Two of Rome's best food markets in one morning — Campo de' Fiori for the theatre and the flowers, Testaccio for the serious eating. The fruttarolo who knows my name, the norcineria with the oldest cured meats in the city, and arancini at a counter that has been there since before my grandmother was born.

The Rome that exists in my family's kitchen — supplì at the best counter in the city, pasta e ceci at a trattoria that has had four tables since 1948, and a mercato visit where my mother still shops every Tuesday.

My family's kitchen in Trastevere, my grandmother's recipe, your hands. We make cacio e pepe, amatriciana, and gricia from scratch — and then we eat what we make, with wine.

The Aventine is the quietest hill in Rome — no queues, no tour buses, just a medieval knights' garden with a perfect keyhole view of the Vatican, a Benedictine monastery where monks still make their own jam, and orange trees planted by Mussolini.

The Roman Forum is overwhelming if you don't know what you're looking at. I do a 2-hour tour that strips it down to the 8 things that actually matter — and I'll stand in the exact spot where Julius Caesar was cremated.

Rome has 3,000 years of city stacked on top of itself. We go down — into a 1st-century apartment building under a medieval church, through a Mithraic temple under a basilica, and into a layer of Rome that most people don't know exists.

Rome's nightlife isn't in the Centro Storico — it's in Pigneto and Ostiense, where the locals actually go. We do an aperitivo hour, three bars, and end up at a live music venue that books jazz and electronic in the same week.

Rome isn't just ancient — MAXXI is one of Europe's best contemporary art museums and most visitors never go. I take you through the collection and then through the galleries in Pigneto and Ostiense that are showing the most interesting work happening right now.