ROMA

Tags

Italy, life, memory, Rome

To think I lived in that fantastic city once not so long ago. Today September 2, the weather is sunny and 26C. Though this Summer has been far too dry and created a water emergency in the City. The images I recognize as the old places where I lived, funny to see those images as a resident of the City instead of a visitor, there is so much more to remember. Many of the shots at the beginning are of early morning at sunrise when there is no traffic and no one about.

 

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2 June

Tags

Canada., Elizabeth II, Italy, June, Louis XIV, Republic, Rome

Today is June 2, in Italy it is the Anniversary of the Italian Republic 2 June 1946 when by referendum the monarchy was replaced by a Republican system. Festa della Repubblica Italiana.

The giant pine cone from the Villa of Emperor Hadrian at Tivoli, seen here in the courtyard of the Vatican Museum.

Our old neighbourhood in Rome with its beautiful gardens

June 2, 1953 is also the day Elizabeth II became Queen. She is now the longest serving monarch in British History, longer than Victoria. Elizabeth II celebrates in 2017 her Sapphire Jubilee. In Canada the only other monarch to have reigned longer is King Louis XIV a total of 72 years.

Photo of H.M. Queen Elizabeth II taken on her Coronation day 2 June 1953.

Architecture

Tags

Basilica, Cornelia, Italy, Rome, St-Peter, Vatican

There is a lot of beautiful architecture in this world, old and modern and then you get the crap that developers impose to make a fast buck by proposing buildings designed by a computer program. Here is one example of decorative architecture which followed a plan, an idea and involved the beauty of art in the Baroque Era.

View of the bronze baldacchino of the Papal Altar in St-Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. The bronze came from the coffered ceiling of the pantheon. Designed and built by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) who was chief architect and decorator of the Basilica with his arch competitor Francesco Boromini.

Truly an impressive monument amongst many in St-Peter. The Basilica is probably the least used church in all of Christendom, used only for Papal Masses and State occasions at the Holy See. On most days it is seen by thousands of tourists and does have the feel of a museum.

The bronze and gilded baldachin was the first of Bernini’s works to combine sculpture and architecture and represents an important development in Baroque church interior design and furnishing. The canopy rests upon four helical columns each of which stands on a high marble plinth. The columns support a cornice which curves inwards in the middle of each side. Above this, four twice life size angels stand at the corners behind whom four large volutes rise up to a second smaller cornice which in turn supports the gilded cross on a sphere, a symbol of the world redeemed by Christianity.

The four columns are 20 metres or 66 feet high. From the cornice hangs a bronze semblance of the scalloped and tasselled border that typically trimmed the papal baldacchino. The structure is decorated with detailed motifs including heraldic emblems of the Barberini family (Pope Urban VIII was born Maffeo Barberini) such as bees and laurel leaves.

There are many things to see inside St-Peter’s Basilica but this one element is well worth looking at in detail. The other part of the Basilica is the ruins of the original St-Peter’s from the fourth century immediately beneath the Papal Altar and the Via Cornelia Roman cemetery which dates backs to Republican times. Entrance to that site is by reservation only on specific days. A fascinating place and the highlight of any visit to Rome.

Hodge podge

Tags

Amsterdam, Delphi, gardens, Giusti, Greece, Italy, Kouroi, Rijks Museum

As I count down for my birthday on Friday, I am looking at old photos of myself and places visited or lived in.

1959 in the family living room when Television sets were actual furniture broadcasting only 4 channels.

The twins of Argos, Kleobis and Biton in the Museum of Delphi in Greece, sculpted by Polymedes c. 500 B.C.  They are twice a human size, presented here as divinities. 

The Sacred enclosure of Delphi where are the major temples are located. It sits above the gulf of Corinth. A spectacular site, quite deserted when we visited in late November of 2008

Here I am enjoying a Greek beer in Delphi just minutes away from the village of Arachova  where we were staying. We were celebrating our Anniversary and friends suggested we visit the area.

A view of part of the Gardens of the Villa Borghese in Rome in Spring 2009, always a pleasure to walk in at any time of the year.

