Leaving for Rome, Venice and Siena next week. Food recommendations!

Steve,
Can't help you with Sienna coz our last time there was a million years ago. But the excerpt below is from our TR 'Bella Puglia', which also covered some of Rome plus Basilicata. As for Venice, its increasingly hard to find any 'local' eatery that tourists haven't yet discovered, but one restaurant that has a superb setting to match its unique food is 'Zucca'. Try their signature pumpkin/gourd/squash pie specialty. Good Luck. Below is Rome, focusing on the Monti neighbourhood.

'We recommend friendly Monticiani, which is at 84 Panisperna. It is a casual caffe-bistro, more locals than tourists and features many Argentine items on its reasonably-priced menu. It is open from 7am and the service is friendly. It is our kind of unpretentious 'local' place, so we went more than once.

Locals recommended a bar on v. Merulana called ‘Panella l’arte delle Pane’. It offered a wide variety of good food. Right around the corner on v. d. Statuto, there was a great cake shop. Self-caterers should know that there is a classic butcher, plus a good fish shop, in Monti.
Perennial fave bar, ‘Tre Scalini’ (three flies), seems always to be packed, so with my hearing issues, we gave it a pass. Once as we passed it on the street, we witnessed a patron cradling his tiny baby inside the bar. That was a first.
Other bars: Black Market, Libraria Caffe Bohemian and Analemma.

If you want to buy designer chocolate, then ‘Grezzo’ is a good choice, all modern and run by women. If you want rustic Calabrian deli foods, then 'Delizie di Calabria' on v. Serpenti is pretty good.

Places that we heard were good but ran out of time for:
L'Asino D'Oro, Carbonara, Urbana 47, Enoteca Cavour, Alvino, Fafiuche, la Caseta, Hasekura, Guru and Maharaj. The latter trio speak to Monti's multi-kulti component and are close to the fountain-piazza, Madonna di Monti, which serves as the ground zero/meeting place for Monti. It was at this fountain during a heat wave back in May, that some African refugee men caused controversy by stripping down to their civvies and cooling off by soaking inside the basin. Much Romanesco slang by local curmudgeons ensued. Film fans, note that Woody Allen and Alec Baldwin shot a memorable scene for ‘To Rome with Love’ just one block west on tiny v. Neofiti.

We saved the best for last:
Antico Forno Serpenti—top-quality bakery and they too, do a modest lunchtime buffet as well. Their pizza was the best that we tasted on that trip to Italy.'
I am done. The end.

The best meal we have had in Venice is at Ai Mercanti in San Marco. We have dined there four or five times, for special occasions. One time, a friend in Venice demanded that we eat there with he and his wife - he had just received what he described as the best email in his life. “Phil, your novel has been accepted for publication.”

Philip Gwyn Jones finds him on Amazon, and that novel was to be the first of five.

A very special night.

https://www.aimercanti.it/

@Aussie, sorry for being off-topic. Is Phil working on his next novel? I am looking forward to it.

Hi Samuel, Phil’s next, No 5, is Angels of Venice. Will be available in about a week.
“To Venice with Love” is also worth a look. That book describes Phil and Caroline’s move from Edinburgh to Venice.

Does anyone know if L’asino D’oro is still open in Rome? Many have recommended it and back in 2020 when we were planning our trip (which was cancelled), I was able to easily find an address/hours etc. But now two years later as we’ve been replanning our trip (for this September) I haven’t had any luck sourcing any info on it and saw rumors it closed. Also a restaurant by the same name in Orvieto popped up in a search. Anyone have intel?

In Venice, following recommendations from my B&B hosts:
cicchetti at dai Zemei in San Polo, not far from the Rialto Bridge
Aciugheta, very close to the Basilica, especially for pizza. The chef is Sicilian
Suso for the best gelato

In Rome I stayed just off Piazza Navona, so my dinners were walking distance:
Emma for excellent pizza, lots of locals as well as tourists.
Taverna Lucifero, across the street from Emma (recommended to me by one of the local diners I sat next to at Emma's)

For Rome, go to Osteria Bonelli which is all Italians and well outside tourist zone. Italians eat after 9pm in Rome.

If you're spending any time in Rome...this past trip we did something different in Rome - street food instead of restaurants. We tried trapizzini (at Trapizzino) for the first time and can't believe we never discovered this street food before - two of them became instant favorites, Pollo alla Cacciatora and Polpetta al Sugo. We also had huge great paninis at All'Antico Vinaio one block from the Pantheon...the one we really enjoyed is the porchetta on focaccia with gorgonzola and cream of pistachio.

I just spent 18 days in Italy, part of which were in Rome and Siena. I stayed near Campo De Fiori and tried Alice Pizza near there for a quick bite once. I had the Nutella pizza (Nutella Quadrotto?). It was very very good. Piazza della Canelleria 78 Rome. I never saw another place that offered that style. The Campo has a farmers market by day and nightlife/restaurants in the evening. After visiting the Vatican, I walked by Castel Sant Angelo and found a street cafe (O' Pazzariello) at Via Banco di Santo Spirito 19. I had the Vermicelli Carbonara which was delicious and reasonably priced. The cafe is on a small street between the River Tiber and Corso Vittorio Emanuele. In Siena, I stayed at Alue Porte B and B. Beautifully furnished 1000 year old building. The manager there recommended a local restaurant, Osteria Nonna Gina, which features handmade Pici pasta. I didn't get to try it because it was closed on Monday, the day I could make it. Pian del Montellini 2. Give it a try?