THE CLASSICS
21 THE PLEASURES OF A PERFECT ROMAN AFTERNOON
Stay at the Hotel Abruzzi: it’s been there forever and I can remember it from when I lived in Rome for two years as a child. Just 20 metres from the Pantheon in the Piazza della Rotonda, it represents incredible value for its location and rooms. Head to the square and take a seat at any of the cafes for people-watching and an apéritif (it has to be a Campari and blood orange), and to marvel at one of history’s great engineering feats, the dome of the Pantheon. Then stroll south towards the Po river and the Jewish quarter. Take a selfie with the oh-so-cute Fontana delle Tartarughe (Turtle Fountain) en route to any number of the restaurants on Via del Portico d'Ottavia. If you are brave order the rigatoni con la pajata; pasta with the intestines of a milk-fed calf. It’s a classic Roman dish and it’s delicious, trust me!
Quentin Long, managing director, Australian Traveller Media
22 LAYERS OF HISTORY
Whether you come for the imperial architecture, the modern in an old and unassuming cinema on the Ringstrasse. Burg Kino runs multiple screenings each week of this classic film noir from 1949. Directed by Carol Reed and starring Orson Welles, it was shot in post-war Vienna when the city was shadowy and fractured – divided into four occupied zones by the USA, Great Britain, France and the USSR – and provides viewers with yet another perspective on this fascinating and layered city.