From the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam a beautiful nature morte painting, Flemish school. What I find truly fascinating is how the painter was able to reproduce all the elements, the citrus, the chinese bowl, the silver pitcher and gold goblet and intricate details. We visited in 2008.

Café Metropol, Athens, in front of the Cathedral of Athens, a great place for a coffee and a light meal.

In Rome with my new Borsalino which I purchased in Milan. I found out on a trip to Sicily that this is the type of hat the Capo of a Mafia clan would wear. This explains the puzzled looks I got in Agrigento from local men.

The Giusti Palace and Garden (Italian: Palazzo e giardino Giusti) are located in the east of Verona, Italy, a short distance from Piazza Isolo and near the city centre. The palace was built in the sixteenth century. The garden were planted in 1580 and are considered one of the finest examples of an Italian garden in Europe, a splendid park of terraces climbing upon the hill.

Restaurant recommendations

Tags

coffe, Food, Italy, Restaurants, Rome Italy, Wine

I have on FB post from Italian sites run by Americans in the USA. The Italian site promotes property for sale, restaurants, cities to visit, cultural tips, etc. It also promotes news items from Condé Nast and CNN travel.

Having lived in Italy, I am less and less enamoured with such sites. One like Condé Nast, tend to recommend the same spots over and over again, Tuscany being one, Florence and Venice is another, there is also the constant refrain of pursuing authenticity.

What I find disappointing is that often what they recommend is neither authentic and is usually expensive or they go budget and it is so cheap that you wonder if it makes any sense to even go.

There are also a lot of expat Americans who have made a business of luring tourists into their business as tour guides or Italian cooking classes. They are popular because they speak english and what they propose is not challenging and made to make you believe that this is how it is done.

This week Condé Nast was proposing a restaurant as authentic in Rome near the Pantheon, first it is not near the Pantheon at all. This establishment has been there since 1930, it is very simple and non discript. Then Anthony Bourdain on his show on CNN went to this restaurant and he makes a point of not telling you the name of the place. Interviews a young woman while he eats with his fingers and speaks with his mouth full, because he is a celebrity. The young woman goes on about how ”la mamma” has been cooking since for ever, if the restaurant opened in 1930, ”la mamma” would be at least 100 years old now. Then a blogger who lives in Rome, wrote about the place and though will no recommend it because the wine is cheap and undrinkable, the owners Mario and Teresa will sometime pad the bill and the food has apparently been the same for many decades. So the concept of no menu, we serve the daily special is out the window, the special has not changed in 85 years.

The restaurant is called Settimio al Pellegrino on Via del Pellegrino 117,  it is a trattoria, meaning a cheap eats place. I get really annoyed with Bourdain who I consider a fraud who is trading on his past in NYC restaurants as a Chef apparently. He is certainly very clever at promoting himself but then so was Paris Hilton and that Kardashian women.

I can understand that a traveller who may have this one trip and who may want to make this into the trip of a life time, who only has a few days in Rome or Italy will do whatever they can to make it worthwhile. So Condé Nast or Bourdain come in and sell their wares, it may be what you want and it may not, buyer beware, but the whole authentic thing is a fraud.

Condé Nast like many travel sites hires writers to produce articles about a place, this does not mean that the writer has been to the place they write about. Last year per example Air Canada had a list of the best restaurants in Canada. Most of them were in Vancouver, Toronto, there were 2 in Montreal. Considering the vast distances between those cities, I was wondering if the writer had travelled to any of them.  I looked up who had written the article, it was a young Asian woman who lived in Los Angeles. I sent her an email telling her that I really found her choice of best restaurants very odd. Ottawa has good restaurants, none mentioned, Quebec City, no, how about in the Maritimes, none mentioned. She replied that she in fact had picked her choices from another magazine and travel guides and simply re-wrote a newish article, she had never been to Canada. Well she was honest. I have to say that I usually find airline recommendation of hotels or restaurant very strange. The segment they wish to appeal to is usually the traveller on large expense accounts who can drop $400 dollars a night or more and pick $200 bottle of wines on the menu.

