Roman Roamings: 2 Weeks of Wanderings
Apr 17th, 2017, 03:27 AM
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<yes, we drink a lot and if you are going to read along, you need to get over it> YES!!!!! 
Wine haters - just BE GONE!
My dear marigross:
I have enjoyed your trip reports for very many years. I am so looking forward to this one! You write so well, and are so amusing in your observations.
I am also thinking about an extended stay somewhere within the next two years. I am currently weighing up Paris or Rome, based on my recent trips. So this is great input.
I also loved Trastevere. I found the people quite different from those on the other, more fashionable, side of the river.
Begging for more!
Best regards ... Ger
Wine haters - just BE GONE!
My dear marigross:
I have enjoyed your trip reports for very many years. I am so looking forward to this one! You write so well, and are so amusing in your observations.
I am also thinking about an extended stay somewhere within the next two years. I am currently weighing up Paris or Rome, based on my recent trips. So this is great input.
I also loved Trastevere. I found the people quite different from those on the other, more fashionable, side of the river.
Begging for more!
Best regards ... Ger
Apr 17th, 2017, 11:03 AM
#22
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<b>Sunday, April 16
The Easter Procession a.k.a. the ‘Off Season’ in Rome</b>
Having managed to sleep until the much more respectable hour of 7:00am, I was ready to tackle the day. But C wasn’t waking up. So, once again I spent a couple of hours typing away… BUT this time I had plenty of coffee to drink so the day was already going much better than yesterday.
The plan for the day was to head in the general direction of Piazza Navona and hit the church of Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza during its very limited opening hours (Sundays 9:00-noon, basically for mass). C rolled off the bed around 9:30am so my plan to loudly drop a few pots and pans into the sink did not have to be put to into action.
Breakfast (brunch?)….OMG! Just unwrapping the lovingly cut and perfectly laid slices of prosciutto and bresaola was an experience. At the time the vendor was preparing them I had only a passing thought that it had taken longer than necessary, but I was happily chatting and admiring all the goodies and did not mind at all. Now I know why: these paper thin, actually see-through, slices of meat were the work of a master craftsman.
And then there was the flavor. The absolute pure, distilled essence of cured meat. Heavenly. You know how when people say that ‘something just melts on your mouth’ you always think that they are exaggerating? Well, these cuts did. Trust me on this one.
Oh, and there were the cheeses! Delicately pungent (what an oxymoron!) ‘hard’ gorgonzola ripe enough to spread slightly (another one!) on the bread. And the tasteless fontina we have back at home should just quietly die in shame, the flavor in this one was intense! I had visions of sticking slices of it under a raclatte oven…
It was almost 11:00 by the time we left the apartment and crossed the Tiber (Tevere) river over the Ponte Sisto into the city center. What looked from distance to be an Easter Parade turned out to be the last stragglers from a political protest. It was interesting to watch, bluegrass band in straw hats (WTH?!?!) and everything.
We made our way into the Campo di Fiori where the grayish skies started to drizzle. So we amused ourselves by looking at the vendors and restaurants scrambling to set up their umbrellas. Apparently a well-practiced and finely-tuned community effort.
The rain stopped after a few minutes and we advanced into Piazza Navona. This is one of the places that take my breath away no matter how many times I have seen it for the ‘first’ time. Few large spaces are as elegant and well balanced as this piazza with its three fountains and the incredible façade of Sant’Agnese in Agone as a backdrop.
But noon was fast approaching so we needed to hustle and get to our destination, the church of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza. The main feature of the building its corkscrew lantern, a masterpiece of 17th century Baroque architecture by Francesco Borromini. The church seems to be embraced by the Palazzo della Sapienza’s wonderful courtyard constructed by Giacomo della Porta.
I think that the courtyard and church façade can be seen during longer hours, but what I really wanted to see was the inside of church. Though the main event is the exterior, the marvelous dome did not disappoint seen from the inside. Mass was still being said so we were not free to wander around the small, star shaped church. But it was enough to experience the powerful verticality of the honeycomb dome. Outstanding!
The prime mission for the day had been accomplished.
We exited and walked behind the palazzo to the front of Sant’Eustachio where there is also a great spot to observe Sant’Ivo’s lantern. Since my creed is to leave no open church unseen, we stepped into Sant’Eustachio elegant interior for a few minutes.
Next stop was the Pantheon. Which I did not actually plan to visit but how can one walk past this masterpiece and not go in? Well, of course, the queue to get in would be a good reason not to, but C wanted to go for it and it turned out that the line moved so quickly that we were in within a few minutes. This was around the time the crowds started getting tight.
What can I say about the Pantheon that has not been better expressed already? Nothing. I’m humbled by it.
And then C asked about the bar we used to hang out the last time we were in Rome. That was not in The Plan for today, BUT since now I have left my Trip Nazi days behind and loosely follow A Plan, I said ‘sure, let’s go find it’.
It did take a few wrong turns, asking, map consulting and wandering through streets of Rome we had not seen before but we wound up where we wanted, by the church of Santa Maria della Pace. The bar we had hung out was not there anymore but the scaffolding that had covered the church across from it 8 years ago was also gone. One more church to visit!
With an outstanding curved façade from the 17th century built by Pietro da Cortona, this small church is a little jewel. The inside houses the Chigi Chapel with frescoes by Raphael among other important period pieces. But the main attraction is not the church itself but the Chiostro di Bramante in the monastery next to it. Indubitably a landmark piece in Renaissance design and Bramante’s first commissioned work in the Eternal City.
