Visitors!

Since our arrival in Rome we have been looking forward to sharing our life in Italy with folks from back home. We got the chance in February to host Michelle (she came in mid-Feb) followed by Elizabeth and David.



Unfortunately for Mich the weather stunk while she was here. While Rome is spectacular in any weather, you do a lot of walking to see the sites. Michelle was a trooper though and to avoid the curse of jet-lag we kept her up the first day she arrived and marched her clear across the city in the rain!



A highlight of her visit was our day trip to Villa d'Este in the hills just to the east of Rome. The villa was built in the 16th century by a depressed cardinal (he was bummed out about being passed over to be pope). It is in a beautiful location on a hillside overlooking the valley below, but its most spectacular feature is the gardens with all kinds of amazing fountains. Unfortunately pictures nor video do it justice, so you'll have to visit it in person one day. (This also happened to be Michelle's only sunshiney day in Italy - so we were lucky).




Elizabeth and David arrived at the end of the week, and though the weather wasn't much better at least they did not have to brave the rain their first day. Instead we all went on an open-air bus tour of the city. This is a great way to orient one's self to the city and a good strategy for keeping jet-lag at bay.



On Sunday we all took Mich to the airport for her flight home and then rented a car from there to make a whirlwind trip of the Amalfi coast and Pompeii. Still plagued by poor weather, the drive was yet impressive and we managed an incredible sunset in Sorrento. The next day we took the wildly windy road along the coast to Amalfi and then over the hills back down to Pompeii.





When we got to the ruins the rain was pouring, but mid-way through our visit the sun came out and the light was gorgeous. The ruins were fascinating - and it was the fulfillment of a dream to see them (I recall watching the PBS specials when I was a kid at the time that they'd made a major discovery at the site).




(The items in the glass case at the bottom left are casts of the victim's bodies from Vesuvius.)

The remainder of Elizabeth and David's trip was spent in Rome where they made a grand tour of the city - seeing the colosseum, Palatine, St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and a lot more. On their last night we went to the restaurant next door and had our fill of pizza, pasta and plenty of vino.

Day Trip to Civita

Last month Jen and I took a day trip with the hopes of finding Civita - an Umbrian hilltown that Jen had read about last summer. She'd been thwarted in a previous attempt to get there, but had since learned about a different way to make it to the little city.

We took a train from Rome to Orvieto - a picturesque city that Todd and I had been to with our friend Kyeann. When we arrived in Orvieto we discovered that the 65 and sunny temps predicted for Rome were not the case in Umbria and later found ourselves purchasing matching coats to ward off the foggy chill.



From Orvieto we took a bus through the countryside to the town of Bagnoreggio where we enjoyed a tasty lunch that included a really yummy honey-orange-mustard marmalade with cheese and sausage. After lunch we headed out of town on foot to the little bridge that crosses the valley between Bagnoreggio and Civita.

The view from the bridge was stunning and we were lucky enough to have the place to ourselves as we were in the low season for tourism. Once we crossed the bridge and entered through the city gates it felt like we were on a movie set, it was so picture perfect.



Jen is an excellent photographer (just look at her Flickr site!) and took the cool pics you'll see in the video and also the one's posted here.

Lasagna On The Terrace

Santino made an amazing lasagna for us yesterday. It was made of homemade beef ragout, ricotta spinach and wild asparagus with bacon and it was really, really, really good! The lasagna would have been incredible no matter what, but it didn't hurt that we enjoyed it on the first really warm sunny day we've had in a long time up on Jen and Santino's terrace. Pictures are from Santino's flickr site.

Gypsy Music Through the Window

As I was working in our office/studio/living room/guest room I heard the sound of brass horns outside. I opened the window and looked down the street where in the distance I saw a pair of waving hands and heard music coming from the end of the block. As the little gypsy troop made their way up the street I scrambled to get my video recorder prepped to capture the scene. Unfortunately I missed the dearest part - when I tossed a coin down to the band and the tambourine player caught it as it bounced from the sidewalk. It is a pleasure to hear gypsy music through the window.

Caravaggio - Punk Baroque

I don't know much about either punk rock or art history - but based on what little I know about Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (not to be confused with Michelangelo of Sistine Chapel fame), the guy sounds pretty punk rock. A brilliant wild man breaking with convention and shedding light on the dark side of human nature (forgive the mixed metaphor).

Yesterday I went to a lecture given by one of the teachers at our language school. "Lecture" sounds so dry, but really - it is a kind of theater when Paolo is speaking. He's got such charisma and passion for art history - his enthusiasm is contagious (I never thought I'd write a post about art history!)

One thing I really like about Paolo is his willingness to dive into the intrigue and juicy details behind the art and the artist (mind you, this is all in Italian, but he takes care to annunciate very clearly so is easy to understand). Anyway, it seems as though our Caravaggio was a rather dark character - given to fights, women/men, and drinking to excess. But once introduced to his story and his work, its clear to see that his passions fueled his art.