It all comes down, in the case of Italy, Rome or any other cities, if you really want authentic, well I am not sure what that means anymore. However there are plenty of good restaurants with typically Roman style cuisine and reasonable and good wines on offer all over the city. First stay away from the restaurants on a famous Piazza like Piazza Navona or around the Colosseum. Don’t go to pizza joints, remember in Italy pizzas are like fast food, in neighbourhoods they are sold in small pieces to simply eat quickly for a couple of Euros. Go to restaurants frequented by Italian families and avoid places with tourist menus or kids menus, that is so not Italian.

The same with coffee shops, Condé Nast and others have been pushing Caffè San Eustachio , on Piazza San Eustachio. It has been there since 1938 and his famous for its roasted coffee beans which are still roasted on a wood fire. Though I wonder given the popularity of the place and the hordes who descend on it everyday if this method is still followed. They only have 6 tables and an espresso is meant to be drunk standing up at the counter in 3 sips. Since 1999 the Ricci brothers who now own the place use Fair Trade Coffee and will charge more for an espresso than other coffee shops. I never liked that place because there are far too many people at any time. Rome has thousands of coffee shops and you can find in any neighbourhood a good one devoid of tourists. The one I liked was in our old neighbourhood, on Via Alessandria near the corner with Corso Trieste, a real neighbourhood caffé.

There are lots of other place, it just requires a bit of flair.

 

 

 

Changing cities and archeology

Tags

Archeology, Italy, Metro C, Rome

The events of the XXth Century, world wars and changing governments who had a specific political program wreak great havoc on many cities in Europe.

Rome is one such city which saw a new era of radical development with the unification of Italy into one single entity in 1870, then in 1890 the building of the giant white marble monument to Italian Unity and King Victor Emmanuelle II which necessitated the complete removal of the Ancient ARX of Rome and the Northern spur of the Capitoline hill on which it stood, and as of 1928 the complete redevelopment of the Imperial Fora of antiquity, liberating them of the neighbourhoods build on them during the middle-ages and the opening of new triumphal avenues for military parades.

Rome is a city of many strata and many ancient buildings built in different era and rebuild again and again on top of other constructions to suit the Imperial building program, so when you visit the Forum today what you see is of the period after 50AD and in some cases like the colosseum built at the time of the Flavian Dynasty around 70AD and the Arch of Constantine next to it in 315AD. Everything else from the time prior to Augustus or the more ancient time of the Republic is buried underground, think of the Comitium built in 300BC a place of assembly where Romans voted, this area in front of the Senate building was recently excavated it is located several meters below ground today was once above ground just a feature of the changing landscape of old Rome.

In the last 20 years Rome Metropolitan system has been building new subway lines C and D and this has been plagued by enormous delays and even larger budget overrun. The problem is all the strata of history which creates a need for archeological studies which can take a long time years perhaps.

When Line C entered the Imperial Fora area about 20 years ago now, massive problems appeared, one being what to do with all the discoveries of ancient buildings some of important historical nature.

This photo shows the area of Piazza Venezia, the centre of Rome, the areas in blue indicate where major discoveries have been made. The subway stop at Piazza Venezia would be built right across this area. The white monumental building is the Altar to the Italian Nation built about 120 years ago, the Northern spur of the Capitoline hill was completely removed and with it disappeared the ancient citadel of Rome the ARX built some 2700 years ago at the very beginning of the history of Rome. Behind the monument is a Church Santa Maria Aracoeli which is built on the site of the Temple of the Augurs.

Area C on the diagram is the Market of Trajan, area D was a group of apartments Insula, Area B was the famous Athenaeum of Hadrian rediscovered 7 years ago during excavations. Area F and E were Senatorial Villas which can be visited today, obviously homes of powerful and wealthy men which boasted its own private water supply and baths.

Other cities like Naples and Athens have subway systems and managed to find solutions to preserving archeology and have a subway system. In the case of Rome because it was the Capital of the known World for several centuries and a larger city than Athens or Naples in antiquity, the problems are far larger. There have been rumours in the last 2 years that the subway station at Piazza Venezia would not be built but that remains to be seen. At the moment Line C is about to reach the Cathedral of St-John Lateran where it would connect with other subway lines. Will it continue then to the Colosseum area and the Imperial Fora, who knows.

