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Rome, Italy
February 24 - March 3, 2023
Our trip to Rome was absolutely magical. This was my first time, and Aaron was there only for a few days decades ago. What an incredibly enchanting city. Quite possibly the most beautiful in the world, although Venice comes pretty close. The thousands of years of well preserved human civilization remains juxtaposed with glimpses of modernity (mostly through street art) absolutely blew my mind. Even Istanbul and Kyoto didn’t quite compare.
We had a 9:30PM flight from JFK and we didn’t sleep much AT ALL. Driving through the ruins of central Rome from the airport woke me up for sure, and when we got to our delightful hotel I was filled with energy :)
It’s in a 5-story building of apartments and hotels. The entrance staircase was gorgeous.
Hotel Donna Francesca is the name, in case anyone is thinking of staying in Rome. LOVED IT. There are only 7 rooms; it occupies the 4th floor of the building. The staff was magnificent.
A hallway assortment of free cookies, candies and coffee.
Our view of the quiet street.
Complimentary coffee, tea and of course wine :)
Tired or not, we just couldn’t stay in our room for very long. The hotel is right in the heart of Rome, so all things were within walking distance.
The top of Trajan's Column, erected in 113 AD. So intricate, not sure how people could see what was depicted - this was taken with the furthest zoom lens of my camera.
The enormous Altar of the Fatherland - this monument dominated the entire center of Rome. Everywhere we went we could see it. For a city that is thousands of years old, I found that interesting since it is a fairly recent monument - built in the 1930s.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Dramatic sculpture on the right flank
I was taken aback at how every single inch of this town was decorated in some way. Century upon century of carved wooden window shutters, over-the-top doorknobs on 20 foot high doors, churches dripping with sculptures on every surface, broken pavement stones made of every kind of marble you can imagine… I found myself pointing something out to Aaron and gave up soon. And just kept saying “Everything.” Everything is worthy of a picture.
Red velvet fabric covered pillars.
Cross in front made of various chains.
An ad for a security service using the She-wolf with Remus and Romulus suckling from it as their logo. And these sights were all in the first few hours of landing here.
Charming gelato store on the walk to dinner.
Video of lovely church bells ringing <3
I can only imagine how every single construction project is done in such a way to preserve any possible ruins. One of my favorite scenes in Felini’s ROMA was when they are digging a subway and poke through an ancient room of frescos. I won’t spoil the ending haha.
Our first dinner - Osteria 44. It was fancy and delightful. The host hovered overbearingly, but he suggested all the right things. He was an English guy, and had the exact same voice as David Thewlis - he could have looked like him too, except he was wearing a mask so I couldn’t see. It was such a decadent multi-course meal. I am not cut out for the way Romans eat - WAAAAAYYY too much food, I don’t know how they put away so many courses. Above is the first course… Buffalo mozzarella salad, artichoke Parmesan salad.
Everything we ordered he brought for 2, so we had 2 appetizers and 2 different main courses. I WAS STUFFED. Above is pesto pasta with mozzarella and pine nuts and Pasta Amatriciana.
The after-dinner-walk, one of my favorite things to do :) A stroll by the corner of the 4 Fountains…
I loved seeing this through the window by chance on a side street. It’s all about to happen, yet the room is empty.
What an amazing first day…
Every morning we were woken up with a trolley full of whatever we order the night before. For free! It was a perfect way to start the day.
It rained every day, which we didn’t really mind since it was so warm. But we opted for the covered tour bus so we could get a feeling of the place. Loved it :) We were planning to go to the Vatican anyway and that is the only thing that was a super far walk from our hotel.
Classic.
The other side of the tracks from the Vatican…
One of the many gift shops in the Vatican. I was honestly surprised seeing so many ATMs literally in the Vatican when Jesus was really clear about exchanging money in front of the temple.
Radio Vatican
Video of St. Peter's Basilica.
All the decadence of this cathedral, much of which is dedicated to elevating mere mortals like popes and saints, made me wonder what Jesus would think if he saw this.
All in all worth a trip.
More walking… we averaged 10 miles a day according to Aaron’s Fitbit :)
Cool neon hand outdoor piece. I think this was an embassy.
We were tired and for lunch we just went to this non-descript luncheonette a couple of doors down from our hotel that catered to the hotels and the Ministry of Defense across the street. It was one of the best little simple dishes of pasta I have had. Just oil, garlic and spicy peppers that when cut looked like flowers. And for appetizer, some of the best buffalo mozzarella ever - the dressing is everything. Nothing fancy, but incredibly delicious.
This beautiful building looks engraved, but is actually painted.
Magic hour on our walk to dinner…
This is about as much as we saw of Trevi Fountain… It was so mobbed, I couldn’t take a pic of the whole thing. UGH.
Aaron and Trevi Fountain haha
View of the Vatican at dusk from the Quirinale, the president’s palace.
The camera went kooky, looks neat to me.
A rainy walk to the restaurant before it filled up, and then a delightful after dinner walk. Because we’re old people now, deal with it :)
Not sure what this guy’s schtick was, just sitting there with a painted white face.
