Rome, Rosie and Rambunctious good times.

Arriving in Rome was a delight. Sunshine, green grass, sping foliage and terracotta villas were my first impression. Our shuttle driver gave us a lovely scenic tour past the Palatino ( I was thrown by the terracotta brick walls and pillars, expecting shining white marble!!!), Roman Forum, Vittorio Emmanuel and Piazza Navona on the way to our loft in Governo Vecchio, a narrow winding street that Popes of old used on their way to cross the Tiber to the Vatican. Now its lined with funky boutiques, cafes, bars, vintage stores and the most covetable faux flower store ever!. Take any lane leading from Governo Vecchio and you’ll find another treasure trove!

Street sights on the way to our Apartment

Governo Vecchio

Our apartment was large and would be split into two later in the week when two more kiwis arrived. Books, antiques and interesting objects made the place feel very comfortable. We had just sat down at the neighbouring café adorned with the lilac chairs and yellow ranunculus on each table, when Rosie appeared. It was gorgeous to see her again in her new home town! After a well needed caffe we hoofed it with Rosie, eager to get our Roma adventure underway.

Pantheon

Meeting Dunph at his office (also an art gallery) in Piazza Mattei, we arranged to meet up a little later for lunch after we visted the Pantheon. To say the Pantheon is a miracle is an understatment. It is a miracle! Standing under the oculus (that word sounds sooo Dan Brown!) you feel the weight of the incredible curving ceiling and marvel at its technical perfection. Lucky for us there were relatively few people there and it did feel like a sacred place of calm.

Streets along the Tiber

After a walk across the Ponte Fabricio to the Isola Tiberina where Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck took an unexpected dip in Roman Holiday we walked through the jewish ghetto to Sora Margherita in Piazza delle Cinque Scole for pranzo (lunch). Marks fav lunch spot. Apart from nearly choking on a stupendously delicious fried artichoke we shared a riotous lunch with Rosie and Dunph at this tiny hole in the wall spot. Everything was totally delicious and authentic and the perfect start to our gastronmic adventures in Roma! I've just found a recipe for these crispy fried artichokes in the Silver Spoon so look forward to trying them out at home.

Sora Margherita

Later we met for aperitivo’s by the Fontana delle Tartarughe at Piazza Mattei, at Bar Taruga.

Fontana delle Tartarughe in Piazza Mattei

We must have gone to Rosies apartment that day and sat on the roof terrace but after the wine at lunch I lost track of the order to the day. I also lost my favorite sciarpa grigia (grey scarf) Needless to say Rosie has the most divine view of the skyline of Rome. All the great monuments and ruins can be seen. Totally romantic, I kept having to pinch myself as we sat sunning ourselves amongst rooftop gardenias and rosemary bushes watching a redheaded lady hang her colorful sheets on the rooftop nearby.

View from Rosies rooftop garden

Days melded into days as we traversed this romantic city by foot, cab, and pushbike! A private tour of the vatican with Emiliano Mochi was a special treat. We shortcut the lines and lapped up his informed gossip about the vatican treasures and lives of Popes and artists Raphael and Michelangelo. Explaining Raphaels radical use of perspective in the design (cartoons) for tapestries, the little Black Boy statue (3rd down on left) and the destruction and reconstuction of the Pieta (2nd from right at bottom) just a couple to mention.

Vatican City with Emiliano

We fell in love with Campo di Fiori for its daily market and nightly party zone. It seemed unbelievable that the rythmn of this place flowed daily from colorful produce market erected and dismantled 365 days a year. In the early evening (la sera) the road sweepers and trucks roll in and cart and clean the marche debris away. By night (la notte) Rome’s local and expat youth’s party at the bars while tourists and locals mingle at the outdoor restaurants.

Fresh produce daily at Campo de Fiori

Rosie introduced us to her fav sights and streets which was a pleasure. Wisteria bloomed along narrow Via Margutta scenting the air were locals shop in ultra fab interior, art and antique galleries. Tad store on Via Del Babuino (http://www.wetad.it/)was a visual delight.

Old friends in an very old town!

Cycling the gardens of the Villa Borghese

Piazza del Popolo under the Borghese gardens and overlooked by the Medici Villa was a lovely place to start a walk. We had lunch at Gusto (http://www.gusto.it/osteria-roma.htm)one day, then hired bikes up in the Borghese gardens and pedaled to the Modern Art museum there.

The Spanish steps were crowded with youths lounging around just as they had in the old film starring Warren Beatty and Vivien Leigh 'the Roman Spring of Mrs Stone'. The apartment and balcony used in the movie can be seen clearly from the steps.

Spanish Steps

We were touched by an odd phenomenon when we finally found the Fontana di Trevi…all day we’d have coins jingling in our pockets…but slowly through the day we’d offloaded them as tips…now when all we needed was one measly coin not one was to be found! The legend goes that once you throw your coin over your left shoulder you will ensure good fortune and swift return to Roma. Looks like there’s no going back for us!(http://www.yourwaytoflorence.com/roma.htm)

Fontana di Trevi

Rome is the city of water, beautiful fountains decorate piazza’s everywhere and all are pristine and sparkling clean. The water here is like nowhere else. Something to do with the limestone that filters it.

Vittorio Emmanuel II Monument

Vittorio Emmanuel II is a huge wedding cake of a monument rising high above the Rome skyline but not higher than St Peters Dome. We often used it as our compass bearing to find our way home. At night from Rosies balcony illuminated against that clear Roman sky we watched gulls circling endlessly in its lights.

