Rome, April 2013

Spring and summer have been busy so far. We have visited multiple places with many guests and family. It has been fantastic, but now it is time for me to catch my breath and start writing about it. We visited Rome in April 2013. I usually bring a step counter to see how far we go each day, and then I convert the steps into extra food and beverage! Luckily, I was able to eat and drink the equivalent of 2 extra meals per day! We averaged 11 miles a day for the 3 and a half days we were there. That is quite a bit of pasta! Good thing there was plenty of it.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and I feel that we barely scratched the surface in the 3 ½ days we were there. Also we had been suffering from a cold rainy spring in the south of France, so we chose to spend as much time outdoors in the glorious spring weather. Generally, we will start out with a few daily destinations and a tourist map from the hotel. My goal is to see every 3 dimensional drawing on the tourist map. I believe we covered about 80% of the “pop-ups” on our map. Our hotel was centrally located and fairly close to a metro station. Rome has 2 metro lines that can take you to Vatican City and the train station, but in general the metro does not cover the area we wanted to see; hence the 11 miles a day.

Archeological evidence shows human activity in the area of Rome as far back as 14,000 years ago. Historically, Rome is said to have been founded in 753 BC. Myths and legends are many, but the most popular is about Romulus and Remus, twins who were raised by a she-wolf., regardless it is considered the birthplace of western civilization. It has been the capitol of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Since the 1st century, Rome has been the seat of the papacy. St. Peter was the first bishop of Rome and the papal lineage for the Roman Catholic Church starts with St. Peter. 

Rome has been an important city since early times. At its high point the Roman Empire covered 6.5 million square kilometers, as far north as present day Great Britain and both sides of the Mediterranean Sea. The decline of the Roman Empire begins after the 1st century AD, but it remains the capitol and an important medieval city. Rome remains the capitol until the 15th century when Florence becomes the capitol. The status of capitol goes back and forth between these 2 cities until after the Franco-Prussian War, when Rome becomes and remains the capitol.

The visible history of Rome goes back to the early Roman times around the Coliseum, Palatine and the Circus of Maximus. This area covers a vast portion of land. Over the years following the decline of the Empire, these buildings were deconstructed for their building materials and reused in the next generation of buildings. Medieval Rome saw the construction of many churches and other buildings It is estimated that there are 900 churches in Rome. Renaissance and Baroque Rome added the principal piazzas and fountains. Fountains have been an integral part of Rome early on; all fountains were connected to 2 aqueducts in the event that one was being repaired. The fountains built in the 17th and 18th centuries were constructed to be “a visual representation of confidence and power”. Staying near the Fountain of Trevi, we threw in our coins in to the fountain more than once to assure multiple return visits!

Rome is one of the most important tourist destinations in the world. It is the 3rd most visited city in Europe and hosts up to 10 million visitors a year. More if it is a holy year, or perhaps this year with the election of a new Pope. We looked for him, but only were able to see a video picture of him. On our visit to the Vatican, we somehow were able to avoid huge crowds. There are options to purchase tickets ahead of time, which we did. Also there are 2 paths through to the Sistine Chapel and we happened to take the route that the tour groups did not favor. So we were able to photograph the Spiral Ramp without anyone on it! 

I did mention how much we walked? So let me tell you how I made up for it! Everyone has their favorite Italian dish, so we tried to sample all of them from seafood, to veal, to artichokes and gnocchi. The popes knew how to eat, and historically they had the best chefs in the world. Bartolomeo Scappi , chef to Pope Pius IV published a cookbook called Opera del’arte del Cucinare. It is out of print; otherwise I might have gotten a copy. If you are interested, The Philosopher’s Kitchen by Francine Segan is a well research cookbook of ancient Greece and Rome with recipes adapted to today. There quotes from the ancient scholars that are hilarious and true: “it is a hard matter, my fellow citizens to argue with the belly, since it has no ears.” Cato the Elder, 234-149 BC. And “there are two liquids especially agreeable to the human body, wine on the inside and oil outside.” Pliny the Elder 23-79 AD.
Ciao Rome, we’ll be back!