Tea Time: Pasticceria Valzani in Trastevere, Rome

We happened to stumble across this little gem of a pasticceria in our neighborhood the night we arrived in Rome, Christmas Eve. It was well past 7 pm when we went by, but they were thankfully still open!
Valzani is more of a chocolate/sweet shop than a pasticceria, so don't go there looking for a good pastry. But do head over in search of some marzipan, cannoli, and cute chocolate pieces!
I don't think that Valzani's interior has been updated since it opened, as it still retains its somewhat dated 'old-world' appeal. But it's quaint, and everything was quite clean.
Service isn't the friendliest, at least not for us non-Italian speakers. The grandmother-type woman who runs the cash register doesn't speak any English but was kind enough. The younger granddaughter who did speak some English was a bit surly both times we were in. Not sure if she's that way to Italians too, though. On our third and final visit, another younger woman was working who also spoke some English and was very slightly nicer than the first woman. Oh well. Pretty sure they don't need great service in order to continue attracting customers!
The first night, we got a cannoli and some marzipan fruit. And also a chocolate-covered marzipan, if I remember correctly. Cannoli was amazing but Keila scarfed most of it before I could get more than a couple of bites. The fruit marzipan were slightly bitter on the edges due to whatever coloring was used. Pity, since the interior was quite tasty. Chocolate marzipan was equally delicious.
The second time we stopped back in was simply to get Keila a piece of butterfly milk chocolate (they have all sorts of chocolate shapes for sale). Surly woman #1 really didn't seem impressed that we were only buying 1 piece. The grandmother was again quite kind, though, especially after my bungled attempt to tell her Merry Christmas in Italian.
For our third and final visit, we bought a small chocolate ganache-covered torte (a Sacher Torte, which I'll explain in a minute),which cost us 14 euros. Ouch. But we did the math in advance and figured since it was going to last 2 nights, it was about the same price as we'd pay for dessert both nights anywhere else. And on holiday, I eat dessert every night!
  Unfortunately, this lovely chocolate cake was somewhat marred by a apricot puree layer in the middle. I am simply not a fan of chocolate/fruit anything. Bummer. I still suffered through it, but it could've been so much better! My better half declared it 'Ok but way too sweet'. No disagreements there; I just happen to not mind large amounts of sugar! Overall consensus: not the best cake I've ever had by far, berries or not: it was a bit drier than we'd been expecting, and while the ganache was solidly good, it was not amazing.
***Side note...we didn't realize this at the time, but the original Sacher Torte is Viennese. Had we know what exactly a Sacher Torte was, we would've realized in advance that it had apricot filling inside. Why Valzani is selling a Sacher torte, I'm not sure? I also just read that it's reputed to be the best Sacher torte in Rome, beloved by a famous Roman film director. Yes, it was good...but I won't say it was THAT good! Perhaps I'm just more of a French-style pastry fan, however..***
Final verdict for Valzani? Go if you can! It won't be life-changing chocolate (unless you really like Sacher tortes!), but the cannoli is pretty darn good, and their other sweets won't disappoint by any means.

Pasticceria Valzani. Via del Moro 37b Rome, Italy 00153


   Valzani's display window on Christmas Eve