A Roman Holiday during an Extreme Heatwave:
Cooling off at the Spanish Steps Fountain; note the fewer number of tourists around, even in August.
We always love coming back to Rome, but on this trip our experience is a less than comfortable one. Before leaving home, we checked the weather and were encouraged to learn that the heatwave in Europe is over and that temperatures are back to normal. Well, it seems that the fourth wave of the European heatwave has targeted Rome and we’re facing daily high temperatures of 37C – 39C.
At 10 pm in the evening the temperature gauge still hovers around 33C. Okay, it’s not the 40C plus that the city experienced back in July, but a consistent 38C everyday is pretty oppressive, even for people like us who are used to high summer temperatures.
A Nice Apartment to Shelter from the Heat
Our favourite area to stay, when in Rome, is Campo dei Fiori. Luckily, we have a nice, cosy, airconditioned apartment to shelter from the heat.
Our cosy Campo dei Fiori apartment
One of the attractions when booking this apartment is that it has a balcony where you can enjoy your breakfast or evening drinks. But, at these high temperatures, it’s just not comfortable to be outside.
A rather empty Via di Monserrato
This photo of a rather unusual empty Via di Monserrato, taken at 4 p.m., shows how the intense temperatures are keeping people off the streets.
August Roman Holidays
With our extensive itinerary planning, it totally slipped our mind that August is a big holiday month for Italians and many of the popular restaurants and shops take the opportunity to have a break as well. We are rather disappointed to find that every one of our regular restaurants is closed for the holidays. It’s not just the good food, we’ve come to know the waiters and restaurant owners quite well and we miss catching up with them.
My tasty pasta vongole
That said, there are still plenty of pizzerias, osterias and restaurants open and the closure of our favourite restaurants forces us to try new ones. The other night we ate at La Piccola Cuccagna Ristorante in Via della Cuccagna (it’s on the way to Piazza Navona). This restaurant has been around for a long time. The food is tasty and the staff are very friendly, especially Wael the waiter.
Truffle pizza to die for
The truffle pizza at Mercato Hostaria is a taste sensation. Tony was a bit doubtful of this place initially, but was won over by their pizza with its generous topping of fresh truffles. This pizzeria is right on Campo dei Fiori where you can watch all the goings-on, but as you can see, Tony only has eyes for his pizza.
Campo dei Fiori Attractions
One of the attractions of being in this area is the food market in the square. Locals come here to buy their fruit and veggies, cheeses and prosciutto, salame and other cured meats.
Market stalls at Campo dei Fiori
On the weekends, the market more than doubles in size, with stalls selling souvenir t-shirts, kitchen gadgets, pastas and spices, etc. Last weekend I was disappointed to find that my favourite cheese stall was missing, as well as many of the fresh produce stalls. Understandably, the cheese and veggies wouldn’t last for more than an hour in this extreme heat.
But, it is not all disappointing news. The best bakery in Campo dei Fiori, Al Forno, is open and we’ve been enjoying their Rustica crusty bread. Our favourite gelato and coffee places are open as well.
Gelato at Giolitti
No visit to Rome is complete for us without a late evening stroll to Giolitti to have some gelato and then coffee at Sant’Eustacio.
Rome Attractions
Each day, we make the effort to re-visit Rome’s famous centuries-old monuments as you can never tire of seeing them.
The Pantheon
On our way to the Corso (via del Corso is Rome’s main shopping street) we like going past the Pantheon. There are usually large crowds of people here, but on this afternoon it’s quieter. I think it’s the heat, rather than the new 5 Euros entry fee that’s putting people off visiting.
Between the Pantheon and the Corso there are a number of other Hadrianic monuments, one of them being the Temple of Hadrian with its impressive columns.
Temple of Hadrian
We check out the Monti district again – it’s known for its cool and hip atmosphere. People debate on whether Monti or Campo dei Fiori is the better place to stay during their holidays. For me, I still love the charm of Campo dei Fiori with its open market and other various specialized small shops in between pedestrian streets, offering food, clothing and accessories. Monti has some interesting vintage shops so it’s always nice to see what bargains you can find, and we usually do find something here.
Hot, but it feeds our addiction
We may have been slowed down by the stifling heat, but we’ve seen and experienced enough of Rome to feed our addiction of the city for the time being. And, to be sure, we’ve also thrown our coin into the Trevi Fountain to make sure that we’ll return to the Eternal City again.
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Enjoyed reading your updates.