Talking and Eating in Rome

Finally winter has arrived in Rome!

Today it has poured with rain.  The puddles are several inches deep around Trastevere, and also over on the Via del Corso, where I went today for a meet up with my new languge exchange buddy, Mario.

We met for an hour and a half in the Feltrinelli bookshop cafe (Feltrinelli are the largest chain of bookstores in Italy) and it was challenging and fun.  Although it is a bit daunting to meet a total stranger and mangle their language in front of them, I found Mario a genuinely nice person who was very easy to talk with.  And of course, like most Roman X- and Y-gens, his english is near perfect.

We have agreed to meet up once a week over coffee and split the conversation between italian and english.  This is great for learning in an equitable environment; there is more of a balance when both parties are learning (as opposed to a teaching situation, where the balance is always towards the teacher). I'm hoping I can continue to talk with native speakers via Skype when back home.

Above is the Piazza Navona, photographed from under my umbrella as I walked over to the scuola after my meet-up.

School today was fun - we are currently working in the future tense, with some inventive 'In the future [classmate] will...'. Stories ranged from become a famous actress, play professional soccer, become a prima ballerina, speak italian better than the italians...

I really love my new class, and my classmates are a great bunch of people.  Some of them have come to Rome to live, some are here only briefly, and some have a few months like me.  New people come and go all the time, and today an Australian guy joined our group.  We both got some pleasure out of hearing each others accent and have arranged to hook up at some stage for a drink (something we do better than any other race, we think).

Yesterday I missed my class as I'd previously booked a Context tour before switching to afternoons. The tour took us through some of the food highlights of Rome.

First stop was in the Jewish Ghetto to taste some olive oil from a Tuscan producer, who has opened a small farmshop in the city. The oil was grassy, slightly cloudy, fresh and delicious.

Next stop, for a range of cheese tasting and wine, was at Beppe e i Suoi Formaggi.  An absolute standout was the gorgonzola, paired with nebbiolo wine.  As Beppe, the owner, has married a frenchwoman the store showcases italian and french products. The shelves were stacked with cassoulet, duck confit, foie gras, dried pasta, chocolates and wine.  And the smell of cheeses, when walking in, was pungent and heavenly.

As we walked, our guide explained the eating culture in Rome, and particularly the adherence to the traditional four pastas of Rome  - carbonara, amatriciana, cacio e pepe and gricia.  Gricia deviates only slightly from the amatriciana in that there are no tomatoes in the sauce.  This hails back to when the italians were highly mistrustful of the tomato (related as it is to deadly nightshade).

We continued on over to Rosciolis in the Campo de' Fiori area to taste Rome's best pizza and watch the enormous slabs of dough being worked, prior to going into the oven.  A few minutes later the dough has transformed into  golden and crispy pizza bianca. The pizza chef was a natural showman :-)

Onward into the Campo de' Fiori piazza and to the Norcereria, to taste salame, prosciutto and other cured meats.  One salami was studded with black truffle - it was really something to taste AND smell.

 

By now the rain had really set in, and dripping under our umbrellas, we headed to an artisanal gelateria on the Corso Vittorio Emanuele for gelato.  Vice is a relatively new gelateria in Rome, and has already made a name for itself.  The gelateria uses single-sourced producers for their flavours - sicilian mandarins, lemons from Amalfi, pistachios from Bronte, hazelnuts from Alba.  And the chocolate is made from Valrhona.  The good news is, there's only 4% butterfat in their gelato.  That's better than yoghurt!

Our last stop was to see the coffee roasters at Sant' Eustachio, one of the best and most famous cafes in Rome.  By now our group was ready for the restorative power of espresso (although it was interesting to learn that coffee was banned by the christian church a few hundred years ago, until one particular member of the papacy relented).

 

After our tour finished, I joined one of my fellow travellers to see the presepe (nativity scene) in the church opposite the cafe, before it is dismantled until next Christmas. This one is fantastic in its tiny detail, including the faithful reproduction of the buildings of the Piazza San' Eustachio. Even the tiny bakery has a glowing wood oven!   As the festive season is now officially over, the Christmas lights are beginning to come down, and it'll be quite bare along the Roman streets when the last ones are taken away.

Immersing (slowly)

I've started this week with a class change to afternoons.

This is very good news for me, as it now means my classes run from 2pm to 5.30pm.  Most school extracurricular activities begin at 5.35 so I now have the luxury of getting up later, enjoying a little more leisure (and more of Rome) during the day and continuing on into the evening.

