Rome: November 17, Saint Peter's and More Rain

After walking up Via Nazionale to the #40 bus stop and waiting there for ten minutes, seeing all the buses packed full like sardines, we decided instead to take the Metro to Saint Peter's Basilica from Repubblica.  While the metro was crowded and we had to stand, we at least were able to fit ourselves into the cars.  We got off at Ottaviano (with everybody else, it seemed) and I had to forego browsing the bancarelle along Via Ottaviano so that we could get to St. Peter's before it started raining.

We thought that the line into Saint Peter's on Saturday evening was horrendous and due to the fact it was Saturday night.  Yesterday it was even worse, stretching at least for a quarter of a mile -- well, at least for a couple of city blocks.  But I love looking at all the Italian fashions in the line!  Vibe and Fernando held our place in line while Penny and I went on our search for the medals of Saints John XXIII and John Paul II in the religious shops.  Still no luck finding the joint commemoration medal and so I decided to just get one of each for Patty Horomanski.  And we got the Holy Water!  Although Vibe said it was just as good from the tap...

Nail job, anyone?

Saint Peter's was immense and magnificent with lots and lots of statues, including Michelangelo's Pieta.  Too bad we didn't know who the rest of the statues were but we took lots of photos of them anyway.  Vibe wanted to climb to the top of the dome but she had no other takers (551 steps are way beyond our limit) so she'll have to wait for another occasion.

After Saint Peter's we walked over to Trastevere beside the Tiber River, a low riverside walkway that is below water today (we've had lots of rain).  We came up the stairs at Ponte Sisto, walked along the Via del Moro and decided to eat at L'Antico Moro.

Vibe and Fernando had pizza and Penny and I had pasta.  We had a friendly waiter but he brought Penny the wrong pasta and Fernando the wrong pizza so we were there longer than usual waiting for our food.

The weather was threatening throughout the day and I have a great video of a downpour after we left the restaurant.  Fortunately each of us had our own umbrella today. 

We wandered over to Santa Maria Trastevere where we happened upon a funeral which gave us time to sit and contemplate mortality. After the funeral we were able to view the gorgeous mosaics above the altar, and the cosmatesque floors. Cathy hem and hawed but finally bought an advent calendar of Santa Maria in Trastevere, which she will display each Christmas until she dies.

Then we made a beeline for San Francesco a Ripa, stumbling across Antica Caciara, the old-fashioned cheese shop that was featured in a video on youtube.  We didn't have the proprietor wait on us but the other clerk was just as helpful and friendly.  I bought some ceci-like beans, a mix of grains and lentils for a soup, some cheese and a burrata (the cream and mozzarella-filled mozzarella).  We saw the Bernini statue in San Francesco but we were all getting tired of churches and Vibe didn't want to go on to see Santa Cecilia.

We wandered back over the Tiber, across the Tiber Island, ending up by the synagogue in the Jewish ghetto.  Fernando and Penny had some kosher gelato but it wasn't very good.  After a bit more wandering through small streets in the general direction of Largo Argentina, we realized we were back at the Tiber River, having gone full circle.  So we took out the phones again to find our way over to the Largo Argentina, where we took the #40 bus back home, jammed in with a lot of other people with fogged up windows.  But we made it.

After resting for an hour or so, Vibe was hot for another restaurant.  We perused the map online and decided to walk down to the Antica Boheme at the end of Via Napoli.  The restaurant was mainly in the basement but we had a very charming waiter, who anticipated what each of us was ordering.

Vibe ordered minestrone and osso bucco (she said that the one she makes is better), Penny ordered meat ravioli and carciofi alla romana (artichoke), I had spinach and ricotta ravioli and a carciofi, but Fernando had a fruit salad followed by a creme brulee.  This evening we didn't top it off with limoncello but with machiatos, except for Vibe who had a latte.

We are getting very fat on this trip...

Trastevere

I've planned on doing a post on Trastevere for a long time but I didn't know where to start.

Lonely Planet recommends entering Trastevere via the Ponte Sisto stone footbridge at its northeast corner and then taking Via del Moro, with its many cafes and shops, to the Piazza di Santa Maria.  At Via del Moro #37B we'll need to stop at Pasticceria Valzani to pick up some pastries for breakfast and eat them at  the Piazza, where we can people-watch.   Then we can visit the 12th century Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere (actually first constructed in 377 AD) with golden mosaics illustrating the life of Mary by Pietro Cavallini (1291).  It is supported by Roman columns taken from the Baths of Caracalla.

