I might be going to Rome on the 9th. I have not been there for a couple of years; any wine store or restaurant recommendations would be appreciated.

I would highly recommend Agata e Romeo, which is a restaurant, not a wine store. We had one of my top 2 dining experiences there in 2001. It is extremely small and not in a tourist area, so planning ahead is a must.

We had a tasting menu and wine pairing menu. Normally, I would not go with the wine pairing but based on what was being poured and I was assured and in fact watched the bottles being opened, it was a good decision. Unfortunately, I don't recall the wine that was poured, although one was an excellent Barolo.

New dates, we are going June 23-June 28

We will be in Rome most of the time but I may have some time to drive up to Sienna or Montalcino. Still looking for some good wine stores.

Montalcino is a beautiful town. The place to buy wine is Montalcino Produce on Piazza Garibaldi. It has the best prices in Montalcino. In general, the farther you go from the fortress, the lower the prices get.

Going in November.

Below is a cut and paste from an e-mail to me from an engineering friend of mine who lived in Rome for several years working on a waste disposal project of some kind. He's an Italian-American, born in the USA, but fluent in Italian. These are some recommendations he made to me in anticipation of my wife and I getting to go to Rome in 2006 as part of our 25th anniversary trip. For our anniversary dinner, a very special meal, his recommendation is the Hassler House. There were several other recommendations he made but they are in a PDF file he sent me last year as they are scans of the cards he collected from his favorite restaurants. I'll be looking for that file myself before long, to transfer it from my old to my new laptop. Hope the following, however, is of some use to you:


Hassler House (the top of the Spanish Steps – top floor of the Hassler Hotel)

La Balestra – local trattoria that I used to eat lunch at all the time. Near Via Salerio

L’Orso 80 on Via Orso, in the center of the city.

Settimio is great if you want a steak.