EATING IN ROME: Part I

It may seem silly to be sharing my favorite place to eat with you when a week from today the program will be over, and many of you will be back in the States. But I always hesitate to tell people the places I and my family, and former students have been. I want you to find your own favorites. That is part of the adventure of being in Rome. On the other hand—I do want to share, so for what it is worth, here are a few of my very favorite places to eat in Rome, places that I go back to every year if I can, and lament missing when I cannot. Unless otherwise mentioned, these are places a bunch of impecunious students can afford – but check the prices in the menu before you go in to be sure.

Margutta Vegitariana (via Margutta, 118, just up from the corner with Via Babuino) As you can tell from the title, this is a vegetarian restaurant, and it has special significance for my family. You recall that I told you that my daughter was married in Rome? Well, we had the wedding lunch here. We also celebrated my birthday here last year. The food is strictly vegetarian, and the place very elegant. At night it is also pricey. The bargain has been lunch – last summer the lunch buffet (all you can eat, including dessert) was 15 Euro. This included any beverage you could get for yourself. (If you ordered wine, or they had to brew you an espresso, it was more. The iced teas, fruit based drinks, and a previously brewed coffee from the sort of carafe we use in the States, were all included.) There were hot pasta dishes, and cold, marinated vegetables, hot vegetables, cold cooked vegetables, couscous dishes, quiches, soups. Like all buffets, one was afraid that any choice one made meant one was going to miss something delicious. An added plus, it is air conditioned, so one may dine indoors and be cool.

Taverna Romana, on via Madonna ai Monti, just a few steps off via Serpenti, in the direction of the forum. We come back to this place every year. When we lived near the Piazza Madonna ai Monti we ate here frequently, as the prices are modest. (Warning – he does not take credit cards.) It is small, and has no outside seating. If you walk by and it is closed you may not notice it. When open, the proprietor stands in the doorway and greets people, unless he is waiting on a table. This is a “mom and pop” operation. He is a former soccer player. The food is simple, but excellent. You can get all the classics here. Try the penne arrabiatta (penne with a hot sauce), or the abacchio sotto ditto (grilled baby lamb chops). The house wines are good, and he often has lovely fresh fruit for dessert. But usually, we leave before dessert, turn right as come out of the restaurant to get back to via Serpenti, and eventually wind up with gelato from Il Gelatone (up Serpenti to the left).

Orso Ottanto, (via Orso, 80). This is a place that did not catch my eye the first time we were looking for a place to eat in that neighborhood. We found it later in a guidebook. It looks like little more than a sandwich shop or deli from the outside, but looks are deceiving. There are two large dining-rooms, pleasantly decorated. You can buy a great variety of things here – pizza, a full course dinner with your fish course filleted before your eye. But for those on a budget the prize is the antipasto misti, or mixed antipasto. Two people order it, it costs around 15 Euro, and you get dish after dish of whatever antipasti they are offering that evening; prociutto i melone, supli, marinated mushrooms, olives, grilled vegetables, even meatballs. To get a sense of what will be offered, look at the menu, and then look around at what your fellow diners are having.

Insulata Ricca This is actually a chain restaurant (!) and there are two of them near the Sede. One is just off the Corso Vittoria Emanuele II, at Largo San’Andrea del Valle; the other is in the little Piazza dei Pasquino. As the name suggests, they specialize in salads. But they also serve piazzas, and some pasta dishes. The salads are huge – a meal in themselves. Try the cace i pere (cheese and pears) or the avocado. You can eat inside or out, and I think the inside has AC.

Enoteca Corsi (via dei Gesu, 88). My favorite place to eat out at lunch time. Get there before one, as the place is mobbed, and mostly with Italians! They do a working person’s lunch, and you see a lot of business men (and women) in office dress, having their midday meal, and you wonder how Italians stay so thin! They offer a full course meal – antipasti, primi, and secondi, contorni, dulce. The secondi run around 10 Euro, and the primi around 8. Contorni are priced like the primi. We particularly like their pasta fagioli, zuppa di faro (soup with grain) and their arosto vitello con patate (roast veal with potatoes). But I have had a wonderful cold pasta salad with salmon, and Cheryl had a tortolini with cheese that she said was the best meal she had had in ages! (However, she had just come from Ireland, where she said it is hard to find a good meal).

