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5 Days In Rome

BabsV

By BabsV
in Traveling with Celiac Disease

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BabsV Enthusiast
BabsV
Posted

We spent last week in Rome and I am totally in love with the place. Eating gluten free was absolutely no problem whatsoever...I had my dining cards ready and didn't need them. All I had to say was "I have celiac disease" and the waiters all nodded and ran down what on the menu was ok and then mentioned they had pasta 'senza glutine' if I wanted it. One place even had gluten-free crackers that they brought me when they brought the bread basket so I didn't feel left out. The gelato shops had gluten-free cones (one place called them 'allergy cones' and said they were also dairy free!) that tasted just like regular cones or at least what I remember regular cones tasting like. I was going to keep a list of restaurants but since I didn't have a problem anywhere I didn't do that. Sorry.

We did stick to 'nicer' restaurants and the one lunch that my husband and daughter went the pizza bar route I ate food I'd brought with me. We had such success eating out (I didn't get sick once!) that we ate out for lunch and dinner and ignored the kitchen in the apartment we'd rented. It was a real holiday for me which was great.

The one place we had an issue was up near Villa Borghese -- the one sit-down restaurant in the park only served a buffet lunch set up at different tables and the chef said the only thing he'd recommend (due to CC issues I think) was the salads and I didn't want a salad for lunch. So we headed back through the city wall and found a place within 10 minutes.

One place I do want to recommend is La Taverna dei Fori Imperiali (Via della Madonna del Monti 9, Tel - 06.6798643). It is off Cavour in the neighborhood not that far from Trajan's Market. We did not have a reservation but were really early (19:00) so they squeezed us in as long as we promised to be out in 1.5 hours. Hey, we're American, we can do that! Anyway, the owner/chef has a friend who has Celiac Disease so he is very knowledgeable and he modified a dish (beef with mushrooms) that I wanted to try because it had a sauce that had flour in it. It was absolutely delicious as was the the flour-less chocolate torte that he recommended.

I had brought some gluten-free food with me so wasn't shopping for items other than some fruit and eggs for breakfast. I snacked on the Kind bars I'd brought and gelato. Lots of gelato. I even gained a little weight which is awesome since I'm still down from my normal weight (I had severe and drastic weight loss prior to diagnosis and was approaching skeletal at one point...)

All I know is I will go back to Italy in a heartbeat. If you have an opportunity to go to Italy TAKE IT!

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love2travel Mentor
love2travel
Posted

What a joy to hear this. So glad you fell in love with Rome, as have I. My husband and I have been there several times now but could never, ever get sick of it. Well, except for the traffic and trying to dodge vespas. :P

This is a great help for our next trip. Thanks lots!

Cathey Apprentice
Cathey
Posted

So nice to hear of your stay and I will be keeping your suggestions handy. Sounds like you had a safe and awesome time. We plan on a 2013, 2 week vacation. Our youngest is graduating after 5 years of college. We're planning on a week in Rome and a week on the Amalfi Coast. I told the boys they can join us when they choose.

I have looked into VRBO and Home Away, did you use either or did you find your apartment some other way.

Thanks gain for sharing.

Cathey

BabsV Enthusiast
BabsV
Posted
  • Author

I have looked into VRBO and Home Away, did you use either or did you find your apartment some other way.

You will have an amazing time! I found our apartment through a website called oh-rome. From what I can tell it is a Spanish (I think) company that acts as a type of broker for people who rent out flats in different cities in Europe. They had a big selection all over Rome. We went for location over size figuring we wouldn't be spending a lot of time in the place. You search and reserve the apartment on their website, then they contact the owner to make sure the apartment is really available for the dates you want, then they call you to confirm you still want the apartment (it was less than 24 hours between reserving the apartment and getting the confirmation phone call for us) and charge you a fraction of the full price (I think it was about a fifth of the total) with a credit card. You pay the remainder when you arrive. We had to pay in cash plus a security deposit of 150 euros which we got back in cash when we left. A bit unwieldy but the prices were good and our location was amazing...ten minutes walk to the Colosseum, less than that to the metro, Roman Forum and Trajan's Market, less than 5 minutes to a couple small markets...up the hill about 15 minutes walking was a supermarket. It was quiet and clean and having the kitchen meant we didn't have to fuss with 3 meals out a day -- breakfast was easy to do 'at home.'

Cathey Apprentice
Cathey
Posted

Thank you Babs, I googled it with no problem. Thanks again. It been 26 years since our last visit to Italy, I can't wait to show our boys around, sort of a graduation present to our youngest.

Lisa Mentor
Lisa
Posted

Thanks Babs - I want to plan a trip to Rome sometime this summer or in the fall with some galpals. :)

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