AND it houses a nice little café where weary souls and feet can restore their enthusiasm with a few carbs and the beverages of choice (in our case two beers) for a reasonable price given the location. AND it is a peaceful reprieve from the madness and mayhem of central Rome over a Holiday (NEVER AGAIN!!!!).
So far things had gone exceedingly well, but when I said that maybe we could take one of the walks described in the Michelin Green Guide to Rome (my travel bible) on our way back home, C looked a bit perplexed and said ‘but we haven’t seen the fountain!’. Oooookaaayyy. The Fountain. I should have spoken up, because I KNEW what would follow.
And I was NOT mistaken. By the time we made it past the Pantheon and into the restaurant row, it was almost full body contact crowds. Nothing to do but grab the handbag tightly and move along with what will always be remembered as the Easter Parade, or maybe the Easter Procession would be the more descriptive adjective. Slow, step by step, movements conductive to reflections on all the sins that led you to be doing this march in penance.
The Fontana di Trevi was recently revealed in all of its magnificent restoration. It is an outstanding piece or art. When you can actually see it. Which was not exactly the case on Easter Sunday. Going down to water level would have required engaging in bodily harm. No, thank you. We will come back and throw in our coins at another time. Perhaps 4:45am when I cannot sleep.
Even the attempt to escape the drone of the crowd proved a bit overwhelming with the constant droning of people, as our route back home took us across Via del Corso. When we walked past the Church of Saint Marcello and saw the humongous banner ‘advertising’ their ‘Crocifisso Miracoloso’, we had to go in and see.
This is the kind of thing that blows my mind about Rome. In any other smaller city or large town, a church like Saint Marcello, with excellent architectural components and containing amazing pieces of artwork, would be a pilgrimage site. But in Rome, with its dazzling masterpieces, it is destined to languish as a tertiary site (if even) where only the hardiest (or weariest) tourists will ever step in. Oh, and yes, there is a crucifix that survived a 15th century fire that destroyed that church.
After that we just dragged our weary feet and fought our way through Piazza Venezia, across the Jewish Ghetto and back to the Trastevere. We stopped at a bar for a recovery Aperol Sprtiz (3Euro Happy Hour at Cave Canem in Piazza de San Calisto) and then headed back home to relax and cook dinner.
I’m happy to report that the cannelloni from the Sorelle Pirras turned out pretty good, and the thin green beans from the market were just plain delicious.
The Easter Procession a.k.a. the ‘Off Season’ in Rome</b>
Having managed to sleep until the much more respectable hour of 7:00am, I was ready to tackle the day. But C wasn’t waking up. So, once again I spent a couple of hours typing away… BUT this time I had plenty of coffee to drink so the day was already going much better than yesterday.
The plan for the day was to head in the general direction of Piazza Navona and hit the church of Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza during its very limited opening hours (Sundays 9:00-noon, basically for mass). C rolled off the bed around 9:30am so my plan to loudly drop a few pots and pans into the sink did not have to be put to into action.
Breakfast (brunch?)….OMG! Just unwrapping the lovingly cut and perfectly laid slices of prosciutto and bresaola was an experience. At the time the vendor was preparing them I had only a passing thought that it had taken longer than necessary, but I was happily chatting and admiring all the goodies and did not mind at all. Now I know why: these paper thin, actually see-through, slices of meat were the work of a master craftsman.
And then there was the flavor. The absolute pure, distilled essence of cured meat. Heavenly. You know how when people say that ‘something just melts on your mouth’ you always think that they are exaggerating? Well, these cuts did. Trust me on this one.
Oh, and there were the cheeses! Delicately pungent (what an oxymoron!) ‘hard’ gorgonzola ripe enough to spread slightly (another one!) on the bread. And the tasteless fontina we have back at home should just quietly die in shame, the flavor in this one was intense! I had visions of sticking slices of it under a raclatte oven…
It was almost 11:00 by the time we left the apartment and crossed the Tiber (Tevere) river over the Ponte Sisto into the city center. What looked from distance to be an Easter Parade turned out to be the last stragglers from a political protest. It was interesting to watch, bluegrass band in straw hats (WTH?!?!) and everything.
We made our way into the Campo di Fiori where the grayish skies started to drizzle. So we amused ourselves by looking at the vendors and restaurants scrambling to set up their umbrellas. Apparently a well-practiced and finely-tuned community effort.
The rain stopped after a few minutes and we advanced into Piazza Navona. This is one of the places that take my breath away no matter how many times I have seen it for the ‘first’ time. Few large spaces are as elegant and well balanced as this piazza with its three fountains and the incredible façade of Sant’Agnese in Agone as a backdrop.
But noon was fast approaching so we needed to hustle and get to our destination, the church of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza. The main feature of the building its corkscrew lantern, a masterpiece of 17th century Baroque architecture by Francesco Borromini. The church seems to be embraced by the Palazzo della Sapienza’s wonderful courtyard constructed by Giacomo della Porta.
I think that the courtyard and church façade can be seen during longer hours, but what I really wanted to see was the inside of church. Though the main event is the exterior, the marvelous dome did not disappoint seen from the inside. Mass was still being said so we were not free to wander around the small, star shaped church. But it was enough to experience the powerful verticality of the honeycomb dome. Outstanding!
