Rome: All Good Things…

All good things don’t really need to come to an end. We will definitely be going back and, no matter how many times we go back to Rome, there’s more to see. Today, I share a couple of historical sites, a few of my favorite street photos, some fun street art, visits with friends, and — of course — a few restaurant recommendations. Links are included whenever available. A friend suggested that I let you know that, for the first time, I did not bring a camera with me on a trip. I used my iPhone 16 to take all these pictures. It is an amazing little device, and I think it did a great job.

______________________________

Our apartment was in the neighborhood of the Campo de’Fiori, (“Field of Flowers” perhaps very long ago). While the neighborhood is very touristed, it is our favorite because it is so close to everything we enjoy. (We have become quite good at avoiding crowds.) Six mornings a week, the Campo is filled with many vendors who sell fresh vegetables, cheeses, and flowers, while others sell packaged pastas, herb mixtures, and limoncello. At the end of the day, the vendors decamp, the piazza is cleaned, and by evening is a stage for aperitivi, outdoor dining, and strolling with a gelato.

______________________________

Not too far from the Campo’de Fiori is another piazza that always makes us sigh with its beauty: Piazza Navona. This very long and oval shaped piazza follows the footprint of a 1st-century race course, which determined its shape. In the center is the Fountain of the Four Rivers by Gian Lorenzo Bernini; the symbolically-represented rivers indicate the four then-known continents: the Nile (for Africa), Rio della Plata (for the Americas), the Danube (for Europe), and the Ganges (for Asia). Each is accompanied by a plant and an animal suggestive of the continent. At the ends of the piazza are smaller and equally beautiful fountains: the Neptune Fountain and the Fountain of the Moor. You’ll find many tourists in Piazza Navona during the day and evening, strolling, dining, and watching street performers. There are a couple of churches on the Piazza, but only one is open to the public: the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. The stunningly beautiful Sant’Agnese in Agone is also there, directly across from the Bernini fountain; it is not often open to the public. If you are ever there and find it open, definitely go in.

______________________________

One of the great delights about visiting Rome is getting together with our friend Simonetta. I met her many years ago here in Tucson when she gave an Italian cooking class to a group of friends. She and I bonded over our love of the mezzaluna used for chopping herbs. We then visited her in her beautiful medieval stone house in Tuscany in 2017, and have kept in touch regularly, and she has generously shared many of her recipes with me. A few years ago she moved to the Trastevere district of Rome to be closer to her daughters. She invited us to her home a couple of times this visit, and we went out to lunch another day. She is an excellent cook and we were honored to be invited to dine at her table. As she is originally from Genoa, our primo piatto was trofie with pesto alla Genovese; but, living in Rome, our secondo piatto was a traditional a Roman spring-vegetable stew called vignarola. For dessert, we had some beautiful woodland strawberries from the market with some sorbet. It was a wonderful meal. In the pictures, here I am with Simonetta in Tuscany in 2017, and in Rome this year.

______________________________

During our last visit, we walked past the Ara Pacis and told ourselves we’d go back. Well, it took us five years, but we did it. The Ara Pacis is an alter to Roman peace in honor of Emperor Augustus to greet him as he returned from battle; it was consecrated in the year 9 BC. It stands where it was relocated by Mussolini, now sheltered from the weather by a gorgeous new pavilion designed by the architect Richard Meier. The ancient carving is very elegant, though there is a lot of infill where parts were lost. Now, at night, there is a light show that illuminates what it might have looked like with its original polychromy. I have superimposed a segment of that coloring on one corner of the altar, so you can get an idea of what it might have looked like when new. We both found it so exquisite in its simplicity that it’s hard to imagine that a riot of color would make it any more beautiful.

______________________________

After our visit to the church of Saint Gregory and its three adjacent oratorios, we walked out the back garden to find ourselves just down the hill from the Church of Saints Paul and John. Under the church buttresses that arch over the street, there was an entrance to Le Case Romane del Celio, which consisted of several ancient houses discovered in 1887 beneath the church. As I mentioned in my notes about the church, they are thought to be the homes of the martyred Paul and John, to whom the church is dedicated. The site consists of about 20 subterranean rooms, many with their wall painting partially intact. The first of the last two photos shows Mark and me at the entrance, and the last photo by Mark’s father shows Mark and his mother walking down the street in 1974.

______________________________

We discovered the somewhat obscure Bibliotheca Angelica, snugged up against the Chiesa di Sant’Agostino. Once you enter the building from the forecourt, you ascend stairs to the library. What we saw literally took our breaths away. It is still a place for research and, with the appropriate paperwork, anybody can work there. When we arrived, there was one other person looking around, and three or four people at their desks studying. A small exhibit around the public area displays four or five globes dating from the 1590s and early 1600s, and quite a few books open as a sample of the historic resources available. The library was founded in 1604 by an Augustinian bishop; it has more than 200,000 volumes, half of which are from the 15th to 18th centuries. It opened in 1609 and, along with the Bodleian in Oxford, and the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, it is considered the oldest public library in the world,

______________________________

I never tire of the beauty I find in the streets of Rome, whether crossing the bridges or coming into a piazza at night. Yes, there’s occasionally some litter and – more and more – unattractive graffiti. However, there is still magic around every corner. I am especially fond of early morning or evening light that radiates down the narrow streets and creates beautiful shadows. Those photos, in my mind, are always in black-and-white. We were there at the optimal time this year for the blooming of the star jasmine and bougainvillea.