It all comes down to managing modern movement of people in a city of 3 million, the question you hear constantly,  Is Rome a Museum or a living City?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frozen in Rome

Tags

Charlottetown, frost, Italy, PEI, Rome, snow, winter

This morning we got a message from a friend in Rome telling us that the Città was frozen at minus 11C which is unheard of in Winter, maybe minus 2C but never lower.

Here are some pictures of the frozen fountains of the Città.

Piazza Bocca della Verita

Piazza Barberini

Basin of the Fountain of Pope Paul V.

Fountain Piazza d’Aracoeli

Fountain Piazza Repubblica

A very spectacular effect, I remember cold Winters in Rome but never like this one. In comparison in Charlottetown PEI this morning is was minus 8C which is expected.

Epiphany 6 January

Tags

Epiphany, gifts, Italy, La Befana, women

6th January 2017,

Throughout Italy the 6th of January is traditionally a gift giving holiday though in the rest of the world it is a bit of a quiet day. Decorations come down (or bad luck will fall), leaving rooms looking a bit sparse and bare. It’s back to work and for kids, it’s countless weeks of school until Easter. But in Italy, Epiphany is a cause for celebration and is celebrated all over the country. It’s a day that marks the 12th day of Christmas when Jesus received his gifts from the Three Wise Men. One of the most commonly known aspects of Epiphany is the old woman, La Befana, who comes bearing gifts of good for the well behaved kids and lumps of coal for the not so well behaved youngsters (although, to sweeten the mood, the coal tends to be a lump of coal-shaped candy), there is no Santa Claus in Italian tradition. Many areas put on special celebrations for the legend of the old woman who encountered the Wise Men on their route to the manger. She too wanted to offer a gift for the Christ Child and this is how she became in folkloric legend the one who bears gifts to children on Epiphany. Christmas Day remains a religious holiday, though a minor one in Roman Catholic tradition compared to Easter which is the most important religious holiday on the calendar.

A conventional take on the La Befana celebration is in Urbania, which really goes to town with a four-day spectacular during which kids can meet the lady herself in La Casa della Befana. Another familiar element of Epiphany is the Nativity, and a good number of regions act out the scene, following the living nativities of the Christmas period. One of the best known of the nativities is the one in Rivisondoli, which relives the moment in which the Wise Men arrived – and it does so on a large scale with lots of extras in costume and a genuine atmosphere.

Tomorrow 24th Dec.

Tags

Christmas, cuisine, Festivities, Food, Hanukkah, Italy, Rome

Tomorrow is Christmas eve but this year it is also the beginning of Chanukkah which in Hebrew means dedication. The Festival of Lights marks the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem in 165 BC. Having been desecrated by the Syrians, the 165 BC rededication occurred thanks to the Maccabees. Hanukkah is a holiday I like a lot, Jesus was Jewish after all and so were all of his relatives, so this link with this Christian Holiday is great. We spent quite a few Holiday Season in Rome and partook of all the great Roman Traditions, its food and the fun that comes with it.

Jews in Rome or Italy today can be traced back to 160 BC when the first Jews arrived in Rome. They had fled historic Israel from the Syrian King Antiochus. Having arrived in Rome, this was to be known as the oldest Jewish settlements in the Western Europe.

So Rome has a Jewish community for the last 1,856 years, they have stories to tell.

The centrepiece of the Hanukkah celebrations in Rome happens at Piazza Barberini where a massive Menorah is lighted. The Menorah stands at 6 meters tall, there is another one at Piazza Bologna.

Piazza Barberini, Rome

Roman Jews have their very own cuisine which is very different from what can be found in the Jewish communities in North America, no bagels here.

A common tradition is fried food – fried in its own special way, and created to give a unique but tasty eating experience at Hanukkah time. Pollo Fritto per Chanuka is a hearty meal of chicken fried with a winning combination of ingredients. The chicken is marinated in a mix of olive oil with lemon juice, garlic and nutmeg. After the chicken has been marinated, it is then covered in flour and egg before it’s fried to make a crispy but moist dish. A good accompaniment to the fried chicken is Fritelle di Patate, which is fried mashed potato pancakes. The mash is seasoned to add that extra flavour before receiving a smattering of coated breadcrumbs to add to that fried kick. Rome is known for its Carciofi alla Giudia (artichokes), and also for Melanzane alla Giudia. This dish is fried eggplant – simple to make, and delicious to eat, the eggplant’s seeds and majority of flesh are removed before being fried in a combination of garlic and olive oil.

