Fashionistas and Italophiles alike are aquiver at the news that the latest season of Emily in Paris is being filmed not in the City of Light, but in the Eternal City. It’s a delicious evolution for our pastel-swathed heroine – and the perfect excuse to rediscover Rome beyond the postcard clichés (though we love those too). Naturally, we’re already packing.
So, where would Emily go if she leaned more La Dolce Vita than Instagram cliché? Where would she eat, wander, and marvel – not queuing beneath the Colosseum or jostling at the Vatican, but melting into the city like a local?
Here, then, is our insider’s guide to Rome, best navigated not with a map, but with curiosity, oversized sunglasses, a Sophia Loren scarf, and your chicest sandals.
Main image: Giulia Parmigiani/Netflix
Where to Eat: Hidden Tables, Wine-Soaked Corners
Vino e Olio
Walk past Vino e Olio by day and you would likely stroll on by. By about 6pm, however, it is thrumming with life, transformed into the stuff of our Roman fantasies, as people spill out from its medieval interior onto the street, glasses of natural wine in hand. Tucked on a quiet corner that looks almost deliberately under-lit, it exudes that unstudied Roman elegance: nothing flashy, just impeccable wine, honest food, and owners who greet you like old friends. Try the seasonal small plates and linger over a glass or two of natural wine as the city hums gently around you. Via dei Banchi Vecchi 14.
Retrobottega
The antithesis of tourist-trap trattorias, this quietly revolutionary dark and sultry spot serves up high-concept dishes minus fuss. Think simple food reimagined and executed with exquisite precision: risotto with eel, black garlic and sumac, or fusilli with cod, coffee and oxidised lemon. Intriguing, no? Watch the chefs prep with surgeon-like accuracy from your perch in the lab-like room which, somehow, still manages not to feel clinical. If Emily's wardrobe is all play and experimentation, Retrobottega is the culinary equivalent. Expect a young, hip crowd of Roman locals and savvy tourists with a nose for what’s hot. Via D'Ascanio 26A.
Roscioli Caffè Pasticceria
Skip the Instagram queues at Sant’Eustachio and come here instead. By day, it's the elegant Roman answer to a Soho House café: locals popping in for espresso and maritozzi (sweet cream-filled buns); by night, it transforms into a sleek bar with vermouths and Negronis that are dangerously good – the perfect way to kick off a heady evening stroll through the bar-lined cobbled streets. Piazza Benedetto Cairoli, 16.
Necci dal 1924
Right in the heart of the once rough and ready and now gentrified but still artistic Pigneto, Necci dal 1924 is the kind of place where Emily would meet an indie filmmaker and debate love in bad Italian. We adore the unpretentious vibe and the lush garden, which makes it the perfect spot for anyone seeking an artsy yet real Roman crowd (it was a great favourite of filmmaker Pasolini). At only €5 for an Aperol Spritz, we’re all in. Via Fanfulla Da Lodi 68.
What To See: Art, Quiet Wonder, Soulful Wanders
MAXXI – National Museum of 21st Century Arts
Emily may not always get it right, but she is forever striving for that finger-on-the-pulse energy. She would, then, feel inspired by the Flamino District’s MAXXI – Rome’s Museum of 21st Century Arts – whose sculptural curves come courtesy of Zaha Hadid. Culture doesn’t come in a cooler package than this, a veritable runway for ideas – we can just see Emily snapping a selfie against its concrete waves. Via Guido Reni, 4a.
Pastificio Cerere
Emily would rarely be out of this former pasta factory turned artist studios and contemporary art gallery, which is the place for creative photoshoots, hip art openings, and edgy dates. A place to see and be seen. Via degli Ausoni, 7
MAAM – Museo dell’Altro e dell’Altrove
A street art museum on the eastern outskirts of Rome in a former Fiorucci sausage factory, MAAM was once used by humanitarian aid organisation Blocchi Precari Metropolitani in 2009 to provide housing for homeless Italian families and immigrants. Raw, real, and bursting with energy. Emily would go with a no doubt unfeasibly handsome local artist she met at a wine bar. Via Prenestina, 913.
Sacripante Gallery
Our protagonist would be all over Sacripante Gallery – a moody, art-meets-mixology hideaway tucked in the centre’s cobbled alleys. Housed in a former convent, it's part gallery, part glam cocktail lounge, with peeling frescoed walls, crushed velvet sofas, and rotating exhibitions by edgy artists. It’s the kind of place where you sip a Negroni in an antique glass and wonder if you just walked into a fashion shoot. Via Panisperna, 59
Villa Farnesina
Forget the Sistine Chapel crush. For Raphael frescoes without the elbows and camera flashes, Villa Farnesina is an oasis. Built in the 16th-century as a love nest for a Sienese banker and his mistress Francesca Ordeaschi. it’s quietly tucked away in the ever-lovely Trastevere, and houses some of the most ravishing Renaissance art, richly decorated with frescoes by Raphael, Sebastiano del Piombo and Peruzzi. The Loggia of Galatea alone is worth the detour. Via della Lungara, 230.
MACRO (Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome)
For a modern counterpoint, MACRO is bold, challenging, and thrillingly un-touristy. Set in a former Peroni beer factory, it has the rawness of a Berlin gallery with the flair of Italian design. After all the marbled gods and Madonnas, it’s a reminder that Rome isn’t a city stuck in amber – it pulses with new energy, too. V. Nizza, 138.
Where to Stroll: Beyond the Spanish Steps
The Aventine Keyhole
Yes, it’s become something of a whispered-about must-see, but peeking through the tiny keyhole of the Magistral Villa, the institutional seat of the Sovereign Order of Malta, on the Aventine Hill still feels like discovering Narnia. Through it, you’ll spy a perfectly framed telescope view of St. Peter’s Basilica, flanked by cypress trees. It’s one of those rare magic tricks the city pulls off again and again. Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta.
Via Margutta
Ok, this one is hardly off the beaten track. But if Emily were to go apartment-hunting, she might find herself here. Once home to Fellini and still a haven for artists, this quiet pedestrian street near Piazza di Spagna is pure cinematic charm. Ivy-clad facades, old ateliers, a silence that feels almost Parisian (funny, that) – it’s a place to get lost in thought (and perhaps sketch out your next Roman holiday).
Janiculum Hill at Sunset
The best view in Rome isn’t from the overcrowded Pincian Terrace, but, we would argue, from Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill). Come at golden hour, and watch the terracotta rooftops bathed in rose-gold light. There are no shops or selfie sticks – just lovers, strollers, and the sound of church bells drifting over the Tiber.
