There is a particular kind of excitement that comes with a first trip to Italy — the kind that has you double-checking your passport for the tenth time and refreshing the flight tracker long before you actually need to. My trip started in Rome, and it did not waste a single second easing me in.
Landing in the Shadow of the Colosseum
We checked into the Hotel Forum, tucked right beside the Roman Forum, just down the street from the Colosseum, and nothing quite prepares you for stepping outside and seeing that ancient amphitheatre looming just down the street. Photographs do not do it justice. There is something surreal about knowing you can grab a coffee and casually stroll past two thousand years of history on your way to breakfast.
A Food Tour in Trastevere
We did not ease into things gently. Our very first night, jet lag and all, we headed into Trastevere for a food tour — and it turned out to be one of the best decisions of the whole trip.
Trastevere sets the mood immediately: cobblestone streets, ivy creeping up old buildings, and that golden evening light that makes everything look like it belongs in a painting. Our guide led us through the neighbourhood course by course. We had supplì — crispy, golden rice balls with a molten mozzarella centre. Trapizzino, a clever pocket of pizza dough stuffed with slow-cooked fillings, somewhere between a sandwich and a stew. Aged balsamic sipped almost like a fine spirit, syrupy and complex in a way that made us rethink everything we thought we knew about it. Wine, meat, and cheese pairings that were a quiet masterclass in how Italians think about food as combinations rather than isolated dishes. Pasta, naturally. And gelato to close it all out — the sweet final note after a meal that felt like it had a dozen chapters.
What made the night truly special was not just the food — it was our host. She was funny, clearly loved the neighbourhood she was showing us, and had an easy way of dropping in history and local knowledge between bites. By the time we said goodnight, Trastevere already felt a little like home.
Walking Home Through Ancient Rome
As the evening wound down, we said goodbye to a couple from Hungary we had met on the tour — the kind of people who make a good night into a memorable one. There is something about sharing supplì and wine with strangers that turns them into friends by the end of the night.
The walk back to the hotel took us past ruins glowing under the streetlights, including Trajan's Column, standing tall and quiet against the dark sky. After a night that had packed in so much history, flavour, and connection, there was something fitting about ending it face to face with two thousand years of it, still standing. We fell asleep that first night already dreaming about what the rest of Rome had in store.
Rome won us over before we had even seen the inside of the Colosseum.
If you are visiting Rome for the first time, book a food tour on your first evening — before the sightseeing, before the museums, before you have found your bearings. It is the fastest way to understand a city, and Trastevere is the right place to start.