A presto, Roma

Last full day in Rome today.

The day started with the usual light rain, and after devoting some time to clearing out the fridge of rogue olives, bits of cheese, wine etc  I tackled my packing, having dashed out yesterday to buy an extra carry-on suitcase.  I’m jettisoning some boots and coats too – the cobbles have been particularly hard on my shoes.

So it’s farewell to Rome again, for six months until Jim and I return in August.  It’s been a mixed trip – lots of positive language reinforcement (I can speak Italian – yay!), a LOT of rain, some wonderful catch-ups with language exchange buddies and classmates, and also quite a bit of time watching Italian news and movies, and having casual conversations in supermarkets, boutiques, bookstores and the like.

My lovely fellow language students

On Sunday I spent the day in Cerveteri with my language exchange buddy, Angelo, and we climbed in and out of some very flooded tombs, watched sound and light shows that magically reconstructed the interior of the Etruscan burial sites, and stopped for the mandatory espresso half-way through.  After three and half hours we had a late lunch in the dramatic hill top town of Ceri before heading back to Rome at dusk. 

Tombs at Cerveteri

As usual, after seven hours of Italian I found my ear was quite attuned and I was able to speak relatively easily, which is the great thing about language exchange.  Aside from the very generous people you meet, who are happy to devote time to arranging trips, researching and providing written information in italian, and finding great spots for authentic regional food!

The town gate at Ceri

The hilltop town of Ceri

 

Cerveteri is magical, with around 1,000 tombs spread over 400 hectares – 10 hectares of which can be easily visited.  The tombs vary from dice-shaped tombs (so-called for their regimented and block-like shape – these were for the middle-classes) to the mounds of the exalted families, both types from around 3^rd century BC.  All the objects found inside the tombs are long gone (of course) but originally there were funerary urns, sarcophagi, estruscan urns and figurines, and many of these can be seen at the Villa Giulia, the estruscan museum near the Villa Borghese gardens, and where I headed this afternoon.  Of especial interest and delight is the Sarcophagus of the Spouses, a life-size sarcophagus of a couple reclining, as at banquet, with the bridegroom’s arm protectively around the shoulders of his spouse.  Both are smiling.  It’s a very lovely object to see, and especially today, when I had it to myself.  Apart from the guard, of course, who was hovering to make sure I didn’t take any photographs (the one below is from Wikipedia).

The Sarcophagus of the Spouses, Villa Giulia

So last night, a drink with one of my fellow students in Monti (where I’ve been studying), who is here in Rome with her husband for three years.  We drank red wine from Lazio, started in Italian and switched to English, and talked about spending time in Rome, the vagaries of the Italians, and our struggles with the language.

I walked back to my apartment past the floodlit forums of Trajan and Nerva, the immense white marble of the Vittorio Emanuele monument, and through the busy hum of the Campo dei Fiori and Trastevere.

The night-lit Forum of Nerva

Am I ready to go home?  Yes.  I’ve enjoyed my time here, but I’m really looking forward to getting back to my loved ones.  A presto, Roma. 

Ancora piogge sulla capitale

Still more rain in Rome.

It has rained, and rained, and rained.  The streets are flooded, the Tiber is running high and everyone is staying indoors.  Even the Pope has said we must pray for relief from the rain.

A couple of weeks ago, the Tiber from the Ponte Sisto, the bridge that connects Trastevere with the Campo dei Fiori, looked like this:

The Tiber path was navigable, and the surface of the river was tranquil.

Then the rain started a few days ago and has steadily continued.  Now when I cross the Ponte Sisto, the view is like this:

The path has completely disappeared.  And the river is churning up its mud, and flowing fast.  Even the beggars and the street sellers have deserted the bridge.

Today, going quietly mad from being trapped indoors, I made my way across to Piazza Navona to have some time outdoors and get some exercise.  I ended up having afternoon tea at a café looking out over the deserted piazza:

After a while I headed down the piazza to the Fountain of the Four Rivers.  Even the river god of the Americas, the Rio della Plata, has his hand raised to the heavens as it to say 'Basta!  Basta pioggia!'

 

Palazzo Farnese

Rome has had some very changeable weather over the last few days.

See yesterday's sunny blue skies, as I made my way back to Trastevere after school:

Along the Fori Imperiali, my daily school walk - yesterday

At the moment (Wednesday evening) the rain is pouring down, and looking from my window out to the Piazza Sant’Egidio I can see very little activity – everyone is indoors.  The bar downstairs, the Ombre Rosse, is deserted.  This is extremely unusual, as the bar is a favourite with the American students who attend the John Cabot Uni just down the road.  None of the street sellers have set up their stalls, and the tarot guy, who is usually just opposite my window, has disappeared.

