Rome and Florence dining with a view and local suggestions

What do you define as a view? Typically the best restaurants are to be found away from the major sights and are usually cheaper. If you want a meal on Piazza Navona for example you'll probably have a great view but your food would likely be mediocre and expensive. Personally in a city such as Rome with some incredible food to be had I will always forego a view in favour of excellent food. Besides, sitting outside jn an alleyway dating back hundreds of years and looking at the architecture above and around you can be just as rewarding as sitting in a square with an oppulent fountain.

A view in an ancient city is difficult and usually comes with a high price tag. Imágo, the restaurant in the upscale Hotel Hassler, has sweeping views of Rome and it's flood lit monuments at night.

Certainly open to suggestions of local eateries with good food as mentioned. We are looking for a gastronomic experience.

Ditto Marketing - any suggestion that allows us to leave knowing - "wow - that was great" is what we are looking for as well.

I wonder if you would like Flavio Al Velavevodetto in Testaccio in Rome --- it's inside the big hill made of ancient Roman pottery shards and there are "windows" in the walls through which you can see the stacked-up shards. The food was great.

Any place that is not a tourist place will be designed for you to linger as long as you want. Eat late if you want to eat when Italians eat ---- like, 8:00pm at the earliest.

We purposely avoid any restaurant with a view.........just like we avoid any restaurant in which the cooks have been busy making our food into their own fancy work of art.

I would suggest you go to some historic cafe. ( caffe storico) With à view and have an apperitivo (8-15 euros) and then go and have a nice meal somewhere else

Hotel Residenza Paolo VI is about 100 yards from St. Peter's Basilica and has a restaurant with an outside terrace. It has an breathtaking night view of the Basilica and statues. The restaurant is open to the public. The address is Via Paolo VI 29 Piazza S. Pietro. It does not look like a hotel, you need to ring a buzzer for entry into the building. As an added bonus there was no service charge in Vatican City, unlike most Rome restaurants. You can google the hotel on TripAdvisor, which has photos of the terrace and beautiful view of St. Peter's at night.