André Aciman’s guide to Rome: Contorno, supplì and Trastevere

I have returned to Rome at least once in the memoirs – late-Renaissance and baroque years, usually twice, for the past 20 years, Rome, what I like to call My Rome. Especially after publishing the narrow streets and rocky paths, which represent the book. I have a “ghost” and this is still an itinerary from one bookstore to another. I went back to my first year in Rome. I fell in love with the books because they were shown like evening scenes when the shops in the Roman world that I still wasn’t sure I liked, closed and the Romans went home.

I still love the gleaming cobblestone as the city begins to empty a bit in streets such as Via Frattina and Via dei Condotti, which I discovered on the second or third day in Rome as a child. I love that these streets are now closed to traffic so you can walk downtown and not worry about cars. But I also love the city in the early afternoon, when the sun pounds on the streets and narrow streets bask in the light, empty people. Now that I think about it, I like Rome when there are less people. Then, when it was quiet, my mind wandered and I began to think that this was my forever home.

Ambling through, trying to understand why Rome and I were together. At first the answer was nothing. I am a stranger and Rome is no less strange to me. At best we will learn to be patient with each other. I put up with their antiquated ways, with their strange smells, with their people, with their irritability and impatience with my foreign accent, while I refused to accept that I would be living in their midst. for the rest of my life. In the end, we learn to gain understanding, which is called tolerance at first, then comfort, and finally, when you least expect it, love.

There is an area that I walked in the evening in the historic center of Rome, and I mentioned it in my memoirs – late Renaissance and Baroque Rome, which I like to call My Rome. Mostly narrow streets and cobbled lanes, describe my itinerary from one bookstore to another. I fell in love with the book because it presented a world of Rome that I still wasn’t sure I liked, but also because the book opened up another world.

I love Rome before the busy day begins. I will walk to Piazza della Rotonda where the Pantheon is, then head to Piazza di Spagna, which has always been my “center of gravity”. Then, after watching the building at Keats-Shelley House, walk quietly down Via del Babuino that leads to Piazza del Popolo. In the Cerasi Chapel are two of my favorite Caravaggios, The Crucifixion of St Peter and The Conversion of St Paul.

At 11 o’clock, it’s time for the inevitable supplii (rice and tomato snacks) at Roscioli. I like to munch on supplì while walking down Via dei Giubbonari, then Via Giulia towards Trastevere, left, and cross the Ponte Sisto bridge, where I have thought of having my last lunch under the beating midday sun.

In the evening, after a short nap, I like to go to the Church of the Holy Four, where at 3 pm, I want to hear the nuns singing. After that I like to go to the Basilica di San Clemente, which I wrote about in Call Me By Your Name.

Then it’s almost cocktail hour, and I like to walk back to Piazza San Cosimato, where I will sit and let the cool air Campari spritz that is always accompanied by apericena – various snacks of one kind or another. After that I like to have dinner al fresco at Trattoria Polese or Trattoria da Luigi. I adore rustic, simple Roman food. Then, after a stroll down Via dei Banchi Vecchi, it was time to enter.

You should see the Vatican and the Colosseum, but I prefer the Trastevere area, because it is more Roman, rougher in the corners, sometimes roguish.

The Fontanone, right, in Trastevere with a stunning vista of all Rome. In the movie The Great Beauty people just appear out of view of Rome and then die.

Breakfast is usually coffee and a cornetto (croissant), maybe two coffees, although no one claims to want both. My favorite place is San Pancrazio, at Bar Gianicolo. This is one of the highest points of the Gianicolo (in Trastevere). It is also very close to the American Academy in Rome and the Villa Pamphili, which has a large garden and a beautiful wooded area.

Lunch is more traditional, so I like Da Armando by Pantheon or Dal Bolognese, in Piazza del Popolo. It offers very authentic Italian fare, thin bread (grissini) while you are waiting, soup, pasta, and as a second course of meat or fish with contorno (potatoes or peas or beans, sometimes in combination). It’s usually quiet, even when it’s noisy outside. Reservations are always a plus.

For dinner I enjoyed the crowd and the food at Zi’ Umberto in Trastevere. They are usually young, 25 to 45 years old, dynamic and animated. People wait to be seated outside and it is best to make a reservation. A favorite dish is pasta all’amatriciana, made with tomato sauce, guanciale, pecorino cheese, black pepper, olive oil, dry white wine and salt.

Rome is now global. They have everything they need. Just bring your iPhone.

The Romans loved leisure, knew how to seek, how to find and exploit, and never cut corners. Work can always wait. It is not that the Romans are more happy than others on this planet; they just know how to have fun in things and make them last.

Hotel Donna Camilla Savelli (Via Garibaldi 27, rooms from €200 per night, vretreats.co). It was built as a convent for Augustinian nuns and designed by the famous architect Francesco Borromini. The hotel is huge, boasting many baroque corners and suites, and still has a small chapel. When the sun goes down, you can enjoy a drink on the roof with your friends. It offers a silent and amazing view of Rome and all the domes of the church in a row.

Room 203 at Hotel Donna Camilla Savelli. If you sit on the large terrace that is next to the room, you will not want to leave.

The only thing I took home as a souvenir was …If you can find a sampietrino fragment (big rock) on the ground, pick it up. It’s usually very heavy, but if you can find a single fragment, if it’s just a small fragment, it’s a wonderful memento of ancient times. I once took a video of how a sampietrini was being hammered down by a group of workers in Via del Babuino. Beautiful sights and beautiful sounds of a very old custom.

As told by Hayley Spencer

André Aciman is the author of novels including Call Me By Your Name and The Gentleman From Peru. Her memoir, My Roman Year is out now (Faber & Faber, £22)