Thursday, 22 April 2010


Today’s major task will be packing and finalizing plans for the two-day journey home. I asked Will back in Tucson to do my USAir check-in on his computer, but I will still have to go on line around noon to make sure that everything is okay, and that the flight is going to leave as scheduled tomorrow. I will try to arrange ground transportation from and to the airports in New York as well. Flights are still grounded throughout northern Europe, so it’s a good thing I decided to stay in Rome. But for now I will head to breakfast and warm up with that wonderful morning coffee. Then I will cover some sights near the hotel, so that I can get back when I need to go on-line.

Morning Sightseeing

The campanile of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore (St Mary Major), on the crest of a small hill, is visible from the end of the street as I leave the hotel. Even though it is way across town from the Vatican, this is one of the four churches given extraterritoriality by the Lateran Treaty of 1929. The basilica itself is wedged in on both sides by matching façades that look more like banks than ecclesiastic quarters. The basilica is most renowned for the series of mosaics lining the walls above the arches of the nave and chancel, whose bright colors are awesomely striking still today. The colorful patterns of marble on the floors, the gilded coffered ceiling, and the interior domes are also impressive.

While the basilica dazzles with size and splendor, the much smaller Santa Prasede around the corner moves the visitor with the display of color and craftsmanship in smaller measure. The deep blue backgrounds, with painted sky and stars, are surely the inspiration for the gilded movie palaces of a century ago, especially the Loew’s Paradise in the Bronx where I grew up. And the marble floors are like a showroom for the most wealthy patrons re-designing their homes

Santa Maria degli Angeli, just north of Termini Station, was constructed on the foundations of the Baths of Diocletian. There is not much left of the original Classical construction, besides the stonework and archways leading into the porch of the church. The large open space of the church interior is the repository for many paintings and sculptures, particularly from the 18th century. Running diagonally across the floor is a meridian on which the changing movement of the sun recorded official Rome time for over 150 years.

 

 

 

 
 
 
 











The open space of the Piazza della Repubblica across the street provides a sun-lit way back to the hotel.

• Campidoglio-Capitolino

After printing my boarding passes I hop a bus for the Piazza Venezia, site of the enormous Victor Emmanuel II Monument. Since I don’t have a lot of time left in Rome, I skip Santa Maria d’Aracoeli—and the long flight of stone steps that must be ascended and then descended for a visit to that church (there is no direct access from the church to the Campidoglio, although geography and logic would provide one). The church contains one of the most unique sights in Rome: the chapel of the “Baby Jesus of the Letters”—I’ll include a photograph from 1990—but my guidebook tells me the revered statuette was stolen in 1994 and has not been recovered.

Instead, I walk up the long ramp designed by Michelangelo, La Cordonata, which leads to the majestic Piazza del Campidoglio, the site of three Renaissance buildings still housing arms of the Italian government, Palazzo Senatorio, Palazzo dei Conservatori, and Palazzo Nuovo. Directly behind the Palazzo Senatorio is a magnificent, free, and shoe-leather-saving view of the ruins of the Roman Forum. I return to the Campidoglio, take the stairs leading up to a vestibule that cuts through the Palazzo dei Conservatori, and emerge on the Via del Tempio di Giove, leading down through the pine groves of the Capitoline Hill.

At the bottom, close to the bank of the Tiber, is the church of San Nicola in Carcere and the ruins of the Teatro di Marcello and the Tempio die Apollo Sosiano. A few steps further is the site of the old Jewish ghetto, now occupied by the large domed synagogue completed in 1904. To the north of the synagogue, narrow streets and small squares are home to traditional kosher restaurants and modern, trendy bistros. From here it’s a short walk (although the mid-day sun is becoming quite warm) to the Area Sacra del Largo Argentino, a group of ruins from the days of the Roman Republic (beginning in the 5th century BC). The Chiesa del Gesú is my final planned stop for the day, but it is closed for lunch from noon to 4 pm, so I take the hint and head for a long lunch myself.


Lunch, the Jesuits, and Packing

Trattoria della Torre Argentina: an antipasto platter with a selection of meats, cheeses, and olives served over a bed of fresh arugula; gnocchi with meat sauce; house red wine; lemon cake.


































Then it’s a quick visit to the Chiesa del Gesú, with more frescoes and funerary chapels, before catching a bus back to the hotel for an evening of packing.

What I’ve Missed

This has been my fourth visit to Rome and I have seen much more of the city on earlier visits, especially during the week I spent here in 1986 and the week I spent with Will in 1990. Although it’s amazing to re-read these blog entries and remember how much of the city I have covered in three days—it is even more amazing to realize how much more there is to see and see again. It would require at least a week to cover the list (just going by Michelin’s area guides): Campo dei Fiori, EUR, Giancolo, Isola Tiberina, Montecitorio, San Giovanni in Laterno, Terme di Caracalla, Trastavere, Via Veneto, Villa Borghese and Villa Giulia. Add to that all of Classical Rome (primarily the Forums and the Colisseo) and all of Vatican City and St Peter’s. And I haven’t even mentioned the museums. . . .

Next:  The Journey Home.