Una Settimana a Roma - a week in Rome as told by Dick

Monday

We arrived after a boring flight (the very best kind) from Malaga, Spain to Leonardo da Vinci - Fiumicino FCO airport. A fairly long wait for luggage then quickly found the big, burly driver for our driver of our big, black Mercedes shuttle for the 30km ride to our apartment on via San Quintino. 


After about a 10 minute wait for our landlord Paolo, who was also our landlord in 2014, to show up we got a bit nervous but then he appeared loping up the sidewalk. A tall man for italiano. Our apartmento for the next month is a nice and spacious below street level with a full kitchen to include a dishwasher and oven, ensuite with a tub and washing machine (no dryer to be found in Italy just drying racks). As it is not yet mid-November the heat is not yet turned the heat on which should be fine as the daytime temps will be between 70 and 80 F. Then off we went to shop for breakfast essentials, wine, beer and olives. The apartmento provided basic items like olio (olive oil), tea and cafe.

Paolo also provided a guide with a listing of local restaurants and shopping. One listed for good pizza is Ristorante Galilei but it turned out it was closed on Monday. We walked back across Via Merulana and discovered a Sri Lankan cafe:7 Seven Lanka. We love Sri Lankan food after we enjoyed several large Sri Lankan meals at an illicit restaurant (ring the bell at a building on a back street) a Napoli. I said "Hell yes. Let's try the Sri Lankan." It was really quite good and quite picante. 

Tuesday

Early afternoon we lunched at our favorite restaurant: Hostaria I Buoni Amici which we had discovered it through a lovely B&B landlady in 2014 (before meeting Paolo). They were frightfully busy. Many groups of 4 or more came in and several other patrons were standing outside in the rain waiting for a table to be available. At least 4 priests from the local chiesa were dining. It is on a side street and quite drab from the outside. Found the same sort of phenomenon a Milano in 2011.  Our hotel recommended a restaurant and we went to the address. When had seen it earlier and were a little put off as there was some damage on the outside from an automobile crashing into one of the window shutters. Inside it was deluxe with lots of well heeled patrons and very tasty food.

After dining we stopped at a few fruit stands on the way back for some fresh fruit and vegetables as we did want to brave the rain to go to Mercato Esquilino.

Wednesday

For lunch we did get over to Ristorante Galilei. We were informed that they only serve pizza at night so we had pasta. Sharon had pasta puttanesca which was good and I had penne arrabiata. Told the maitre de/owner that we like it very picante. Italian food is not usually very spicy. He brought us a woven basket filled with dried, hot, red chilies and a small scissors. They were really picante. Afterwards we shopped at a grocery store to buy items we did not find at our local grocery store and to buy some bug spray as we were battling a large house fly swarm in the apartment.

Thursday

For lunch we prepared pasta at the apartment then ventured over to the Mercato Esquilino to buy some fish, nuts, fruit, and spices before heading to a small dry goods store run by Chinese to buy a nightlight and a few other small items. Again rain threatened our walk back to the apartment.

Friday

We decided we would eat pizza for dinner at Il Ristorante Pizzeria Galilei so we decided to walk further south than we had been along Via Emanuele Filiberto. We passed the very ornate Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano

then continued further, crossing under the ancient wall that still arches over the streets. We turned right onto Via Sannio and came upon a huge flea market. Many kinds of mostly used articles, particularly clothing. Lot of warm things as winter's coming on. Sharon purchased some items from a Nepalese merchant.

Further west along Sannio the construction for the new subway metro line C. Saw a huge rotary excavator that was perched on some equipment.

Across the street were several old buildings (evident by plumbing and electricity running along the outsides) in states of elegant decay.

Back along Via Sannio then left on Via Appia Nuova and under the wall at Porta San Giovanni and into Giardini di via Carlo Felice. It was quite warm (83F) and quite humid. We walked along through the garden, viewing the ancient Roman wall that parallels the garden. Another km round trip. Became more humid and windy as we came back along Via Carlo Felice. Started to feel occasional drops of rain so we scurried back up Via Emanuele Filiberto to San Quintino and home.


By evening the humidity was gone but still quite warm. I had made electronic reservations at Ristorante Galilei but it wasn't necessary as we showed up at seven a punto. Sharon had a pizza napolitana (tomato sauce, anchovies, mozzarella di bufala) and I had a pizza marinara (tomato sauce, olive oil, origano). Very thin crust from a very hot pizza oven (bubbles in the croste) The kitchen was still being run by Mama who did our lunch a few days earlier but now there were several big burly men working the kitchen. Both delicious.

Saturday

In all the time we have been a Roma we have never visited Castel Sant'Angelo and decided we should go even though it is deprecated as being brutto (ugly). It had started as a mausoleum for Emperor Hadrian (wall in Britain).

Nearby is a public market that is not often visited by tourists a it tends not to be shown on the free maps given out by the hotels and TIs. In our first visit in 2005 we had stayed over by the Vatican and had shopped an open air market along one of the streets. That market called Mercato Trionfale has since been moved to a new covered building along Via Andrea Doria. So off onto the metro we went.

