Adventures in Italy: Day 18, Rome

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Italy Day 18, Friday, October 21, Rome



In the morning, Renato Ricci, our Program Director for Rome, who replaced Ben, our Program Director for Tuscany and the Amalfi Coast, met those of us who chose to stay on for the Rome extension in the lobby of our Hotel Albani. We begin a walk with Renato in the Quatiere Coppede neighborhood with buildings clustered in the unique Art Deco architectural designs by renowned architect Gino Coppede (I wrote more about this on our first day in Rome, October 5th). Renato explained that “Rome was created first by the Romans and then the Pope.” After 1871 different areas of the city had formed. The posh residential area of the Quatiere Coppede was developed after 1871. There are now 2.8 million people living in Rome.



Renato had planned to show us bus routes and how to navigate them by taking us into Rome but there was a bus strike. “Today, like every other Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. there is a strike and there are no buses, but there may be some exceptions.” says Renato. No matter, shops are closed on Sundays. Instead, we walked through the Borghese Gardens one of the oldest areas in Rome, conveniently close to our hotel.



Donna, John, Dave and I left on our own with a plan (and a map) to get us to the Spanish Steps but got lost on our detour to the Pincio (at the top of the Pincian Hill of ancient Rome) for our overview of Rome and shortcut from the park to the Spanish Steps. In our meanderings we stopped for lunch at a charming little cafe in the park called Pic Nic. This tiny outdoor cafe served up really good homemade ricotta and spinach stuffed ravioli with excellent OVO and freshly grated Parmesan. Getting lost can be the best thing!



After lunch we walked down through the Porta del Popolo to the Piazza Popolo (People’s Square), the large urban square in Rome, to visit the Santa Maria Popolo del Basilica and see the beautiful Carvagio paintings. There were many works of art inside the Basilica but one that stood out for me was the impressive funereal Monument of Maria Flaminia Odescalchi Chigi sometimes referred to as the “last Baroque tomb in Rome”. This monument is quite beautiful and has a moving story. Sadly this monument was built in 1771 for a young princess, the first wife of Ferdinando Chigi who died in childbirth at the age of 20. It was designed by Paolo Post, a Baroque architect most famous for his ephemeral architecture designed for celebrations. The princesse’s tomb is located near the pillar between the Chigi and the Montemirabile Chapels. Such a sad story, Ferdinando must have loved his wife very much.



After leaving the church we looked up at the elegant Pincio where we would have walked down into Piazza Popolo from a more direct route, had we gotten the right directions, (and we would have gotten a great view of Rome, but then, it was overcast). It is all an adventure after all. Bernini had placed a plaque above the Porta del Popolo leading into the Piazza del Popolo, reading: "FELICI FAUSTOQUE INGRESSUI MDCLV" (For a Happy and Propitious Entrance) to welcome the Swedish Queen Christina. We all embraced the welcome. It’s all good after all. The Piazza Del Popolo is defined by the huge Egyptian obelisk of Ramesses II that is flanked in the background by the “twin churches” of Santa Maria in Montesanto and Santa Maria dei Miracoli.



From the piazza we headed up the Via del Babuino towards the Spanish Steps with a quick detour at the Episcopal All Saints Church where we stopped to listen to Vespers softly chanting in the intimate setting. From there we window shopped our way past some of Rome’s more elite shops before ending up at Piazza d’ Spagna and the Spanish Steps. Donna bought some fresh hot chestnuts from a street vender and sat on the steps to eat them. A policeman began violently blowing his whistle. We all looked up, surprised that he was ordering Donna off the steps since, apparently, you are not allowed to eat there!



It was on one of these 135 steps that Gregory Peck met Audrey Hepburn in the movie Roman Holiday. At the base of these steps is the Fountain of the Ugly Boat, Fontana della Barcaccia. I really didn’t think it was ugly, to me, in fact at first glance, it looked like a sea creature with tears pouring from its big ‘eyes’. The ‘boat fountain’ was created by Pietro Bernini between 1627 and 1629 and was made into the shape of a half-sunken ship with water pouring over its sides into a small pool. The beautiful blue-green water comes from the Acqua Vergine, an aqueduct from 19 BCE. According to legends, when the Tiber River flooded in 1598, water carried a small boat into the Piazza di Spagna. When the waters receded, a boat was left in the center of the square which later became the inspiration for Bernini’s “Ugly Boat Fountain’. The English poet John Keats allegedly could hear the sounds of the fountain’s waters from his deathbed in the house nearby.



