we were after. From the pitch of her voice and her hand gestures, she appeared to be admonishing the men for being ill-informed. Trust these men for not knowing where this important Outlet Mall is.

Signora hit the bell straight away and motioned us to get off the bus and pointed across the road. Yes the Big White Signature Tents of Castel Romano is a prominent landmark along the route so how could these men not know it. Bless this kind signora for being on the bus and hearing our call for help. Later on, I worked out that the men must have thought that, being tourists, we must be looking for a Roman castle and there’s none in the area! Once we got off the bus, finding the entrance to Castel Romano wasn’t that straight forward either on the first occasion.

Once you’re at Castel Romano, it’s quite a pleasant place to spend the day checking out all the shops. There are food outlets there, so there’s no problems with sustenance. We bought some really nice stuff from our various trips here, including leather jackets, shoes, etc.

For our return trip to Rome, we caught a cab from Castel Romano back to Laurentina. It would have been too crazy to try and catch a bus back especially as there’s no bus stops on the road and we didn’t have a clue as to the bus schedule.  We also had a lot of shopping bags!

Things are a bit easier these days and the Castel Romano’s office administration has made arrangements with taxi drivers for a fixed fare back to the station. The last time we did the trip it cost us Euro 30, which was much more reasonable than in the earlier days where you had to haggle, but got robbed anyway.

So if you’re planning on venturing out there on your own, make sure you write the name and address on a piece of paper to show the bus driver as you’ll not find many people on the outskirts who will be able to help you with directions in English. Keep a lookout for the signature white tents of Castel Romano.  Perhaps on your first trip out there, it may be a safer option to catch a cab from Laurentina to Castel Romano.

By car:

Exit 26 from the G.R.A. (Rome orbital road) – Main road 148 Pontina – Castel Romano exit

Address:
Castel Romano Designer Outlet
Via Ponte di Piscina Cupa, 64
00128 Castel Romano (Roma) , Italy
Infoline: +39 06 50 500 50

Opening Hours:
Mon – Thur    10:00 – 20:00
Fri – Sun          10:00 – 21:00
Closed:  Easter and Easter Monday

For more Designer Discount Outlets in other cities in Europe and the UK , see our Designer Outlet Directory.

Find Operas and Classical Concerts in Rome.