Three Hours Around the Curve of Pompey's Theatre

A first-day tour, and it works as one. Three hours, the old centre on foot, and enough addresses noted along the way that the rest of the week feeds itself. The food is the Roman core. Cheeses, prosciutto and salami with wine. The city's street food. The two pasta dishes Rome is known for, with wine. Gelato at the end from a place a family has run for years. The walk is around Campo de' Fiori, which held the city's food market long before it held tourists, then out through the old centre. The route crosses the ground of Pompey's Theatre, the first permanent stone theatre in Rome. The building is gone, but its outline survives: the curve of the auditorium is still there in the bend of the surrounding streets and in the cellars of the palazzi built on top of it, so you walk the shape of a theatre without seeing one. On to Piazza Navona, then Largo Argentina, where four Republican temples sit below street level. Which slot you book changes what you get. Morning departures go into the market and meet vendors whose families have had the same pitches for generations. Evening departures get the pasta instead. Meeting point is Piazza Farnese, by the fountain in the middle. The guide holds a sign reading FOOD TOUR.