Any rants, raves or good to know info about the places listed below?

Also looking for interesting streets, piazzas, courtyards, fountains to check out while roaming the area. And feel free to recommend places to eat, drink or shop.

Quirinal Palace
Sant Andrea al Quirinale
San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane
Santa Maria della Vittoria Santa Susanna (St Susan)
Santa Maria della Concezione (not open now)
Bernini?s Triton & Bee Fountains
Piazza Barberini

Viale dei Tritoni Street: runs from Piazza Barberini down to the Fontana di Trevi (The Trevi Fountain). This road is also full of stores, just be careful with the quality!

topping

Chat Noir, you must hold the Fodor website record for INDIVIDUAL questions on Rome ( REX or IRA must keep such records). I hope you're able to TRULY enjoy your trip to this great city and not be "lugging around" pages of data, information, suggestions ect.. Remember what THEY say (who's they?), too much knowledge can be dangerous !!! Really, HAVE A GREAT TRIP !!! Mike

I hope you like both San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane and Sant Andrea al Quirinale. If you can find it at a library, I'd highly recommend reading John J. McGuire Jr.'s book <i>An Architect's Rome.</i>

Except for the fountain, which I love, Piazza Barberini is one of the blandest piazzas in central Rome. If you want to use the internet, the HUGE EasyEverything place is due south of the piazza.

First time I was in Rome, in 2001, the Quirinale Palace was painted this rich orange-ish color. In 2002, they were re-painting it with more of a cream color, not as striking for photos, IMO. Great view from the piazza, looking west. I forget the name but if you take the stairs down from the piazza in front of the palace there's a <i>tiny</i> piazza somewhere below.

ChatNoir, I was wracking my brain, trying to remember the name of that tiny piazza (I knew it ended in &quot;berg&quot when it finally hit me: Piazza Scanderberg. Then, in looking it up on Google to see if that, in fact, was the right one, I discovered that it's home to the Museo delle Paste Alimentari - the Museum of Pasta Foods. I hadn't noticed it when I was there.

As the website below says...

&quot;Not far from the Trevi, in Piazza Scanderberg (down a tiny tiny alleyway), is one of Rome's most unusual and often ignored Museums - the Museo delle Paste Alimentari - the Museum of Pasta Foods. As a great pasta lover I thought this should be worth a try. It began quite well with a couple of rooms dedicated to how pasta is made and its older history. Unfortunately after that it descends into a series of displays of large pasta cutting machinery which is considerably less interesting, although at the very end there is a section on pasta-inspired art which is quite good. &quot;

http://www.r-l-p.co.uk/Italy.html

barbmike, I never get tired of sharing and exchanging info about Rome. I've been lucky enough to get superb advice from folks here that has greatly enhanced my past experiences in the city.

I do some research and then post individual questions to stimulate further discussion. Each time I go to Rome I get smarter and smarter about what to see and do and where the little gems are located.

Capo, thanks for the feedback. Sounds like that's a good book to check out.

And on Via Scanderberg is a good trattoria, Piccolo di Arancia. Then you can have dessert at San Crispino. Near there, by Largo Brazza, is a new and very large bookstore; almost Barnes and Noblelike. I forgot its name but it has a good selection of books in English. Don't miss the Colonna Palace. Full of masterpieces you might recognize and it was the setting of the last scene in &quot;Roman Holiday.&quot; Some of the Colonna family still live there.

Thanks grinisa. By the way, I you mentioned italian veal stew in another post so I got a recipe and made it last night. Loved it.

ChatNoir, we walked from Piazza del Popolo to the Church of Santa Susanna by way of the Palazzo Barberini. Capo's dead right about it being an uninspiring palazzo with a magnificent fountain. Triton's Fountain was my favorite in all of Rome, though, so it was worth the detour. Many of the downspouts in the lovely city of Savannah, Georgia, have that same upside down spouting fish motif as does Bernini's fountain. It was fun to see where the inspiration came from!

We walked up the hill from Palazzo Barberini to the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria at 17 Via XX Settembre, in which is found the statue of the Ecstasy of St. Teresa of Avilla, by Bernini. We couldn't take a look at it, unfortunately for us, because there was a bride and groom blocking the doorway--one of the many weddings we encountered in Rome during our early September trip. Lucky for the happy couples; not so for us! (We did take a look at Bernini's other sculpture of religious rapture in the Church of S. Francesco in Trastavere so it wasn't a total Ecstasy washout for us.)

We went to mass--English speaking--at the Church of Santa Susanna down the street (same side). It's a very cheerful-looking church covered with colorful frescoes. We fell asleep during mass, though. I wouldn't recommend attending church after the marathon walking that we did!

Carrying down the Via XX Settembre brought us to the corner of the four fountains. Take a look at that, definitely. The view of the street going down to the Palazzo Barberini reminded me a great deal of the hilly streets of San Francisco. You'll need to keep at that treadmill, ChatNoir, in this neighborhood.

We were at the Piazza de Quirinale (after having wandered around the various parks at the Quirinale) just as the sun was setting. The view of the domes of Rome as the pink and golden rays of light were upon them was simply magnificent.

dln, thanks for the feedback.

Timing does place a key role in your wanderings. I'll try to make it a point to be back at the Quirinal Palace around senset.