The Horrors of the Trevi Fountain and the Wonders of My Birthday Supper

The Trevi Fountain looks innocent enough, but oh the horrors that await

"Must see" tourist attractions often fail to live up to the hype. And, yes, Trevi Fountain, I am talking about YOU.

Oh the humanity!

Literally, in this case. The Trevi Fountain was absolutely mobbed, with a crowd as thick as Times Square New Year's Eve. Only this was a late afternoon in May. I thought the tourist hordes were in hiding as we enter Year 3 in the Year of Our COVID.

The Trevi Fountain dates back only to the 18th Century which, in Rome, rates as "new contruction." It is beautiful. Or it would be beautiful:

But for the tourist horde. Police were present to make sure that the crowd on the steps looking toward the fountain stayed in that zone only a brief enough period of time to snap their selfie and move along. There was no time to both snap a pic and throw a coin in the fountain.

Maybe I should have thrown a coin in this fountain instead:

This was on the way to the Metro stop (Barberini) that I would use to take me home.

And then to my birthday supper.

Today is the occasion of my 62nd birthday. I like to travel on my birthday because (a) it means I'm doing something fun and not slaving away in the legal equivalent of the bowels of the Colossuem, and (b) early May is a great time to travel almost anywhere in the world because weather is great and crowds are down (they are all at the Trevi Fountain, lined up to throw their coin in, or take a selfie, but not both -- police whistle says "move along").

I chose a place in the shadow of St. Peter's with sky-high google review numbers: Angelo. I really like the neighborhood around the Vatican as the crowds disappear when the sun goes down and it's just me, the locals, and a few other stray "off but not too far off the beaten path" tourists.

For my first course, as I had a classic Roman dish: cacio e pepe. Oh. My. God. It's just al dente spaghetti, pecorino cheese, and black pepper. It needs no more ingredients. It was amazing.

I had the saltimbocca, veal with lemon, for the second course.

It too was excellent, but not as excellent as the cacio e pepe. I'm scared to ever order cacio e pepe again because how could it possibly be this good a second time.

And for dessert -- of course I ordered dessert -- it's my birthday -- I had a slice of this chocolate and ricotta pastry. 

Imagine a cannoli in the form of a bar cookie. That's what this was. Then I finished the meal off with an Unicum, a digestif from Hungary that I cannot get in the States anymore. And, once again, I was not charged for my after dinner amaro. Is that an Italian thing?