Don't have time to write up the final day of the trip, but we saw some great art, went to ruins, and had two terrific meals. So, basically, routine. Long long long day of travel tomorrow, then Sunday I get to go home and check on the babies. (That's how I'm referring to my tomato plants that are hopefully fine and comfy in their sheltered beds.)
Thanks for following along. I'll have some cleanup stuff for the archives, but it's back to reality soon!
We did a lot today, so excuse the rushed tone of this. Our first stop was out of the centro for the first time to see the MAXXI, Zaha Hadid's new contemporary art museum. It doesn't open until May, but we wanted to take photos of the exterior. Plus, we had a humorous encounter with it four years ago. I'd read about it in a magazine, where they talked about how wonderful a building it was. (Note the tense; it's important.) When we got to Rome in late 2006, no one knew about this museum. After asking around, we finally found someone who knew where it was. We took a taxi out there and found a construction site. And by construction, I mean one Italian dude with a pail. Clearly this was not a museum that was open. I feel for that poor magazine editor, faced with a 3-month deadline and an assurance from a smooth representative of the Pritzker-winning starchitect. It's four years later and despite their slogan, "It's Not Quite Open." It does look gorgeous though. Next trip to Rome. We're there!
We told the taxi driver to wait. He looked at us like we were insane, but that's OK, because we are! Then he took us to Piazza del Popolo, architecture that has been around for a while. We stopped at perhaps my favorite church in Rome, Santa Maria del Popolo. Most everyone goes there for the Caravaggio paintings in the Cerasi Chapel, and who can blame them? They're gorgeous. "The Cruxifixion of St. Peter" is one of my favorites by that artist. The look on the old saint's face is heartbreaking, both pained and resigned at the same time. And Caravaggio plays his usual psychological games by having the men erecting the cross be simple workers, so it looks like they're just hired hands doing a job. "The Conversion of St. Paul" is another strong canvas. The stance of the horse is my favorite part of this painting, how it raises its right foreleg and looks down with concern over its fallen rider. The reality of both the movement and the tenderness of the horse is one that horse owners will understand. (And the composition of the horse is further strengthened by having St. Paul's companion's sturdy legs behind the horse, serving as "supports" for the animal. Both paintings have extreme foreshortening as they are on the sides of the chapel and meant to be viewed that way.
That's way too much description and they're not even my favorite paintings in the church. That honor belongs to a lovely Pinturicchio painting of the holy family, "Adoration of the Shepherds." I've included a bad representation here, but it's just a simple and lovely painting with lots of fine detail that you can both enjoy and ignore. Every time I go to Rome I fall in love with this painting again.
We walked back to the hotel via the Trevi Fountain. Ira loves this spot, despite the crush of tourists. His first trip to Rome he stayed in a hotel opposite. At the time, kind of down-market. I believe this was in 1959, so it must have been pretty special. It's still a lovely fountain. We've passed by it three times on this trip and we always stop to admire it (and to rest! We've walked a lot.)
I'm going to have to cut this short. It's getting late and we have our last day in Rome. A domani.
There was a big Caravaggio show at the Scuderie del Quirinale. We had arranged to get timed tickets while still in the U.S. and things went pretty smoothly. Of course there was a long line, but it took about 20 minutes to get to the front door. Once in, the show was magnificent, well designed and of course the paintings were a joy to look at. The walls were painted a deep, dull red, the pictures in black frames and beautifully lit. It was a combination that really worked with Caravaggio's palette. You've seen his paintings a lot, but it's hard to see a lot of his paintings in real life, in this kind of controlled setting. We took about two and a half hours to make it through the show and we both loved it. Later in the day we added the cherry to that experience by visiting the San Luigi dei Francesci, the french church in Rome that has a chapel with three enormous and important Caravaggios, including the sublime "Vocation of Saint Matthew.
We wanted to eat lunch near our hotel so we ended up back at the Piazza Navona and back at Tucci. (I had the name wrong in the previous post; it's Tucci, not Tocci.) It's really a fine restaurant to eat at. It combines good food with the location in front of a prime tourist location. You don't always get that, even in Italy.
After lunch and a quick nap, we took a taxi to the Palantine Hill. Ira wanted to see the museum there, but it was really the whole site that impressed him the most. Luckily, the weather was glorious. We've had a whole week of rain in Rome, the first time we've had to use umbrellas, but yesterday afternoon the sun came out and it shone over the Palantine! This is the hill that everyone wanted to live on in Rome. It has remnants of old mansions inhabited by the likes of Cicero and Livia, but the museum also included evidence and reconstructions of some of the earlier inhabitants in the 7th century BC, when they were living in mud huts and making simple pottery. About 500 years later theses same peoples were building marble palaces, the ruins of which can still inspire us today.