Unfortunately I can't relay the power of his paintings or the contributions he made as an artist to you because 1) this is a blog and not a classroom in the center of Rome 2) I'm no art historian and 3) I'm not a charming Italian thespian with acres of knowledge and a wicked sense of humor.

But, if you happen to find yourself eager to learn about what is probably one of the more intriguing chapters of human history (political, religious, artistic...) read up on Caravaggio.

La Befana - The Good Witch of Christmas

The holiday season has begun in Rome. It isn't the same over-the-top Christmas extravaganza that happens in the States, but there are plenty of pretty decorations and garlands going up to get us in the spirit. In one of the more famous piazzas - Piazza Navona - there is a carnivalesque market for toys and Christmas decorations. Featured prominently is La Befana, a scary witch that looks just like a Halloween decoration. I would have assumed from her role as the bringer of holiday gifts that she'd be cute and jolly like Santa, but actually she's pretty freaky...

Dove il tacchino? (Where is the turkey?)

Todd and I were more or less thinking that we'd skip Thanksgiving. Clearly it is not an Italian holiday and we figured it would pass like any other day. But your queries about how we were going to spend Thanksgiving and if we might feel as though we were missing something put us in the mood to recognize the holiday. So we decided we might invite a couple of friends over for some chicken and potatoes, and maybe look around for the fixings to make stuffing. A turkey seemed out of the question...

But while we were out shopping for items that might approximate a Thanksgiving meal we came across an enterprising butcher who stocks a few tacchini because Americani like to eat them around this time of year. Bird in hand we moved on to other shops where we were able to find just about everything we needed for a full-fledged American-style Thanksgiving.

As I had class on T-day, Todd stayed home and did most of the cooking. Once we got excited about the idea of making a big meal we'd gone ahead and invited 5 others to join us and ended up with quite the international group!

Jen - our American buddy who along with her boyfriend (Santino, who couldn't make Thanksgiving as he had the Roman flu) have become good friends of ours and luckily live in the same neighborhood as we.
Myoko - from Japan is a friend from Italian class with whom I can really practice Italian as it is the only language we have in common.
Fillipo - an Italian, works at ItaliaIdea. Todd became friends with him when he began learning Italian years ago.
Martin - a friend of Diego's visiting from Guatamala and his Italian girlfriend (I can't remember her name!)
Diego - a Roman friend that Todd stayed with during one of his past visits to the city.
Because it is the only language we can all (to varying degrees) communicate in, we spoke in Italian the entire evening!

Todd did a wonderful job with the turkey, even more impressive as it was his first time attempting to use our small gas-fired oven. The menu included:
Turkey - about 11 lbs. and VERY delicious!
Stuffing - probably the best stuffing I've ever eaten, Todd really outdid himself!
Mashed Potatoes - actually I made these with lots of butter and cream, yum!
Gravy - made with pasta flour
Green Beans - sauteed with balsamic vinegar and prosciutto
Carots with toasted walnuts and orange/honey dressing (I made this)
Blueberry/Cranberry sauce from Myoko's host family whom have an American grandmother
Apple Pie - made by Jen, was totally delicious and served warm!

Erin's Daily Commute

It takes about 50 minutes for me to get from home to Italian class every morning, but I can hardly complain about the journey...

On a typical day I leave the apartment at 9:40 and head down the hill to catch the #8 tram into the Centro. I get off the tram at Largo Argentina, an impressive collection of Roman ruins and the location of Rome's famous Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary. Here you can see some of the lazy cats lounging about:


Just past the sanctuary I cross a busy street to arrive at the Catholic clergy shopping district. I'd always assumed that things like vestments, gilded crosses, holy water troughs, communion goblets, and jazzy priest garb were crafted in the hallowed halls of a monastary then lovingly shepherded to their respective churches - not peddled in the Sears and Roebuck equivalent of a sacred goods store.


The shops are really interesting though and I love walking by and checking out the latest habit and robe collection. In Italy, even the nuns have a sense of style.


Window shopping...



Just beyond the holy garments district I walk past Bernini's elephant...


And right beyond that I come upon the Pantheon (from the back)...


Now that I am in a tourist area I begin to see some of these...

...though it is still early and I don't encounter that many tour groups, which can become quite overwhelming later in the day.

Shops carry a much different line of products in this part of the center...



I say "Ciao!" to Pinocchio on my way to the Trevi Fountain...

...where I no longer need to worry about tossing coins because I am living in Rome.


I am nearly to ItaliaIdea at this point and only need to make my way through a few more small streets and I will be to school. But before I get there I'll go through a small fruit market and walk by a classic Italian deli: