Rome 2007

Roma 2007 "Churches & Chocolate", Jan 6, 2008

As we see the different crèches in the churches here in Rome, I am reminded of the fun the O’Melvenys had at Christmastime. When we admired the crèche in St. Peter’s Square, I wondered whether my brother, Jerry, was watching the Christmas coverage on the Catholic channel!

The weather is cold and rainy this week, but on Christmas it was cold and sunny, so we walked to the Vatican from our apartment. We bought Lauren a baby rosary per Trish’s request. She plans to give it to her on her baptismal day. Seeing the pageantry of Rome reminds me of Kai and his Knights of the Holy Sepulcher.

“The Eternal City” is a perfect moniker for this remarkable city. There is something soothing about walking on ancient stone and intricate mosaic floors. The ruins are dramatic with the different light throughout the day and night.   Christmas decorations are sparse, but the normal lighting of monuments, churches, and fountains is splendid.

We ate lunch in Trastevere at Osteria Botticella-fantastic. The special is delicate canneloni stuffed with ricotta, truffles, and garlic. This was my favorite restaurant of the two-week stay.

We attended a High Mass at Santa Maria d’Aracoeli on Christmas Eve. Our Italian driver said the free tickets to St. Peter’s were probably sold out, so we went to another church. The music was all in Latin that we surely recognized from our youth. I can understand some of the Italian if the speaker is not too fast.

We stood as the priests processed down the aisles of the huge church with a statue of the Infant of Prague to place on the altar. Red and white poinsettias decorated the altar. There was a huge crèche scene in the back of the church. It was chilly, but exciting walking home afterwards among the crowds attending Mass at various churches in town. Lots of fur coats in Roma this week!

Our apartment is in a 16th century palazzo. There are frescoes on the inner court walls, red carpet on the lower marble stairs, carvings and medallions decorating the public areas. It makes me feel like I’m living in a museum. Just outside is the beautifully rendered Fontana di Tartarughe (Turtle Fountain), so I think of my brother (who loves turtles) every day. It portrays several boys trying to catch the turtles before they jump into the fountain.

Slowly we are adjusting to this time zone. The first night we awaken at 2am, the second at 4am and so on. By returning from Midnight Mass, having cocoa and cookies, and retiring at 2am, we lost what we had gained, so must start anew. It was worth it, though!

On Christmas morning we heard Italian bagpipers playing traditional songs and hoping for tips. They wind through the neighborhoods. I leaped out to our balcony, climbed the spiral metal staircase onto the roof, and still could hear the music, but not see the musicians in the street below.

Another Christmas treat is staring in bakery windows amazed at the variety of holiday treats! By now you remember how much I loved the crèches in my youth? Well, there was this chocolate torte about 8” high with a complete manger scene on top. Bellissima! Roasted chestnuts are sold from steaming carts in the cobble stone narrow streets. This city has atmosphere!

The stores were closed, of course, on Christmas day. We needed salt for our dinner beans. So, I went begging! The first restaurant, the young waiter explained their salt must be saved for their customers. At the second restaurant, the waiter smiled, then returned with a hand-folded paper cone of salt. Good thing, too as 12/26 honors St. Stephen, the first martyr by closing most stores.

Today, 12/27, we feel human, having slept well last night. After breakfast   (with fresh bread baked today from the nearby bakery), Mike and I set off for a 45 minute walk to the American Consulate on famous (La Dolce Vita) Via Veneto. We need additional pages added to our passport because we’ve traveled so much our pages are full before the passports expire. Armed with info from the internet, we got in line outside. Oops! No backpack is allowed inside. Soooooo, Mike gallantly agrees to wait out in the cold while I get my pages. 45 minutes later I emerge, explaining I waited for my turn, filled out the forms, talked with the attendant who asked us to come back another day, and have accomplished nothing! The server was down, so they couldn’t check my name against the terrorist/criminal list. Oh well, it was fun to window shop along Via Condutti and Via

Veneto. We celebrated our efforts with a nociola (hazelnut) gelato. However, the flavor was bland, so we did the right thing = we went to another gelateria and ordered another gelato at San Crispino (near Trevi Fountain) two hours later. Speaking of decadence, it was delicious, but still, it’s wasn’t as yummy as the nociola at Vivoli’s ice cream shop in Florence, Italy; so I guess we must continue to experiment in Rome. I gained 26 pounds living in Italy for 10 months, but this was mostly bread asgelato was a financial splurge.

This trip is all about food. Our travel companions, Del and Eva Lusk are great cooks and appreciate good food whether from the market or restaurant. Some of my favorite treats are: grilled porcini mushrooms (for Autumn visits to Italy), fried smashed Jerusalem artichokes, grilled eggplant and the aforementioned fresh bread. Buon Appetito!

