Rome - Città Eterna!

For the 27th time we went on a trip to Rome, the city where we spent a lot of time as students of archaeology, and, where we regularly visited from the 1980ies on. As students we always took the train - since it was much cheaper -, later, flights became less expensive, and, now back to the train. ÖBB, the Austrian train company, offered a rather cheap train connection to Rome and we decided to go for it. Which was,,, sort of a mistake,,, 

 

Yes, the ticket for this 14-hour over-night train trip was cheap, and, the convenient part was that we went from city center to city center, but in  the train was uncomfortable, hot, dirty, packed and delayed. We had a regular "seater", six not too comfy, foldable seats in one compartment, all of them taken, both ways. There was some sort of an A/C which only worked when the train was in motion, bathrooms (rather "toilets") were only useable at the beginning (if so!), often no toilet paper, water flushing broken, and, no paper towels but an air blower (how fun to wash your face in the morning!). It was not really fun! Perhaps a sleeper would have been a bit more comfy, but much more expensive as well. And, endless delays!!! On the way over 1.5 hours, on the way back 2.5 hours, without a noticeable reason. Train standing at some lonely station in the middle of the night. 

But Rome - love it, always and forever!!! 4.3 mio. population and much more tourists than in previous years, mainly Germans and Americans. We have visited, I think, all museums (some several times) at some point, therefore skipped them. This time, we "studied" decline and glory, contrasts, fountains, parks and palazzi, history and future, culinary scene and markets. 

We especially love the markets there, our favs for farmers' markets are the one in the Testaccio neighborhood (photo far above), where we buy at the same vendors for decades: prosciutto, mordadella and cheeses. A newer one takes place at Circo Massimo, "Dei Amici" (organic, only on weekends), and, there is the huge one in the Vatican, which is sort of a hidden gem, inexpensive and overwhelmingly chaotic and large. The one in Nomentana (photo above), more of a neighborhood market in a gorgeous Art-déco building, was a bit disappointing this time, but perhaps only because it was at the beginning of the week. 

Food and wine is a Roman passion, and, there is more than just pizza, though,,, we love our "Dar Poeta" an unpretentious little pizzeria in Trastevere, with seats inside and outside on a pitturesque small alley, with paper covers on the tables and payment at a cashier. Pizza, around 10 Euro, in many different varieties, comes fresh from the wood stove - but they serve bruschette, suppli, salads etc., too. House wine goes for 6 Euro for 0.5 liters - what else could you wish for? 

 

 

Also, we had baccaláo for the first time (dried, salted cod - see below on left), in a family-operated little restaurant on a church square in old town. Once we even cooked in the well-equipped kitchen of our nice AirBnB - gnocchi from the market, tomato sauce, topped with grated parmiggiano. 

Doppio Malto - the craftbrewery which strangely sells itself as a regular pizza and pasta restaurant, but has delicious IPAs –, is still there, closeby the Trevi fountain (right). Which was chained in on weekdays!!! Tourists had to throw their coins quite a distance to hit the water! Not sure whether it was a permanent or just a temporary measure? 

In the past, we always stayed in the same family pensione in a completely residential neighborhood, but, they shut down during COVID. This time, for the first time, we went for an AirBnB, in Monti. This is one of the up & coming neighborhoods, very hip, very attractive, and very centrally located to everything. From our window in the 2nd floor we had a view towards the Colosseo, and, though the palazzo was old/historic (see entranceway below), the apartment was modern, very clean and well equipped.

 

 

More "firsts": We visited the Botanical Garden of Rome, operated by the university, rather an arboretum with historic greenhouses and some theme gardens (like rose, grape or palm and bamboo gardens), offering gorgeous views. Since the garden, officially founded in 1883, was originally part of Villa Corsini it goes back much further and offers gorgeous old structures, buildings, fountains etc. 

 

Also, for the first time, we took the streetcar to MAXXI (museum of contemporary art, photo above). Famous architect Zaha Hadid had planned it and it's revolutionary modern (though, there are some negative vibes in the neighborhood about it). 

A long-time routine: a visit to the market at Porta Portese on Sunday. It's called a "flea market", but to us it's first of all a garment/textile/shoe market with some household/hardware/fleamarket and other vendors. Bought a bag-full of t-shirts, dresses, jerseys and sports outfit for 1-2 Euro a piece and sorted through in our apartment. As always,,, it's fun. Wondering where all this merchandise comes from, part certainly from clothing collections/containers (to a good part from Germany, judging from prints, e.g. from events or sports teams), part from companies, sorting out their rejects or second-hand stuff? 

 

Antiquities - the area of the Fori Imperiali and Mercati Trajani is newly organized in regard to walkways, entrances, etc. A new excavation area was opened up in front of the Vittorio Emanuele monument (photo). 

Testaccio is where the original port of the ancient Roman city was located, and, therefore the testaccio hill consists of shards of amphorae used to transport all kinds of goods. At its feet there has always been a blue-collar neighborhood, including the old "Mattatoio" (slaughterhouse area), which was transformed into a cultural district with workshops, space for organizations, ateliers and such. Creativity and innovation - e.g. great murals! - still go hand in hand with decay in this area. 

 

The Capitol with its gorgeous museums is always worth to sit and watch (below, right, a photo of Palazzo Nuovo with its famous statue of the river Tiber). And sunset on Piazza Quirinale, up closeby the President's residence, is a special treat as well.

The Pantheon (below) charges admission now (much discussed!), though it's originally a church, and nobody is allowed to sit on the Spanish Steps anymore (what a stupid decision!). 

 The Pincio and the Park Borghese remained the same, also the professional skaters are still there, practising. First time we noticed the Orologio d'Aqua on the Pincio (left pic), a hydro-chronometer or a clock operated by water. 

Piazza del Popolo (below) was the entry point to Rome for Goethe on his Italian Grand Tour 1786, now it's a meeting point for tourists. 

Finally, here a few more impressions, from narrow alleys (left one closeby Villa Corsini, right one in the Ghetto) and fountains (Trevi and unknown):

Rome never gets boring, never lets us down. We already have plans for our next visit!