I'm one happy student. I was finding my original class was just too disruptive with a teaching style that wasn't engaging.  My new teacher Marta uses a far more didactic approach and the class size is smaller, which has meant a great day of off-the-cuff story telling (trust me, this is hard with my current level of fluency) and some conversation about our weekends and our backgrounds.

Tomorrow I have a day off school as I'm booked on a Context tour of Rome's culinary gems - this includes coffee tasting, visiting the Ghetto for carciofi fritti, artisan gelati and Rome's best pizza houses.    Fortunately I walk so much that I'm not too worried about the calories -  I find I walk at least two hours a day, including lots of time climbing stairs.  Stairs to my classroom at the scuola, stairs to my apartment, stairs up to the Gianicolo..

Last night my landlady Sari and I drove over to Testaccio for dinner at Angelina in Testaccio and it was an amazing meal - home made pasta with rosemary and guinciale.  Testaccio has become a mecca for good and innovative food, and its popularily is attested in that we spent more time circling the streets looking for somewhere to park than in driving over from Trastevere (about 5 minutes in the car). Rome belted out a storm while we ate with impressive amounts of rain, thunder and lightning and the roads were almost deserted.  We managed to pull up right outside and avoid getting completely drenched.

The restaurant is in a converted warehouse and is decidedly un-Roman like in the decor and well spaced tables, however the service and the food is italian in the most positive sense.  I find I am slowly understanding more of the language and could order my food with relative confidence. Piano, piano.

Yesterday I took the plunge and put a profile post up on the Conversation Exchange site seeking some italian conversation buddies. The concept is that you either meet your buddy face-to-face, chat via skype or use email or Facebook.  In 24 hours I've had a lot of responses from italians wanting to improve their english in exchange for me speaking in italian.  Tonight I've chatted with Angelo from the north of italy, who is not only learning English but also Polish, and who is a history teacher who connects with people all over the globe. I really enjoyed the opportunity to practice the language and can't have been too excruciating as we are chatting again on Sunday.  I also have a face-to-face meeting over coffee this Wednesday with a young Roman man who is learning english so I'm hopeful I'll get the opportunity to learn more colloquial italian. 

Una bella giornata

Rome produced a beautiful winter's morning for me today.
 

I was out the door a little before 10am and the sun, although shining was still low in the sky, creating deep shadows in my piazza. This is the view from the front door of my building, looking towards the Trattoria degli Amici.

I like this little restaurant. As part of the Trastevere Sant' Egidio community, the proprietor employs some disabled staff who look after their customers with an engaging friendliness.  And the food is delicious.

Note the staff T-shirts, a very useful memory aid for me in learning gender-specific nouns :-)

After a coffee and cornetto over the Tiber at the Piazza Farnese, and a quick stop for bread from the forno in the Campo de' Fiori, I headed back over to my local market, the San Cosimato for some healthy fruit and veg (this to counteract all the pizza, pasta and bar snacks I've consumed this week).  The market is about three street blocks away from my apartment.

 

At 11.00am the market was reasonably busy, with the covered stalls on the perimeter selling fresh meat, cheeses and other cold goods, and fruit and veg stalls in the centre.  I particularly liked the semi-circle of school kids, busily sketching half a swordfish gorily displayed on the fish seller's slab. 

 

Loaded down with garlic, asparagus, apples, blood oranges, zucchini, leeks, potatoes, carrots and cavolo nero cabbage (and a little bunch of parsley - prezzemolo) I headed back through the Santa Maria Square to my apartment; at the left here is the little street that runs between Santa Maria and my square, the San Egidio.  Just look at that winter sky!

 

I've got a big pot of minestrone on the stove as I write and it smells fantastic.

Last night I had drinks with my landlady, Sari Gilbert, a journalist and New Yorker who's lived in Rome for 30 years.  Aside from being funny, extremely fluent in italian and a great mimic, she has a fantastic knowledge of the city, having co-authored the National Geographic Traveller guide to Rome with fellow american Michael Brouse.  If you are travelling to Rome (or even armchair travelling), it is really worth investing in a copy of this guide - it truly is the best one I've used.   

This afternoon I headed out with Sari's guide in hand to explore the Renaissance and baroque palaces in the Campo Marzio area, which was the name the ancient Romans gave to the broad expanse of uninhabited land that stretched from the Quirinal Hill to the Tiber River.  From about the 4th century BC this vast flood plain was used for military encampment and exercises, and subsequently for games and athletic competitions.   

