IN PURSUIT of ADVENTURE
Eat. Drink. Live Local.
In Pursuit of AdventureExploring the world, one culture at a time.
  • Start Here
  • EAT
    • Eat Local In
      • North America
        • Mexico City
        • Havana
        • Tulum
        • Santa Barbara
        • Disneyland
        • Lodi
        • Healdsburg
        • New Orleans
        • Portland, OR
        • Nashville
      • Europe
        • Rome
        • El Born, Barcelona
        • Athens
        • Sofia
        • Lisbon
        • Amsterdam
        • Zagreb
        • Dubrovnik
        • Thessaloniki
        • Paris
          • Le Marais
    • Cuisine
  • DRINK
    • Wine, Beer and Cocktails
    • Recipes
    • Sunday Wine Down
  • LIVE
    • Travel Advice
    • Travelogue
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • North America
  • Destinations
    • Africa
      • Ghana
      • Morocco
    • Asia
      • Cambodia
      • Malaysia
      • Nepal
      • Thailand
    • Central America
      • Cuba
      • Nicaragua
    • Europe
      • Andorra
      • Belgium
      • Bulgaria
      • Croatia
      • Czech Republic
      • France
      • Greece
      • Hungary
      • Iceland
      • Ireland
      • Italy
      • Netherlands
      • Portugal
      • Romania
      • Spain
      • Turkey
      • UK
    • Middle East
      • UAE
    • Oceania
      • Australia
    • North America
      • Mexico
      • United States
    • South America
      • Peru
  • Podcast
  • Shop
    • Art Prints
    • Apparel
menu
facebook twitter insta pinterest stumbleupon google plus

Abbey Theater, Where Everybody Knows Your Name

by Alex and Ashley - September 14, 2014 - 8 comments

We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

Maybe I am different or maybe I am the same as everybody else; I want a place where I can go and get away from everyday life, a place where everybody knows your name. While living in a Rome I had a hard time finding a group to fit into. I was 18 years old, had just moved to a new country and was feeling a bit homesick. I needed a place that was familiar, I need a place where I could escape Rome even if it was just for a night. Bennie Mangiardi found me that place. Bennie was a junior at my school when I started out and she told me to come out one night with her to a place she called The Abbey. I did not know at the time but I was about to walk into place that would change my entire future when it came to Rome. I had finally found a place I could call home in the eternal city.

165652_1632320900377_2748099_n

Abbey at its finest!

Now I have tried to write this article about three times now. I got rid all of them because I had been having trouble getting the feel of the Abbey just right. It is not easy to convey why a place is so special.  The Abbey Theater is an Irish pub on the corner down an alleyway in central Rome. It does not stick out, it has nothing flashy to point it out; it is just a pub on the corner. That is what first drew me to place as Bennie took me to this pub. It was off the beaten track and away from the noise and public display of drunkenness of Campo de Fiori. When I stepped inside the Abbey for the first time I felt as I had left Rome. People turned and looked at who was coming in and they all seemed to recognize Bennie and they all greeted her. Names were being yelled and inside jokes are being said as we enter the front of the main bar of the pub. The volume was upbeat in the pub as everybody seem to know everybody in the bar. English was the primary language spoken in the pub. I knew instantly that this was a place I wanted become apart of. I was hooked before I even knew what I got myself in for.

246703_10100254503709357_5665906_n

Abbey is where I met Ashley. Thank God I did!

38405_1425598012434_1353728_n

Mangiardi, my mentor, and Simba!

A lot of my life in Rome was spent at the Abbey after that night. I slowly became a familiar face in the bar and became friends with some of the other regulars. The place became a home to me and my friends became family. It was a place I could escape to, a place where I knew a good time was going to happen.  A place that had a wake for Bennie when she moved away from Rome. A place where you can sit side by side with a Catholic priest in a Dallas Cowboy Jacket and watch a game of football and enjoy a shot and a beer. A place where Ashley and I met and got caught on camera for the whole bar to see making out in the stairway. The place where if you did not watch your drink carefully a manic bartender would steal your drink right out of your hand and say, “ oh was that yours?” as he drinks it down. A place were bets are taken seriously and if you lose you will pay dearly. I lost of full head of hair, buzzed off in the bathrooms, over a bet once. Or you may find yourself sitting next to a Irish man with red hair comfortably asleep at the bar.

