Another glorious day in Rome. After a morning coffee and perusal of my travel bibles I head off on a mission – the Baths of Diocletian. These baths were built in AD 298 by the Emperor as public baths for the people – up to 3,000 at any one time – and included facilities for the serious and not-so-serious minded athlete; gymnasiums and sporting facilities, saunas and hot and cold baths (and masseuses).
A sub-mission today is to find the gelatteria San Crispino, shrine to artisan-quality gelato. I’ve been advised to try the ginger and honey combination by Stella at SlowTrav.com. This will be my first gelato experience for the trip and I’ve got high hopes.
San Crispino is a few streets back from the Trevi fountain and today the Trevi is heaving with people including street vendors; current must-have is a revolving bubble-blowing contraption. The singing stones are also in evidence, so there’s rather a carnival-like atmosphere around the fountain. I’ve read that the superstition of coin throwing nets the Italian charities around US$1,250 daily, but that once it was believed that merely drinking the water ensured a safe return to Rome.
My gelato is fantastic, very smooth and creamy and there’s evidence of the fame of this place – the walls are plastered with reviews from the New York Times and Gourmet magazine. My gelato-seller wishes me a happy Valentines Day for yesterday but doesn’t give me any extra ice cream for my 3 euros, worse luck.
Up to the Quirinal hill, past many palazzi lining the busy Via XX Settembre. The baths can be seen rising up behind the church of Sant’Maria degli Angeli and in fact the ruins have been incorporated into the nave. The church is full of light and massive rose granite pillars support the enormous frescoed ceiling; today the smell of incense is still heavy – morning mass is not long finished.
Through the sacristy there is a little courtyard and fountain, and rearing up behind this space are the walls of the baths. To access the baths it’s necessary to go back through the church and approach them from further along the Via Volturno.
There is a beautiful formal garden preceding the entrance to the Aulax, the original atrium of Diocletian’s baths. The aulax is enormous, with walls rising to perhaps the height of a 3 storey building, and the chamber itself is hundreds of feet long. Over the years it had been converted into an area for storing grain, but today it is again part of the Rome museum and contains three excavated tombs, removed intact from various places around the Tiber during building works. One of these, dating to 2nd Century AD, was unearthed in 1951 and has frescoed walls and niches for funerary urns – it is a bright and cheerful place to spend the afterlife.
I go through the museum, particularly taken by a triangle of seated terracotta figures – three women of importance, judging by their jewels and elaborate hair. The figures are almost life-size and they make a startling group, sitting as they do in eternity.
My last visit within the museum is to the courtyard designed by Michelangelo, and it is the largest cloister I’ve seen, with vaulted ceilings and corridors lined with statuary and sarcophagi. I’m amazed at how small the space is inside these sarcophagi until I remember the average height of the early roman was around 5 feet.
I'm feeling travel-weary now and the sun is low in the sky as I head back along the Via Cavour. Everyone is out for their evening stroll and the Forum is closed to traffic - its a pleasure to walk through the crowd. Today I decide to skirt past the Capitoline Hill rather than climb it. I'm looking forward to a glass of wine and my warm apartment.
A sub-mission today is to find the gelatteria San Crispino, shrine to artisan-quality gelato. I’ve been advised to try the ginger and honey combination by Stella at SlowTrav.com. This will be my first gelato experience for the trip and I’ve got high hopes.
San Crispino is a few streets back from the Trevi fountain and today the Trevi is heaving with people including street vendors; current must-have is a revolving bubble-blowing contraption. The singing stones are also in evidence, so there’s rather a carnival-like atmosphere around the fountain. I’ve read that the superstition of coin throwing nets the Italian charities around US$1,250 daily, but that once it was believed that merely drinking the water ensured a safe return to Rome.
My gelato is fantastic, very smooth and creamy and there’s evidence of the fame of this place – the walls are plastered with reviews from the New York Times and Gourmet magazine. My gelato-seller wishes me a happy Valentines Day for yesterday but doesn’t give me any extra ice cream for my 3 euros, worse luck.
Up to the Quirinal hill, past many palazzi lining the busy Via XX Settembre. The baths can be seen rising up behind the church of Sant’Maria degli Angeli and in fact the ruins have been incorporated into the nave. The church is full of light and massive rose granite pillars support the enormous frescoed ceiling; today the smell of incense is still heavy – morning mass is not long finished.
Through the sacristy there is a little courtyard and fountain, and rearing up behind this space are the walls of the baths. To access the baths it’s necessary to go back through the church and approach them from further along the Via Volturno.
There is a beautiful formal garden preceding the entrance to the Aulax, the original atrium of Diocletian’s baths. The aulax is enormous, with walls rising to perhaps the height of a 3 storey building, and the chamber itself is hundreds of feet long. Over the years it had been converted into an area for storing grain, but today it is again part of the Rome museum and contains three excavated tombs, removed intact from various places around the Tiber during building works. One of these, dating to 2nd Century AD, was unearthed in 1951 and has frescoed walls and niches for funerary urns – it is a bright and cheerful place to spend the afterlife.
I go through the museum, particularly taken by a triangle of seated terracotta figures – three women of importance, judging by their jewels and elaborate hair. The figures are almost life-size and they make a startling group, sitting as they do in eternity.
My last visit within the museum is to the courtyard designed by Michelangelo, and it is the largest cloister I’ve seen, with vaulted ceilings and corridors lined with statuary and sarcophagi. I’m amazed at how small the space is inside these sarcophagi until I remember the average height of the early roman was around 5 feet.
I'm feeling travel-weary now and the sun is low in the sky as I head back along the Via Cavour. Everyone is out for their evening stroll and the Forum is closed to traffic - its a pleasure to walk through the crowd. Today I decide to skirt past the Capitoline Hill rather than climb it. I'm looking forward to a glass of wine and my warm apartment.
No comments:
Post a Comment