Rome with Noah, Troy and Momma: One Night in Rome Pg2

Once our hotel room at the Pantheon Royal Suite hotel was available, we were able to put up our luggage, freshen up, rest just a bit and head back out into Rome after dark. The map above shows our small walking loop starting from the Pantheon Royal Suite hotel, over to the Piazza Navona with its Fontana del Moro and a Christmas market, dinner at Osteria Pizzeria Di Agrippa and then back to Piazza della Rotonda and the Pantheon.

It was a sprinkling rain when we started out from the hotel. Of course, we had no umbrellas and the hotel was out of any available for loan; but the front desk clerk directed us to the grocery store on Via Giustiniani which was just a block or so around the corner from Piazza della Rotonda. The grocery stores in the heart of Rome are much different than the huge box grocery stores we have in the United States. These are much smaller, packing as much merchandise into a tiny space as possible and this one seemed to connect a couple of buildings so you find your way through narrow aisles and connecting hallways and eventually to a check-out register. We bought one umbrella at the grocery store and then a second one from a street vendor. I do not recall why we only bought one umbrella at the grocery store. It must have been the price or they only had one left. Maybe Momma or Troy remember. Then we continued on our evening walk, it was well after dark by this point, to Piazza Navona which is a much larger piazza than Piazza della Rotonda.

Let me give a brief description of piazzas. These are large open areas much like an anchor point for a neighborhood. The ones I have seen have had a large fountain and/or a large and ornate obelisk or statue. These give people space to congregate and a nice escape from the narrow and shadowed alleys and streets. Piazza Navona is long north-to-south and more narrow east-to-west. It was the day after Christmas when we visited and their Christmas market filled the north half of the piazza and a street fair with a merry-go-round filled the south half. Here is a Google maps satellite image of Piazza Navona.

Piazza Navona with Fontana del Moro (Moro Fountain)

We spent a little time browsing the Christmas Market and the fair booths, games and rides. The rain was just a little drizzle, nothing too bad. Piazza Navona is a large piazza and did not feel crowded at all. I get the feeling that this piazza is just far enough off of the tourist attractions that not many of us tourists find it.

Christmas Market in Piazza Navona

Noah, Annette, Troy
Carousel in Piazza Navona

Annette, Troy, Noah in Piazza Navona
Fontana dei Fiumi (Fiumi Fountain) behind me and to the right.

Noah, Annette, Troy in Piazza Navona
Fontana dei Fiumi (Fiumi Fountain) behind us.

After leaving Piazza Navona, we made our way along new streets to us back towards our hotel. We stopped for dinner at Osteria Pizzeria di Agrippa on the corner of Via dell'Arco della Ciambella and Via del Cestari. We had a great Italian dinner in this cozy little restaurant. We did not realize it until after we had eaten, but this restaurant has a basement for dining which has exposed walls from original days of Rome. If we get to eat here again, we will definitely ask for a table in the basement (unless the weather is great in which case we will sit outside on the sidewalk and watch the people and traffic).

Troy and Momma at Osteria Pizzeria di Agrippa

Troy and Momma enjoying wine before dinner at Osteria Pizzeria di Agrippa

And then we finished our one night in Rome back at our hotel room overlooking the Piazza della Rotonda and its Fontana del Pantheon. The rain was over by then. We left the balcony window slightly open and slept to the sounds of the fountain. We did not realize it at the time, but we would definitely need our rest to get through the next morning.