Mark Strand recommends Formaggiomania

If you think you know your cheese, or would like to know more, try Formaggiomania (aka Volpetti) for an amazing experience. Here is what my friend, the former US Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winning poet, Mark Strand says in City Secrets Rome:

Formaggiomania

When I go to Rome, I do the things that a visitor there usually does. That is, I look at the Caravaggios, go to the Vatican, visit the Villa Giulia. I eat out at Piperno and Vecchia Roma. I might even buy a pair of shoes. But the thing I do that most visitors probably do not is visit Formaggiomania, the best cheese store in Rome. The variety of Italian country cheeses there is unsurpassed, and one may sample as many as one likes before settling on what three or four to buy. And the breads, salame, and hams are also superb. The owner, E. Volpetti, has a little pizza place around the corner. It is perfect for a casual no-frills lunch. A terrific excursion is to walk from the Janiculum Hill down to Porta Portese and out on via Marmorata to the Protestant Cemetery, where one can check out the cats, stare a minute or two at Keats's grave, then head back to Formaggiomania for a glass or two of wine and some slices of astonishingly good pizza. After lunch, a walk over the Aventine with stops at Sant'Anselmo and Santa Sabina to Santa Maria in Cosmedin! On a clear day there is nothing better.

Mark Strand
Poet