The prime mission for the day had been accomplished.
We exited and walked behind the palazzo to the front of Sant’Eustachio where there is also a great spot to observe Sant’Ivo’s lantern. Since my creed is to leave no open church unseen, we stepped into Sant’Eustachio elegant interior for a few minutes.
Next stop was the Pantheon. Which I did not actually plan to visit but how can one walk past this masterpiece and not go in? Well, of course, the queue to get in would be a good reason not to, but C wanted to go for it and it turned out that the line moved so quickly that we were in within a few minutes. This was around the time the crowds started getting tight.
What can I say about the Pantheon that has not been better expressed already? Nothing. I’m humbled by it.
And then C asked about the bar we used to hang out the last time we were in Rome. That was not in The Plan for today, BUT since now I have left my Trip Nazi days behind and loosely follow A Plan, I said ‘sure, let’s go find it’.
It did take a few wrong turns, asking, map consulting and wandering through streets of Rome we had not seen before but we wound up where we wanted, by the church of Santa Maria della Pace. The bar we had hung out was not there anymore but the scaffolding that had covered the church across from it 8 years ago was also gone. One more church to visit!
With an outstanding curved façade from the 17th century built by Pietro da Cortona, this small church is a little jewel. The inside houses the Chigi Chapel with frescoes by Raphael among other important period pieces. But the main attraction is not the church itself but the Chiostro di Bramante in the monastery next to it. Indubitably a landmark piece in Renaissance design and Bramante’s first commissioned work in the Eternal City.
AND it houses a nice little café where weary souls and feet can restore their enthusiasm with a few carbs and the beverages of choice (in our case two beers) for a reasonable price given the location. AND it is a peaceful reprieve from the madness and mayhem of central Rome over a Holiday (NEVER AGAIN!!!!).
So far things had gone exceedingly well, but when I said that maybe we could take one of the walks described in the Michelin Green Guide to Rome (my travel bible) on our way back home, C looked a bit perplexed and said ‘but we haven’t seen the fountain!’. Oooookaaayyy. The Fountain. I should have spoken up, because I KNEW what would follow.
And I was NOT mistaken. By the time we made it past the Pantheon and into the restaurant row, it was almost full body contact crowds. Nothing to do but grab the handbag tightly and move along with what will always be remembered as the Easter Parade, or maybe the Easter Procession would be the more descriptive adjective. Slow, step by step, movements conductive to reflections on all the sins that led you to be doing this march in penance.
The Fontana di Trevi was recently revealed in all of its magnificent restoration. It is an outstanding piece or art. When you can actually see it. Which was not exactly the case on Easter Sunday. Going down to water level would have required engaging in bodily harm. No, thank you. We will come back and throw in our coins at another time. Perhaps 4:45am when I cannot sleep.
Even the attempt to escape the drone of the crowd proved a bit overwhelming with the constant droning of people, as our route back home took us across Via del Corso. When we walked past the Church of Saint Marcello and saw the humongous banner ‘advertising’ their ‘Crocifisso Miracoloso’, we had to go in and see.
This is the kind of thing that blows my mind about Rome. In any other smaller city or large town, a church like Saint Marcello, with excellent architectural components and containing amazing pieces of artwork, would be a pilgrimage site. But in Rome, with its dazzling masterpieces, it is destined to languish as a tertiary site (if even) where only the hardiest (or weariest) tourists will ever step in. Oh, and yes, there is a crucifix that survived a 15th century fire that destroyed that church.
After that we just dragged our weary feet and fought our way through Piazza Venezia, across the Jewish Ghetto and back to the Trastevere. We stopped at a bar for a recovery Aperol Sprtiz (3Euro Happy Hour at Cave Canem in Piazza de San Calisto) and then headed back home to relax and cook dinner.
I’m happy to report that the cannelloni from the Sorelle Pirras turned out pretty good, and the thin green beans from the market were just plain delicious.
Apr 18th, 2017, 09:10 AM
#25
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<b>Monday, April 17th
Two Things in One Day?</b>
The morning routine seems to be setting in: I wake, I type, he sleeps in, eventually we have breakfast, loiter around getting ready, and head out. The overplanner in me is secretly horrified. But I tell her to hush and enjoy the ride.
Today we had a rather full agenda (well, comparatively): prepurchased tickets to the Domus Romane for the 2:00pm tour and a visit to Trajan’s Market and Forum. En route to these ‘main events’, a few ‘minor’ spots would be hit.
When I told C about the schedule he looked at me as if I had somehow betrayed him: 'Two things in one day?!?!? I thought this was supposed to be a relaxing vacation....'
My inner overplanner fainted and had to be revived.
We went across the Tiber over the Ponte Palatino and landed directly on the Piazza de la Bocca della Veritá, the Mouth of Truth of <i>Roman Holiday</i> movie fame. I had thought it would be interesting to finally see it as it is our third trip to Rome and we had never been there.
Though this is technically not true, I’m 99% we walked past it on our first visit because I have a picture of the Ercole Vincitore temple directly across the street from it and then another from the Circo Maximo that is a few meters past. So we MUST have just missed it. Yeah, that is how unprepared for Rome I had been in 1999.
But now, what I really wanted to see was the Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin, an 8th century church with the tallest medieval belfry in Rome. AND its portico houses the infamous drain-cover stone carved with the face of a man, also known as the Mouth of Truth.