We walked a lot yesterday. All over the Palantine, then across the Forum, then back to our hotel. We did stop for a gelato, of course. Then we rested for a while and then went on to the rooftop bar of our hotel, me for a drink and Ira to sketch the rooftop of the Pantheon. It was so lovely to watch the sunset and see the wide expanse of Rome that we will return tomorrow if the weather is as cooperative. (It seems to rain in the morning and leave the afternoons and evenings free. We'll see if that pattern holds.)
Last night we ate near our hotel again. There are a lot of fine establishments right there! This time we graced Fortunato. Apparently, lots of Roman businessmen from the Senate complex nearby go there to eat. There were still a few men-in-suits tables that night. The meal was terrific. I started with a gnocchi with a radicchio and gorgonzola sauce that was incredibly delicious. Then followed it up with polpetino a vitello (veal meatballs) and a contorni of Roman artichoke. Ira started with the taglioni cacio e pepe, then has calamari fritti. The wine was a nebbiolo and went perfectly with the meal. It was just starting to rain when we got out of the restaurant, but we were only 2 minutes from our hotel!
It took three trips to Rome, but we finally managed to see the Salle des Ruines at Il Conventa de Trinite de Monte. It's a room painted by Clerisseau in false ruin style, which makes it romantic and charming. The first lodger was a priest named Thomas LeSeur.
The convent gives tours of their cloister and artworks. They are famous for a refectory with some charming trompe l'oeil paintings of the wedding at Cana. They also have several "perspective" paintings in upper hallways, paintings that appear as one thing at one end of the hallway and as another when you stand in front of one. They were restoring one of them, but the one we saw appeared to be St. Francois de Paule praying below a tree. When you stood in front of it, however, it became a hillside dotted with small reminders of the Saint's life. (The nun, who was charming and lively and intelligent made a joke about one incident where he is said to have cast his cloak on the water and walked out of a sinking boat. "He was the first surfer." We had the tour with a large group of french students, however, so she didn't show us the room. I asked after the tour and she said to come back in the afternoon at three and that she would have 30 minutes of spare time.
So we went to view some wonderful churches that we happened upon, then had a delicious lunch, and then went back for our appointment. The nun was clearly busy, but just as charming as before and delighted to show off the room to fans. As she was opening the window she said, "it's transformed by natural light." And she's right! It was painted to look like a crumbling stone ruin, converted to a shack. There was a wooden door, a big hole in the roof "to let in more light" as Goethe remarked when he visited the room. There's even a parrot perched on one of the roof beams. The pictures aren't great because there wasn't a lot of light for picturetaking, but we we had so much fun I had to share the experience.
And just to satisfy the foodies, we had an incredible meal at Armando al Pantheon, which is just on the other side of the piazza from our hotel. I started with a spaghetti alla verde (arugula, lemon, and parmesan). Ira had the spaghetti alla Claudio (oil, garlic, mushrooms, and saffron). Both were cooked to perfection and both will make their appearances at Shrader Street soon! My secondi was anchovies over a bed of cabbage and it was superb. Ira had a pepper steak that was tasty but a little too ordinary (i.e., he could have had it in the States). Still, it was a tremendous meal and we love eating in Rome.
We had fun in Naples. The art is great. But the food is just OK. The tomato sauce they put on pasta is excellent, but once you've had it, you've had the gamut of Neapolitan sauces. For lunch today in Rome, Ira had spaghetti with a pesto sauce and I had risotto and scampi with a cream sauce (that also included red peppers, so it was a marvelous combination taste, smooth and delicate at first with a subtle burn as an aftertaste). The pastas were so good that we swapped plates halfway through. And this was a meal at Tocci in the Piazza Navona, a big touristy piazza type of place that shouldn't have food this good. Then we went across the piazza to have tartufi at Tre Scalini. The only drawback is the marvelous Fontanea dei Quattro Fiumi is still under construction, as it was three years ago. (Luckily I got to see it unscaffolded five years ago on my first visit to Rome.
Then we strolled around. Ira bought some Paolo Conte CDs at a store. Then we hit a few marvelous churches near our hotel. The Church of Santa Maria sopra Minevra looks to be not much when you see it. There's a great sculpture of an elephant bearing an obelisk in front, but the face of the church is plain. Inside, however, it contains some extraordinary works of art. The overall look is tremendous, with painted gothic arches. (This decoration was added in the 19th century, but it looks incredible.) My favorite painting was done by Filippino Lippi. I've put a detail of his "Annunciation" as the first photo in the blog. I've enjoyed his work for years. (He had quite a beginning to life; his father was a monk and famous painter who basically kidnapped a nun, married her, and had a child who also became a famous painter. There's also a statue of the Risen Christ said to be by Michelangelo, but it's not very interesting. Fra Angelico is also buried in this church.
