Rome

"Layers of Rome"

Our Tour Begins

Pat

Alexis

Saturday, April 21, 4 p.m.

Tour: Day One

Time to meet our travel partners at the Welcome to Italy group meeting!

Meet Pat. We met Pat in 2017 on the Rick Steves Heart of Ireland tour. Now we’re traveling together in Italy. She’s a terrific travel friend who loves to discover the culture of a place, stroll and explore, have fun and is a fabulous dinner companion (always willing to share her antipasto platter).

Meet Caterina. Our guide, a chef and a lover of all things Italia. Sophisticated. Smart. Confident. Cool-headed. She will help us become temporary Italians and deepen our understanding of the psyche and culture of southern Italy. She schools us in safety: be aware of slippery showers and pavement. At our welcome meeting she begins her sweet ode to southern Italy and her “family away from family.” Mark and I will be impressed at how she has built relationships with the hoteliers, clerks, restaurant owners, shopkeepers and be grateful for her endeavors as our group reaps the rewards.

Meet Alexis. She's from the Rick Steves home office in Edmonds, WA. As a tour sales consultant, she takes tours in order to be able to discuss them with customers. She will give us a peek into what goes on back at the home office. Her warm and gentle nature will infuse our travels!

We discover, as we listen to everyone introduce themselves, that this tour has groups of friends traveling together, some who met on a previous tour. There are couples celebrating anniversaries and members celebrating birthdays. My sense? These people are ready to enjoy themselves!

Italian 101: “Piano Piano,” Caterina coaches us from the very beginning. "Slowly, slowly" is the philosophy to embrace when in southern Italy. Slow down. Relax. Going slowly also encourages us to watch where we’re walking: uneven pavements abound.

Caterina

Welcome to Italy group meeting!

An Evening in Roma

Campo di Fiori: statue of Bruno, a heretic burned on this spot in 1600.

“We are retracing steps that make sense of Western Civilization on this tour,” Caterina tells us.

Caterina guides us on a walk through piazzas, stopping to point out fascinating history. We meet Bruno in Campo di Fiori. We see stone tubs from the Baths of Caracalla “repurposed” in a fountain. In Piazza Navona we gaze at the Four Rivers fountain by Bernini and learn how Roman emperors idolized the Egyptians.

As we explore the Eternal City we are told to wonder about what sleeps underneath our feet. So many layers of history no longer visible!

“They want to sing a song for us,” Caterina exclaims.

Our first group dinner turns out to be something very special. The patrons (Italians, except for us) break out in song. We think it might be to celebrate Rome's birthday today. Later, we find out a choir from northeastern Italy started the singing. They’re in town to sing at St. Peter's Basilica. Caterina talks to the choir director. Discovering there’s a group of Americans in the trattoria his choir dedicates a song to us. He says, “It’s one we will know.” Ah, yes, he’s right. We do know Volare! This happens to be just the beginning of a series of serenades on this tour.

Italian 101: The patron saint of music and musicians is Saint Cecilia and on this tour we really experience music and song. Caterina informs us that music is in the soul of Italians. Southern Italy boasts the first opera house in Europe, in Naples, where music is part of the fabric of life.

Italian choir serenading us!

Capitoline Museum and Jewish Ghetto

Sunday, April 22

Tour: Day 2

Experiencing the Capitoline Museum with our local guide, Francesca, our eyes are opened by her instructive phrase: “the more you know the more you see.” Statues weren’t originally white marble, they were painted. Two small statues of children perched on a tomb don’t belong there. They were actually yard art, like the yard gnomes of today! Francesca points out what is authentic and inauthentic in regards to how things are displayed. She has a knack for bringing to life what we are viewing by telling its story and setting it in context. Mark declares, “She should be the director of museums for Italy.”

Gladiators and Vestal Virgins

We walk outside the Capitoline and see gladiators and vestal virgins walking down the street. It’s Rome’s birthday parade and it stretches for a couple of miles. This city really knows how to put on a birthday party!

Jewish Ghetto

Francesca weaves us toward the Jewish Ghetto, stopping to point out ancient buildings like the Theatre of Marcellus that almost looks like the Colosseum. When we arrive at what was once the Jewish Ghetto there isn't much left of the old ghetto to see. This is where a guide is invaluable because she invites us to understand what it was like to live here by describing it and evoking the feeling of the place. While the early Jews weren’t persecuted in Rome, in 1555 the pope decided to limit their influence by forcing the Jewish population to move into the flood-prone area, instilling a curfew and creating cramped and difficult living conditions.

History Bite: Viewing the Dying Gaul, an Early Roman period sculpture, Francesca explains that we see him, the enemy, treated with respect. His strength is portrayed. In the Late Roman period, the Age of Anxiety, sculptures show the Romans' need to contend they're still strong by casting their enemies in submissive positions.

click picture to scroll

Free Time in Rome

Enjoying aperitivo on the Smeraldo Hotel rooftop.

“Be a culinary geographer,” Fred Plotkin says. See what’s fresh in the market and order it at the restaurant that evening.

Pat, Mark and I stay in the Ghetto and have lunch at La Taverina Del Ghetto. A 2.5 hour al fresco experience. Taking Fred’s advice, I order, among other delicacies, what I spied in the market yesterday: artichokes. My first taste ever of a Jewish-style (deep fried) artichoke. It's "crispy and salt kissed." It may be a delicacy now when artichokes are in season but according to author Matthew Goodman their history goes back to the 16th century. Food was scarce in the Ghetto and frying was the cheapest and easiest way to prepare foods.

Back at the hotel, we enjoy an aperitivo on the rooftop! There's some confusion as to how to place a drink order. There's a phone available for ordering drinks but it doesn't seem to be working or I don't know how to work it properly. I decide I'll simply use the stairs and go down to the bar to order. The rooftop view is worth the effort!

Artichokes at the market.