Piazza Sant'Egidio, deserted

Tonight I’ve been out to see the Palazzo Farnese, the renaissance palace that sits in one of the (to me) most beautiful piazzas in Rome, the Piazza Farnese.   Built for the Farnese pope John III in 1517, and designed and modified by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Michelangelo and Vignola over the 16th century, the Palazzo is now occupied by the French Embassy and is not generally open to the public. But it is possible to book a tour through Rome Cultural Association at inventerrome.com.   Tours are in French, English and Italian.

Piazza Farnese, Palazzo Farnese to the left

At night, from the piazza, you can look up into the lighted rooms of the Palazzo and see the frecoes, but tonight, as part of a smallish group (25 of us) I got to see some of them firsthand.  The incredible Caracci Gallery was open for viewing, and this was lucky, as it's about to close for two years for restoration.  The frescoes, The Loves of the Gods, cover the arched ceiling with stories from Bacchus and Ariadne, Venus and Anchises, Pan and Diana, amongst others.

Carracci Gallery, Palazzo Farnese

Our tour of the Palazzo also included the courtyard and the gardens that front the Via Guilia, and some of the loggias and reception rooms of the renaissance building.  It was fantastic to look down on the piazza from the first floor of the Palace, and into the depths of the fountains that are usually above eye level. 

School continues well, with our class remaining stable over the last two weeks, which means we are able to progress faster, rather than having new students join us – which often calls for a recap.  There are six of us at the moment, and we headed out last night for Korean food, with our teacher Claudio and his sister, her very well-behaved smiley baby, and Claudio’s girlfriend.  The food was sublime – we tried just about everything, led by Chiara, one of our fellow students.  It seems usual to eat Korean food in Rome, but this restaurant has a great reputation, even amongst the Italians (who prefer their own food to other cultures).

Gainn Korean, Rome

Afterwards, I took quite a long walk back to Trastevere, after stopping off in Monti to see the fantastic apartment of another fellow student, Tamara, who is here for three years with her diplomat husband.  Their apartment overlooks the Forum of Nerva, and from their tiny balcony, you can look down the Fori Imperiali and see the Colosseum.  It was absolutely magical by night.

 

Palazzo Massimo

After completing  week two of my course, I headed down the Via Nazionale to visit the national museum, the Palazzo Massimo, late last week.  I was particularly was interested in seeing the frescoes from the Villa of Livia, wife of Augustus – the emperor who ruled after Julius Caesar and famously changed Rome from a city of brick, to one of marble.

Livia Drusilla has always been a shadowy historical figure – devoted third wife of Augustus, mother of the dreadful Tiberius, staunch upholder of the family values instigated on the Roman populace by her husband.  In her house on the Palatine Hill - rarely open - there are still fragments of mosaic floors and frescoes to give a sense of the opulence and beauty of her surroundings.  But to experience the refinement and detail of these frescoes, you can see her Painted Garden, the partly submerged room from her villa on the outskirts of Rome, at the Palazzo Massimo. Archaeologists believe the room was used as an escape from the summer heat, and have found evidence of underground water pipes that probably carried water to a central fountain. With its shadowy greens and blues, abundant flora and fauna (all seasons are in flower here) it no doubt gave a beautiful sense of shady coolness and peace.

In the late 1800’s the room was lifted in its entirety from the Villa of Livia to avoid damaging the frescoes from encroaching damp, and it was an incredible undertaking to reconstruct the room, to the same dimensions, on the top floor of the Palazzo Massimo museum.  You can sit in the centre of the room, and look at these 2,000 year old paintings and just wonder at the skill and ability to render such wonderful perspective by the artists of the day.

See the reconstructed room in this video (with breathy commentary!).

You could happily spend days in the Palazzo museum – and along with the regular exhibitions, currently there is a special exhibition of Monsters. Fantastic Creatures of Fear and Myth from the ancient world – the collections of sculpture, jewellery, mosaics and frescoes are fantastic.  But the other great things to see in this museum are the relics from the ships of Nemi, those pleasure boats sailed by Caligula in the first century A.D. on the shores of this volcanic lake 30km south of Rome.

These boats were enormous – 240 feet in length - and the technology was most advanced for the time.  It’s thought the ships were built solely for recreation, incorporating sculpture, mosaics, hot and cold bathing, and even rotating platforms.  A year after their construction, they were stripped of their valuables and deliberately sunk after the assassination of Caligula.

