October 27, 2005
Topic: Rome
We had dinner at Antica Trattoria Polese last night. One of my favorite restaurants in Rome. It’s on the Corso near the Chiesa Nuevo. We’ve eaten there every time we’ve come to Rome and it’s always a treat.

This morning we we off in search of opera tickets. La Traviatia is being performed on Saturday night near the Pantheon. We found the ticket office with no difficulty, but it wasn’t open until 10 a.m., so we walked over to Tazza d’Oro for coffee and then visited Santa Maria in Aquino.

There are some things going on in Rome related to the elections. There was a manifestation on Tuesday where the papers claimed up to 100,000 students were protesting. It appeared that another protest was in the offing today. There were several kinds of police in the piazza where we bought the opera tickets and a fairy large group of people who appeared to have some purpose for congregating there. A helicopter was buzzing overhead as well.

Tickets in hand, we went off in search of bus 23 to go to the Centrale Montemartini, south of the city. This was originally a temporary exhibit put together when the Capitoline Museum was being renovated. However, it was so popular that the installation has remained. It’s in an old power station that was left intact during World War II because the workers flew a Vatican flag over it and the Germans thought it belonged to the Vatican City. The exhibit shows ancient sculpture within the power plant—very striking.

From there we walked to the basilica of San Paolo, Outside the Walls (stopped for lunch along the way). The basilica burned in the early 1800s, but was rebuilt in a faithful replica. It’s quite an imposing building. The cloister was not burned and is a lovely example of 5th century work. We also saw bits of the necropolis in the area.

We bussed back to the hotel around 3 p.m. and caught a siesta before heading out to the Quiranale. We took bus 62 (a compromise because I hate bus 64). We were going to overshoot our mark (Santa Maria della Vittoria), but the bus driver got into a road rage situation with a van driver. The van pulled over and the driver confronted the bus driver. He got out and the shouting match was on. Fortunately for us, this all happened exactly where we wanted to get off the bus, not a regular stop. So while they were hunting for a police officer, we jumped off the bus and headed for the church.

Santa Maria della Vittoria is home to Bernini’s St. Teresa in Ecstasy. I love that chapel. We spent a little time there, then walked down Via XX Settembre. We were also able to visit San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (Borromini) and Sant’ Andrea al Quirinale (Bernini): two of my favorite Baroque churches in Rome.

We went down to the Trevi Fountain and had coffee, then walked back to the hotel via the Pantheon. We tried a new restaurant right between the Campo di’Fiori and the Piazza Farnese. Called Da Giovanni al Galletto. It was quite good; may take the place of Grappola d’Oro which has been sold, renovated, and is now way overpriced for what’s on offer.

Photos: Rome 10-27-05