Kristina

Day 3 Continued

From there, our goal was the Capitoline Museums to which none of us had ever been. We took tram #8 to Largo Argentina and transferred to the first bus which would get us close to the where it looked like the museum was on the map.

Rome Lesson #357: Sometimes it’s hard to tell where things are from the map, and where the closest bus stop is.

The Capitoline Museums (and there are two, right across the Piazza Campidoglio from each other) are essentially at the top of the Cordonata (Michelangelo’s grand staircase) next to the right side of the Vittorio Emmanualle monument.

Unfortunately, the bus did not stop until it had gone around and to the far side of the Piazza Venezia so we had to walk back and up the steps on the left in between the Forum and the monument.

Capitoline Museums
One entrance fee gets you into both the Palazzo Nuovo and the Palazzo dei Conservatori (www.museicapitolini.org). You must enter through the Palazzo dei Conservatori.

Now was the moment of truth; would our Roma Pass cards work for the 2nd free entrance? We followed the signs for Roma Pass holders, by-passing the ticket window, and went straight to the security line. They scanned our cards, and let us in. Easy. Yes, I was relieved.

There is a free coat check locker room right inside the entrance. Put your stuff in an empty locker and take the key. There are also basic maps in there but we ended up using the DK Eyewitness Guide much morr. Looking back, the info in the guidebook was pretty scarce on what was actually there.

The famous giant head, hands and feet of the colossal statue of Constantine are right there in the courtyard and we had the place to ourselves for a full 10 minutes. The rest of the museum is huge, spanning two building with many floors. It’s overwhelming and I know we missed a lot (including apparently a special Michelangelo exhibit!). It’s also nowhere near as crowded as some of the other museums in town. There are the remains of a temple of Jupiter and the museum is built right around it. I can't possibly explain everything we saw, but there will be plenty on photos on my web site.

One of the best things is the view from the area between the two museums overlooking the forum. Thanks to Marcy for telling us about this. To get between the two museums there is an underground passageway beneath the piazza. In the middle is an offshoot. Go up the steps and walk toward the light. You will be rewarded with the most fantastic view.
By the second museum we are starting to flag a bit, but we enjoy the sculptures and the temple ruins nonetheless.

Afterward, we exit from the Palazzo Nuovo, walk across the piazza, show our keys at the entrance and pick up our coats. We want to use the bathroom before we leave, which turns out to be big mistake. We follow the direction of a security guard and down the stairs and all the way across the passage to the second museum we go. If there was a closer one to the coat check, we do not see it.

We sit in the Piazza and pull out my trusty guide, looking for where to go for lunch. The Ghetto neighborhood is walking distance so we set out to find Sora Margarhita. But first we have to take one last look at the view.

Tip: if you don’t have time to see the view from inside the Capitoline Museum viewpoint, go up to the Piazza Campidoglio and head to the right side of the Palazzo Senatorio building. Go under the ancient archway connecting the two buildings and check out the view from there. It’s a slightly different perspective, but still stunning. In fact, I think this one might be slightly better because you can see the Coliseum more clearly from this angle.

TDudette

Just another reason to go back! We haven't made it inside in several visits-always waiting for bad weather that never comes.

LowCountryIslander

Oh I hope you made it to Sora Margarhita. I had that on my "go to list", but just ran out of time!

TDudette

And yet another reason to go back! DH and I are of the "stumble onto a wonderful place" school. We seem to get lost looking for particular places...like Cul de Sac.

Kristina

Sora Margherita

When is a restaurant not really a restaurant?

Question: When is a restaurant not really a restaurant?
Answer: When it’s a “cultural association.”

It takes us a while and as usual, we get a little lost, wandering in the Ghetto. In fact, we have to stop and ask someone for directions and end up back in a Piazza where we’d just been five minutes before. It’s no surprise because this place has no sign or visible entrance, unless you know what you’re looking for.
Stand in the Piazza delle Cinque Scole and look for the doorway with the long red ribbons/ropes (the kind used to keep flying insects out). See it? Then look closer at a metal plate on the wall next to the doorway and you’ll see that someone has hand painted “Sora Margherita” on it.

There is a gentleman standing in the doorway, policing all who dare to enter. We ask for a table for four. He hesitates and tells us we will have to wait about 20 minutes. It’s a little after 1:30PM and the small place is packed with people. We sit in the sunshine on a couple of folding chairs and wait, watching the crowd of mostly locals come and wait too. We chat for a while with a guy, also waiting, who teaches at a nearby school. He tells us “everything is good” here.

Finally they are ready to seat us and we squeeze our way to the back room and to a table for four. We’re asked if we’ve been before and when we say we have not, we’re given little cards to fill out to join the “cultural association.” Apparently, this is how they get around following certain rules and inspections governing restaurants. We are presented with a hand written menu on brown butcher paper.

We select a little of everything from the menu to try. The grilled and marinated eggplant is cooked to perfection. The typical carciofi alla giudea (a fried and flattened artichoke) is wonderful. Usually I have not liked this version as much as the marinated alla romana, but here it was wonderful, crispy and tender at the same time.

We get an order of agnolotti (a stuffed pasta like a ravioli) which comes filled with beef. We’d ordered it with a sugo di carne sauce (a tomato sauce with beef). If I’d realized the filling had meat in it, I would have ordered it with a different sauce, like pesto. Almost all the pastas came with a choice of sauce. We also order the rigatoni di pajata, which I love, but is not something for everyone. In fact, just like last year, our server clarified that I knew what I was ordering when I asked for it. For an explanation of pajata, please see my page from last year on this dish http://www.wired2theworld.com/ROME2008Day7.html (near the bottom of the page).

To round out the main meal, we get an order of meatballs and an order of eggplant parmesan. The meatballs are probably the weakest dish of the meal; they seem like they have too much bread crumb in them or something to alter the texture and make them less “meaty.” The eggplant parmesan is very good. I would have liked to have ordered another meat dish to try.

We order dessert (cheesecake with chocolate and peaches in red wine) and while waiting, we notice the man across from us has received a plate of chunks of what appears to be parmesan cheese. He sees both Tris and me eying the plate (me with curiosity and she with cheese lust in her heart) and holds the plate toward us, offering us some. We politely decline. He insists. We decline again. He won’t take no for answer and gets up from his seat and forces us each to take a piece of cheese. It’s very strong, sharp and incredibly salty. Later he tries to offer us more, along with other items from his table and we have to try and explain how full we already are. We leave, happy and satisfied.

Lunch for four, including a liter of house white wine, a liter of water and service, is 80€
Sora Margherita, Associazione Culturale; Piazza delle Cinque Scole, 30. Tel:06 6874216