Then Lonely Planet suggests crossing over to the other side of the main Viale Trastevere to see the Basilica di Santa Cecilia, where there is an altar sculpture of the Martyrdom of Santa Cecilia by Stefano Maderno (1600) who supposedly used her uncorrupted body that had been exhumed for his model.  It predates Bernini "by decades".  There are also the last remaining frescoes by Pietro Cavallini (1293) but you have to "ring a bell" to see them.

Not to slight Gian Lorenzo, we'll have to leave LP's itinerary and walk south  to the Chiesa di San Francesco a Ripa because it has one of his ecstatic statues: Beata Ludovica Albertoni (1671).  On our walk back to the other side of Viale Trastevere, we can stop by the mercato at the Piazza San Cosimato (6:30am-1:30pm) to pick up some fruit, cheese and bread for lunch.

Or we can stop by the Antica Caciara on Via di San Francesco a Ripa, 140A/B, a cheese and salami store that we will pass.  It was founded when cheese was still called cacio in Rome.  They also have guanciale in case we haven't yet picked some up for our bacon and eggs.  Eating Italy Tours has a short video in Italian (with English subtitles) on the proprietor Roberto Polica.

So far we have walked about 1 mile and we should have been able to rest our legs in the three churches.  And we shouldn't be hungry.  But we have LOTS MORE TO SEE!

Whoops.  Maybe we shouldn't have taken Lonely Planet's advice.  It looks like we should have started with the Villa Farnesina (5 euros for seniors) because it is only open from 9am-2pm Mon-Sat.  Fernando wants to see the frescoes by Raffaello.  The Villa was built by a banker from Sienna, Agostino Chigi, from 1506 to 1510 but unfortunately was later bought by the Farnese family and so given their name.  How unfair!  No matter what it is called, it has beautiful ceilings.

Somewhat nearby the Villa Farnesina is the Casa della Fornarina where Raffaello's mistress was supposed to have lived while he was working on the Villa.  It is now a Guest House and we could have stayed there for $1,194 for 10 nights, unrefundable or $1,571 refundable, with breakfast.  Of course, that is just for 2 people and there is no kitchen and no place to go read if the other person wants to sleep.  But Fernando could have pretended he was Raffaello. 

About 1000 feet further south on Via Garibaldi is a 17th century convent church by Borromini: Santa Maria dei Sette Dolori (Santa Maria of the Seven Griefs).  Apparently it has been turned into the Hotel Donna Camilla Savelli where we could have rented a suite for € 3,230.00.  We are going to have to content ourselves with viewing the exterior, and the hotel's website doesn't even mention Borromini.

I forgot to mention that between the Villa Farnesina and the Casa della Fornarina lies John Cabot University but Fernando would complain that it has no engineering school so he might not be as keen on visiting it.  The American Academy in Rome is also in Trastevere and has a School of Fine Arts, a School of Classical Studies, and The Rome Sustainable Food Project.  Unfortunately there is no restaurant attached to it.

Orto Botanico

Do we want to take Via Garibaldi up the Janiculum Hill for a view of Rome?  It's supposed to take 20 minutes walking (it's about a mile from the Sette Dolori) but there is a bus that goes up: #115 Largo Fiorentini from Trastevere or #870 from Piazza Fiorentini (off Corso Vittorio Emanuele, where it meets the Tiber).   Rachel in her Rome Writings approaches the hill from the Vatican side and says there are steps up it in stages where you can appreciate the view.  At noon they fire a cannon.  (By the way, one of my bookgroup members said that the view from St. Peter's Dome was absolutely stunning and that we simply couldn't miss it.)  And how could I forget?  At the foot of the Janiculum Hill near the Villa Farnesina is the Orto Botanico, the botanical garden, which Rachel also mentions.

When should we go to Trastevere?  On a Sunday when they have the Porta Portese flea market?  That should provide a lot of local color, although I've never had much luck with flea markets (except maybe those hats we bought in Paris), and Fernando doesn't have an adequate appreciation of them.  But look at that photo of pepper mills!  One can always use another pepper mill.  Since the flea market is known for pick pockets we will go with very little cash which also means that means we can't buy much.  It is located around the old city gate called Porta Portese at the southeast end of Trastevere and open from 7 am to 2 pm.