Fontane e Nasoni

Trevi fountain

One of the many delightful things about Rome is its fountains. There are many (hundreds?) of elaborate ones, like Trevi (above) and the three fountains in the Piazza Navona.

Main fountain Piazza Navona

One of secondary ones Piazza Navona

Spanish Steps

Villa Borghese

But there are over a thousand (some sources say 2,500) smaller public fountains throughout Rome. They come in different shapes but most are squat, rounded, cast iron affairs with longish down-turned spouts. There is a little hole in the top of each spout that forms an arching spray when you stop up the open end with a finger. (I’ve tried taking a drink this way several times and have managed to get more in my face and hair than in my mouth. Will need to practice more.) 

Ubiquitous nasoni

Because of the shape of the spout on the most common ones, they are called Nasoni (long noses). They run 24/7 providing clean and delicious water. I honestly think it tastes sweet. 

         

I really like the dog-shaped ones too..

especially with dogs ... 

Nasone at Campo de'Fiori in use by a native

I would love to know more about them. If you are interested here are some more great photos and a good account.

They Shall Not Faint

And the prophet Isaiah said, “But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.”

My map of Rome annotated with some points of personal interest 

I have not been running. I have only been walking (and walking and walking). And I am faint. Brad and I just moved today to our second apartment in Rome, the idea being to try out different parts of the city, in particular places far from the center, to get an idea of where we would like to live come September. The first place was on Via Adda, north of the city center, near Villa Borghese, on the east side of the Tiber River.

Our little home on Via Adda 3/31 to 4/6

From there, it was a minimum 40-minute walk to places we needed to go or wanted to see in “il centro” (and then back again). Much as I like to think of myself as a walker, slogging for 2 hours or more every day has been a challenge, especially with the need to navigate strolling Italians and charging tourists, not to mention stay out of the way of cars and waves of motorbikes on sometimes ridiculously narrow streets. My legs ache at the end of the day and I have blisters where I’ve never had them before (including on the tip of one toe). Today's second place, on Viale dei Quattro Venti, is quite far south and west of the Tiber. We have been here less than a day but it is already a breath of fresh air. While it has a limited and faded grandeur compared to the center and is predominated by mid-20th century apartment buildings all crowded together, the birds are singing and some people actually smiled at us on the street. The nearby Villa Pamphili is big and really green. Even our waiter at dinner deigned to talk to us a little bit in Italian! 

Villa Pamphili Entry Arch

Faded glory

Fresh air of Parco Pamphili, Monteverde

Compare this to the Gioia Mia Trattorria in the center yesterday, which seemed like a friendly place and where we greeted the waiter with a hearty “Buongiorno!” He turned away saying, “I'll bring you the English menu ...” : ( 

On the plus side, during the Italian lesson today, our Dante Alighieri teacher (kind Simona) said that our accents are very good! We just need to learn to say more things ...  : )

Two nuns outside Dante Alighieri who weren't too happy I took their picture ...

Sunny Italy: Giardini di Arancia

In the Irish song Nell Flaherty’s Drake, the title character curses the man who murdered her beautiful drake. “May the piercing March breeze make him shiver and shake.” That is exactly how it felt in Ireland, with Brad affected especially. So it was the warmth that hit us first when we arrived in Rome last Tuesday (March 29). I actually felt disloyal for a few days about how sunny and warm and stunningly beautiful Rome seemed to me. Oranges and the fragrance of orange blossoms everywhere we went!

Not to mention vines ...

So different from the first day we woke up in Carlow ... 

Morning window Trastevere

We even got to hang out our laundry Roman style on the little balcony we have in our apartment at Via Adda 7, near Villa Borghese ...

A New Language and a New Place to Live?

I’ll try to catch up on the other intervening days in later posts. But yesterday—Monday, April 4—we did two important things. First, we visited the Dante Alighieri (DA) Society headquarters in Rome and signed up for one-hour Italian lessons for each of the remaining weekdays we are here.  We are currently taking bi-weekly lessons with DA in Seattle and feel so lucky to have a chapter there.

Outside DA Roma (so sunny!)

Steps to DA library

        

We notice Dante a lot now!

Brad with Raphael's Dante (in red with laurel) at Vatican

Second, we met with a property manager who showed us a little two-bedroom apartment just off the Campo de’Fiori, which is the center point of the historic center of Rome.

We have loved visiting the Campo! It is where Lily studied when she was in Rome during college at the University of Washington. It's not a fancy square but has lots of atmosphere with a daily flower and food market, dozens of surrounding cafes and shops, and an intriguing statue in the center of a Catholic philosopher, Giordano Bruno, who was burned at the stake for heresy here in 1600.

We had a lovely lunch next to the fountain in the sunshine even with Bruno looking down on us.

Will this be where we live come September?

View from Via dei Cappellari 65

Roming with Mary and Dan

It has been a very busy first week in Rome, with the first two days—Wednesday, March 30, and Thursday, March 31—spent with old friends from Seattle, Mary Warren and Dan Gurney. Their daughter, Celia is an old friend of our Lily and she is au pairing in Paris. Their trip to visit her in France (and to spend a family week in Ireland joined by their other daughter, Fiona) is for Mary’s 60th birthday this year. We were able to coordinate a couple of days in Rome together, staying in a two-bedroom Airbnb apartment on a quiet street in Trastevere, a Roman neighborhood just south of the Vatican and across the River Tiber from the historic center of the city. (Trastevere literally means “across the Tiber,” with Tevere being the Italian name for the river). 

Mary & Dan: First Night Dinner in Trastevere

It was hard to keep up with these two (even though Mary had hip replacement surgery in December). We walked and walked, seeing the lovely small streets, visiting churches, stopping for coffee and lunch and wine and dinner.

Street Trastevere

Street Trastevere

Easter Week Chiesa a Roma 

Pantheon (cira 126 AD) Catholic church since the 600s!

Pantheon open oculus (has drain holes in ancient tile floor)

Pranzo sotto il cucchiaio!

Newly open Trevi Fountain

Another Stop Along the Way

Walk home to Trastevere (dome St Peter's at center)