Category: Italy

One of the joys of travel is meeting strangers who become new friends, and on my most recent trip to Rome, I met a man named Scott, a humanities professor from a university in the American Midwest who was living in Rome for several weeks while working on a book. After some conversation it was apparent that we were kindred spirits, and I invited him to join me at my favorite restaurant in Rome for lunch. Thankfully he liked my restaurant choice, and as we were parting ways for the afternoon, he said that the following day he planned to go to a small restaurant called Sora Margherita he’d been to a couple of years prior. He asked if I wanted to join him and I accepted, though I was a little unnerved when he mentioned something about a waitress who’d simply seemed to despise the friend he’d dined with there the first time.

I discovered this small, Roman trattoria, run by the Camerucci family, back in 2002 after reading positive reviews online. The food and the service were equally wonderful, and so on another trip over 6 months later, I returned. To my amazement, Enrico and Daniele, the brothers who serve as hosts and waiters welcomed me warmly and remembered me so clearly that I had to wonder whether they’d had any customers since my last visit! Fourteen years and countless visits later, the boys refer to me as their “red headed fratello” (brother), and the chef, Signora Camerucci leaves her station in the kitchen to greet me enthusiastically.