10391727_1227236693525_2921466_n

Mangiardi’s wake! Here is to her!

231147_1067687904905_3600349_n

Mangiardi and Sleepy Sam! Sam could sleep anywhere.  I miss the Abbey.

222969_1083214613063_4180351_n

Best Friends enjoying drinks. Abbey at its best.

Jameson flows freely as well as many other shots. Days and nights were spent at the Abbey, closing the place out after hours smoking cigarettes and gulping down a few more beers as the bartenders closes down. Then we would all leave through a side door that spits you out into alleyway as you pull your coat tighter in the winter and light up another cigarette for the late night walk home. We would all say goodbye and the usual see you tomorrow. Leaving Abbey was hard but usually well advised, as I began my walk home, back out in real life to responsibilities until I was back there tomorrow with a beer in my hand.

224603_503622185793_4951379_n

Mangiardi and I at our finest! Thanks for bringing me to the Abbey Mangiardi!

I always knew that no matter how bad things got I could always count on the Abbey to pick me back up. I often think of the Abbey since I left Rome and have kept in touch with some of the regulars. It is no longer apart of my everyday life but I know it will always be on that corner inviting new people in with open arms and giving them a bit of an escape from reality. Abbey Theater was a home for people displaced from their homes were we all understood what it was to be an immigrant in a new country. This is where we can go, relax and relate with other folks. The first thing that I will do when we land in Rome is head straight to the Abbey and sit at the bar and have beer and meet the new inhabitants of the pub. Abbey Theater will always be a home away from home.

44339_462682921284_5151155_n

Just outside the Abbey with the crew!

208502_1062334011061_3477055_n

Abbey is home and the regulars are family!

10392164_1197381867173_6239343_n

Abbey in Sweatpants! Mangiardi teaching me how it is done.

 

This post is part of the #WeekendWanderlust and the #SundayTraveler Series.  This week A Southern Gypsy has an awesome post about top things to do before 30, like sail around the world!  We are so in!

Weekend-Wanderlust-Logo

 

Check out the #SundayTraveler hosts Chasing the Donkey who are all about Croatia!  If you have ever wanted to visit they are the people to go to for advice on this beautiful country.

 

SUNDAY-TRAVELER-BADGE-BLUE1

 

 

 

 

 

 

Share this? <br />Share on Facebook
Facebook
0Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Pin on Pinterest
Pinterest
0Share on StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon
0Share on Tumblr
Tumblr
0Email this to someone
email

Related

Alex and Ashley

We are Ashley and Alex and we're foodies and boozies who eat, drink and live local. Our goal is to scour the globe looking for inside local tips, the best places to eat and the best places to drink with the locals. We are also authors of a culinary guidebook, "Eat Local in Barcelona: A Guide to Catalan Cuisine." This guidebook is all about learning how what and where to eat and drink local in Barcelona. Follow along with our adventures, so that you too can eat, drink and live local!

Related

8 thoughts on “Abbey Theater, Where Everybody Knows Your Name”

  1. SJ @ Chasing the Donkey says:
    September 14, 2014 at 16:31

    What fun times!!! So glad you found a group of mates. Thanks for linking up to #SundayTraveler and your kind words about our blog.

    Reply
  2. Adelina | PackMeTo says:
    September 15, 2014 at 15:33

    It’s really important to have a place when living abroad where you can have some semblance of what is normal. Glad you were able to find it at the Abbey. Thanks for linking up to the #SundayTraveler!

    Reply
  3. Lauren says:
    September 16, 2014 at 04:12

    I love that you’ve shared such fond memories with us! It sounds like you really felt at home there, which is fantastic when you’re living in a new place. Thanks so much for linking up to #WeekendWanderlust!

    Reply
  4. CarmensTravelTips says:
    September 18, 2014 at 14:27

    What a great story. It’s fun when you find a local pub and get to know all the locals. Thanks for linking up to #WeekendWanderlust.

    Reply
  5. Jess says:
    September 20, 2014 at 02:38

    Sounds like a fun place! I would love to have a ‘home’ pub like that.