Santa Maria Maddelena was the first church we visited. We knew nothing about it, but saw an open door and went in. (That's a rule of ours because you never know when a church or exhibition will be ciuso. In fact, when we walked by this church minutes later, the doors were closed.) The first thing you see was enormous scaffolding that obscured most of the interior. We walked in, however, turned around, and there's the most marvelous organ loft, which I've added here in a picture. The dim lighting doesn't do the picture glory, but the experience is tremendous. We spent a quiet few minutes in there enjoying its opulence before leaving (too early I might add as I checked the guidebook and it says the church's sacristy is "one of the most beatiful in Rome." Luckily it's close by.
That's it for now, it's time for a nap and then an evening stroll followed by dinner. I've included some random pictures below for your entertainment.
It's a travel day today, and even though we're already in Roma, I'm going to just post a quick story and some pictures of Neapolitan grafitti and then we're off to lunch. The story is the most amazing taxi ride we've ever taken. It was Sunday night, and we were going to the other side of town for a semi-fancy meal. (I don't think they have fancy meals in Naples, or at least, not that we could find. Everyone wants to send you to a restaurant "very typical cuisine of the region and not too expensive.") The streets were crowded. It was during the passagatta, and apparently, people like to go out Sunday evening in Naples.
From the start, we could tell that our driver was an expert. He drove with the same speed and controlled aggression as other drivers, but we were jolted less. He seemed to find spaces that only Vespas could find. Each time he was able to surge ahead of other cars. And then we rounded a corner to a complete mess at one of the turnabouts, police lights, packed traffic, no one going anywhere. After a muttered "Madonn'" our cab driver took a quick right turn and then proceeded to take us on a hair-raising, high-speed run through the neighborhood of Santa Lucia. The neighborhood (or borgo or rione) is important because after a particularly nifty move, the driver turned to us and said simply, "this is my neighborhood." His meaning was clear. He knew these streets like a dog knows his own scent. At one point, as he slowed down to round a hairpin turn and shoot down yet another narrow alley, he exchanged a quick insult with another man. "He is my friend. He is taxi driver too. He no work today." Then it was off for the final descent down a twisty street that spat us out on the main boulevard. By this time, we had moved beyond fear into exhilaration. My only regret is that I didn't bring the camera so I could have had some video to post on YouTube. I would have had to put on a disclaimer. "This video is not speeded up in any way." We'll be dining out on this crazy taxi story for years.
While we're lunching in Rome, here are some Neapolitan grafitti pictures for your enjoyment.
We had planned to take the train out to Caserta to see the great royal palace of the Bourbons. In the taxi, he proposed a price to driver us there, so we took it. I'm glad we did because we arrived at the reggia about an hour before the incredible crowds. When we walked up the grand staircase, there were a few people on it. When we walked down the grand staircase, it was packed solid with touring Italians.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. First we toured the gardens. They go back more than a kilometer until they reach a grand waterfall. It's an impressive sight to see such a long line, but more impressive is that it continues through a long gallery that runs the length of the palazzo and then on to Naples. (Now the view to Napoli is broken by the train station and other construction, but back in the day, the road was planted with magnificent stone pines that went on for miles. You can still see stretches of the pines on the road back to Naples.
Ira didn't want to walk the long stretch to the back of the garden, so we hired a horse and carriage. It was hilarious. The driver wanted to complete the trip in as little time as possible, so we were rocketing around the gardens like an E ticket ride at Disneyland. At one stretch, it seemed like we were racing another carriage on a parallel path. Still, they wanted us to take pictures. When we got to the "baby castle" (i.e., the little castle) and I didn't take a picture they waited patiently. When I realized what they were waiting for I took a picture of a nearby tree that was much more interesting, and then they continued our gallop. It was a fun, breathless way to see a long stretch of garden on a hot day.
I'm glad we didn't walk much because the interiors were enormous. It makes Versailles look like the Petit Trianon. The Bourbons lived there until the early 19th century, so some of the later rooms had an old-fashioned rather than "old and grand" look. But the public rooms were sufficiently impressive, with gorgeous paintings, and furnishings, and bas-reliefs. Vanvitelli was in charge of the construction and he had free reign to continue in a particular style that carried well through all the grand rooms. There was not a lot of great art there, but all of the art was well done. I've sprinkled some details of ceiling paintings in this post, because they really were charming.
