Always More to Visit: Rome + Salerno
AMTV #01: Italy in June
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Hi!
I’m so excited to be writing about this trip. I’d been to Italy 12 years ago as a teenager and coming back now was magical. Italy really does live up to its hype. The food is delicious and the beautiful views made me feel like I’d travelled back in time.
I went with my boyfriend on a 12-day trip, and I’ll be writing about the second half only. The first 6 days were a chill, relaxed, private, and much-needed vacation in a coastal town in the South of Italy. We didn’t really do much so there isn’t much to recommend.
Next, we spent 3 nights in Salerno, a not-so-touristy town in the Amalfi coast. (A new international airport is opening in Salerno so whoever wants to visit Positano or Sorrento or wherever else in the Amalfi coast will now be able to arrive via Salerno, instead of Naples.) Salerno is small enough to visit for 2-3 days, the food there is great, and the prices are on the lower end, compared to Rome and other more touristy cities.
From Salerno, we took the local train to Rome. (Side note: the train system in Italy is not at all as chaotic and confusing as TikTok makes it to be. The 3 trains we took during our trip were on time, not packed, and very pleasant overall). There was a time a few months ago when every week there was at least someone I followed on Instagram in Rome. And that went on for about 8 weeks. No joke. I hope this guide will give you recommendations that are better than the 4 “must go-to restaurants” you see on social media (we only went to one and it wasn’t great!).
There’s so much to say about Rome that I’d fail miserably if I tried to describe the city in a few sentences. I’ll just say 3 days isn’t enough if it’s your first time visiting. Luckily, I’d been there before and so was able to enjoy walking around without worrying about checking things off a list on a time crunch.
Allora, let’s get to it.
Salerno
We stayed at an Airbnb a few blocks from the main shopping street, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, which turns into the much narrower Via Mercanti, the smaller, alleyway-like main street.
To eat
Zizinella: A nice find in the smallest alleyway. Very local, fresh, and fairly priced. The owner was friendly and told us the daily menu in very fast Italian that we pretended to comprehend—we caught maybe 40% of it.
Pesceria: Wow… this restaurant really deserves to be in the Michelin Guide. We shared an out of this world tuna carpaccio as an appetizer and then each had a seafood spaghetti dish. If you’re only in Salerno for one meal, this is the place to go.