This was Easter Monday, a bank holiday across Europe. Let’s just say that the place was packed and the line to stick your hand into the Mouth went down almost to the Forum’s back entrance. I was ready to give up on going in when I spotted a separate door on the side, completely empty.
We could go into the church itself with zero queue. Yay! The basilica was built during the Byzantine Papacy and is more reminiscent of Greece than of Rome proper. It also houses the relics of Saint Valentine, a prominently displayed skull covered with a crown of flowers.
There are several beautiful frescoes to be admired and for a single euro per person you can go down to the small crypt where Pope Hadrian is buried (very skippable).
As we left the church I realized that you can actually see the Mouth of Truth from outside the portico and snap a picture if that is all you want without lining up in the queue. So I did, and now there is no reason whatsoever to return. Been there and (sort of) done that.
Our chosen route took us past a few very nice apartment buildings and the church which houses the Seat of the Greek Orthodox Church in Rome, naturally we went in for a quick peak. This street, Via di S. Teodoro, provides one of the best views to be had of the Roman Forum from above without paying the admittance fee.
But the street that we had been looking for according to the map seemed to be inside the Foro, leaving us no choice but to go up and into the Campidoglio (tough luck, I know) and down to the other side of the hill on our way to Trajan’s Market.
We had lingered along the way and now we were almost too late to go into Trajan’s Market and see it before our Domus Romane 2:00pm reservation. We went in to see if there was an earlier tour to be had but it was German. No thank you.
Now, there are some tours where you can chance it and opt to go with a foreign language group, this is NOT one of those. You would miss out on everything.
Anyway, we had an hour to wait…. We went a bit further uphill and bought the tickets for Trajan’s Foro/Market and then it was the perfect timing to have a cold beer under the warm sun.
A few words of advice about this tour: #1 – Don’t go if you have issues with walking into and standing on a pitch black room. #2 – Don’t go if you are not comfortable with walking over glass floors or afraid of heights. #3 – Don’t go on this tour if you have depth perception issues on low light. #4 – Don’t go if you have issues standing in place for more than 15 minutes as it is hard to move around in the darkness.
This visit is more of an audiovisual experience than an actual tour of the 4th century Roman Ultra Luxury Palace. You go into several pitch dark rooms and then each feature within the room is lit individually, followed by the projection of its reconstruction onto it. Be prepared to suddenly realize that you are standing on glass 10ft above ground. It is very well done and visually impressive.
The groups are limited to 15 people and even that might be too many to follow all the indications and visual cues. Though the recorded narrator speaks slowly and clearly, the lights move quickly around and you have to pay close attention not to miss anything.
I do not want to dissuade anyone from going, it IS a beautifully made and carefully designed ‘show’. The ruins of the palace themselves are unique and certainly worth the visit. I think it is particularly suitable for teens and young(ish) adults.
The tour ends with a very nice presentation about Trajan’s Market and especially about his column. The perfect preparation for a subsequent visit to the site. That by itself was worth the price of admission to me (though finally sitting down in a cool dark room… even as an interested listener I might have nodded off a time or two).
Overall, I liked it but I was uncomfortable and even a little queasy walking over the glass. C had no issue with the setting but initially had a hard time following the narration. Glad we did it but neither would be interested in a repeat visit.
It was time to go on to the Second Thing.
I asked him. I did ask him. ‘Do you want to go to the forum now or you want to leave it for another day?’ His response, ‘we have the tickets, we are here now, so let’s go see it’.
The result? We were both wilting 15 minutes into the whole thing and did not give the exhibits much consideration. Like the Roman Forum, this might be another place better suited to visiting with a professional tour guide.
Honestly? Besides giving you a better sense of the grand scale of the monument (completely valid point), there is not really much more to see than what can be observed from the street outside the gates. A portion of the Via Bibetica can also be seen from the outside besides the main entrance.
I will unashamedly (I’m a big girl and I don’t do what I don’t want to do anymore!) admit that we gave up after half an hour and did not even go down to the lower levels. Maybe we missed something wonderful but we were just not into it. It was –in our case- an entrance fee (13E ea) that would have been better invested in a nice bottle of wine or a few Aperol Spritzes.
We slowly walked back through the Ghetto to the Trastevere and plopped down at the Cave Canum bar for some more cheap wine and bad service. After half a liter of white and no real lunch we thought it would be a good idea to just go for an early dinner.
Technically we should have gone grocery shopping and eaten at home but we were both too lazy and tired from all the walking.
C denies it but he thinks that resorting to public transportation is a sign of physical weakness and potential lack of character. I think its just plain common sense.
After a brief consultation on TA (what a joke!) and Elizabeth Minchilli’s EatRome app, a closeby restaurant was chosen: Trattoria de Gli Amici.
This place was recommended not only as a good place to eat but also because it is managed by a community organization that employs disabled persons.
For primi C had Tonnarelli Cacio e Peppe, he tends to like his pasta overcooked so he is struggling a bit the ‘al dente’-ism of the pasta dishes we have been served but he enjoyed the flavor very much. I had Rigattoni with a Tomato and Baccalá (codfish) Ragú. I will definitely try to replicate this dish back home.
For secondi it was an extremely unphotogenic but deliciously tender Lamb with Artichokes for C and Baccalá a la Romana for me. Mine was good but I picked two dishes that were too similar and got overloaded with the tomato sauce.