Vecchio Locanda (Vicolo Sinibaldi, 2). It can be hard to find Vicolo Sinibaldi. As the name suggests it is just an alley. But there is a sign for it on the corner of the Vicolo and Via Largo Torre Argentina. When the restaurant is closed, it is gone. The alley goes up to, and under an arch, seemingly going nowhere (though there is a Di per Di just around the far corner of the arch). But in the evening they bring out wooden tables and chairs, and light little torches to keep away insects, and the place looks cheery and comfortable. The food ranges from the simple, to the more imaginative and unique. When we lived on Via dei Cestari it was the “neighborhood” spot for dinner.

La Focaccia, (via delle Pace, 11). This pizzeria is right by the little church of Santa Maria delle Pace. They have a nice spot for outdoor dining, as the street doesn’t go anywhere and so there is little traffic. But they also have cosy spots indoors. The antipasto are interesting, and the pizzas are great. (And it's all right with them if you share -- the pizzas are pretty big.)

Chico di Grano, on via degli Zingari, just off piazza Madonna ai Monti, is also a good place for pizza, and for salads. If you have just been to San Pietro in Vincoli, it is a great place to stop for refreshment. Don’t forget to try a bruschetto. That plus the Insulata Chico di Grano makes a fine lunch.

Cave Canem (Beware the Dog, in Latin), in the little Piazza di San Calisto, just off the Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, is my favorite place for sit-down pizza in Trastervere. They do pizza caprsese with pacchino tomatoes at this time of year.

Fortunato al Pantheon (via del Pantheon, 55) is a place to go for more fashionable dining. The entry way is full of portraits of the owner with famous politicians, Pres. Reagan, Condoliza Rice, among them. Perhaps Pres. Bush had a meal there on his recent visit! It is, according to the guide book, the priciest place in this collection. But the food happens to be excellent, and the service as well, and if you wish you may sit outdoors and not be bothered by pictures of politicians, or real ones (remember, the Chamber of Deputies is just up the street, and the Italian Senate meets just two blocks away in another direction so this place is a "natural" for them) . I’m sure the desserts here are great – indeed, I have had fresh fruit here. But, it is only a two blocks from Giolitti, and one block from San Crispino, so one might as well just head off for gelato.

I have now mentioned three gelato places. All gelato is great – or at least almost all. But those three are special.

Il Gelatone, on via dei Serpenti, offers a full range of flavors, and does soy gelato as well as milk-based gelato. The décor is nothing special, but bright, and clean. This is where I had my first gelato the first year we did this program, and my students were thinking of this place when they wrote the comments in our Orientation Manual, "gelato is the food of the gods; eat some every day!"

Giolitti, on via degli Uffizi dei Vanco is actually a full bar. One could as easily go there for café i cornetti in the morning, or afternoon pastries, as for gelato. The décor, particularly in their sitting down area, transports me back in time to a late 19^th or early 20^th century ice cream parlor. The gelato is excellent – a wide range of flavors, though I think they stick to milk; no soy to date.

San Crispino (on Via Panetteria, and now this summer on Piazza Maddalena) is different. The décor is very 21^st century – all shiny glass and chrome. The flavors are also different. You cannot get chocolate there. But you can get ginger and cinnamon. Give it a try!

I will stop here before I think of another place that really MUST be on this list. It is hard to get a bad meal in Rome, but if you have not eaten at these places, do give them a try. And please feel free to add, as comments, your own favs, as I bet by now you have some.

Weddings at the Campidoglio

This week you will be going to the Campidoglio, the piazza on top of the Capitaline Hill. The Campidoglio is where civil wedding ceremonies are held in the city of Rome on the weekends. Civil ceremonies are fairly common -- if one is being married in any religious ceremony other than a Roman Catholic one, one must also have a civil ceremony as well as a religious one so that the marriage will be recognized by the state. And then of course, there are the purely civil marriages.

I think this is interesting, as in the US if one has any sort of religious ceremony, all the paperwork is taken care of, and the one ceremony creates a union recognized by both the State and the religion. However, Italy is not the only country to have this clear separation between the civil marriage, and the religious one. It seems to be considered normal in many European countries. A friend told me that on her son's wedding day they first went to the Town Hall for the civil marriage, and then across the square to the Church for the religious ceremony.

