06/20/2026
We all know how much I love visiting Italy. Well, this one was a little different than what I normally do and I must say it will be done again in this same order. Because it’s going to be long, I will break it up into a few posts. Let’s get into our itinerary,
Day 1 –
Flew into Rome and used a private vehicle transfer to our hotel. Marcello drove a clean Mercedes. All the private transportation AND uber were Mercedes. All polished and looking ready to work. I was not ready for the comparison to what we consider luxury, and the Italians considered service-related vehicles. We were not ready. Marcello was on time, professional and was exactly where he said he was going to be. The name of the company we use is Mia Limo. They have good reviews on viator and are easy to communicate with.
Our hotel is Hotel Morgana. The pictures do not do it justice. It is literally one block from the train station. Our room was ready as soon as we were checking in our bags, so we were able to go directly to our room. In boutique hotels in Italy, just know if they have an elevator, it is for two people at a time with no luggage. Plenty of mirrors but small.
I know it said it on the views however it was actually one block away. Small block and very walkable area. If you jump at every sound, this is not the hotel for you. Italians are loud. It is also a high populated African and Indian cultured area. The hotel is next to a few good restaurants but the one we visited the most was Ristorante Turati. We meet waiters Manager Gigi (he was the highlight of our day) and Martel (who you could tell hung out with his African neighbors). They made coming back to their restaurant so inviting and easy.
The first restaurant we went to had good food, but we didn’t get a warm and fuzzy reception, just a warm one. It didn’t stand out.
When you finish eating, you walk around to make your food digest better. It does work and my feet were on fire but not actually hurting.
We walked a lot and saw a lot. People were friendly. We met a young couple at the oldest basilica in Rome. They are from a town about two hours south of Rome. They were such a cute couple. They are getting married in September. Of course, I asked them about the Calabria area, and they provided me with a plethora of information about other towns to look at while down there. Here are some pictures and video’s of our day.
