Day 3: Rome

The weather is somewhat iffy after we eat breakfast so I take the opportunity to do some errands. First stop is the local TIM (telephone store) to purchase some credits for the “internet key” that I borrowed from Franco and Maureen.

The nearest store turns out to be right around the corner so it is a painless procedure to buy 100 hours of internet use for Euro 25.00. I then hurry back to the hotel to see if it works….and–miracle of miracles–it connects like a charm and the speed of the connection is definitely usable. I just hope it works as well in southern Tuscany.
Next item of business is to make a business call on the Residenza Farnese, a boutique hotel that I use frequently but have never visited. I meet the reservations manager Francesca and one of her staff takes me around the hotel. The rooms are quite stylish with significant variations in size accounting for the differences in price. The public space is spectacular–sitting rooms - one with a pool table, large lobby, big conference room and an elegant breakfast room. To top it all off, the hotel has an expansive roof terrace which has wonderful views all around the neighborhood. I hope that we can stay there on one of our next trips to Rome. Here is a link to the photo gallery on their web site.

http://www.residenzafarneseroma.it/galleria.asp

After I finish my work, we take a bus to the Capitoline Museum so we can go to the “Beato Angelico and the Dawn of the Renaissance” show now on display there. We have a slight hiccup when the bus we take to the Piazza Venezia turns out to be an express and makes it stop way over on the far side of the piazza which means we have to walk all the way back to where our bus had left us off yesterday. Not only does one have to worry about which bus to take but also where the bus stops for each route are located……

We make our way back to the museum located on the Campodoglio, bravely crossing the six lanes of traffic speeding around the piazza. The show is a knockout……Beato Angelico was one of the key figures at the beginning of the Renaissance….more than a hundred years later than Giotto. We had first seen one of his paintings–an Annunciation– on one of our early trips to Italy. It was in Cortona and it was just stunning. He has an entire museum devoted his work in Florence–the San Marco Museum–and it shouldn’t be missed. His paintings are so vivid…the colors leap out at you and his figures are lovely and expressive. And we are pleased that the explanations and the signage are not only in English (and Italian) but in graceful and informative English…..I think we would have loved the show even if there had not been any English but I think that it made the experience much deeper and more meaningful.

http://en.museicapitolini.org/mostre_ed_eventi/mostre/beato_angelico<br />
After we leave the show, we walk out on the roof deck of the museum which features killer views of the city.

We want to have lunch at the rooftop cafe but the tables are full and don’t seem to be turning over very quickly. We change plans and head for one of our favorite sandwich places–Lo Zozzone–near the Piazza Navona. When we arrive we are surprised to see that the “joint”– which used to be strictly self-service and take away–has instituted table service and a menu with significantly increased prices. But since we had just taken a long walk, we were actually happy to sit down and have someone bring us our food. The sandwiches are still great……freshly baked white pizza stuffed with any number of delicious combinations of meats, cheeses and other fillings.

On the way back to the hotel, I make a work stop at an apartment to pay a deposit for a client and we have a nice talk with the apartment manager.

In the late afternoon, I set out for a walk. I walk down the elegant Via Giulia, cross the river and climb the Gianicolo Hill which overlooks the Trastevere section. I haven’t been here since our first trip to Rome in 1993 and it is nice to re-discover what a pleasant walk it is along the crest of the ridge in the midst of a pretty public park. The views back over Rome are expansive and there are a lot of people hanging out and enjoying the day. The park contains a number of monuments including a large one honoring Garibaldi–the leading military figure in the Italian unification movement– the Risorgimento. (There were a number of battles fought in the park between the armies of the Roman Republic and the French who were defending the Papal States.)

and one dedicated to his wife Anita,

a lighthouse, given to Rome by Italians who had moved to Argentina,

a small amusement park,

dozens of busts of Italian leaders of the Risorgimento,

and a large imposing fountain, the Fontana dell’Acqua Paolo.

I missed one of the major sites on the hill, a tempietto designed by Bramante, because a wedding was going on in the church of San Pietro in Montorio.

I take some stairs down the hill which takes me into the heart of the old Trastevere neighborhood

and cross the Tiber on the Ponte Sisto, where artists are “painting” animal figures on the bridge with some type of aluminum foil.

We take advantage of the improving weather to have a prosecco at the Bar Farnese so we can admire the Piazza Farnese, the very imposing Michelangelo-designed building which houses the French Embassy.

Our last day in Rome ends with dinner with friends–Jill and Leon Kammer–at a lively Trastevere restaurant called Le Mani in Pasta, which is a lot of fun. The highlight foodwise was a baked filet of San Pietro fish which three of us had and was delicious.

Tomorrow we pack up, pick up our rental car and head for southern Tuscany.

Jim and Diana