Borghese

On September 11 we had a one pm entry appointment to the Galleria Borghese. The museum is set inside the Villa Borghese park, located in central Rome on the Pincio Hill (one of the seven hills of Rome — except there are more than seven hills...).
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This was our second visit to the gallery, however our previous visit was to a special Cranach show and didn’t allow time to visit the permanent collection (admission allows a two hour visit).

The collection is substantial and excellent. One floor is primarily sculpture set and in beautifully decorated 18th c. Rooms. Bernini is a favourite here. The upper floor houses Italian painting, particularly Caravaggio, Raphael, del Sarto, Bellini ant Titian. 

Saint Cecilia in Trastevere

We are starting to get used to getting around with our bikes. It is pretty daunting walking, never mind biking, as Roman car drivers do indeed live up to their fame for being aggressive drivers. We are making use of a bike path along the nearby Tiber river although that involves a lot of stairs getting up and down. 

Late this afternoon we took a short ride, just barely 10 minutes to the church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. We had tried to visit the church back in 2010. We sat in the courtyard one afternoon for ages, waiting for the church to open along with other hopefuls, but sadly it didn’t open that afternoon. We have longed to go back ever since.

Saint Cecilia is a Roman martyr who lived in the second century and is popularly known as the patron saint of musicians. It is said that the church is built on the site where she lived.@nd that her remains are buried below the current church.  The church was built in 822 and updated in the 18th c. The courtyard is lovely with a  fountain and  the apse has a beautiful 9th c. Mosaic. We didn’t visit the crypt today, next time.

Sunday markets

Testaccio was a working class neighbourhood built in the 1880s to accommodate the workers at the local stockyards. The stockyards closed in the 1970s and some ups and downs followed. Despite Italy’s tough economic situation, this is definitely a neighbourhood on the rise. The new market building, expensive restaurants, and desirable housing.

We visited three nearby markets today (on our new bikes). First off, the Porta Portese street market, running about 1km in length, lined with cheap clothes and dollar store items. The crowd was more fun than the shopping.

Next up, a small organic market at the former Testaccio stockyards, Mattatoio.The area looks much like the Distillery before development money rolled in. They seem to be struggling to present programming (art shows, performances, fairs) and maintain the place. Seems mostly to be a spot for late night parties.

Third market visited today was the Campana Amica Market, found next to the Circus Maximus, in a small building with an outdoor food court. The products are all local to Lazio (the province Rome is in). We bought a lovely olive oil from Viterbo. At the food court, the alici (sardines) were a treat!

Earlier this week we visited the San Cosimato market in Trastevere (excellent ) and the Campo dei Fiori market in the Centro Storico (tourist trap).  Check Eric’s Flickr out for photos.

 www.madonnadellemacchie.it

First Saturday in Rome

We set out shortly after nine am for the Testaccio market, a five minute walk from our door. Although the food stalls were in full swing, shoppers were few and far between. What to do but sit down and drink cappuccino and wonder, “Where is everyone? Hung over? Still on vacation? At the beach?” Eric didn’t even take any photos. “Dead boring!”, he says.

None-the less, we need food at home, so we shopped up a storm at one stand in particular: crostata (blueberry tart), taralli al finochio, focaccia sticks with olives and a few pizzetti. Oh, and two arancini but we ate those before I took this picture.

Our big adventure for the day was to buy two used bikes. We crossed over the Tiber and went to the Porta Portese, otherwise known as the Thieves’ Market. The area is full of bike and motorbike shops, and on Sunday mornings hosts a large street  market.

We wanted used bikes, both to safe money but also to avoid attracting thieves. We checked out every store on the strip and finally at the last shop, Manzo Cicli, we found two beaten up bikes that will suit us just fine. Phew!

Neighbourhood Bakery

Walk out our apartment door, walk down 60 steps, go out the front door of our building, turn right, walk past the bar, the pizzeria, the bookstore, the cute corner gelato shop, cross via Mastro Giorgio, and enter Panificio Passi. Five days in Testaccio, about two visits each day, makes about 10 shopping visits so far to this heavenly bakery.

Pizza, cookies, crostata and bread and more. Famous in Rome for pizza bianca, there is always a line up.

Today is Friday. Rome’s weekly menu calendar suggests pasta e cecci or baccalà. Passi had containers of soaking chick peas at the ready this morning but we were on our way out to the Centro storico this morning, so no time to cook dinner.

Instead we picked up Passi’s famous Pomodori con Riso (tomato stuffed with rice, on a bed of diced potatoes)  baked in their hot bread ovens. Looks yummy? It is! Salty, sweet and creamy potatoes. Here is a recipe for  Roman-style stuffed tomatoes with rice.

Arrival in Rome

Eric and I arrived in Rome on Sunday, September 1, mid afternoon, very hot and humid. We hauled our bags onto a Regional Alitalia train from Fiumicino Airport and rode through farmland and suburbs to our new home for the next two months. Arriving at Ostiense Rail Station, our Trastevere neighbourhood  opened out in front of us — a Sunday flea market spread out beside the station, the Pyramid of Cestius (12th c. BC), the Aurelian and Servian walls (3rd and 4th c. BC respectively), the Non-Catholic Cemetery, and a whirl of traffic on the Pyramide round-about.

Our little apartment is on the Piazza Santa Maria di Liberatrice at no. 18. On the third floor, apartment 30 must be one of the tiniest!

WE made it! Our Roman adventure begins!

Third floor inner courtyard

View of Piazza Santa Maria di Liberatrice