    Reply
  6. Pingback: Rome City Guide | In Pursuit of Adventure
  7. Pingback: How I Was Able to Fund My Life in Rome | In Pursuit of Adventure
  8. Pingback: Eat Local in Portland | Our Guide to Eating Your Way Through Portland in 48 Hours | In Pursuit of Adventure

Leave a Reply to SJ @ Chasing the Donkey Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

About Us

We are Ashley and Alex and we're foodies and boozies who eat, drink and live local. Our goal is to scour the globe looking for inside local tips, the best places to eat and the best places to drink with the locals. We are also authors of a culinary guidebook, "Eat Local in Barcelona: A Guide to Catalan Cuisine." This guidebook is all about learning how, what and where to eat and drink local in Barcelona. Find out more in the link below! Follow along with our adventures, so that you too can eat, drink and live local!

Eat Local in Barcelona

By C Alexander Sexton, Ashley Babin

  • Eat Local in Rome | Our Guide to Eating and Drinking Locally in the Eternal City
    Eat Local in Rome | Our Guide to Eating and Drinking Locally in the Eternal City
  • Eat Local in Tulum - A Guide to Eating Locally in the Mexican Riviera
    Eat Local in Tulum - A Guide to Eating Locally in the Mexican Riviera
  • Lima to Huacachina: Exploring the Only Desert Oasis in South America
    Lima to Huacachina: Exploring the Only Desert Oasis in South America
  • Cancun to Cuba - Everything You Need to Know
    Cancun to Cuba - Everything You Need to Know
  • Top 9 Tips for First Time Visitors to Rome - AKA How Not To Go INSANE While Visiting the Eternal City
    Top 9 Tips for First Time Visitors to Rome - AKA How Not To Go INSANE While Visiting the Eternal City
  • Happy Hour in San Juan del Sur | Who Needs Sunday Funday??
    Happy Hour in San Juan del Sur | Who Needs Sunday Funday??
  • Escape from Lima | A Peruvian Adventure with Peru Hop
    Escape from Lima | A Peruvian Adventure with Peru Hop
  • Top 5 Tapas Bars in Barcelona
    Top 5 Tapas Bars in Barcelona
  • Travel Blogging: A Love Hate Relationship
    Travel Blogging: A Love Hate Relationship
  • Eat Local in El Born | Our Guide on How to Eat and Drink Local in El Born, Barcelona
    Eat Local in El Born | Our Guide on How to Eat and Drink Local in El Born, Barcelona

Looking for something?

Follow us on Snapchat @PursuitAdventur or just snap a picture of our code!

This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: No connected account.

Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to connect an account.

  • Start Here
  • EAT
    • Eat Local In
      • North America
        • Mexico City
        • Havana
        • Tulum
        • Santa Barbara
        • Disneyland
        • Lodi
        • Healdsburg
        • New Orleans
        • Portland, OR
        • Nashville
      • Europe
        • Rome
        • El Born, Barcelona
        • Athens
        • Sofia
        • Lisbon
        • Amsterdam
        • Zagreb
        • Dubrovnik
        • Thessaloniki
        • Paris
          • Le Marais
    • Cuisine
  • DRINK
    • Wine, Beer and Cocktails
    • Recipes
    • Sunday Wine Down
  • LIVE
    • Travel Advice
    • Travelogue
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • North America
  • Destinations
    • Africa
      • Ghana
      • Morocco
    • Asia
      • Cambodia
      • Malaysia
      • Nepal
      • Thailand
    • Central America
      • Cuba
      • Nicaragua
    • Europe
      • Andorra
      • Belgium
      • Bulgaria
      • Croatia
      • Czech Republic
      • France
      • Greece
      • Hungary
      • Iceland
      • Ireland
      • Italy
      • Netherlands
      • Portugal
      • Romania
      • Spain
      • Turkey
      • UK
    • Middle East
      • UAE
    • Oceania
      • Australia
    • North America
      • Mexico
      • United States
    • South America
      • Peru
  • Podcast
  • Shop
    • Art Prints
    • Apparel
facebook twitter insta pinterest google plus
In Pursuit of Adventure
Site design by
Kyle Rousseau
© 2014 - 2021