7.5 / 10 Comedyroma... Direct

"Arthur, this menu has a picture of a pizza on it," Clara whispered, her voice tight with judgment. "We are in the Prati district. There should be a nonna in the back crying over a pot of sauce, or I’m not eating."

Transitions from "Tourist Trap" to "Gritty Authentic." The Conflict: High expectations vs. messy reality. 7.5 / 10 ComedyRoma...

The restaurant was a basement. The lighting was provided by a flickering neon sign for a defunct beer brand. Their waiter, a man named Enzo who looked like he had personally fought in the Punic Wars, didn't give them menus. He simply placed a carafe of house red—which tasted suspiciously like high-quality vinegar—on the table and grunted. "This is it," Clara beamed. "The real thing." "Arthur, this menu has a picture of a

Arthur believed that three days in Rome could fix a decade of polite silence. He had planned everything: the sunset at Janiculum Hill, the private tour of the Pantheon, and a curated list of the city’s most pretentious wine bars. What he hadn’t planned on was Clara’s sudden, inexplicable obsession with finding the "authentic" Rome. messy reality

Developing a with dialogue for Enzo and the couple.

As Enzo walked by, he slapped Arthur on the back—hard enough to rattle his teeth—and shouted something in a dialect that wasn't Italian so much as it was a series of rhythmic growls. Arthur didn't understand a word, but he found himself laughing. He looked at Clara, who was currently trying to use a piece of crusty bread to defend her wine glass from a moth.

Arthur took a bite. The black pepper hit him like a physical blow. "It’s... aggressive," he managed to say.