Rome Is Like Home

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.