We exited the metro at Ottaviano (Octavian - Caesar Augustus) and walked east along Viale Giulio Cesare (Julius Caesar - italiano has no J except for foreign words. They call 'J' 'I longo' - long I. 'gi' has the sound of our J) until we arrived at the market. Bigger than Mercato Centrale (Nuovo Mercato Esquilino) which is only a mile away from us and also huge.

At Trionfale we bought another head of garlic (favorite vegetable) and a lemon. Light stuff since it promised to be a long walk back to the apartment.

From the market we walked along a wall of the Vatican then west on Via dei Corridori to Castel Sant'Angelo. 

Passetto di Borgo,

It was quite warm (88F) and humid. We sought out a bench in the shade within the park that surrounds the castle. After cooling down in the shade we walked down a ramp to the lower level which might have been a moat at some previous time. 

We walked round most of the lower level then back up to street level and out to the Tiberi side for pictures of the archangel Michael sheathing his sword to signal the end of the plague of 590.

Looking towards the Vatican from Ponte Sant'Angelo

Nearby appeared a very imposing and ornate marble building. We had discovered the Palace of Justice where their supreme court sits. The Italian Supreme Court of Cassation is the highest court of Italy. 




















We walked back to cross the Fiume Tiberi on the Ponte Sant'Angelo.

Then we walked east along Lungotevere Tor di Nona for quite some way,
veering off onto Via di Monte Brianzo which became Via della Fontanella di Borghese and we knew then we were on the right track since Borghese would lead us to Spagna (The Spanish Steps) which has a metro station built into the hill below the Borghese park. 

Passing along the way where many high end shops like Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Tiffany, Beltramo and Ferragamo. All we had to do was buy two metro tickets for €1.50 each. I stood in line at the window so could use up the partly torn €5 note I had.

Sunday

Way tired feet from last two days of walking so all we did was to duck through our shortcut Via Vittorio Amedeo II then Via Carlo Emanuele I and onto Viale Manzoni which took us to back to the grocery store to buy the important items like wine, pane, te nero, birra (beer), Sandeman port and a sweet sherry-like wine. 

Just a note

We have spent several cumulative months a Roma since our first visit
in 2005. So we have seen the vast majority of turistica things. Sharon
wants to visit Musei Capitolini and Casina delle Civette. I enjoy just being Roman. Blending in with the locals though a few times we have been greeted with an "Hola" must be our Spanish tans. Seeing a few new things but avoiding the tourist traps.

Anyway we can only walk so far and see or eat a limited number of things in a day, even in the Eternal City so we are likely to be surfing the net. We are not out at night very often. Don't like walking the often ill-paved Roman sidewalks at night with tripping hazards galore. 

Sharon mused that in all of the cities we have travelled to in Europe there is something about Rome that sets it aside from all of the other cities and is evident as soon as you arrive. It is not just the ruins and the numerous churches but something more. There are very few skyscrapers and most of the buildings look similar to ones you would see in Brooklyn. The streets are both broad and narrow, straight and very twisty, tree Lined and full of parked cars. But it is just uniquely Rome and always full of chaos and beauty. It is the Eternal city.

Was that an earthquake?

I have been in a bit of a writer's block lately and have not been very good in sending posts for our current trip. I often feel that no one is really reading what we post or may not have any interest in our travels. But that is not an
excuse for letting you know that we were not in the Marche area of Italy that recently had the 6.2 earthquake.

We are currently in Pescara on the Adriatic side of Italy. We did feel the earthquake and when it happened I wasn't really sure if that was the cause or if I was having a dizzy spell. As someone said on CNN "I am from California so I knew what was happening."  Well as a child living in Japan I remember often being shook awake from the little temblors we felt but I never felt frightened then and still don't.  I do admit that while working in Emeryville in a building, on the 7th floor, built on the mudflats I was a bit concerned during one earthquake.

Back in 2014 we went from Pescara to L'Aquila which is an area that suffered from a 6.3 earthquake in 2009. The death toll for L'Aquila was around 300 with around 60,000 left homeless.  It was very heartbreaking to see the amount of damage and the number of lives lost. Here is the link to the photos we took then: https://goo.gl/photos/R5WtHbyxFSifDUyN8

As the rebuilding of L'Aquila was full of corruption and really did not start until 2014 I am certain the rebuilding of the many hilltowns impact by the recent earthquake will not occur soon.

I wish those in Central Italy for a speedy recovery and sorrow for the loved ones lost. 

And we are off....again

Some may be thinking that we are about to reprise our 2014 adventure again based on the post title, well that isn't true. Okay it is partially true. We are returning to Italy and Spain but primarily to places we have already been to and to again investigate immigration to either Italy or Spain.

First stop will be Bologna the land of Bolognese sauce, Balsamic vinegar, cheese, and of course fast cars and motorcycles. 

Then off to relax at the beach in Pescara, jaunt over to Spain to spend more time at the beaches of Malaga and Marbella. 

The last leg has us in Roma, the Eternal City.

So stay tuned for photos and stories.

Ciao Presto!!