They take civil ceremonies seriously here (part of the Italian love of riuals and formality?). The "office" that they are performed in is quite magnificent.

Of course I only know this because my daughter was married on the Campidoglio in 2003.






The pictures accompanying this posting were taken at the Campidoglio over a period of several years.

Churches in Rome

Every year students ask what churches they ought to go to, considering that there is one on every corner. Of course you have been to Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, as it is practically next door, and Bernini's elephant, holding up that obelisk is so prominent. But what other churches should you see?

To help you make decisions about which one to see, I am giving you a list, arranged wherever possible, into walking tours, so that you can see more than one church on an excursion. Please remember to dress appropriately for going into churches.

This will turn out to be a long list, and what I have to say if of necessity rather minimal. Be sure to check what a good tour book (and I recommend the Eyewitness Guide ) says about the places.

So let us begin with Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, which is built above an ancient Roman temple to Minerva, the goddess of wisdom. In a way then, a place that was sacred more than 2000 years ago, remains sacred today. Inside it is beautiful, and one of few examples of Gothic architecture in Rome. It is the home of the tomb of Santa Caterina of Siena, and two Medici popes are also buried there. Look for the Carafa Chapel, frescoed around 1489 by Filippino Lippi with the Assumption of the Virgin and scenes of Rome in the 15th century.

I. The Jesuit churches.

There are two churches built by the Jesuits near the Sede di Roma. Indeed their presence in the neighborhood is very powerful, if not formative. Our wing of the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj was built to complete a piazza that was partially formed by the Jesuits when they built their Collegio Romano!

Sant'Ignazio di Loyola stands in its own little baroque square.

Some say one should think of the square as a stage set, with the audience standing on the steps of the church.

Like the other Jesuit church, it is a product of the Counter-Reformation, and many of the images, both inside and out are of how heretics (Protestants) will be sent to Hell. A bit unsettling if one is a Protestant.

There are many amazing things to look at inside, but be sure to take a good look at the dome-- it is something else!

The Gesu was the first church built by the Jesuits in Rome. It is at the head of Via del Gesu, just at the intersection with Via dei Plebiscito. It may look to you like a lot of other Roman Renaissance churches, but that's because it set the standard.

II. The Caravaggio churches.

If you don’t know who Carravaggio was, better do a bit of research. He was something of a scamp in his time, did not have a very happy life, and died young, trying to get back to Rome. He was under-appreciated in his lifetime, criticized for such things as painting saints with dirty feet, and yet his use of light is magnificent. There is a copy of his painting of John the Baptist as a young man in the Galleria Doria-Pamphilj. The original is in the museums on the Capitoline hill. You will see others of his paintings when you go to the Galleria Borghese. But the ones in the churches are free (though you have to deposit a coin in a machine to get the best lighting to see them by).

San Luigi dei Francesi (near where the Italian Senate meets, at the foot of Via della Scrofa)

On the left aisle, all the way down are three paintings by Caravaggio of the life of St. Matthew. They have been recently restored, and are quite magnificent. Of particular interest is the first, “The Calling of St. Matthew.” Bring some coins to turn on lights.

Sant'Agostino

Just up the street from San Luigi (go left as you come out the door) and then down a street to your left (there is a sign). On the far left aisle of the church is Caravaggio's “The Madonna of the Pilgrims” (or "Madonna di Loreto"). Again, you will need some coins to light the painting.

This church does not make the Eyewitness Guide, so you will be "one-up" on all the people who miss it!

Santa Maria del Popolo (there are four churches on this piazza; this one is across the piazza from the end of the Corso, on your right)

On the far left aisle, in the last chapel to the front of the church, the Cerasi Chapel, there are two Caravaggios. One is the “Conversion of Paul on the Road to Damascus” and another is the crucifixion of St. Peter. Again, you need coins to light the paintings. Compare the Caravaggio paintings to the altarpiece between them, which is by Annibale Carracci, Caravaggio's chief rival in Rome.

III. A possible walking tour

Begin this walk in the Piazza del Quirinale. One side of the piazza is Via XX Settembre.

Walk up this street (this is where it is flat, if you go down hill, you are going down the street).

