Eat Italy: the app you’ve been waiting for

I bet you thought it would never really happen, but I’ve finally finished my app! Eat Italy is officially out into the world, and available for downloading on your nearest iPhone, iPad or iTouch.

Why an app? I don’t think a day goes by when I don’t get a call or email from someone (or someone’s aunt. Or someone’s aunt’s dentist) who is coming to Rome and wants to have a few restaurant suggestions. I’ve gotten pretty good over the years at having a list ready and waiting. Easy enough to forward far and wide. But the problem was that as the list grew, it also grew unwieldy. The list included not only the places I’ve written about over the years for magazines like Food & Wine and Town & Country, but also my own personal favorites.

It was long, and not in any particular order. Also, once I handed it out, there was no way to update it from afar.

Eventually I started posting the list on my website and on my blog. But since it was always just a list, it was never that easy to use. I thought that someday, somehow I would manage to get this list into some sort of shape that was easy for everyone to download and use.

That day is here. I was lucky enough to work with a fantastic new App publisher, Sutro Media, who did all the hard, behind-the-scenes stuff. All that coding and interface development? They took care of it. All I had to do was enter in my expert knowledge and photographs and voila’: Eat Italy. 

Well, not really voila’. Eat Italy is the result of my many years of eating and living in Rome, all boiled down in one handy, nifty app. But don’t go expecting exhaustive. If you want ALL the restaurants in Rome there are tons of guide books out there – in English and Italian. Eat Italy is simply what I think is the best. In other words, these are all places that I go to, love and would send friends to.

You’ll find most of the entries are located in the historic center of Rome, since that’s the area most convenient for the majority of folks. In addition to restaurants, I’ve also included things like wine bars, coffee bars, bakeries, and kitchen stores. I plan on adding more categories in the future, like butchers and picnic spots. And if you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear from you. And I’ll constantly be adding new entries, so stay in touch either on this blog, or by becoming a fan of Eat Italy on Facebook. (and yes, at least for the next couple of years, all updates are included free)

If you’re planning a trip to Rome, make sure you buy and download Eat Italy before you leave, to avoid roaming charges. Once you’re in Italy, all of the features will be on your iPhone or iPad, even if you’re offline.

For now Eat Italy is only available on iTunes, and so visible on iPhone, iTouch and iPad. But the company that I work with, Sutro Media, is working on getting the guides onto other platforms like Android real soon.

To buy Eat Italy simply log onto iTunes from your computer or the App Store directly from your iPhone, iPad or iTouch. Type in Eat Italy in the upper right search box, or else follow this link.