In 1927, a fantastic undertaking to recover the ships involved draining the volcanic lake into nearby farmlands.  Ordered by Mussolini, a combined effort from the navy, army, industry and private contributions saw the first ship break the surface of the lake in 1929.  By 1931 the second ship was uncovered; unleashing 500,000 cubic metres of mud and causing 74 acres of the lake floor to subside. 

The ships were displayed in a museum on the shores of the lake, and tragically destroyed in the Second World War by fire, purportedly by the retreating German army. Some material, stored in Rome, can be seen today in the Palazzo Massimo.

Of particular beauty is the bronze handrail to the first ship, with alternate busts of gods and goddesses.  And the incredible medusa head in bronze, so finely worked you can see the flowing lines of the hair, and the lines of the face. 

Underneath Rome

What to do when it’s raining in Rome?  Head underground.

The streets have been awash the last few days – it hasn’t rained all that heavily, but it has rained consistently, which means any time spent walking in the open results in sodden shoes, wet clothes and minimum photo opportunities.  I mean, who wants to take photos from under a dripping umbrella?

Looking towards the Palazzo Farnese, raining

Wet weather is a great opportunity to explore the Rome that lies underneath the surface.  It’s certainly drier, and at this time of the year there’s also the likelihood of having any underground site to oneself.  At least, that’s been my experience over the last few days.

A little further along from my apartment in Piazza San Egidio is the Church of San Crisogono, built in the 4^th century and, as is usual here in Rome, built again – over the existing structure – in the 12^th century.  As Christianity in the 4^th century was off to a shaky start under the Emperor Constantine, churches consecrated at that time began as private houses and were converted to public places of worship.  So, through a heavy door (that was shut behind me as I descended - quite disconcerting) it is possible to descend a spiral staircase to find the rounded form of the 4^th century apse, with a shrine to the martyr Saint Crysogonus in the centre.  

San Crisogono apse

As I’m finding with all multi-level churches, the lower structures can be quite difficult to distinguish, as foundations to support the upper churches have altered the structure and symmetry of the earlier buildings.  It was tricky to explore the lower church of San Crisogono and make out where the church ended and where the remains of the private houses began.  Here and there sarcophagi were dotted about –from an intricate marble sarcophagus from the 2^nd century with maritime themes, to some smaller terracotta sarcophagi below frescoes, now heavily faded and almost undiscernible, from the 6^th century.

San Crisogono sarcophagus

I have to say, it was very spooky down in the depths of San Crisogono.  The structure twisted and turned, and I had this horrible feeling I’d get lost in the maze and be unable to find my way out.  Thankfully, in the murk and gloom I did relocate the iron stair and made my way up into the modern church without any grief.  And very pleasant it was, too, to stand in the middle aisle of the church and hear the roar of traffic, and see daylight outside.

A little further along, and escaping today’s rain, I made my way over to San Nicola in Carcere, another church which hides ancient structures underneath.  In this case, however, those structures are three Roman pagan temples from the Republican era:  the earliest being the Temple of Janus Bifrons from 260 B.C.  Under the altar, marble steps lead to a vaulted crypt, and sharply to the left, a narrow arch leads to the first of the three temples, with walls of solid tufa blocks.   I’m particularly fascinated by legends associated with the middle temple, to the mother queen Juno Sospita, in which annual offerings were made by virgins to the holy snakes bred in a cave by her shrine.  Any refusal of the food by the serpents was considered a bad omen and required the girl’s sacrifice.  What an incentive to make those offerings palatable..

San Nicola middle Temple

The exterior of San Nicola is surprising, too, in that it was constructed around the ruins of a Roman forum, with columns from ancient sites incorporated into the façade of the church.

San Nicola exterior with Forum columns

Weekend

At the end of my first week at school, and to begin my weekend, I headed back over to Monti on Friday night to watch a Paolo Sorrentino-directed film, ‘Le Conseguenze dell’Amore’ with fellow classmates.  Sorrentino has just won the Golden Globe for best foreign film “La Grande Bellezza”.  The school showed the ‘Le Consequenze’ film (produced in 2004) in-house, with Italian subtitles to help us along in our comprehension and it was a great opportunity to listen and madly try to read subtitles for those bits of the dialogue that were just too difficult to follow.  I’m now a great fan of Toni Servillo, the Italian actor who has starred in both films in the major role.  La Grande Bellezza opens in Aust on January 23, so go and see it – it’s a marvellous story of excess, lost opportunity and reflection.  And Rome sparkles beautifully throughout.  And if you don’t get to see it, you can borrow my DVD J

See the link to the trailer here.