I very seldom have dessert (all my free calories are destined for wine) but after seeing some of them go by and considering all the kilometers walked during the day, I chose to have the Pannacotta with Caramel Sauce. It was great! The sauce was just at that well caramelized stage hovering at the edge of being burnt but stopped on the side of maximum flavor, was particularly outstanding and perfectly complemented the not too sweet custard.
Overall a solid good meal and no allowances whatsoever were required to accommodate the disabilities of the very professional waitstaff. Kudos to the ‘Amici’ (Friends) that unobtrusively supports and coaches them through the service.
Two Things in One Day?</b>
The morning routine seems to be setting in: I wake, I type, he sleeps in, eventually we have breakfast, loiter around getting ready, and head out. The overplanner in me is secretly horrified. But I tell her to hush and enjoy the ride.
Today we had a rather full agenda (well, comparatively): prepurchased tickets to the Domus Romane for the 2:00pm tour and a visit to Trajan’s Market and Forum. En route to these ‘main events’, a few ‘minor’ spots would be hit.
When I told C about the schedule he looked at me as if I had somehow betrayed him: 'Two things in one day?!?!? I thought this was supposed to be a relaxing vacation....'
My inner overplanner fainted and had to be revived.
We went across the Tiber over the Ponte Palatino and landed directly on the Piazza de la Bocca della Veritá, the Mouth of Truth of <i>Roman Holiday</i> movie fame. I had thought it would be interesting to finally see it as it is our third trip to Rome and we had never been there.
Though this is technically not true, I’m 99% we walked past it on our first visit because I have a picture of the Ercole Vincitore temple directly across the street from it and then another from the Circo Maximo that is a few meters past. So we MUST have just missed it. Yeah, that is how unprepared for Rome I had been in 1999.
But now, what I really wanted to see was the Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin, an 8th century church with the tallest medieval belfry in Rome. AND its portico houses the infamous drain-cover stone carved with the face of a man, also known as the Mouth of Truth.
This was Easter Monday, a bank holiday across Europe. Let’s just say that the place was packed and the line to stick your hand into the Mouth went down almost to the Forum’s back entrance. I was ready to give up on going in when I spotted a separate door on the side, completely empty.
We could go into the church itself with zero queue. Yay! The basilica was built during the Byzantine Papacy and is more reminiscent of Greece than of Rome proper. It also houses the relics of Saint Valentine, a prominently displayed skull covered with a crown of flowers.
There are several beautiful frescoes to be admired and for a single euro per person you can go down to the small crypt where Pope Hadrian is buried (very skippable).
As we left the church I realized that you can actually see the Mouth of Truth from outside the portico and snap a picture if that is all you want without lining up in the queue. So I did, and now there is no reason whatsoever to return. Been there and (sort of) done that.
Our chosen route took us past a few very nice apartment buildings and the church which houses the Seat of the Greek Orthodox Church in Rome, naturally we went in for a quick peak. This street, Via di S. Teodoro, provides one of the best views to be had of the Roman Forum from above without paying the admittance fee.
But the street that we had been looking for according to the map seemed to be inside the Foro, leaving us no choice but to go up and into the Campidoglio (tough luck, I know) and down to the other side of the hill on our way to Trajan’s Market.
We had lingered along the way and now we were almost too late to go into Trajan’s Market and see it before our Domus Romane 2:00pm reservation. We went in to see if there was an earlier tour to be had but it was German. No thank you.
Now, there are some tours where you can chance it and opt to go with a foreign language group, this is NOT one of those. You would miss out on everything.
Anyway, we had an hour to wait…. We went a bit further uphill and bought the tickets for Trajan’s Foro/Market and then it was the perfect timing to have a cold beer under the warm sun.
A few words of advice about this tour: #1 – Don’t go if you have issues with walking into and standing on a pitch black room. #2 – Don’t go if you are not comfortable with walking over glass floors or afraid of heights. #3 – Don’t go on this tour if you have depth perception issues on low light. #4 – Don’t go if you have issues standing in place for more than 15 minutes as it is hard to move around in the darkness.
This visit is more of an audiovisual experience than an actual tour of the 4th century Roman Ultra Luxury Palace. You go into several pitch dark rooms and then each feature within the room is lit individually, followed by the projection of its reconstruction onto it. Be prepared to suddenly realize that you are standing on glass 10ft above ground. It is very well done and visually impressive.
The groups are limited to 15 people and even that might be too many to follow all the indications and visual cues. Though the recorded narrator speaks slowly and clearly, the lights move quickly around and you have to pay close attention not to miss anything.
I do not want to dissuade anyone from going, it IS a beautifully made and carefully designed ‘show’. The ruins of the palace themselves are unique and certainly worth the visit. I think it is particularly suitable for teens and young(ish) adults.
The tour ends with a very nice presentation about Trajan’s Market and especially about his column. The perfect preparation for a subsequent visit to the site. That by itself was worth the price of admission to me (though finally sitting down in a cool dark room… even as an interested listener I might have nodded off a time or two).
Overall, I liked it but I was uncomfortable and even a little queasy walking over the glass. C had no issue with the setting but initially had a hard time following the narration. Glad we did it but neither would be interested in a repeat visit.
It was time to go on to the Second Thing.
I asked him. I did ask him. ‘Do you want to go to the forum now or you want to leave it for another day?’ His response, ‘we have the tickets, we are here now, so let’s go see it’.
