Rome has a special significance to my eldest daughter, Lucy, and me. It was one of the first trips we took alone together when she was 17 and preparing for A Levels and a degree in Classics. We had a fabulous time in so many ways and we have returned to Rome quite a few times over the years, both alone, and with Bob and Daisy too. Lucy has also spent some summer weeks here in 2010 at the British School of Rome as an addendum to her degree, and I’ve been here with Bob and Daisy on cruise excursions. So, it would be true to say we know it quite well. Or at least we know the areas of the city that most relate to ancient Rome and the Vatican Museums….

The first time we came, we stayed at the Inn at the Roman Forum, a hop and a skip from the Imperial Forums, on the hill at Monti. We stayed here again on another occasion, then moved for a few times to stay around the Pantheon. This time, we are back in Monti again, because we will be spending the majority of our time on the historic sites around the Forums and the Colosseum.

We flew out of Gatwick with Vueling this afternoon – a new airline for me. Low cost but it was a smooth, trouble free flight. Nice drinks service. We were in row 1 which really helped. The flight was an hour late leaving Gatwick but we were only 25 minutes late landing at Fiumicino airport. With only cabin baggage, we were super fast getting out of the airport. The automatic passport machines worked well, even post Brexit for us Brits who also needed a stamp in the passport…. I’d booked a car and the driver was waiting for us at the meeting point and we were soon on our way. We got to the apartment on the Via Del Boschetto at 755 which was great all things considered. This area of Monti is really atmospheric and there are a lot of great little restaurants. Nice to see people eating outside. It was definitely warmer than London.

The representative of Nostromo Apartments was waiting for us and he walked us through the little apartment – it has everything we need – super comfy and well equipped – even with a washing machine, espresso maker, a/c and a very nice bathroom.

We more or less dumped our stuff and ran out for dinner. We chose Le Tavernelle https://letavernelle.it/it/ literally just up the street and round the corner. It was heaving with Italians. The menus were in Italian. There weren’t any photos. So far totally what we were looking for. And it proved to be a great choice. We, perhaps foolishly, had two courses – a pasta and a main. I had spaghetti cacio pepe with a parmesan crisp. Lucy had carbonara And then we both had hunks of roast lamb with roasted potatoes. Washed down with a bottle of Montepulciano red. All delicious Too much in truth but a great intro to everything we love about Roman food.

Wandered around outside a bit soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying the glimpses of the Colosseum downhill from our streets. Turned in, ready for some big days of touring and walking. So amazing to be back here.