Starting near the Piazza Farnese (which lies within the old Campo Marzio), I headed up past the L-shaped 16th C. Palazzo Ricci - my newest favourite palace in Rome - to the little marble plaque that marks the perimeter of the ancient Roman neighbourhood and dates from the reign of the Emperor Claudius (AD 41-54).  In September Jim and I stayed on the Banchi Vecchi almost next to this plaque and neither of us noticed it. 

Rather modestly, it says:

'Boundary Mark Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (The Emperor Claudius) son of Drusus, High Priest, Acclaimed Emperor in the 9th Tribunate For the 16th Time Consul For the 4th Time Censor, Father of the Fatherland, after having increased the Territory of the People of Rome, extended their city's confines, here marked by the 36th Boundary Stone.
XLIX A.C.'

After heading all the way along the Via Monserrat and then all the way back along the Via Guilia, I went over into the Jewish Ghetto, past the very lovely Turtle Fountain  and skirted past the Theatre of Marcellus.  This theatre, built by Augustus and dedicated to his nephew (and heir, had he lived)  pre-dates the Colosseum by a good 80 years and seems rarely visited.  With the Portico of Octavia closeby, and approaching from the Ghetto side, it's a great city walk.

I continued on over the Campidoglio to look out over the Forum in the late afternoon.  Very few people were moving out among the ruins, and the temperature had dropped sharply.  The light is very soft at this time of the year and up on the Palatine Hill the vegetation looks very lush and green.

On the way back up past the Campidoglio I saw this very delightful bit of topiary.  The twins still need to fill out a bit, as does the she-wolf's snout and undercarriage, but you get the general picture.

 

Fa Freddo (or, It Makes Cold)

A shortish post today, on day three of my 12 week language course.  I'm finding my days are pretty full, with over three hours at school each morning, further study in the afternoon, and extra school activities at night.  Here's how a typical day arranges itself.



Via Guilia
 

My morning walk to school is mainly along the Via Guilia, one of the first streets to be constructed in Rome since antiquity.  The Via Guilia skirts the Tiber river, and runs in a straight line for a full kilometre. It was constructed 500+ years ago by Donato Bramante (who was also responsible for the Basilica of St Peter).

The arch spanning the street was built by Michelangelo as a plan to link the Palazzo Farnese (now the French embassy, and one of the most imposing and beautiful palaces in Rome) with the Farnese villa on the other side of the Tiber, in Trastevere.  It was never completed.

All along the Via Guilia are the backs of palazzi interspersed with antique and design stores.  The cobbles are extremely uneven here and I've already ruined two sets of heels (although this has forced me to locate the calzolaio - the cobbler).

 



Fountain of the Mask

A little further along the street, behind the Palazzo Farnese is the Fountain of the Mask.  It was commissioned by the Farnese family in 1626 and is a happy combination of two ancient sculptures.  According to myth the family would make wine gush from the fountain at party time.

When I arrive at the scuola, there are usually students milling about with takeaway coffee (and quite a few of them are furiously smoking their cigarettes down to the stub).

 

We have two 1.5 hour classes, grammar and conversation, with the last 15 minutes or so of the conversation class an open "Ask Me" session with the tutor. This is where questions, such as What do I do (and say) when I spill my dinner in a restaurant and how do I get the waitress to help me, How do I offer my seat on the bus without giving offence, and What's the italian placatory equivalent phrase of "no problem" get raised (and sometime answered; some seem unanswerable).

 

This afternoon, I've spent a couple of hours revising today's grammar while sitting in the Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, which is the main piazza just behind my own tiny square, the Piazza San Egidio, in Trastevere.  I can hear the quarter-hour peal of this belltower from my sitting room window.

 

I've been sitting at the cafe opposite the church sipping a bitter aperitivo, whilst grappling with direct and indirect pronouns.  Later this evening, the scuola offered a walk though the palazzi of Rome - the Cancelleria, Farnese and Spada palaces.  Perhaps twenty of us met and explored these renaissance buildings with our italian guide.  I was surprised at how much of the guide's conversation I understood.  We finished our walk with a look at the site of Pompey's theatre, including viewing the ancient foundations under the Campo de' Fiori.