Sant’ Andrea al Quirinale

This is an exquisite church, designed by Bernini. It is small, and part of it charm is that it is not laid out in the traditional cross shape, but rather has the long axis going from side to side. It always strikes me as VERY Bernini – the cherubs up in the dome seem to want to climb down and play with you.

A block or so further on, at the corner of Via XX Settembre and Via delle Quattro Fontane, is

San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane

A small church designed by Borromini. It is so small that it is sometimes referred to as San Carolino. Try to get to see the cloister/courtyard too.

It is particularly lovely and tranquil.

Be sure to take a look at the Quattro Fontane while you are there – but beware, their corner is a busy one for traffic.

Cross Via XX Settembre at Via Quatto Fontana, and then continue up Via XX Settembre. As you come to a big street coming in from the left you will be at

Santa Susanna.

The facade was designed by Carlo Madrno, who later created the facade of Saint Peter's. I think this is where you go to pick up tickets for the general audience with the Pope.

Cross the boulevard, and there is another church, well worth your walk so far.

Santa Maria della Vittoria

This is a baroque church, whose outstanding feature is Bernini’s “Ecstasy of
Saint Theresa.” (And it is one of the locations in Dan Brown’s “Angels and Demons.”)

This is a good place to stop your walk, but I would suggest that if you have some energy left you do one of the following:

From Santa Maria della Vittoria, go into the Piazza della Repubblica and visit

Santa Maria degli Angeli. This church looks like nothing on the outside – just plain brickwork . But the inside is spectacular, although it was restored in the 18^th century and we are told that this ruined Michelangelo’s original design of the church. But can one ruin Michelangelo? It occupies part of the ancient Baths of Diocletian, so even though it's now a church, you get a sense of what one of these imperial bath complexes was like.

Go out of the piazza onto Via Nazionale, and follow the directions below to find a nice place for lunch or dinner.

OR – from Santa Maria della Vittoria, go down Via Torino, which begins in the circle where Via XX Settembre and the boulevard meet to form Piazza San Bernardo. Cross Via Nazionale, and continue to Via Viminale. You will be at the Opera House!

If you are hungry go right onto Viminale, passing the opera house, and look for Via Napoli. Go left onto Via Napoli, and in the next block, on the right, you will find a nice trattoria called Trattoria Abruzzesi. The food is excellent, the prices are modest, it has lots of pictures of people from the opera (who eat there), and it is air conditioned. There are lots of Italians there if one goes at lunch, or in the evening as late as Italians east dinner. Always a good sign.

Take note on a map of where you would be if you ate here. You are very near to Santa Maria Maggiore, but I'm putting that into an entirely different walk.

IV. Pilgrim and Mosaic churches on the Esquiline Hill

In 1244 Christians lost control of Jerusalem, and it became impossible for Christian Pilgrims to go there. Where were they to go instead? In 1300, Pope Boniface declared the first Jubilee year in Rome. Pilgrims who visited the city and its shrines could be forgiven their sins. Rome came to replace both the earthly Jerusalem, and the Heavenly Jerusalem. There were seven churches that Pilgrims had to go to. They were (are):

San Pietro (St. Peter’s)

Santa Maria Maggiore

San Giovanni in Laterano

San Paolo fuori le mura (St. Paul’s outside the walls)

San Lorenzo fuori le mura (St. Lorenzo outside the walls)

Santa Croce in Gerusalemme

San Sebastiano

In addition, there are churches that have scared relics, and pilgrims strove to get to all of these as well.

The walk described below takes in Santa Maria Maggiore, two other churches with relics, and heads you toward San Giovanni in Laterano.

Start at:

Santa Maria Maggiore.

This is one of Rome’s oldest churches, and is also one of the most important. It has a magnificent set of stairs – on the back (you can just see them in this picture)– and fronts onto its own piazza. The church dates back to the first millenium, and has marvelous, well-preserved mosaics from that period. It is a “pilgrim” church, and it has relics. In this case the relic is wood that is believed to be from Christ’s manger.

You leave the city of Rome when you enter Santa Maria Maggiore, and enter the Vatican. Interesting.

(photo by T. Benson)

When you are finished here, come out the front, cross the piazza, and head into the street that goes out of the piazza, a bit to the right – Via Merulana. Take the first little street that you come to on your right and you will be headed straight for the entrance to...

