The bar in question is officially called Specs’ Twelve Adler Museum Cafe, but everyone just calls it Specs’. I don’t recall exactly when I first discovered the joint but I’ve been a regular ever since. To the uninitiated, visiting Specs’ is like walking into a Tom Waits song.

Photo by Leigh Cuen Italy is not a cheap place to travel. Expensive culinary delights call out to pedestrians like sirens. Italy’s famous museums are costly and offer the crowded feeling of Disneyland or a zoo. Visitors are herded past masterpieces in lines, which often snake around corners and out