 

Consequently I'm now luxuriating in my central heating back at the apartment, further revision yet to be done in preparation for tomorrow.  As you can see, Rome has clouded over today and it feels colder this evening.  For the first time, I've ventured out wearing both a scarf and gloves.

 

 

Alla scuola

First day of language school today which meant an early start.  At 8am I was crossing the Tiber at the Ponte Sisto bridge and it was cold - so cold my breath was coming out in opaque wisps.  Despite this, the sky was again clear and sunny. I had to stop on the bridge and look out towards St Peter's to remind myself that I 'm actually here in Rome, living and studying in this wonderful city.
 

It's a very pleasant and picturesque walk to school, crossing first the Ponte Sisto, then travelling up the Via Guilia, skirting past the back of the Farnese Palace, turning again at the Via Banchi Vecchi and crossing the Corso Vittorio Emanuele to the Piazza Orologio.  In all, it takes just over 15 minutes from my front door in Trastevere to the school, which is near the Piazza Navona.

The language school (up above here) is housed in an old palazzo that dominates this tiny square.  At 8.30am, there were two dozen or so people waiting for the school to open and there was a small stampede when the doors finally were unlocked and we were allowed in to the tiny foyer.   Partly this was due to the heating therein.

By 8.55 I was allotted my four page test and given 15 minutes to complete it.  Yikes!  After very quickly answering the front page questions in italian, (Where are you from?  Why are you studying here? How did you know about us? How long will you be in Rome?) I got stuck into answering various multiple choice questions on grammar.  I then had a five minute conversation with a language teacher, again all in italian and was sent out, along with my fellow students to await the result.   After about an hour, I found myself graded to fourth level of a potential 12 levels, which means by the time I leave the school I should be relatively fluent. 

For now, I am studying with one canadian girl, one puerto rican teenager, one  spaniard twenty-something, one nederlander and one korean priest.  I am the oldest by far.  Four of the students are continuing on from last year, with Maud from Holland and myself the new students. Our teacher is a zany italian who communicates by a series of mime, whistles and rapid fire italian.  It should be an entertaining few weeks. 

We began with some conversation today, then switched to my least favourite grammar topic - prepositions.   I managed to understand and be understood.  It's a comfortable pace, and it feels like I'm in the right class.  There are extra school activities most days, such as conversation and drinks, history walks, trekking, eating out, museum visits and extra classes on aspects of the language.  Taking advantage of these can only help improve my fluency.

This afternoon  I had a quick stop at the apartment, a skype conversation with Jim, and a walk through the tiny streets of Trastevere to the San Francesco a Ripa church to see this work by Bernini. It's entitled Beata Ludovica Albertoni and Bernini was 71 years old when he began the sculpture for the Cardinal Albertoni (later Pope Clement X).  Interpretation of the statue's true meaning of "ecstasy" varies, but regardless, its an astonishing sculpture with a level of realism in the cushions and draperies to the figure.  The church was deserted except for one priest pottering about so I had the work to myself.

 

Rome seemed a lot quieter today (perhaps the end of many family holidays) and Trastevere almost empty.  I took a walk up to the belvedere to look out over Rome at dusk.  The christmas lights are all still hanging in the neighbourhood and there's very little traffic moving through the streets.

 

From the belvedere you can look out over Rome and it's a wintry scene, looking through bare tree branches to the Castel San Angelo, and further to the left, the dome of the Vatican.

 

Right now, I'm back at the apartment working on some revision for tomorrow's class with a glass of Venaccia to hand.   Tomorrow's forecast is similar to today - cold and clear - and I've got a slightly later start at school. 

Settling in

Today has been bright and clear in Rome and, to my mind, not all that cold - certainly not cold enough for either gloves or scarves.  Granted, I was out the door well past mid-morning after a lazy start to the day and several cups of coffee so the sun was well and truly up.

I'm very happy with my apartment.  The sitting room, which looks out over the piazza, has lots of squashy sofas for lounging and reading, and the light streams in from the tall windows with a view opposite to the local museum, the Rome Museum of Trastevere. 

By day there is a pleasant hum from people walking through the square on their way to Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere.  At night the local bar, the Ombre Rosse, is a popular spot for drinks before people head out to eat.

I've hooked up all my electronic devices to the WiFi so I've been able to skype Jim and talk with friends.  It's super-easy to blog at the kitchen bench or at the bedroom desk, and this is where I envisage I'll do most of my italian homework (when I'm not out communicating by touring, eating or shopping, that is).