The result? We were both wilting 15 minutes into the whole thing and did not give the exhibits much consideration. Like the Roman Forum, this might be another place better suited to visiting with a professional tour guide.
Honestly? Besides giving you a better sense of the grand scale of the monument (completely valid point), there is not really much more to see than what can be observed from the street outside the gates. A portion of the Via Bibetica can also be seen from the outside besides the main entrance.
I will unashamedly (I’m a big girl and I don’t do what I don’t want to do anymore!) admit that we gave up after half an hour and did not even go down to the lower levels. Maybe we missed something wonderful but we were just not into it. It was –in our case- an entrance fee (13E ea) that would have been better invested in a nice bottle of wine or a few Aperol Spritzes.
We slowly walked back through the Ghetto to the Trastevere and plopped down at the Cave Canum bar for some more cheap wine and bad service. After half a liter of white and no real lunch we thought it would be a good idea to just go for an early dinner.
Technically we should have gone grocery shopping and eaten at home but we were both too lazy and tired from all the walking.
C denies it but he thinks that resorting to public transportation is a sign of physical weakness and potential lack of character. I think its just plain common sense.
After a brief consultation on TA (what a joke!) and Elizabeth Minchilli’s EatRome app, a closeby restaurant was chosen: Trattoria de Gli Amici.
This place was recommended not only as a good place to eat but also because it is managed by a community organization that employs disabled persons.
For primi C had Tonnarelli Cacio e Peppe, he tends to like his pasta overcooked so he is struggling a bit the ‘al dente’-ism of the pasta dishes we have been served but he enjoyed the flavor very much. I had Rigattoni with a Tomato and Baccalá (codfish) Ragú. I will definitely try to replicate this dish back home.
For secondi it was an extremely unphotogenic but deliciously tender Lamb with Artichokes for C and Baccalá a la Romana for me. Mine was good but I picked two dishes that were too similar and got overloaded with the tomato sauce.
I very seldom have dessert (all my free calories are destined for wine) but after seeing some of them go by and considering all the kilometers walked during the day, I chose to have the Pannacotta with Caramel Sauce. It was great! The sauce was just at that well caramelized stage hovering at the edge of being burnt but stopped on the side of maximum flavor, was particularly outstanding and perfectly complemented the not too sweet custard.
Overall a solid good meal and no allowances whatsoever were required to accommodate the disabilities of the very professional waitstaff. Kudos to the ‘Amici’ (Friends) that unobtrusively supports and coaches them through the service.
Apr 18th, 2017, 10:58 AM
#27
brava for the honesty, Marigross! We too have been known just to throw in the towel when we realise that we have bitten off more than we can chew. I've also ended up picking dishes that were too "samey" and then thought to myself "why did I do that?"
Anyway, overall that sounded like a fun day - what's on the menu for tomorrow?
Anyway, overall that sounded like a fun day - what's on the menu for tomorrow?
Apr 18th, 2017, 10:03 PM
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I tend to be a Fodors stalker and do way more reading then posting. This is by far the most captivating trip report I have ever read! It helps that , although I am not the seasoned traveler that many of you are, Rome is my all time favorite city!
Thank you so much for your time to write this. Your skills are exemplary! I feel like I am there with you, vino and all...
Gracie,
Kim
Thank you so much for your time to write this. Your skills are exemplary! I feel like I am there with you, vino and all...
Gracie,
Kim
Apr 19th, 2017, 12:30 PM
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Apr 19th, 2017, 12:47 PM
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<b>Tuesday, April 18th
The (double) Sigh of Relief</b>
We actually skipped breakfast at ‘home’ and were out and about before 10:00am. We were not really in a rush, we just wanted to save our appetite for the long awaited meal we would have for lunch. The sky was gray and it did not take long for the first few drops of misty rain to fall.
There was a palpable quietude all around us. Streets were mostly empty except for the last few vendors delivering to restaurants and the cleanup/garbage collection crews finishing up along Via Lungaretta. It felt like the City was letting out a big sigh of relief as the last of the holiday weekend crowds disbanded and headed back home.
We stopped in a bar for coffee, cappuccino for me and machiatto for C (he is never satisfied with what he gets and he should just get a cap, but he won’t because he thinks it’s a girlie thing). I was also happy to find some baked dough tomato ‘bites’ which were tasty but not overfilling.
Breakfast in Italy is not my thing…actually, it’s just not A Thing. Just need to accept that and move on. One of the things I luuuuuuuved about Greece and Portugal (and Spain to a lesser extent) is the abundance of drop dead delicious savory pastries available at all times of days, including breakfast.
The weather was museum perfect (gray, rainy, cold, and blustery) so we (I) shifted things around a little bit and we went first to the <b>Galleria Doria Pamphilij</b>. A museum that had been on my list for a long time. Still privately owned and inhabited by the Doria Pamphilij Princess and her family, this humongous palazzo houses an impressive collection of paintings and sculptures.
I’m a sucker for historical residences, so, yes, I liked it. BUT, having said that…. The 1700’s are not my favorite period in European painting, and this collection has a LOT of that. There are masterpieces among the art showcased but I found it hard to overcome the visual overloading caused the sheer volume of paintings on each wall.
