Piazza Trilussa, 46 (@ Ponte Sisto)

When you are ready to leave central Rome and eat where the Roman do, head to al Fontanone in the Trastevere. "Trastevere" means "across the Tiber and when you cross into this neighborhood, you are in the Rome of the Romans. Here the streets are filled with working class Italians going about their life and enjoying it to the fullest. The streets are lined with restaurants, pizzerias, bakeries, gelaterias all living in harmony (or lack of harmony) with churches, apartments and a thousand years of history.

Al Fontanone is a simple establishment (just over the Ponte Sisto bridge on Piazza Trilussa) where the friendly owner named Joseph Pino enjoys meeting, greeting and personally serving ever customer who walks into his trattoria. The interior has a rustic old world feeling with dried herb and flowers hanging from the wooden beams amongst some rustic antiques and white washed walls.

Begin you meal with a mixed selection from the mouthwatering antipasti table (this could be a meal in itself!). After the antipasti, a good selection would be either a pizza or pasta. The pasta selections are all delicious in rich sauces which could be family recipes which go back 30 years when al Fontanone opened in the Trastevere. Pasta specialties include Fettucine alla Fontanone (with tuna, mushrooms garlic and tomato) or traditional spicy Pasta Amatriciana (rich tomato sauce with pancetta, garlic and spicy red pepper flakes). If you are still hungry you can go on to the meat course and select the typical Roman Abbacchio al Forno (baby lamb) or Porchetta (roast suckling pig). The more extravagant can choose al Fontanone's traditional Osso Buco or Veal Saltimbocca (veal scaloppini with prosciutto in a sage and butte white wine sauce). Don't forget to order a full or half carafe of house wine which to American standards is a cheap as Coca-Cola! If you are a bit fussy about your wine, I suggest ordering a bottle, since the house wine is a bit ordinary.

Finish your meal at al Fontanone is with a glass of sweet Vin Santo and biscotti (you're suppose to dip the biscotti in the Vin Santo) and leave with fond memories of the Trastevere and of fine Roman hospitality!