Trastevere has it's own market, San Cosimato, which is a smaller version of the Campo dei Fiori.  At the moment there are artichokes, blood oranges, fennel, brilliantly red tomatoes, apples and leafy green kale.  I'm itching to make some sicilian caponata with the beautiful black eggplants and red peppers, or maybe an eggplant parmigiana?  Easy to exist almost entirely on vegetarian dishes here.  The produce at San Cosimato is perhaps half the price of its neighbour at the Campo dei Fiori.

Sari, the owner of my apartment has put in (for Rome) a large kitchen, with lots of good equipment for cooking and eating.  A window near the sink opens out to a sort of little conservatory, with climbing plants winding their way up along the grillwork.  Watering these requires a bit of acrobatic work involving standing on one of the kitchen stools and leaning out over the tiny ledge.

Leading off the kitchen is a long and narrow bathroom with the usual bidet.  I don't know any non-italian who is comfortable using the bidet aside for foot washing or cooling wine! 

When I arrived yesterday, I dutifully unpacked all my clothes, hung them up and stored my suitcases so I'm really settled in now.  I'm finding the bedroom is a very cocooning space, with an entire wall of books and a built-in desk opposite the window, and tons of cupboard space and storage.

Today I've had an easy sort of a day, finding some beautiful black knee high boots to replace my several-season's-old pair.  I managed to talk to the shop owner in rudimentary italian, which is encouraging.  It's one thing to be understood by a patient tutor and entirely another to converse in everyday living.

Topped off with further italian at lunch locally here in Trastevere at La Tana de' Noantri, my first bucatini amatriciana and a couple of glasses of Corvo white wine, it's been a great first day in Rome.

 

Time to get serious about the language

Anyone who has suffered listening to me rhapsodise about Italy, and in particular Rome will know that I have skirted around the edges of learning the italian language for about twenty years.  I've listened to language tapes, gone to classes, bought various text books and generally been full of enthusiasm without the necessary follow through.

Twelve months ago I decided to get serious about learning italian and bought the Rosetta Stone software, which is an 'immersion' program that promises to deliver a level of fluency.  This doesn't work on its own (not for me, anyway) but in addition I discovered the Michele Thomas language tapes, and also found two language tutors who've been helping me learn the basic grammar.  I've struggled with masculine/ feminine nouns, verb conjugation, past/present/future/gerund/ imperative tenses and started to form rather clumsy sentences.

Next step towards fluency is three months real immersion in Italy and I'll be taking a full term with the Leonardo da Vinci Scuola here in Rome until the end of March.  Jim is joining me half way through and we're hoping to enjoy a few weekend excursions out of Rome to further the language exposure (and food, wine, architecture and all things italian).  Cross fingers I'll actually nail the language this time :-)

So here I am, back again in my favourite city and staying in the Trastevere district.  My apartment is on a little square called the Piazza San' Egidio and it's a very comfortable, one bedroom book-lined and wood-beamed space that looks out over the square.  Down in the square are two restaurants, a museum and a bar.  Around the corner is the Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, which is very picturesque; lined with sepia-tinted buildings, it has the requisite important fountain, and course houses the ancient church of Santa Maria in Trastevere.  I can hear the church bells from my apartment sitting room window.

On my first evening here, I took a walk through Trastevere, past the Santa Maria church and on to the Ponte Sisto bridge.  The sun set at around 5.30pm, and the Tiber, and St Peter's in the distance took on a rosy sunset glow.

The christmas lights are out in abundance.  Along the Via Ballauri strings of lights and stars can be seen stretching some way towards the Campo dei Fiori.  I passed on through the Campo Piazza, said hello to the Bruno Giordano statue and crossed over the Corso to Piazza Navona.  The square is packed with stalls for the Christmas market, and especially the little figures of the witch Bettana in time for Epiphany on January 6th.  In fact, the piazza is so crowded with stalls it's almost impossible to see Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers.

Thankfully the Pantheon square is free of merchandising and people were still milling about at 6.30pm, getting a last glimpse of the interior before the doors close at 7.30.

By now the long day has caught up with me and I'm back at my apartment, central heating on, enjoying being comfortable with a G&T and a simple dinner.   It's very exciting to be here and school starts on Monday, which means a little revision on the weekend and some more walks through the city.

Hopefully this beautiful clear weather lasts - its cool but not cold and my tweed coat has been too warm for walking today.

Buona notte all :-)