We took the ‘tour’ of the private apartments. Which means you get handed <i>‘The Most Annoying <b>EVER</b> Audioguide’</i> in English (silly scripted bantering and babbling with little actual historically or artistically relevant content) while the tour guide has a very interesting discussion in Italian with the other (single) person on the tour. The guide’s English was not great and I do understand Italian (and Art terms) enough to follow along in the spoken descriptions, so this was not a big problem. My issue with this is that venues should not SELL tours in ANY language if the guide is not going to be proficient enough to deliver the entire thing successfully.
I also did not love the way the paintings were displayed in the main galleries. This is a matter of personal taste. BUT there are some really good paintings and sculptures to be seen, you just need to spot them.
Having said all this, I liked the Doria Pamphilij very much, but I’m not going to wax endless praises onto it. As a private collection it does hold world-class status. And I’m a sucker for Caravaggio… so do your research, know what to expect, and take your time to enjoy what you see.
Would I recommend it? Absolutely. Especially if you love Italian and/or Late 17th/18th century Italian painting. Would I do want to see it again? Maybe not.
In my agenda I had three churches identified as ‘to do’ in the list for today. Though the sun had not come out, the rain was holding, so we were free to go and explore. And since everything was rather in close proximity, I prioritized by ‘need to see’ instead of physical nearness.
This is how we wound up first at <b>Santa Maria sopra Minerva</b> (St Mary’s over Minerva’s Temple), Rome’s only Gothic church. Chapterhouses of the Dominic Order in Rome. This church housed the offices of the Inquisition. Whichever way you feel about this… I’m a non-practicing Catholic and a Hispanic/Latin American Woman. Yes, I have feelings/issues about the historical role of the Dominic order, but we can discuss that some other time.
This is the church with the elephant carrying the obelisk on its back in front of it, right next to the Pantheon. This never ceases to amaze me! You run from one 1st tier attraction in Rome to another, while never even realizing that you are less than 50m away from other, lesser known but not less impressive, marvels of architecture and art.
It contains the sarcophagus of Saint Catherine of Siena and it is a veritable who-is-who of Renaissance artists.
What an elegant beauty!!!! The ceiling is ultramarine blue behind gilded reliefs. Have I said that I’m a BIG sucker for Gothic churches? I am. So, yeah, WOW. Look up the wiki description. Absolutely worth every moment spent in it. The frescoes in the Carafa Chapel by Filippo Lippi are worth a detour on their own, in my (not so humble) opinion.
From what I had read, the cloister was supposed to be open for visits during limited hours. So I –was-within those limited hours. It was not open and apparently it has not been open for visits for a long time. As in ‘you need to request a visit from the archdioceses by email and await their response’ closed. Bummer. Priest could have just let me peek in around the corner.
It was time to head back to the next church on the list: <b>Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola in Campo Marzio</b>. The secondary church of the Jesuits in Rome after Il Gesú. I was on a roll. It also contains serious artwork.
One of its most impressive features are the frescoes in the faux-cupula. It is interesting to stand in the circle marked on the floor to see the full perspective illusion and then observe how it changes when you move past the altar. The frescoes by Andrea del Pozzo are impressive.
We never made it to the third church we in plan. We were getting tired and it was time to go plead and cajole to see if they would advance our 2:30pm reservation at <b>Armando al Pantheon</b> to 1:15pm.
They did.
Eight years ago, I had tried to eat here. No availability to be had over the 4 days we were in Rome at the time. All my research pointed out that this was still a place to go for serious and traditional Roman cuisine. So I had given in and made reservations for lunch. I don’t know how it works for dinner, but since the place is tiny, there never really was a full turnover during lunch service.
And we were there from 1:15pm to 3:45pm.They took their time and so did we.
We had a coratella d'abbacchio (young lamb’s heart, lung and liver) to start. It was incredibly tasty. We opted to share a primi piati of their special: tonnarelli with guanciale and fava, topped with cheese and pepper, the kitchen was kind enough to bring it out already separated into two plates. The extra olive oil dressing took a second or two to get used to, but after that it was scrumptious.
As secondi, I had an absolutely fabulous and incredibly tasty Faraona (guinea-fowl) stewed with olives and porcini mushrooms. I would order this plate again within half a heartbeat. C had Saltimboca a la Romana which I never tasted but he said afterwards that it was also really good.
So even though we (I) had held sky-high expectations about this meal, it still turned out to be a great experience, and one I would be happy to repeat any day. A sigh of relief.
After that we just wobbled back to the apartment and vegetated around until it was time to go to bed.
The (double) Sigh of Relief</b>
We actually skipped breakfast at ‘home’ and were out and about before 10:00am. We were not really in a rush, we just wanted to save our appetite for the long awaited meal we would have for lunch. The sky was gray and it did not take long for the first few drops of misty rain to fall.
There was a palpable quietude all around us. Streets were mostly empty except for the last few vendors delivering to restaurants and the cleanup/garbage collection crews finishing up along Via Lungaretta. It felt like the City was letting out a big sigh of relief as the last of the holiday weekend crowds disbanded and headed back home.
We stopped in a bar for coffee, cappuccino for me and machiatto for C (he is never satisfied with what he gets and he should just get a cap, but he won’t because he thinks it’s a girlie thing). I was also happy to find some baked dough tomato ‘bites’ which were tasty but not overfilling.
Breakfast in Italy is not my thing…actually, it’s just not A Thing. Just need to accept that and move on. One of the things I luuuuuuuved about Greece and Portugal (and Spain to a lesser extent) is the abundance of drop dead delicious savory pastries available at all times of days, including breakfast.
