WHAT DOES A PERFECT DAY IN ROME
LOOK LIKE?

For me, it starts early. I like to get up and walk the streets of the historic center while Rome is still a bit sleepy. The cobblestones are often still a little damp from the morning dew. The scent of fresh cornetti and perfectly roasted Arabica beans wafts out of cafes. The Roman air is still cool, fresh, and the city is still calm. The full cacophony of city life hasn’t quite rushed in.

It's the time of day when you can catch the tinkling of cups and saucers in coffee bars, and the distinctive, jarring sound of saracinesche—Italy’s rolling store shutters—being raised, one by one, as Rome's shopkeepers prepare for the day’s commerce. The sound of flexible metal grates being lifted and coiling around themselves — a sound I’m sure I’ve never heard in North America— is a signal to my senses that I’m in Rome.

Read on for how your perfect day might begin. . .