GROW WITH SARAH GRACE

Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Steps) is a tourist magnet in Rome and in January, it is full of tourists and locals alike as they scramble to find the best deals at one of the hundreds of stores just a stone’s throw away from the iconic steps. I’m not ashamed to say that I partook in this “tradition”. In January, most Italian stores have their biggest sale of the year so of course, I had to do my best shopping that month. I think that’s why I’ve seen the Spanish Steps so much. 

Nestled away, next to the historical tourist site in Piazza Mignanelli, “Ristorante Alla Rampa” sits waiting for hungry patrons to sit down and enjoy a meal. Let’s rewind a tad bit and have a quick storytime. In high school, I traveled to Spain, France, and Italy with my school and when we came to Rome, we were getting a tour of all of the historical sites we had to see like the Pantheon, Colosseum and of course, Piazza di Spagna. Of course, since we had so little time and so much to see, we had nearly no time to stop and were looking at these monuments in seconds. 

When we approached Piazza di Spagna, my stomach started to growl. I turned to my friends and said “I’m hungry.” Due to my physical and mental health at the time, let’s just say hearing this phrase come out of my mouth was a big deal. My friends agreed and immediately began to look around for a cafe or even a street food cart for anything. 

Not being able to find anything that was fast, I went to my beloved teacher, Señora. I told her I was hungry and wanted to know if she knew if there was a place I could go for a quick bite before we left for our next site. She grabbed my group and said to follow her. Without hesitation, we all followed her. She took us to the right of the steps and to a restaurant. 

I knew we didn’t have time to sit down and eat so I asked what we were going to do and Señora said to sit down and we’ll deal with it later. Before I knew it, we were having an hour-long lunch. My group was rush eating and was worried that we would lose the group but Señora wanted us to have full bellies and told us to slow down. She insisted we get dessert and said the group can wait, we are enjoying a meal together.

It was a small moment of the week-long trip but I never forgot it – the restaurant and what Señora did. I ordered my first ever dish of Gnocchi at that restaurant because I had no idea what it was and was in the mood to try something new. Turns out that ordering that dish was going to prompt a lifetime love for the potato dumplings. It was heavenly. 

Now fast forward to the present. I have passed the area I remember the restaurant being nestled away in almost ten times until finally, I told my roommate the story of discovering it in High School and we went for dinner. I sat down, got a menu and there it was staring me in the face – “Gnocchi Alla Sorrentina”. I closed the menu and was satisfied. Julia was convinced by my story to order the same dish so we ordered and began to wait patiently for our meals.

The server, who we soon became friends with and spoke a little English to ease any confusion, brought us some bread and water. Pro Tip: “pane” or bread, is often NOT free at restaurants so be warned that if your server brings you bread, you could be charged 2-5 euros. Also, Italians love sparkling water because it helps with digestion (something I learned in my Food and Wine class, Italians are huge on digestion) so be sure to order “still” water and be warned, like the bread, you will most likely be charged for the water. 

We enjoyed our bread Italian style, with olive oil and balsamic and a short wait later, we got our dishes. We were very surprised (and pleased) about the short wait time and were ready to devour our dishes. Without hesitation, we both dug in and hearing the “Oh my God” from Julia was goosebump-worthy. Now she understands the love I have for this restaurant.

I can’t recommend this restaurant enough. Although I’ve only had the Gnocchi, I am excited to go back and (possibly) try new dishes. I am growing to love “Cacio e Pepe” which is a staple vegetarian dish in Rome and I know they serve that so I might need to try it. On top of these dishes, the menu was full of lots of seafood options like lobster. So, if you aren’t a vegetarian like me and/or allergic to shellfish like Julia is, try one of those dishes and let us know how it goes. 

You can have some homemade desserts at the restaurant like gelato or cheesecake but we opted out to find a gelato place after. Moral of the story this restaurant has already won my heart and is worth a look if you are ever in Rome! It is a great place for seafood lovers and vegetarians alike. The servers are kind and the food is immaculate.