Again we went to the train station. I waited in line to buy tickets for the train that was to leave in an hour, Ira went out to see what there was to see. He came back in a rush and said, "follow me." He'd found a bus that was leaving right then. We hopped on, we paid 4 euros for the both of us, the bus roared off, and we were back in Naples before the train had even left Caserta. Thank you autobus, and thank you for being quick witted Ira!
Back in Naples we ate at the modern, chic hotel, the Romeo. Of course, the dining room with the view was ciuso so we made do in the lunch room. It was an odd meal. They had the motions of serving in a fine place down, but they were strangely hesitant. After lunch we took a long stroll down a chic shopping street and then came home to rest and to blog. Roma tomorrow!
We had researched the train schedules to get to Paestum, and the trains were either too early or too late. Ira made the tough decision to hire a private car and driver to take us to Paestum, and still have time to get to lunch and see some gardens at Ravello. At 9 am we confidently set forth. Unfortunately, it is May 1, and everyone had piled into cars and were headed to the coast for a weekend of camping. So the drive down took two and a half hours instead of 90 minutes, but we did make it.
Paestum was the inspiration for this part of the trip since it's one of the very few places in Italy Ira has never been. Paestum is a complex of Greek temples and ruins located in what was for many centuries a swampland filled with mosquitos and malaria. So it wasn't until the 1800s that people really "rediscovered" Paestum and began to study it. There are three temples left upright if not intact: dedicated to Athena, Hera, and Poseiden respectively. In between are the ruins of quite a lot of other building, gymnasia, ekklesiastica, a huge forum, and many smaller constructions that seemed residential, with tiny foundations surrounding a small piazza. I wandered around and took pictures while green lizards scampered away. Ira sat on an ancient rock and sketched the temple dedicated to Poseiden. As a result, he became one of the attractions. Everyone wanted to take a picture with the artist guy and talk to the artist guy and generally annoy the artist guy. I was some feet away enjoying the spectacle. Despite the interruptions of his newfound fame, Ira did manage to complete a sketch of the temple before we have to leave.
We had 90 minutes to make Ravello and more importantly, make it to the ristorante before the kitchen closed at 3. We couldn't take the Amalfi Coast because it was wall-to-wall traffic, 3 kilometers in 3 hours. So we took the back way up the mountain to Ravello, starting at a town called Angri. We did get held up by one of those old 3-wheeled work vehicles, but we finally managed to lose him and we sped down the hill on a white-knuckle driver to make our lunch appointment. We had a lovely lunch. My rabbit was fine, as usual, and my pasta particularly good. We haven't been eating as well as we'd like in Southern Italy. They make some things well, but they don't have a lot of variety, and once you've had the veal, you've had the veal!
Now we had about two hours and two gardens to see. The was Villa Rufolo, which is just off the piazza. And before I get to the garden, the piazza is one of the best I've seen, with shallow steps on the church facing a broad piazza with a line of stone pine fronting a ravine with a view through the trunks to the other side. Leading into the piazza are a warren of small, sometimes tunneled streets, all of them filled with tourist and luxury shops. Ravello seems to specialize in that lovely Italian majolica. We were not there to shop, however! Villa Rufolo is an old complex. As a tourist stop, it's perfect, with towers and vines, and small squares, and archways, and of course, the view. At one end of the garden you stop and see all the way south to Africa!
After that it's a long walk across town, up and down a steep hill with many steps until you reach Villa Cimbrone. (Along the way you pass the hotel where D.H. Lawrence wrote "Lady Chatterly's Lover.") And Villa Cimbrone has its own brush with celebrity, as Vita Sackville-West (of "Orlando" and fame) helped out with the garden as a frequent guest of the Becketts. You enter the garden walls and immediately there is a long allee. The first part of it is covered with wisteria, which was in full bloom in a purple shower above our heads, some stretches in shadow and some in bright light bringing different moods to the purple whether peaceful or in explosion. At the far end of the walk is a simple temple structure and a statue. It's there that the garden turns from lovely to extraordinary. Once you hit the temple, the walkway goes off to the right, and it edges a cliff of some 500 feet straight out over the Tyhrrenian Sea. I got a touch of vertigo as I leaned over the railing and had to sit back on the benches to relax after the hike and to enjoy the unobstructed view of the complete blue sea. There are white busts in a row along the edge and they offer the perfect contrast to the blue blue water. We just sat and felt the breeze blow around us until it was time to head back to our patient driver and head for home. Tonight a quiet dinner and then tomorrow, perhaps Caserta if we have the energy!