Santa Prassede. This too is an ancient church, and retains more of its original flavor, as later restorations have not overwhelmed the original mosaic work of the altar, and the Chapel of San Zeno. This too is a relic church, and here the relic is a bit of masonry that is supposed to be from the column to which Christ was chained and flogged. It also contains many of the bones of early Christian martyrs. The Chapel is also a mausoleum for Theodora, the mother of Pope Paschal.

If you can, go out of this church through the back entrance – what would usually be the main entrance. It goes through a small courtyard and down some covered stairs, and puts you on a small street named Via San Martino ai Monti. If you have to go out the way you came in, go to your right and down hill and take the first right again, and you will be on that same street.

Head down hill. The street ends in Piazza San Martini ai Monti, which you should navigate with care, and then continue heading down hill, though now you will be on Via Giovanni Lanza. It ends at Via Cavour. Turn left onto Cavour and continue down hill for somewhere in the vicinity of 50 -75 yards. On your left there will a set of steps (not an alley and then a set of steps, but a set of steps right there, with the first step being from Cavour onto the stairs). This is part of the Salita dei Borgia. Go up these stairs. You will come out into a piazza – Piazza San Pietro In Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains).

San Pietro In Vincoli

This is another “relic” church, and in this case the relic is the chains that bound St. Peter. But a more imposing sight, from the point of view of art, is Michelangelo’s “Moses.” This was originally meant to go on a tomb for Pope Julius II. It has recently been restored.

Timing your visit to San Pietro en Vincoli is important. My recollection is that it often closes in the early afternoon, and re-opens around 3:00 pm.

And this ends the second walking tour.

You can easily get to San Giovani from Santa Maria Maggiore – San Giovanni is at the other end of Via Merulana. It’s not a terribly long walk, but it can also be done by bus.

You can also get there from San Pietro in Vincoli. Go back down the Salita dei Borgia, and turn left to continue down Via Cavour. At the next light cross Cavour, and then cross the intersecting street (Via dei Serpenti). The bus number 117 stops there, and will take you out to San Giovanni.

Another mosaic church

Santa Maria In Trastevere, is believed to be the first Christian church in Rome, and has magnificent mosaics. Like the other mosaic churches it is ancient, and has been restored and renovated from time to time. And, like the others, much of the mosaic work is inside the church, near the altar. However, it is also famous for the mosaics on the facade of the church. These are best viewed after dark, as they are gold, and when lit dominate the church, and the entire piazza.

If you take the tram from Torre Argentina ( numero 8) and get off at the second stop after the tram crosses the river, you will be at the corner of San Francesco di Ripa. Follow this street and it will take you into a small piazza, often full of parked cars. On your right is a pizzeria called “Cave Canem” (beware of the dog in Latin) – excellent spot for lunch or supper. If you walk through the piazza, you go under a little arch and into a big piazza, and this is Piazza Santa Maria In Trastevere.

Another church not to miss is San Clemente.

One of the oldest churches in Rome, it is built on the remains of earlier churches, and places of worship for other cults. You can go down beneath the present church, and in doing so go back centuries. It has been recently restored, and so is probably at its best.

The number 117 bus will let you off at San Clemente if you ask. It is actually on a corner of Via San Giovanni In Laterano. So after you have been there, you can walk up the street to

San Giovanni In Laterano

This is a magnificent church that has been renovated many times, most recently by Borominini. There is also a Baptistery. (Check the Bees flying around in the pattern on the floor of the Baptistery –symbol of the Barberini family, and a Barberini pope.) The adjacent Lateran palace was the home of the popes until they moved to Avignon, and until the late 19^th century the Pope was crowned at the Lateran. The Lateran is the cathedral of Rome and the pope's seat in his role as bishop of Rome.

And of course you will go to San Pietro.

But what about San Paolo Fuori le Mura. (St. Paul’s outside the walls.)? As you may recall from our trip to Ostia, we boarded a train at stop called Porta San Paolo. The very first stop after we left the terminal, was the stop for San Paolo. So, though you may not want to walk there, this is not a difficult spot to get to. The church is wonderful; well worth the trip. Although it burned down and was rebuilt in the 19th century, it gives you the best idea of what an early Christian church looked like.

You must not think of this as an inclusive list. There are many, many, lovely churches in Rome.

(Unless otherwise noted all photos on the Blog were taken by the author.)