Ferragosto in Rome and I did the stupid thing, which was to assume a capital city stays open. Testaccio market, shut. Via Mastro Giorgio had every shutter down by half nine this morning. Three places I had on a list, all closed until the 24th or the 25th. What worked was Esquilino. Around Piazza Vittorio the Bangladeshi and Chinese kitchens were trading exactly as normal, and there is a pizza al taglio counter on Via Napoleone III that had fifteen people queuing at one o'clock, most of them Roman families with small children. Potato and rosemary, and a square of pizza rossa. 6.40 EUR for the two. The rossa had gone to room temperature and was better for it. The other thing. I wanted a private day out to Ostia or the Castelli for today and there was nothing left anywhere, not for a week either side. That gets taken in June by people who plan. If you land near Ferragosto, put the food you actually care about on the 13th or the 17th and treat the 15th as a walking day. It is 36 degrees out there and I have just walked from Piazza Vittorio down to the river without passing a single open door.