We returned to the American Consulate. I waited in line with an angry woman who ranted against the Americans taking her money and rendering her homeless. Hope that’s not true! I was surprised to have Italians working at the embassy and consulate, but then I remembered applying to be the librarian at the Australian Embassy in DC years ago. I didn’t get the job, but of course, thought I was well qualified. Today, after waiting 90 minutes in various lines, we actually emerged with additional visa pages in our passports. We met our friends for lunch near the Coliseum , then strolled through the   Roman

Forum, had a gelato (nociola and tartufo) and returned to our apartment. Finally we found a gelateria to lose sleep over! “Crema e Cioccolato” (Via Del Portico di Ottavia 14).

It’s still 48 degrees F in our bedroom. This brings back memories of 1963-64 freezing in my bedroom in Florence! The shower overflows, the bidet emits some awful gaseous smell, but fabulous Roma waits just outside. Our long underwear is our (not) fashion statement.

We walked to the Non-Catholic Cemetery (also called the Protestant Cemetery but including Jewish and Orthodox graves). I don’t even want to think about the possible chauvinism of the Catholic Church if it excluded folks! The place is quite charming!

Here lie wealthy/famous people from around the world who died in Rome or loved Rome so much that they wished to be buried there. 6” tall, manicured hedges surround each grave. Low plants, some flowering, fill in the middle. Lovely trees abound and a

stone chapel anchors the shady promenade. The Romanic Poets: Shelley and Keats are buried there, as is Goethe’s son.

Finally we discovered how to get our bedroom a balmy 54 degrees. We turned the radiator off in the living room, which is too warm, and somehow this worked. Yea!

Wow! Today we saw an exhibit of 100 crèches scenes from around the world! It was definitely worth the 5 Euro admission fee. They were handmade, artful and inspiring.

From silver to stone to soap to fluffy fabric to iron to wood to ceramic, each artist interpreted the Nativity in a unique way. Some had moving parts and lovely details; others were starkly modern. Two favorites were: a blue cotton dress with white clouds and gold star pattern with an encircled Nativity scene painted on the skirt and a warm, paper mache’ and fabric scene with cow and donkey resplendently dressed in gold-trimmed formal suits! Then we all smiled at a crèche made of silver smiling figures. Mary and Joseph were holding their hands in the air in a joyous gesture over their new baby. Almost looked like they were giving each other a “High 5” The cow was fiddling, the donkey playing a horn, etc. Even the Magi laughed. Now that’s an interpretation I can celebrate. It was a wondrous event, wasn’t it?

Rome reminds us of Christmas at every turn. It seems less focused on gifts, more on Christ, family and Food. Speaking of food, we had a cozy and reasonable lunch at Sor’Eva. After that, somehow Mike and I found the strength to visit our favorite Gelateria once more. He had a nocciola and tartufo gelato and I had a crepe with melted Nutella and powdered sugar. (Very nutritious!)

Part II

On New Year’s eve, we walked up to St. Anselmo’s Benedictine Church. A charming stone path cuts through the hill. At the top we can peer through the keyhole to see St. Peter’s perfectly framed. Inside, 12-15 monks in a sparsely furnished, beautiful church, sang vespers in Latin at 7pm. We were among maybe 20 other visitors. We returned to our apartment where Del fixed the Italian traditional New Year’s Eve lentil soup for dinner. We toasted in the New Year with prosecco. The revelers near the Turtle Fountain below and in the bar downstairs celebrated into the wee hours. Eva (our night owl) reported enjoying rosettes of fireworks visible from our balcony.

Our friend, Del, is a skilled photographer. He delivered 8x11 prints to two shopkeepers in Trastevere. When each realized it was a professional studio quality photo of them, they were exceedingly pleased. One ran to post it on the store window; the other stared at it and said, “Bene!”

It’s disappointing to hear so much English in Italy! I speak in Italian and they answer in English. Oh well, there are a few exceptions when we can practice, such as the small shops and grocery stores.

There are two common outfits worn on the Roman streets this holiday season:

1) Cropped, quilted fitted, belted nylon jackets with dark blue tight jeans and leather boots (Ages 12-40ish)

2) Long caramel colored fur coats with fine leather heeled boots (Ages 50 +)

Now back to more eternal matters…….I smile and think my father would be incredulous how enthusiastically I am visiting one church after another!

St. Cecilia’s is tucked into a neighborhood in Trastevere. There’s a lovely gate and courtyard. Inside is understated except for a graceful reclining statue of St. Cecilia just as she was positioned when she died a martyr. She was an aristocrat and patron saint of music.

St. Mary’s of Trastevere is old founded in AD 217 and gorgeous! Intricate 13th century mosaics with lots of gold are everywhere. There is an incredibly beautiful view from a large gold relief frame through which one can see a medallion of a frescoed ceiling reminiscent of the Sistine chapel.

