Rome, February 2009

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Rome February 8 to 15, 2009

Since we were staying in Rome for nine days we opted to rent a very pleasant apartment on the Via Giulia rather than stay in the hotel. We arrived on the the 6th of February.

Sunday morning we went to the newly restored Trajan's market. We had been there numerous times before. However, we were able to access areas that had previously been closed to the public so this visit was a very different experience.

Recording and remembering what he ate in Italy is one of Tom's favorite parts of traveling:

"We went to lunch at a nearby restaurant, Taverna Fori Imperiali. The dinner started with extensive anti-pasti, followed by wonderful pappardella in a chopped veal and truffle sauce. The second was Italian meatloaf. Dinner as always was accompanied by wine and bottled water."

After lunch we went to the Musei Capitolini on the Piazza di Campidoglio to view the statue of Marcus Aurelius. The statue used to stand in the center of the Piazza. It has recently been restored and is now housed in a well designed museum space in the Palazzo dei Conservatori of the Musei Capitolini. A replica is now in the piazza.

Monday morning we went to the Basilica of St. Agnes Outside the Walls to visit the catacombs and the adjoining the mausoleo of Santa Constanza, a daughter of the Emperor Constantine.

Italians are the best at funky cake decorations — its all completely eatable. I bought a yummy raspberry tart in this shop.

The Palazzo Farnese, one of the most famous and luxuriant Italian Renaissance buildings, is currently the home of the French Embassy in Italy. It can be visited by appointment.

Perhaps our favorite events on this trip were visits to two of the oldest public libraries in the world. On Tuesday we visited, by special permit, the Biblioteca Angelica, "the oldest public library in the world". The librarian treated us to all sorts of wonderful things including manuscripts and incunabula (books printed before 1501). Some of the rarer documents are viewable only on computers at the library. However, they did bring out several actual examples of manuscripts and early printed books for us to examine.

This image is actually from the second library we visited, the Biblioteca Casanatense, where we went on Wednesday morning. The liberians told us the history or the library and showed us wonderful examples of early manuscripts, incunabula and other documents. Among other things we saw was this original score of Tema con Variazioni by Niccolo Paganini. This library also had a magnificent 1716 globe of the world.

Wednesday lunch at the Grotte Theatro di Pompeo.

After lunch we visited the Palazzo Doria Pamphili currently the home of the Brazilian Embassy to Italy. One of the impressive things about seeing these historic palazzi like Farnese and Doria Pamphili is that because they are embassy they are maintained with the kind of elegances that must have existed with the original owners. It is a different experience than visiting palazzi that are now museums.

On Thursday morning we visited the church of the Knights of Malta on the Aventine Hill. Their church, Santa Maria del Priorato is the only example of the extant of architecture by Piranesi.

Fabulously over the top.

While on the Aventine Hill we also stopped at the churches of San Alessio and Santa Sabina.

Lunch in Al Pompiere. Followed by a walk in the ghetto.

Portico d'Ottavia

The plan for Friday had been to go to the Palatine Hill to visit the newly restored rooms of the house of Augustus. One thing everybody who has ever been to Italy knows "you have to be flexible".

It turns out the the Colosseum was on STRIKE! So all of the thousands of tourists who where planning on visiting the Colosseum turned to the nearest sight, which was of course the Forum and the Palatine Hill. We decided to avoid the mobs and instead we walked along the Circus Maximus, visited the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, crossed the Isola Tiberina, and wandered through Trastevere.

Isola Tiberina

We visited the Villa Farnesina with its fabulous frescos.

Some 1528 graffiti in the Villa Farnesina.

Written in German gothic and uncovered during recent restorations it says "1528 - why shouldn't I laugh: the Lansquenets have put the Pope to flight".

Some of us had enough energy left to walk to St Peters.

Libby Lubin showing Barbara Gillis where to stand so the columns of Bernini's colonnade all line up to look only one column deep.

The Colosseum was open on Saturday. We got there before the crowds and had a look around. Tom and I had not been inside the Colosseum in years. Of course, very little has changed but it was nice to have another look after a long time.

We did get to Augustus' House on the Palatine where I managed to snap this photo before I was told NO PHOTOS.