ROME
Before heading back, I take a quick trip back to Italy - for the pasta...and so
much more. 4 days each in Roma et Firenze. Words can't begin to describe this huge (3.5 million) city
- it's sprawling, chaotic, dirty, confusing, disorganizing,
frustrating...scenic, historic, beautiful, delicious, and thoroughly enjoyable. I'm at a point where I can't keep up with my life...so
here, unedited, are journals and photos from amazing Rome, Italy.
26 Oct - By morning I'm looking for a room (my booking lost), down the street and around the corner to
another hotel. I look at the room. It is depressing...and NO wifi. I cross the
street where Gigi at the Hotel Borromeo actually offers to help me out, opens
his little address book, and starts calling around, finally finding me a
cheaper room in a 4-star, right near Via Veneto (La Dolce Vita). A E10 cab
drops me at the entrance, and I enter a better world where cherubs dance on the
ceilings, and class is written all over. Michele books me right in, I drop
everything in the room and head out into my first day in Roma.
After passing the American Embassy (grand, former palace
of Queen Margherita, built in 1886), I get down to the metro, which M has
instructed me to take to the Vatican. I stop to hire a taxi driver for the day.
He wants E200 for 4 hours! Instead I wait 20 minutes for the Hop on - Hop off
bus, meeting a couple of women from Israel, here on a little spa holiday while
doing some workshops. Then hang
with some wonderful Italians from Firenze, finally loading into the last seat
on the double-decker (cold, windy), winding my way around Rome, gawking and
burning through my camera battery faster than ever. I will return to the
Colosseum and Piazza Venetia.
I hop off at the Vatican, too late for the Pope, but not too
late for a pass at the National Museum, housed in the former cloister (town) of
the popes and bishops in the 6th C., Castel Sant Angelo, with killer views of
Rome from the top. Walking through the little streets and squares I get a real
feel for how they lived back then...like kings!
I wander into the little tourist office (omg, the French
do this sooooo much better!) past street performers and little shops to St.
Pete's Square. It is HUGE! with thousands of people cuing up. Instead I ask a
tour op to recommend a nice little restaurant, and he takes me around the
corner to Satiricus, where Roberto makes an otherwise good lunch fabulous! He
was attentive, fun, and incredibly efficient, handling dozens. When I ask if he
speaks French or English, he speaks flawlessly in both then says he learned so
many languages by working in the restaurant from age 13. He loves his
work...and it shows. I enjoy the plat du jour: a fabulous tomato/basil salad
with a huge buratta, arugula, nice balsamico. There's some bruschetta, a
caraffe of nice red, sparkling water bottle, a deeeeeelicious pasta carbonara,
divine panna cotta...and italian espresso. After no dinner the night
before...and nothing but coffee all day (and an apple later for dinner), it was
perfecto!
It's a long walk home from the last stop, and the
internet in the room isn't working, so I take my laptop down to the bar where
Mauro pours a little amaretto in my caffé and I hang for an hour or so,
catching up.
27 Oct - After a great in-hotel breakfast, I head
downhill via different streets, coming around the back of the palatial US
Embassy, secured by Italian Army, Italian and Rome Police, and local Security. At the bus stop I meet two
Brazilian gals and we observe a whole street of smart cars, plugged in. I hop off at the stazione ferroviaria, where
I take a ticket then cue up for 45 minutes to buy my Thursday train ticket. In
the meantime I enjoy a superb cappuccino and prowl through 2 floors of books at
Borri Books - International Bookstore. Restaurants, a Nike store, Armani...
All set, I head downstairs to the Metro, spend E1.50 for
a ticket and hop off in 2 stops at...the Colosseum! Built in 80AD to hold
50,000 seats for its spectacular games, today it's Italy's largest tourist
attraction, drawing over 5 million per year. It's colossal. Bigger than
imagined. Thousands of visitors are lost in it. History slaps you in the face
then runs away with your imagination. Takes about 2 hours - one to stand in the
line for tickets (hey, it's Italy), one to enjoy this wonder.
I shoot the exterior and the arch, wander a bit, then
decide to head towards the Piazza Venezia, but spy a bike, and Rome (yep, mom
named him after her favorite city) pedals me over, dropping me at a great
little ristorante for ravioli, a nice red, and a break. And a table in the sun.
I pace the piazza then head up the memorial, engrossed in the sculptures, the
levels, another wait for the toilettes, and finally panoramic views of Rome
(half price for seniors) from the top, via el. A brief walk through the museum
(free for press), and if I were a war buff, this would do it for me, but
instead I go down a few levels for the film museum.
Long walk to Trevi Fountain - which is CRAZY with
tourists...AND under construction/repairs. I grab a gelatto then get a E6 taxi
home - whew...musta walked 7-8 miles today and hundreds of steps. nice to be
'home', editing photos and enjoying a
nice Montepulciano. Full day!!