If you look close, the lamp by the menu is a pheasant with a light bulb for a head.
The next day we went to the recently excavated site of where Ceaser was assassinated. Fascinating. AND they made it into a cat sanctuary, so of course we spent some time here (although you can’t go in, it is off limits to the public.) And of course the next few pics are cats hanging out in the ancient ruins that surrounded one of the most notorious events in history.
The back of the Pantheon
For lunch we went for pizza (yes, the pizza in Rome is as amazing as you think) and both Aaron and I had a priest sitting behind us haha.
This whole city looks like a painting. I love that there are no tall buildings so the sky is always a part of what you see.
We spent the rest of the afternoon in Trastevere, a funky neighborhood across the Tiber.
Lady on the bridge that crosses the Tiber dancing to music and swooping up a stranger for a number :)
Video of the Tiber
The Theatre of Marcellus (13 BC) located in the Ghetto and has a Holocaust museum next to it. Interesting security system cameras amidst the ancient ruins.
Down, woman.
On the way to the Colosseum the next day…
Even though it was late February, there were still plenty of Christmas decorations still up. Even Hanukkah decorations!
The Colosseum (70-80 AD) with some much more recent metal tanks haw haw.
Quiet little church around the Forum.
Tourist graffiti
Entrance to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill (8th Century BC - 608 AD)
Check this ancient shit out!
What a job!
Old and new
Video of inside the Colosseum
Circus Maximus, 753 BC. Now an unremarkable park. We sat and had an afternoon snack here where chariots used to race in front of crowds up to 250,000. WOW.
Aaron’s favorite little spot, right next to our hotel.
This was the best restaurant we went to (for lunch.) A hole in the wall, all Italians. They can be like overbearing Italian grandmothers in Italian restaurants… they brought out free meatballs, bread and bruschetta for us - “Eat! Eat!” I CAN’T EAT THIS MUCH. And the kicker - a free tiramisu for dessert. Bread, more bread, meatballs, mozzarella salad, pasta and dessert. THAT IS TOO MUCH OMG.
I shit you not this was the best pasta I have ever had in my life. By far. So simple - pasta, tomato sauce and mozzarella. I can’t tell you what made the sauce so good, if I could I would make it every day of my life.
After a spectacular lunch, a spectacular cathedral - Santa Maria Maggiore. Broke ground in 432 AD, completed in 1743. It has seen better days, but was quite a spectacle, and barely a tourist in sight.
The mosaic tiles that fell off revealed the underpainting. Fascinating! I never imagined an actual painted sketch underneath.
Subterranean chapel with enormous pope figure. The sculptures and paintings of popes and saints and friars far outnumber any images of Christ in Rome. I was very surprised by that. If aliens came down and judged Rome as representative of the human race, they would think that there was only one woman, Mary. And perhaps a few angels here and there.
Just a casual stroll down a Roman street…
After dinner walk by the Spanish Steps. As you do.
On our last day in Rome, we went to the Capuchin Crypt which was astounding. Unfortunately you couldn’t take pictures but there are several rooms of crypts made entirely of human bones. It was chilling, but also incredibly intriguing. I love the line spoken by the ghost of a friar who was buried there: “What you are now, we once were. What we are now, you will be.” That makes me feel peaceful. Here is a picture of one of the rooms I took from Wikipedia to give you an idea. Those are the actual remains of friars:
After that, we went to Doria Pamphilj Gallery, a delight. It’s a formerly resplendent palace that is now in serious disrepair, which makes it even more intriguing. Torn silk wallpaper, cracks on all the ceilings, broken artworks. It has an incredible collection of art including early works of Caravaggio. Super neat to wander around and barely a person in there with us.
That was about all the energy these old folks could muster. We spent the rest of the day walking around no place in particular.
Interesting definition of calzone :)
I could take a picture of every door handle I saw, so I didn’t even try. I couldn’t resist these beauties, tho.
Our last night there was also the 19th anniversary of our first date, and Aaron made reservations at Ambrosia, a super fancy restaurant. Here we are dolled up, me in the dress that I swear I have worn a thousand times now hahaha.
It was fantastic. A rooftop view, out-of-this-world food. We had a blast.
For appetizers, Aaron had the tartare and I the salmon stuffed with seasoned whipped Greek yogurt and mango. That yogurt was of the gods. They brought it with 4 different kinds of homemade bread.
After dinner smoke on the rooftop terrace. SO DAMN ROMANTIC.
The flight home was way better than the flight there - the plane was barely full so we had the row to ourselves. The meals they served looked so amazing I took a picture of the first one. And then I tasted it. After a week of eating in Rome I almost spit it out. Bleck. I didn’t know you could screw up an artichoke salad :( Good gelato tho. Same goes for the second meal, which I’m told was (checks notes) a calzone. It tasted like a hot pocket :(
I already miss that damn town, but I am certain we will be back. One week is nowhere near enough. If you have never visited Rome, I hope you will after reading this. New York City seems like the completely opposite town - tall, modern, brand new. And I never thought I’d see a place with more tourists than NYC but Rome takes that title for sure.