In keeping with the fried theme, Fritelle de Chanuka is a big hit for Italians to eat at Hanukkah. This dessert is basically fried sweet dough fritters. The dough is mixed in with raisins and anise seeds. It’s then fried and topped off with hot honey. Another favourite dessert is Torta di Ricotta, which is Ricotta Pie filled with either sour cherries and/or chocolate.

To all my Jewish Friends, Chag Sameach!

Barbers, Barbieri

Tags

barbers, Canada., Charlottetown, haircut, Italy, Rome

Having travelled around the world and lived in many countries, I have had to find a good barber at every destination. By good barber I mean someone who knows how to cut hair and who you can trust to do a good job and understand what you want.

It is all about service and making you feel relaxed. Easier said than done, many countries have different approaches to the barber and hair cutting or styling, not to mention manicure and shoe polish.

In Mexico City I found a good barber almost immediately, the salon was a little like an old club and in the Latin American tradition of what gentlemen expect, you got the hot towel treatment, manicure and shoe shine, spit polish which I like at a reasonable price.

I found that in any Latin American country I went to, you could always get a great hair cut done by barbers who had been in the profession for years, real professionals.

In other countries like Egypt or Jordan, it was touch and go and though I got what I wanted the conversation was a mix of Arabic-English and the topics were limited to the style of the haircut. In Chicago, I went to the Drake Hotel, they had a salon in the basement next to the flower shop of the Hotel, very nice, well done.

In Poland I cannot remember where I went to get my haircut, same for Beijing, it must have been in somewhere but I really don’t recall, just to say it was highly forgettable like most of the PRC is really.

Italy was the best, the salon on Via dei Serpenti (Snake Street) a name it got in the 14th century when the Quirinal Hill area was mostly uninhabited. It had been a prosperous neighbourhood in Antiquity and to this day it is considered one of the oldest of the Capital.

I met my barber Domenico LoTorto (Mimo) at the coffee shop on the corner across the street from the Bank Of Italy (central bank of the Italian Republic). I was studying Italian in the building above. In Italy social contact and conversation is common, people talk a lot and will start talking to you. I told him I was looking for a barber and he told me that he was the barber of the President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano. I would later learn that Napolitano had been his customer for many decades since he lived in the neighbourhood. When he became President he simply kept Mimo as his barber and would phone him for an appointment.

I would usually go see Mimo around 4:30pm, my office was not in the area, but this being Rome I could walk it in 10 minutes from Piazza Reppublica. It was an excuse to leave the Office early. Love that salon, on the TV was the Financial News of Italy, no one watched. The newspapers were Sport and Soccer newspapers, the customers were either bankers from across the street or various people from TV or Radio, art world etc.

I always got Sisi to do my nails, she was not Italian but Romanian, she had lived in Italy for years. It was a nice 30 minutes, a cut and a wash, 20 Euros.

When I came back to Canada, I looked for a barber, not much to write about here, finally I found two brothers, Italo-Canadians who with their fathers had been in the business for 40 years. But it was not the same as in Rome, it was ok but it had none of the finesse or the atmosphere of going to the barber. In Canada, you get your hair cut and that is it, no wash no manicure and no shoe polish. Finally here in Charlottetown, there are several barbers, from the designer types who can do your hair starting at $40 dollars for a cut to the more down to earth barbers at $18.

Currently I go to a barber in Charlottetown across from City Hall. They do a good job, but they have so many customers that they never remember from one time to the other who I am. The conversation is polite but I sense they are not listening and it is all chit-chat somewhat mindless. It is also a very straight barber shop, all the workers are women, very much an old style, good ole boys kind of place. The price is right and they do a good job, so it will do. I am not going to pay $40 dollars for a haircut that takes 10 minutes to complete.

 

Queen Street, Charlottetown, PEI