Monti

The rione (region) of Monti may just become my newest favourite part of Rome.  This is good, as I’ll be starting language school here next week, at the Romit School run by my old teacher from the Scuola Leonardi da Vinci, where I studied for three months last year.

Yesterday I met up with one of my language exchange buddies for a walk through Monti - principally to see the newly opened Via Alessandrini,  which runs along Trajan’s Market, that jumble of ancient stones and columns that was once a thriving administrative centre for the Emperor Trajan in 100 AD.  You can now follow the length of the old forum and look down directly into the ruins.

Another reason for visiting Monti was to see the churches of Saint Pudenziana and Saint Prassede, both murdered in the second century for burying the bodies of those Christian martyrs who were  under persecution from the authorities.  The church of Santa Prassede is by far the most splendid, with glowing and lovely mosaics in the Saint Zeno chapel, and a supposed fragment of the pillar on which Jesus was flogged before his crucifixion.  This fragment (and it’s a hefty fragment, too) was brought to Rome by Saint Helena, mother of the Holy Roman Emperor Constantine, when she was eighty.  She also brought back other religious relics, including the Scala Sancta, the holy stairs that pilgrims to Rome climb on their knees to earn plenary indulgence.

We also had some luck yesterday in seeing the House of the Knights of Rhodes, the seat of the Roman priorate of those holy crusaders who established themselves on Rhodes with the blessing of Pope Clement V.   We stood in the loggia and looked out over Trajan’s market and it was marvellous to see the forum from the opposite angle.   Rome is somewhat quieter now the holidays are over, although scores of people still pass the Forum on their way down to the Colosseum.

Lunch was sublime – at the Taverna dei Fori Imperiali we ate Pasta al Cacio e Pepe (Cheese and Black Pepper) with truffles.  Cacio e Pepe is one of the specialities of Rome, and it is perfect winter food with a glass of wine and an espresso to finish.  Although the Fori Imperiali would normally be crowded, and it just wouldn’t be possible to walk in off the street without a booking and have lunch, at this time of the year the beauty of Rome is it’s low season, easy to find a table in the piazza for coffee, or make a last-minute decision to have lunch or dinner at some of the best eating places in Rome.