Grazie Mille, Tom

In a place like Italy, you would be wise to take the word of people who know.

That's how we'd eaten at Cafe Duomo and Osteria della Suburra and had wonderful meals.

Tonight I reverted to a favorite source, Tom Sietsema of "The Washington Post."

After last night's traditional take on Roman eats, we wanted a more modern interpretation for this, our final dinner.

Based on his "Postcard from Rome" installment, we took our first taxi of this trip to Ristorante Ditirambo on the Piazza della Cancellerio.

One look as we got out of the cab and we knew we'd been steered right.

As is typical, a small but charming patio fronted several brightly-lit rooms inside and the smells emanating from there were intoxicating.

Further proof that it was our kind of place was the massive wine list which provided too many good choices for one night.

Eventually, I chose a Sicilian, only this time our server expressed no disgust for not choosing a more local grape.

Remembering how much we'd like the Occhipinti we'd had at our farewell dinner at Ipanema the night before coming to Italy, I chose another of the young winemaker's offerings.

This time it was the SP 68 A. Occhipinti, a blend of Frappato and Nero d'Avola and an excellent choice if I do say so myself.

My partner in crime was sold from the first beautifully floral notes and from there we savored the fresh, earthy red fruit flavors and gloated over our luck in finding it.

From there things got even better.

An antipasto of seafood showed the kitchen's modern take on classic Roman food.

Octopus salad with ginger skewed Asian, while vegetable tartare with shrimp and lime was a nod to Mexicali.

Smoked salt cod with red peppercorns was the closest to a traditional take and the smoked amberjack carpaccio with fennel and orange was melt-in-your mouth silky.

After so generous a first plate, we took a break to watch the street theater and sip our vino before proceeding.

Next up was pappardelle made with spelt flour and covered in a rabbit meat sauce with sun-dried tomatoes and (yet again) ewe's cheese.

I can now say I understand the etymology of the word pappardelle, deriving as it does from "pappare," meaning to gobble up.

And gobble we did.

The broad, flat, fettuccine-like noodles in this clever take on a Bolognese sauce was once again making this pasta-indifferent eater obsessed with noodles.

The rabbit and sun-dried tomato sauce was spot-on, meaty and sweet and deliciously delivered via the wide noodles.

If I was uninterested in pasta before this trip, I think it'll only be harder to find any I can love once we get home.

But we'll see.

The Scandinavian girls at the table next to us seemed to be enjoying their food and wine every bit as much as we were and beyond them, we didn't much notice anyone else.

With food and wine like this for our final night of holiday, it was difficult at best to do anything but focus on the tiny table in front of us.

Eventually we moved on to dessert, a hazelnut mousse as well as a chocolate mousse so thick as to be halfway to gelato, but no complaints were heard from either of us.

Well, maybe just one small thing didn't sit well.

Tomorrow we go home.

All good things must come to an end...at least for the short term.