______________________________

While the graffiti can be unattractive, there is some very clever street art in Vecchia Roma. My favorites are one of Pope Leo and another on a staircase in Trastevere.

______________________________

And finally, the restaurant and food recommendations:

Poldo e Gianna, Vicolo Rosini, 6, Roma

We met our Tucson friends Corbin and Paul at this wonderful restaurant on our last evening in Rome. We have enjoyed meals at this restaurant several times over the years. The food is well prepared and beautifully presented, the service is excellent, and the prices are very reasonable. Shown are the croquette di baccalà, ravioli di zucca, burrata e pomodoro, and the traditional Roman crostata di ricotta e visciole. (Thanks to Paul for the photos!)

______________________________

Clorofilla, Vicolo delle Grotte, 17, Roma

When on a post-pranzo stroll with Simonetta, we passed Clorofilla and she recommended it to us as a very nice place for creative cuisine. So we made a reservation for the evening we returned from Malta (more on that later). The menu is seasonal and creative (not just traditional Roman) under the direction of Chef Giorgio Tandoia. We had the artichoke stuffed with cheese and lemon for our antipasto, and the linguine with roasted peppers and the fettuccine with pork ragù for our primi. For our secondo, we shared a grilled skewer of lamb and zucchini ribbons with homemade pita bread, mixed greens and tzatziki. As we were ready to pay the bill, they brought us some house-made limoncello, which was delightful. Chef Tandoia and the staff are young, filled with good energy, are lots of fun, and very helpful. Aside from their reputation for good food, they are known for their creative and complex cocktails. We returned twice more — once for an aperitivo, once for a digestivo. Both nights, we enjoyed sitting at the bar and chatting with Sara and Nicolas; Nicolas is the creative mixologist behind their cocktails. Pictured below is “The Iceberg,” consisting of rum, lime, white vermouth, cucumber, venturo, and gentian, very refreshing on a simmering hot Roman night.

______________________________

Grappolo d’Oro, Piazza della Cancelleria, 80, Roma

Simonetta’s daughter recommended this restaurant and told us their spaghetti alla carbonara was excellent (shown below), which I had for lunch and concur. Mark had lamb cooked in the style of porchetta (notably flavored with fennel and rosemary), which was also very good. We finished by sharing a zabaglione made with Marsala, orange zest and candied hazelnuts. That is definitely a dessert I need to recreate! Online reservations seemed to be booked well into the future, so I stopped by in person a few days beforehand, and had no problem getting the reservation we wanted.

______________________________

Osteria da Mario (Instagram only), Piazza delle Coppelle, 51, Roma

On our way back to the apartment from Piazza del Popolo, we had every intention of getting a simple sandwich to take home. But we came across a tiny piazza with two restaurants with covered outdoor seating and, from what we could tell, every person at both restaurants was Italian. This seemed a good sign, so we stopped for lunch, favoring indoors for the quiet and coolness. Osteria da Mario seemed frozen in time — red and white checked tablecloths, straw-covers Chianti bottles hanging from the beams, a framed photo of its founder Mario, and a menu of truly traditional Roman dishes. It was the real deal, and is run by Mario’s daughter and two sons. I had the mezze maniche alla gricia, and Mark had fettuccine con carciofi. The food was really solid and there was a real romance to it. We even went back another time during the start of the season’s first heat dome, and sat outdoors in the side street where there was shade and a nice breeze. (No online reservations.)

______________________________

Supplizio, Via dei Banchi Vecchi, 143, Roma

This has become a favorite of ours for a quick and filling snack or light lunch. A couple of supplì — stuffed rice croquettes about the size of an egg — and a glass of wine is all you need. Our supplì this visit were the classic (cheese) version and some wonderful eggplant croquettes. And now, just two doors down, Neve di Latte — our favorite gelateria — has opened. Isn’t that convenient? The gelato flavors we tried were: zabaglione, neve di latte (cream), stracciatella with strawberries, crema di uova, passionfruit, and strawberry sorbet.

______________________________

Supplì Roma, Via di S. Francesco a Ripa, 137, Roma (Trastevere)

This is a nice little takeaway place Simonetta took us to one day. In addition to a variety of supplì, they also had mozzarella in carroza, zucchine fritte, calamari fritti, and pizza, and pastas. It’s very popular, especially with students. While we were in line, Mark had a nice visit with some students who are studying in Italy this summer. They were fascinated that he had done the same… fifty years ago.

______________________________

Il Forno, Campo de’Fiori, 22, Roma

Mark has been going to Il Forno since 1974 and, as soon as he took me in 2011, I fell in love with it as well. It is the bakery I went to every morning to get our bread or distinctive hollow-lobed roll called rosette (as Mark discovered as a college student, the lobes hold a lot of apricot jam or Nutella). Around noon, across the side street from the bakery, their little “branch” shop opens with a large variety of sandwiches made from Roman pizza bianca, “white pizza” (like focaccia but thinner and crispier). If you arrive at the right time, there’s not much of a line. They are best known for their pizza bianca stuffed with mortadella. We had this classic several times while we were there. By the way, if you’re looking for the sandwich shop before it’s open, you will be greeted by a blank wall with no sign of life. You have to wait until opening time, then there’s the sign and the aforementioned line.