The weather was museum perfect (gray, rainy, cold, and blustery) so we (I) shifted things around a little bit and we went first to the <b>Galleria Doria Pamphilij</b>. A museum that had been on my list for a long time. Still privately owned and inhabited by the Doria Pamphilij Princess and her family, this humongous palazzo houses an impressive collection of paintings and sculptures.
I’m a sucker for historical residences, so, yes, I liked it. BUT, having said that…. The 1700’s are not my favorite period in European painting, and this collection has a LOT of that. There are masterpieces among the art showcased but I found it hard to overcome the visual overloading caused the sheer volume of paintings on each wall.
We took the ‘tour’ of the private apartments. Which means you get handed <i>‘The Most Annoying <b>EVER</b> Audioguide’</i> in English (silly scripted bantering and babbling with little actual historically or artistically relevant content) while the tour guide has a very interesting discussion in Italian with the other (single) person on the tour. The guide’s English was not great and I do understand Italian (and Art terms) enough to follow along in the spoken descriptions, so this was not a big problem. My issue with this is that venues should not SELL tours in ANY language if the guide is not going to be proficient enough to deliver the entire thing successfully.
I also did not love the way the paintings were displayed in the main galleries. This is a matter of personal taste. BUT there are some really good paintings and sculptures to be seen, you just need to spot them.
Having said all this, I liked the Doria Pamphilij very much, but I’m not going to wax endless praises onto it. As a private collection it does hold world-class status. And I’m a sucker for Caravaggio… so do your research, know what to expect, and take your time to enjoy what you see.
Would I recommend it? Absolutely. Especially if you love Italian and/or Late 17th/18th century Italian painting. Would I do want to see it again? Maybe not.
In my agenda I had three churches identified as ‘to do’ in the list for today. Though the sun had not come out, the rain was holding, so we were free to go and explore. And since everything was rather in close proximity, I prioritized by ‘need to see’ instead of physical nearness.
This is how we wound up first at <b>Santa Maria sopra Minerva</b> (St Mary’s over Minerva’s Temple), Rome’s only Gothic church. Chapterhouses of the Dominic Order in Rome. This church housed the offices of the Inquisition. Whichever way you feel about this… I’m a non-practicing Catholic and a Hispanic/Latin American Woman. Yes, I have feelings/issues about the historical role of the Dominic order, but we can discuss that some other time.
This is the church with the elephant carrying the obelisk on its back in front of it, right next to the Pantheon. This never ceases to amaze me! You run from one 1st tier attraction in Rome to another, while never even realizing that you are less than 50m away from other, lesser known but not less impressive, marvels of architecture and art.
It contains the sarcophagus of Saint Catherine of Siena and it is a veritable who-is-who of Renaissance artists.
What an elegant beauty!!!! The ceiling is ultramarine blue behind gilded reliefs. Have I said that I’m a BIG sucker for Gothic churches? I am. So, yeah, WOW. Look up the wiki description. Absolutely worth every moment spent in it. The frescoes in the Carafa Chapel by Filippo Lippi are worth a detour on their own, in my (not so humble) opinion.
From what I had read, the cloister was supposed to be open for visits during limited hours. So I –was-within those limited hours. It was not open and apparently it has not been open for visits for a long time. As in ‘you need to request a visit from the archdioceses by email and await their response’ closed. Bummer. Priest could have just let me peek in around the corner.
It was time to head back to the next church on the list: <b>Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola in Campo Marzio</b>. The secondary church of the Jesuits in Rome after Il Gesú. I was on a roll. It also contains serious artwork.
One of its most impressive features are the frescoes in the faux-cupula. It is interesting to stand in the circle marked on the floor to see the full perspective illusion and then observe how it changes when you move past the altar. The frescoes by Andrea del Pozzo are impressive.
We never made it to the third church we in plan. We were getting tired and it was time to go plead and cajole to see if they would advance our 2:30pm reservation at <b>Armando al Pantheon</b> to 1:15pm.
They did.
Eight years ago, I had tried to eat here. No availability to be had over the 4 days we were in Rome at the time. All my research pointed out that this was still a place to go for serious and traditional Roman cuisine. So I had given in and made reservations for lunch. I don’t know how it works for dinner, but since the place is tiny, there never really was a full turnover during lunch service.
And we were there from 1:15pm to 3:45pm.They took their time and so did we.
We had a coratella d'abbacchio (young lamb’s heart, lung and liver) to start. It was incredibly tasty. We opted to share a primi piati of their special: tonnarelli with guanciale and fava, topped with cheese and pepper, the kitchen was kind enough to bring it out already separated into two plates. The extra olive oil dressing took a second or two to get used to, but after that it was scrumptious.
As secondi, I had an absolutely fabulous and incredibly tasty Faraona (guinea-fowl) stewed with olives and porcini mushrooms. I would order this plate again within half a heartbeat. C had Saltimboca a la Romana which I never tasted but he said afterwards that it was also really good.
So even though we (I) had held sky-high expectations about this meal, it still turned out to be a great experience, and one I would be happy to repeat any day. A sigh of relief.
After that we just wobbled back to the apartment and vegetated around until it was time to go to bed.
Apr 20th, 2017, 09:12 AM
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vinoroma, according to C we drank 'a red wine' at Armando. I did not take notes. He picked a random nebbiolo from the menu, certainly not an expensive bottle. We love our wine but seldom pay big bucks for it. There is no need.
