Today I walked all over central Rome in 90+ degree
heat. Four hours of that and I was done
in! It’s not only the heat, but the
crowds are unbelievable and make the heat feel worse!
I started out heading for the Ponte Cristo to go over to the
Campo Di Fiori square where there is a market every morning. On my way out of Trastevere I saw the signs
for Villa Farnesina, which I had wanted to visit yesterday but was too late so
I detoured over to the villa first. It’s
a lovely Renaissance villa covered in Raphael paintings on walls and
ceilings. It’s tucked on a quiet street
here in Trastevere, not far from the dorms where Tracy’s students are
living! The villa was built in the early
1500s for the then richest man in Europe, one Agostino Chigi. It’s a huge U-shaped building with large
salons that are decorated with gorgeous paintings by Raphael, Peruzzi and
others. Some of the scenes are from
mythology, some the zodiac, and all of them are sumptuous and beautiful, covering
walls and ceilings. After I toured the
villa, I headed across the Tiber on the Ponte Cristo and made my way up to the
Campo Di Fiori square which was teeming with activity as the market was
underway.
The market is full of stalls selling fruits, vegetables,
pasta, spices, kitchen gadgets, clothing, souvenirs…everything you can
imagine. I bought some fruit and nuts to
snack on as my lunch and refilled my water bottle at the fountain there and
then headed on towards the Piazza Navona.
This is a huge plaza with a famous fountain with statues by Bellini of
the four rivers of the world, and it is lined with cafes and restaurants and
gelateria and the like. There I learned
that the Tre Scalini gelateria is famous for it’s chocolate ice cream so I
decided to try it and I can see why it has the reputation it has! Delicious!
That was the third course of my eclectic lunch and felt pretty good in
the midst of the summer heat. After
leaving the Piazza Navona I headed on towards the Pantheon, which I had visited
earlier this week, so I then made my way onwards to the Trevi fountain. On the way I walked down a lot of little
narrow streets lined with shops and cafes.
I stopped into some of them to look around and get a few moments of air
conditioning just to keep from expiring!
I ultimately got my ritual tea mug and magnet souvenirs from Rome and
also stopped in a lovely shop that makes wooden toys, puppets and plaques for
children and got a souvenir for Mackenzie.
I then finally got to the Trevi fountain which was an absolute mob
scene, with thousands of tourists trying to see it through the wire mesh
fencing that is all around it as it is being repaired. Makes it hard to really enjoy it because you
have to fight your way through a mob to even get close enough to the fence to
get a photo. There is certainly no
chance to enjoy the beauty of it. Then I
walked on to the Spanish steps, which, it turns out, are also undergoing
renovation and so are also walled off with wire fencing. You can see them from across the street but
you can’t go on them.
At that point it was getting late and I was extremely hot so
I decided to walk back to Trastevere via the Via Corso, which seems like Rome’s
version of Fifth Avenue or Oxford Street!
Lots of high end stores and galleries.
At the end of the Via Corso is the very impressive Piazza Venezia. I returned to Trastevere across the Ponte
Garibaldi and was very happy to get into the apartment and the air
conditioning!
This evening we are going to attend a talk/lecture at John
Cabot University about Brexit. There
will be some European professors on a panel talking about the ramifications and
import of Brexit and the EU going forward.
I’m looking forward to hearing a European perspective on it! So far, the folks we’ve talked to here can’t
believe Britain voted out and think it was not a good move on their part!
Pics today show some of the Raphael paintings in the Villa, the fountain at Piazza Navone and the cafe with the best chocolate gelato ever, the Trevi fountain and the Piazza Venezia.
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