Roman Forum and Palatino

One afternoon we walked the ruins of the Roman Forum and  the Palatine hill under bright blue Roman skies. Definitely my favorite place in Rome, the Palatino with its marble and terracotta ruins, green scented gardens and air filled with so much history that it resonates. History comes alive as you walk past the place Julius Ceasar died, legends and lives of those famous emperors and patricians loom large amongst the decay of their city. You can’t really believe you’re a part of it! I couldn’t help but think of the common brick makers and the marble hewers who laboured their lives away for the patrician occupants of the Forum and Palatine hill!

Details from the Forum

Strangely the Colosseo had a very different effect on me. I felt it was a place where mans cruel and baser instincts had been encouraged, to me it was filled with sadness and horror and death. Not somewhere that resonated in a good way at all. I was pleased when that tour was over!

Rosie whipping up a fabulous meal!

We met Rosie and Mark each night for drinks and dinner. Whether it was meeting Paul and Mickey  (kiwi‘s from Auckland) at the apartment for a family dinner (Rosie’s food was gorgeous and her Semifreddo for pudding was too die for..I am hoping to pry the recipe from her) or cruising little wine bars full of eccentric expats and locals we managed to chat to people and make ourselves understood with our pidgin Italiano. Pip seemed to become more fluent as the night progressed…the language of vino rosso is universal! Bar Taruga is a cute place in Mark's square where the owner and friends gather round the grand piano and make music nightly for a slightly gay crowd so we felt right at home! At times these nights felt like scenes from a movie, the settings so crazy romantic and Italian, the people so vibrant and full of energy.

Late night Gelato’s at Campo (di Fiori) or a Pizza at a street café became our pre-turn-in ritual. Strolling around amongst the happy crowds late at night was such fun as was the perilous climb into our loft bedroom each night to sleep beneath a red heart shaped light under a milky skylight that lit the room.

A day in Naples beside the sea was a lovely break from the city. My yearning for salt air and fishing nets was swiftly assuaged when we stumbled literally on the Barcadero, a tiny fishermans bar set in the lee of Castel del’Ouovo. We sat in the sun just inches from gently rocking fishing dories and watched fascinated as fishermen rowed or puttered into the bay, dropping off their boat to a waiting boatmen who ferried them ashore.

Barcadero and Castel del’Ouovo.

We walked the shoreline all day, stopping here and there for caffe and sfogliatelle, a syrup drenched crispy shelled pastry with a luscious mandarin flavored ricotta filling and a little later in the day aperitivo’s. Orangeade and Campari sounds scary but is a delicious drink I’d had years ago in Villefranche near Monte Carlo and never been able to recreate. We tossed back a couple of these accompanied by little dishes of fat green morish olives and chips.

Fish shacks sell shellfish straight off the boat.

Finally after another couple of hours walking it was time for a sundown bottle of rose at Il Terasse, back at the fishermans basin we started out at hours before. Eurorail, fast train sped us back along the coast through rural farms and hills to Roma. Night was falling in time for another walk from Termini station (the line up for taxi’s was far too long for these ‘get-er-done’ folks to consider), so we tripped our way, mapless this time, all the way to Governo Vecchio where we collapsed into seats at the neighboring restaurant Mimi and Coco and ate yet again!

Villa Pamphilli above Trestevere

For our final day Rosie proposed lunch in the gardens of the Villa Pamphilli. We walked home through the ground of the lovely old Villa, winding our way down the hill to Trastevere and the Tiber. (We'd tried to get a table at da Augustos in Trastevere one night but no luck..arrive before 7 if you want a table).

Mickey up the Orange Tree in Pamphilli Gardens!

Gardens and terraces in Rome are adorned by huge orange trees. Fascinated by the bumpy large fruit Mickey Batemen takes to the tree tops to find us one to sample. Sadly though the skins and flowers are aromatic the fruit is extremely dry and sour! Yes we all tried one!

Polle e salvia, parmigiano della Melzana, Fagioli de fava insalate.

We met later for dinner at her apartment where we nibbled first on sublime burrata mozzerella and proscuitto. I made my fava bean, pea and mushroom salad (but got too tiddly to peel the fava’s ….note to self…always peel fava’s before drinking wine!), Rosie dished up divine chicken and sage wrapped in proscuitto and for afters we dipped biscotti in vin santo before heading out to a bar in Piazza Mattei.

Farewell drinks at Piazza Mattei

And that’s where it all gets a little hazy. Carlos, local hairdresser and body painter extraordinaire joined us for farewell drinks until the wee hours. I stopped drinking after a couple or three Lemoncello's, Pip however proceeded to continue drinking grappa!

Much Much Later!

Our shuttle was booked for 4.15am next morning, with that in mind we staggered home about 2.30am. Pip promptly crashed on the sofa so I finished packing, dragged the big red case down the precipitous stairs, paced up and down so as not to fall asleep in the ensuing hours until I heard the door buzzer. Finagling a more than tipsy Pipster down the narrow hallway, juggling rolly bags and my own not so clear head we managed to rendezvous with our shuttle man and fell in a heap in his rather sagging back seats for the trip out to Fumicino Airport.

I have to say, aeroporto security when you’re still half cut is a breeze in Italia, must be par for the courso over thereo! A quick flight to Charles de Gaulle then a rather unfortunate wait before boarding Air France to Toronto all seemed to swing by in a long slow wuzzy blur.

Back in ‘Oh Canada’ whipping along the Gardiner in the back of a Lincoln towncar (we thought of you Jim-bob!) then walking into our newly redecorated pad was a breath of fresh air and a lovely welcome home. Sinking onto our huge comfy bed we both agreed we were stoked to be home after an awesome holiday.