Why is traveling so special?

Traveling is broadening our perspective, knowledge and culture. Traveling is treating ourselves with an opportunity to be worry-less, to run away from our stressful lives, and to think (or not think at all, as we feel like it). Traveling teaches about other people's habits and history, and it often makes you value home in one way or the other. The dangerous thing about traveling is that it can get quite addictive. The more you travel, the more you wanna keep exploring the world.

Because at INSEAD we are definitely all big addicts, a cool group of us went to Rome last weekend. And what a weekend it was.

Three of my Roman friends (Ale, Stef and Tommaso), supported by a few other Italians, organized three glorious days for us. Ale and Stef hosted most of (the 30 of) us, and the three of them prepared a real plan for the weekend.

We arrived in Rome late in the afternoon on Friday, and met at the rooftop of the Grand Hotel de la Minerve for aperitif. The view from there was absolutely stunning, and the finger food and drinks made everyone's tummies able to wait for a 11 pm Italian dinner. From there, we walk to the restaurant, passing by Piazza Navona and other important monuments. We then had dinner at Ale's favorite restaurant, Giulio Passami l'olio - pasta for everyone, tagliata for me. To finish the evening right, we did some bar hopping around Piazza del Fico, Campo dei Fiori, and so.

Saturday was literally an epic day. It started at 11:15 am, at Galleria Borghese - once the house of  Cardinal Scipione Borghese, and nowadays the best museum in the city with artwork from Bernini, Caravaggio, Raffaelo, Casanova, and other superstars. Around 20 of us did a guided tour around Galleria, with probably the best guide alive. Two hours later, we were all impressed with what we learnt and saw inside. We then walked in the Villa Borghese gardens, and met at Pincio, where we had a quick bite. From there, our Roman friends guided us in a walk through the city centre - Pincio, Trinità Dei Monti, Piazza di Spagna, Via Condotti, Via del Corso, Fontana di Trevi, Quirinale, Monti (an ice-cream place in the hipster neighbourhood , and Colosseo. It is absolutely unbelievable how much history and beauty fits within just a few square kilometres.

Around 6 pm, after having walked about 16 km already, we went home for a quick rest and shower.

At 8:40 pm, we met for probably my favourite event of the weekend: Viaggio nei Fori, a journey through Ancient Rome. It is a night trip through part of the Forum of Caesar, with movies, reconstructions, light signalling and explanations, that makes you feel back in that era. It is quite hard to explain what it consists of, but let me tell you that it has probably been the best touristy activity I have ever been to. I highly recommend anyone visiting Rome to do so.

Around 11 pm, we were sit at Nonna Betta in the Ghetto, the Jewish neighbourhood, for some Roman Jewish food. Not bad! After dinner, we were supposed to go to the opening night of Master's 1000 of Rome at BallRoom in Foro Italico, but the event got cancelled and we ended up going to a trashy club. 

On Sunday, we had another lovely day. At 1 pm, we met at Baja for "brunch". Bear in mind that, in Italy, brunch is a buffet of Italian food. Baja is a boat parked in the margins of the Tiber, that was once a club and now is a very pleasant restaurant. Food was good and everyone enjoyed this de-hangovering event. From there, we went to Ale's favourite ice-cream place (I have no idea how people still managed to have an ice-cream after brunch), and then the touristy stuff restarted. We walked through Castel Sant'Angelo, initially built as a mausoleum for the emperor Adriano, but later converted into a fortress for the Popes. Following that, we visited the magnificent San Pietro. Gorda had never been in Rome so I really wanted to make sure he checked all the most important monuments in town. San Pietro is probably one of the most impressive things built my mankind. It is probably the main concentration of wealth in the world as well. Despite its beauty, monumentality and view, I always feel sad when I go there. It is quite striking to me that such a spiritual place is so rich as well. Imagine what could have been done in the world with all the money invested in Vaticano... Going up the Cupola was extremely special though. What a view from up there...

From San Pietro, Gorda left back home and we went for an Aperitif in town, while the boys went to the Roma-Juventus football match. Dinner was at Stef's favourite pizza place. This time, it was hard for me to resist a damn good looking pizza, but so did I. Almost cried but my last meal in Rome was grilled chicken, Italian style...

Again, I need to thank my Roman friends for such an organization, especially Stef, who hosted Gorda and me.