28 Oct - Hiking downhill under overcast skies to Vila Medici, I find it's not open for a
couple hours, with an English-speaking tour (gratuit pour la presse) at noon. I
carefully descend the 136 Spanish Steps, have a little conversation with a lovely
Italian policewoman, brief negotiations with the horse and buggy driver, then
hop on the Metro to Piazza del Popolo, a huge square hanging out in the
sunshine. I tip the guitar soloist, playing Beatles songs while I shoot all
around the piazza. The Leonardo da Vinci museum calls, but I don't have enough
time now. I take a photo of a couple and they offer to take mine. Fellini is
calling me to his Caffé Canova on the town side of the piazza. The cappuccino
is creamy and delicious...pricey, but hey, it's a celebrity. I hand out the
roses I was given (bought) from the Indian in the square, then get chatting
with Angelo, who's been at the cafe 25 years, used to serve Federico Fellini.
Friends of the film maker used to own the café, so he spent lots of time there
every day, being with friends, writing scenes, and drinking his favorite
beverage, fresh mandarin juice. On the way back, I sign a petition for Lautari
and his program for les enfants. The Anglican Church has Vivaldi's Four Seasons
concert tomorrow night. I'd love to go!
The English tour starts as soon as I get back to the 1576
Vila Medici, an extraordinary Renaissance Villa with stunning views of Rome.
Luca is wonderful, speaking English with a French accent. The French Ministry
of Culture & Communication handles this treasure acquired by Napoleon in
1803, who installed the French Academy here. Today they provide an artists in
residence program (18-24 French and others) that piques my interest, and the
details fire up my imagination about the Medicis, the powerful and rowdy popes,
married for power and loaded with scandal. Porno art, 400 residents and 40
prostitutes, tons of legitimate and illegitimate children, messages in the
commissioned art...lascivious times - not virgin Mary and Jesus. Fascinating. I
could do a book about the Medicis! I order a jambon panini and red for the view
over Rome and am joined by Parisian, Nicola, here as an intern at the Palace.
We have a great conversation in French/English, then he buys me a café, and we
linger.
Another 136 steps down (huge crowd now) the Spanish
Steps, and I'm not far to Barberini Palazzo...just past the Spanish Embassy,
half mile down the shopping street, around the piazza, and up the hill.
Caravaggio's Man with a Lute takes the first exhibit, then a stroll through the
neglected gardens of the palazzo before entering the palace for the regular
exhibit (gratuit and good thing since a whole floor was closed today due to a
shortage of personnel - despite there being 2 in every room on the other floors).
Amazing Art: Caravaggios, Raphaels, Garofalos, Berninis, Tintorettos, El
Grecos, Renaissance, Roman, and Venetian. A quick taxi uphill (just couldn't
walk any more), a vodka/tonic at the hotel bar (Mauro translating for the
bartender), and up to my room to download and edit and write...
And sleep.
29 Oct - All out today! Take the S steps labyrinth
underground to the Metro to the Vatican, where street hawker, Eslam, negotiates
me (!!) into the Maya Tours office just
as Jad is heading out with his group. I jump on...and am glad I did from the
moment I spot the HUGE lines. Waiting another hour or two just isn't in my plans
today. A rare Syrian Christian, Jad Butri is the only Arabic guide at the
Vatican. He came in 2010 under diplomatic coverage (his family is under the
protection of Assad) to Florence to get his PhD in archeology. His thesis is
about the old monasteries being destroyed in Syria. We do the gardens, in and
out, the museums (Renaissance art, sculptures, Raphael rooms...), and famed
Sistine Chapel (jewel of the Vatican), where young (31) Michelangelo initially
refused the job (he was a sculptor not a painter), but one doesn't refuse
popes, so after working three weeks with painters and studying bodies from
tombs, he told them to leave...and he worked alone, finishing just four years
later in 1512. At 61 he did the Last Judgment, and a month after he died, one
of his students covered up the naked bodies for the new pope. The 1979-99
restoration was financed by Japan. Here Jad leaves us to continue with the
Basilica, built by a brain trust of Renaissance architects, capped with
Michelangelo's dome. Inside - an enormous space, filled with priceless jewels,
artworks, and the famous Pièta. The Basilica is Italy's 'largest, richest, and
most spectacular church', protected by 150 Swiss guards, who live here with 550
clergy.
Exhausted, I stop in Ai Fienaroli near my hotel for a
lovely late lunch: fresh ravioli, stuffed with chestnut puréé, buratta, and
black truffles with a porcini mushroom sauce and a nice sangiovese. The
flavours are delicate, unique, seasonal and sensational...Divine! (I could
write poems about this food!) Simoné insists (I've learned to let the waiter
guide my decisions) I try the ricotta mousse with pistacios and chocolate with
my caffé. Ridiculously delicioso!! I'm
on a food high. I want to linger, enjoy watching the lively families, couples,
and business associates. An afternoon affair would be perfeto! He brings a
chilled limoncello instead.
I had planned the best for last, so I stroll through the
park (filled with electric carts, bicycles, segways, scooters, children, and
lovers) to the Borghese Palace, stuffed with important art masters...and NO
lines. They keep the crowds to a minimum by limiting entrance, which requires
reservations days in advance, and mine's from 5 to 7.
After dark when I leave and just three blocks from my
hotel, I take a few wrong turns and get lost, arriving back (finally) 30
minutes later. I'm missing my gps and flashlight on my long-gone iPhone.
Rome is exhausting and exhilarating...here's one last peek
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