Never Say Goodbye to Italy

A French major from China, I spent one year in France with my classmates and traveled around Europe. Our French professor warned us about pickpockets and expensive food in Italy, so we gave ourselves titles that carried with them courage and strength for us on the trip. I was “Little Tour Guide” as I planned the whole trip; Ting was “Little Samurai” for her martial arts skills, and Jiao “Little Cook” for her exquisite culinary skills.
When talking about Rome, everybody talks about the Colosseum and Vatican City and Sistine Chapel and all the fountains, but what really stuck in my mind after three days of walking on the cobblestone ground of the ancient city were the best ice cream shop and the best pizza parlor. As my city map wrinkled, we found Forno Campo de’ Fiori, hidden at a corner in the flower market. Peaking into the window door, we had our first glance of a ten-feet long rectangular pizza.
We weaved our way into the shop packed with locals buying pastry and tourists hungry for Italian delicacy. I didn’t know that pizzas could be sold by weight. One long stripe of sun-dried tomatoes with artichokes and one salami cost me no more than five euros. There was no place to sit; the whole process of purchase was streamlined. Buy here, turn around, pay there. Out the door! If the assorted foreign currencies under the glass cover on the cashier’s table indicated in any way that this place might be a “tourist-only,” the Vatican priest that walked in after us totally proved its authenticity. It didn’t matter that we had to go outside and eat in the flower market. How more lovely could the ambiance be! And there was no shame of going back in for Round Two!
But of course, one shall not forget about dessert. A few blocks away, we located the famous Gelateria della Palma, an ice cream heaven on earth. A place where ice cream flavors were as colorful as international flags. 3.5 euros for four flavors, and the fluffy ice cream was about to fall off the cone; I don’t know how they could fit in five flavors on that little cone.
The rule of wish making in the Fontana de Trevi is that you have to throw two coins with your back to the fountain. The first one that goes in will make your wish come true; the second one will bring you back to Rome. We knew it all along even before we landed in Rome. We booked a roundtrip from Lyon to Rome and back; our journey in Italy began in Rome and ended in Rome as well. And you know where we went after we got back to Rome?