Melissa and Bruce in Rome

Longtime friends, Melissa and Bruce Leonard arrived in Rome on Saturday, April 29 for a 9-day visit. We know them from school days at TOPS in Seattle, where their son, Will, and ours, Owen, were classmates starting in second grade. Here’s what we did while they were here …

Gianicolo and Apertivo at Rose and Wayne's—Saturday (4/29): Their flight arrived at noon, and they were at our house by 1:30. After they unpacked, we walked up the Gianicolo hill behind the house and, along the way, visited the little Chiesa di Sant’Onofrio for which our street is named.

Melissa in Chiesa di Sant'Onofrio garden with friends ....

Checking for the latest news ... ?

Around 5 pm, we headed north to the Prati apartment of Seattle friends, Rose and Wayne Wentz, for aperitivo on their terrazza. Rose’s parents were visiting, and we got to meet them and several other friends (Roman, American, and Zimbabwean). 

Bruce, Pete Farmer, and Rose Wentz

Pete, a Roman friend, Kathleen, and Patty Farmer

Melissa, Rose, and Bruce

Great fireworks over Monte Mario from the terrace and a walk home past nighttime San Pietro finished the evening.

Pantheon and Campo Walk—Sunday (4/30): We all went to Mass at Caravita (where I’ve been volunteering as an acolyte). Then we made our way slowly home, stopping along the way at Piazza della Rotonda (outside the Pantheon) and Campo dei Fiori. Many thanks to our visitors for helping set up for another aperitivo, this time on our terrazza, with Rose and Wayne, Kathleen and Eugene (Rose’s parents), Patty and Pete Farmer, and Donna Hughes Marshall. It was the inaugural event for all our new terrace furniture. 

Eugene and Kathleen, Rose's visiting parents

Patty Farmer and Donna Hughes

Patty making Aperol spritz

Feral onlooker ... 

Coliseum/Forum/Palatine and Aventine Hill—Monday (5/1): We headed out to the Coliseum and Roman Forum, afraid the crowds would be bigger than usual since it was a holiday in Rome. How delightful to find the place relatively empty on a perfect spring day: hot Roman sun but still breezy and cool in the shade. 

Coliseum

Underground tunnels were once covered by a wood floor (with trapdoors to let fighters and animals up) plus several inches of sand to soak up the blood ... the word "arena" comes from the Latin word for sand ...

One for the ecologically minded: Recycle bins at Coliseum

We walked the Coliseum and then used the Palatine Hill entry (which Brad had heard was less busy) to stroll along a shady path to the Forum. We relied on the excellent Rick Steves tour while there and then hiked back up the Palatine Hill to see the ruins of the imperial palace. (Did you know that the word “palace” comes from this hill?) 

Arch of Titus with Rome and Vittorio Emanuel II monument in background

Part of Forum's Basilica 

Then we walked home across Circus Maximus, stopping to have lunch at a little restaurant near the huge FAO building (the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, housed in a complex built by Mussolini in "Rationalist" style). If that wasn’t enough, we then walked through Rome’s rose garden, Il Roseto. 

Photo from FAO website

Then over the Aventine hill (on the other side of Circus Maximus), visiting the lovely orange garden with its fantastic vista across Rome to San Pietro. 

Going down the other side of the Aventine, we caught a bus home for a much-needed rest, with ravioli and salad for dinner at home.

Fountains and Churches Walk—Tuesday (5/2): It was a bit hard to get up this morning, but we headed out for a little “fountains and churches” itinerary that Brad and I had created, going along Via dei Coronari, just on the other side of the river, which is said to have the best preserved and most consistently Renaissance (15th and 16th-century) stretch of buildings in Rome. Then we made our way to the Trevi Fountain. Direct access was closed for the delightful reason that a crew was sweeping and then vacuuming all the coins thrown in by visitors (to insure a return to Rome, they say).

Then we worked our way past the Quirinale Palace to order to compare and contrast churches designed by sworn enemies, Bernini (Sant’Andrea al Quirinale and Santa Maria della Vittoria) and Borromini (San Carlino) and to see several other fountains along the way. 

Ceiling detail San Andrea al Quirinale, Bernini's favorite place

Spare and geometrical ceiling of Boromini's San Carlino

Over-the-top baroque of Bernini's Santa Maria della Vittoria

Had a great lunch on Via Veneto at Bottega Italia. 

On the walk home, we stopped at one of the Vatican guard stations to pick up Papal audience tickets for tomorrow and then for an apertivo on Borgo Pio.

Papal Audience and Capuchin Crypt—Wednesday (5/3): Great morning for a Papal audience with several thousand other Papa Francesco fans.