Then there’s magnificent St. John Lateran basilica. Only the pope can say Mass at the tall, impressive main altar. Here lie the heads of Saints Peter and Paul! I walked around the cloister admiring the twisted white columns inlaid with jewel colored mosaics. A real draw was the maroon cushioned chair said to verify the masculinity of each papal candidate after a purported St. Joan served as pope! A tiny hole in the cushion allowed someone (yikes) to make this determination.

Today we spent two hours in the Botanical Gardens. Eva is a master gardener. She has the ability to envision the future and past of each of these dormant plants. I looked for the few plants still in bloom. We all enjoyed the medicinal garden with signs explaining the illness and its plant treatment. Little brick ‘hedges’ separated each plant and formed a lovely zigzag patterned lattice. The garden is a refuge from bustling Rome and purportedly a welcome respite from the hot summer sun; lots of ponds, some bordered by interestingly shaped volcanic rock. There is a bamboo forest with 70 types of bamboo. Very pretty swaying in the breeze, although that same breeze chilled us!

After the garden, we lunched at Pa Pa Re, cozy, CHEAP, and good pasta and pizza. We’ve been ordering the house wine at each restaurant unless the guidebooks or blogs warn against them.

We secured the required reservations to see the Villa Borghese Gallery. Quite a walk from our apartment, but we do need to walk off the gelati and pasta. It’s annoying to have all these rules about checking bags, reservations, etc. but it does guarantee less crowded galleries. I love the Bernini statues in this museum!!! You can get very close as long as you don’t touch them. The light is sufficient, the setting a grand salon. The David statue has such a look of determination, as he gets ready to launch a rock from his slingshot. It’s marvelous.

The 3rd Century mosaics are remarkable. Much in this museum is restored antiquities. They have a temporary exhibit of Canova who sculpted 200 years after Bernini. (1790’s) Both celebrate the human body and were criticized as being too sensual by some early critics.

We ate tagliatelle limone pasta at Tavernella restaurant, which is filled with photos of celebrities like Sophia Loren and Fellini and Pope John-Paul II. I take to this life of eating, sleeping and walking! Neither Mike nor I have exactly retired, but this is mighty close to la dolce vita.

Tomorrow we eat lunch at our friend, Franco Pandolfi’s apartment. He and his family celebrated the holidays in Ferrara, but returned today. After we had passed our cancellation deadline for the “I Balconi” apartment, we learned we could have stayed at Franco’s! However, our location is hard to beat. We can stroll across the bridge to Trastevere or down to the Forum in minutes.   The sun breaks through once in a while. Thank God for long johns!

Ristorante Spirito DiVino in Trastevere is our next meal. Del and Eva are superb guides to their favorite European city. We are greeted by the friendly, witty, owner and his equally entertaining son. This building, constructed in 92 BC, is the oldest continuously occupied building in Rome. Each step down to the impressive old wine cellar represents 75 years. It was once a synagogue. We tried their signature dish- pork roasted for 24 hours with honey, apple and raisins. Their crème brulee was very thick and tasty. The customers were 30% Italian, 70% Americans. We ate from 8-10:30 pm-no rushing there.

This vacation is pleasingly unplanned and unrushed. Our sole ambition on Friday, our last day, was to replace a lost house key. We searched the Internet for ‘Rome’ + ‘kiave’ , ‘fabbro’, ‘key maker’, ‘locksmith’. Finally, we found something not too far away.

We reached the address and saw a boarded up former shop. So, we stuck our head into an open motorcycle repair shop and asked where to get a key made? The Signore answered with two words, “Secondi a sinistra”. Perfect! Now that ‘s the amountand clarity of Italian I can deal with. We found the key shop and completed our mission.

Our friends, Franco and Daniela, live in North Rome. They do not have the pass to drive into downtown, but can drive part way. This is a program to limit the downtown traffic. We walked downtown, and then caught a cab to their apartment. It was wonderful visiting with them. Franco and Mike share an interest in immunology. We met Franco in Bethesda, MD. They brought us up to date re: their daughter, an artist and architecture student and their son, newly launched into his own apartment. During our reminiscences of the old days, Franco brought out a photo from the 1980’s with Mike in Navy whites.

He promised to send it to us.

We chatted about a possible west coast trip this summer. Daniela’s Italian history book, already published in Italian, will be published in English by Harvard Press in May. She will deliver lectures there, and Franco will join her after a month. We hope they will fly to Seattle and allow us to introduce Daniela to Seattle and environs. 

Yesterday’s walk home was nostalgic. After two weeks of walking all over Rome, I was consciously absorbing her beauty and mystique. My infatuation with Florence remains steadfast. Now I will be drawn to both. Del and Eva raved about “Locando Oseola” a charming hotel in Venice. Wouldn’t mind returning there someday!

We set our alarms for 4:15am in order to meet our driver to the airport. No problem awakening in time. A dozen revelers drank and laughed and shouted on this Friday night and were continuing in front of the Turtle Fountain when we left this morning!

The Italians remind me to savor life. Bravissimi!