 

On Saturday, our teacher Claudio took us on a tour of ancient Rome, leading us through the history of the Colosseum, showing us the Gladiator School in the environs of the Colosseum (half exposed, and half buried under a modern road), and on to the church of San Clemente.  I visited this church with Claudio this time last year when he also led a tour, and it was fantastic to see how far my language has progressed – now I understood most, if not all, of the dialogue.  And of course, the three-level church is a wonderful place to visit: first century houses, and a Roman Mint, on the first level; a fourth-century church, complete with frescoes, on the second; and the ‘modern’ 11^th century church at ground level.  It’s thought that the first century houses were destroyed partially by Nero’s fire, the one that enabled him to build his Golden House on the Equiline Hill. 

 

So after what has felt like a fairly-intense week, with lots of language study and conversation (but not too much homework), I wrapped myself up in many layers (see selfie below, taken in my apartment!) and ventured out today to visit San Pietro in Vincoli, in Monti.  Vincoli because this church holds the double set of chains (vincolo = tie or bond) : believed to be those sets that bound Saint Peter during his imprisonment in Palestine, and later, in Rome.  And according to legend, when these chains were brought together, they fused miraculously. 

 

The church is also famous for Michelangelo’s sculpture of Moses, intended for a much larger memorial to Pope Julius II (40 statues for the Pope’s mausoleum!).  Julius II dragged Michelangelo off to work on the Sistine Chapel for some years, and the project was partially abandoned.  However, the Moses statue is an incredible work of sculpture, completed when Michelangelo was a young man.  I’m amazed at how muscle, the drape of cloth, and the texture of skin and hair can be reproduced in marble.

On the climb up to the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli, your walk takes you through the arch below the house of the Cesarini, where the mother of Lucrezia Borgia lived, and where her brother Giovanni set out after dinner with his mother, subsequently to be found murdered near the Tiber.  At this time of the year, the vines that cover the façade are bare but it must be spectacular when they are in leaf in the Spring.

I finished today with a walk through the Jewish Ghetto, past the lovely Piazza Margana, where relics of old Rome are imbedded in the wall of an 18^th century palazzo.  And where a 21^st century scooter is parked today, naturally.

 

At Scuola Romit

I’ve been at school for two days and I love it.

Aside from, that is, having to set my alarm for 7.30 am (when it’s just getting light here in Rome) to be out the door by 8.45 am.  My morning walk takes me past the cat sanctuary on the Largo Argentina, through the Piazza Venezia (where Mussolini raved from his balcony in the Palazzo), and on to the massive white marble “typewriter” of the Vittorio Emanuele Monument.  The Romit school is in Monti, the rione I blogged about last week, and in an area that’s bordered by Trajan’s Forum, and further along, the Colosseum.

The school is in a little street, the Via del Boschetto, and the Via is full of eateries, bars, artisan shops and other small businesses.   It’s very tempting to get side-tracked in the morning into stopping at one of the many cafes for yet another coffee.

My teacher, Claudio, taught me last year at the Leonardo da Vinci school and he was my favourite, having a genuine enthusiasm for teaching, for the Italian language, for history – and he has a marvellous sense of humour.  In the middle of last year, Claudio left the Leonardo school to set up his own business with three friends, also teachers - the Scuola Romit.   This is the four of them on the Italian Abbey Road  equivalent - the Via del Boschetto.  Claudio is on the extreme right. 

My class (there are three, and sometimes four, classes running concurrently) has another four students besides myself – an American, a Venezuelan, a Vietnamese and a Croatian.  We range in age from the oldest (me) to a twenty-something journalist who is here to live with her family. 

We start each day with some informal conversation, and Claudio eases into the lesson with lots of asides into Roman history (for example, the significance of Roman numerals, why the “quartiere” is named so, how Latin became Italian, and so on).  By 11am everyone wants a break, and we head out for coffee and try to stay talking in Italian as we walk.  After around 20 minutes we’re back for some grammar via our textbooks, and some practical exercises.  Today we used the past tense, the imperfetto to sort out our individual truths from lies (i.e. ‘When I was young I was..’,  ‘Every year my family …) – a great way to reinforce speaking naturally.

I'm particularly loving that there's very little homework - 15 minutes at most :)  Because I Skype via the online community 'Conversation Exchange' every week, I'm using this forum to practice speaking as I learn.

So at the end of today I went out to find a SIM card for my phone.  I am very happy (thrilled really) to say I did this totally in Italian.  I find myself less shy these days in taking the plunge and just speaking, rather than trying to form perfect sentences in my head first.  I’m managing to make less mistakes, and have become quite disciplined in watching the Italian news every night, and looking at the news headlines on line every morning.

I still have a way to go, but I have to say, I think I might just actually get to fluency. 

Spero di si (I hope so).