I had been most interested in visiting the Keats and Shelley museum at the base of the Spanish Steps but I was alone in this conviction so Donna and John took a cab back to the hotel and Dave climbed the 135 steps to find a place to sit where I allegedly would find him later. I toured the special Keats and Shelley Museum, a little known gem in Rome, alone for over an hour. An optional video introduction by Prince Charles described the importance of poets Keats, Shelley and Byron and he discusses the history of the poets in Rome and this museum. After the video I went to the bedroom where Keats had died and looked out over the Spanish Steps to the Fountain of the Ugly Boat to hear what Keats might have heard from his deathbed, but the crowd’s noise was so insistent that it was impossible to hear anything but the crowd. I imagine in his time he would have heard the clomping of horse’s hoofs and a few people milling about. In the museum I thought of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem Adonais "Go thou to Rome, at once the Paradise, The grave, the city, and the wilderness….”. After this peaceful escape from the madding crowd, I left this sweet museum and climbed the Spanish Steps.



At the top of the Spanish Steps I looked down across the Piazza for a splendid view of the Via Condotti and Rome. Turning around I entered the Trinita dei Monti Church with its commanding view of its Roman Catholic population below. From the 16th century this church and the area surrounding it was under French influence, in fact the monastery was built by the order of Louis XII in 1502 and was known as the church of the kings of France. The French had provided funds for the Spanish Steps, built around 1725 by Francesco De Sanctis, to celebrate the peace between France and Spain. The purpose of the steps was to create a passageway from the Bourbon Spanish Embassy to the French Church Trinita dei Monti.



In 1687 Father Maignan, a famous mathematician, painted a meridian on the corridor walls of the northern arm of the church. This is a solar clock with lines in several colors. With this clock it was possible to calculate the time in the major cities of the world.



In front of the Trinita dei Monti Church stands the Obelisco Sallustiano. The obelesque dates back to Roman times and was relocated to this high point in front of the church in 1789. Inside the church I found the beautiful Deposition by German sculptor Wilhelm Achtermann depicting Mary embracing Jesus after being taken down from the cross. There were beautiful frescoes high up in the dome as well as the Assumption of the Virgin by a pupil of Michelangelo, Daniele da Volterra.



With my husband nowhere in sight, and finding crowds of people everywhere, I gave up looking for him and left the church to begin my 3/4 hour solo walk back to our hotel noting every nuanced portico and doorway along the Via Cammidina. Along the way I passed the stately Hotel Arcangelo Roma and a portion of the ancient Roman Aurelian Wall. The wall was constructed under duress and as an emergency measure to protect Rome from the barbarian invasion of 270. It took only 5 years to build. Amazing what duress will do to a construction project. But then it’s good to have a collection of slaves to build your massive project in a hurry. The Aurelian Wall was contrasted by the modern Harry’s Bar, Rome, on the famous Via Vittorio Veneto, called the most elegant road in Rome. The newly constructed Largo Federico Fellini road took me to the beautiful Borghese gardens, close to the Via Po and our Roman residence, the Hotel Albani. A long but beautiful walk through some amazing historic sites.



In the evening Donna, John, Dave and I went to dinner near our hotel at the Hosteria Po along Via Po. Obviously a local favorite, we were lucky to snag a table for four in the only window if we promised to be finished by 9pm when most Romans eat. I had a pistachio pesto with prawns on linguini, Donna had chicken curry and the men ordered Danish beef but John asked to have porcini mushrooms on his. Because it sounded like a good idea, I suggested Dave do the same. It is important we find, to know the local culture. Our waiter looked at us funny when we asked for the mushrooms (those crazy Americans) but we were accustomed to having a very light mushroom sauce on steak. In this restaurant they each got a separate mushroom plate, big enough for an entire meal, or at least for us all to share. We also had ordered bruschetta and grilled eggplant and zucchini, way more food than we had intended but we left well satisfied even if the waiter was sad that we didn't finish our plates.

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Photos

Spanish Steps leading up to the Trinita dei Monti Church. Keats and Shelley Museum on the lower right.
Note, the Fountain of the Ugly Boat is obscured by the large crowds.