Afterwards, we walked to Campo dei Fiori to explore the open-air market and have lunch at a favorite restaurant, La Carbonara. That evening, we went to Via Veneto and the Church of the Immaculate Conception for a tour of its wacky Capuchin Crypt (no photos allowed) followed by a sacred music concert in the church itself. On the walk home, we stopped to admire the Spanish Steps and climb up to the church, Trinità dei Monti. 

That night, we had dinner at a new restaurant near Campo dei Fiori, featuring Italian microbrews, called Open Baladin.

San Pietro and Dinner with Friends—Thursday (5/4): Went to St. Peter’s Basilica this morning, which is about an 8-minute walk from our house (it was closed during yesterday’s audience). It never stops being astounding: 60,000 people can fit in the church, which is why you must go early! We stopped for coffee on the way home and then most of us just hung out at home, resting our tired legs while Bruce went out for a walking tour of his own. In the early evening, we walked to the other end of Trastevere, the Roman working class neighborhood (now somewhat overrun with tourists and loud partiers) where our house is located, for an aperitivo that Patty and Pete were kind enough to host at their apartment and then join us for dinner at Ristorante alle Fratte di Trastevere.

Vatican Museums, "The Box"and Fava Beans—Friday (5/5): I was able to find tickets for Melissa and me to visit the Vatican Museums today.

Note to future visitors: Once the tourist season starts, it’s necessary to buy the €20 general, “skip the line” admission tickets on the museum website at least a week in advance. We paid a €15 premium for each of the tickets we bought from a private tour operator.

It was crowded but always worth it (this is my fourth time).

Lacoon: First ancient Roman statue in the museum collection

Renaissance tapestry with (typically) gruesome Slaughter of the Innocents subject

Insanely baroque ceiling

Raphael looking out from one of his frescoes

Spiral exit ramp

That evening we went down into Trastevere again to meet Patty and Pete Farmer at the former convent attached to the church of Santa Maria dei Sette Dolori. Construction of the church, designed by Borromini, started in 1643. The convent was founded even earlier by a duchess of Italy’s powerful Farnese family. On a Risorgimento tour we took in December, we learned that the site saw intense fighting between the Italian and French (who were defending the pope from his own people in the late 1860s.) The convent is now the Hotel Donna Camilla Savelli, named for the duchess. It has a lovely garden serving drinks and light meals. Patty and Pete discovered this gem, which has tended to be almost empty when we have visited. 

This evening, we sat in the garden and had aperitivo—including “The Box,” a signature item with elaborate antipasti and dolci—then walked up to the large terrace on the hotel roof for stunning views over Rome. 

On the walk home, Melissa, Bruce, Brad, and I stopped for dinner at Romolo in their “giardino della Fornarina,” where in the 1500s Rafael is said to have meet with his lover and muse, Margherita Luti (nicknamed “Fornarina”). I had a great pasta dish with speck and fava bean, which like the jasmine, is seasonal in early May.

Orvieto for Roast Pigeon and a Funeral—Saturday (5/6): We took the train an hour north to Orvieto, one of central Italy’s many hill towns, built on a large butte of volcanic tuff. This was the third visit for Brad and me, since it is such an easy and cheap getaway (€14 roundtip). Rain was predicted, so luckily our first stop was a tour of some of the tunnels and caves underneath the town. Many were originally dug to quarry building materials (with the resulting houses built over the openings) and then used as storage rooms and workplaces (for making wine or olive oil and tanning hides), and pigeon coops (there are thousands of pigeon holes carved into the walls). Some of the caves are believed to date to Etruscan times (700 to 300 BC)! Underground tunnels, leading to safe places outside the town, were used during times of siege. 

Cave used for pressing olive oil

Cave with holes for pigeons, which flew in and out of openings to feed themselves

The area is famous for its white wine

After the tour, we had lunch at Il Cocco (including what always seems appropriate in Orvieto, a nice roast pigeon with potato and olives), and then walked around town for the stunning views of orchards, vineyards, and fields below. We also visited some churches, including San Giovanale (dating from 1000 AD) where a funeral Mass was just beginning. (Do not ask for whom the bell tolls … )

Pantheon, Popolo Walk, and Farewell Dinner—Sunday (5/7): Bruce and Melissa went to the Pantheon for Mass this morning. Anyone can attend by making the hour-long commitment, and the amazing space is otherwise closed to the public. I was at Caravita as usual, and we all met there afterwards and went to lunch at a nearby restaurant specializing in cuisine from the Abruzzo region. Then we walked north up Via del Corso to Piazza del Popolo. Stopped for apertivo and people-watching on the way home, ending the day with a dinner of pizza, shared pannacotta, and a limoncello toast at a favorite neighborhood place, called S’or Eva, just down the steps from the house.

We miss you friends!