A Quick Trip to Rome

DIARY 2005

22/8/2005

.. Coming out of Tiburtina station (10.45), which we found big and crowded, we head for the 492 bus which — according to the landlady I'd spoken to a few days earlier — takes you to the hotel quite quickly. The driver confirms the stop near Termini station, so after buying the ticket (€1 each, valid 75 minutes and usable on the metro too) we get on. (11.10) We watch the Verano, the city's monumental cemetery, the Umberto I hospital, La Sapienza go by, but, despite the screens on the bus showing the coming stops, the Termini stop never arrives. In fact the right stop was one of the first; now we have to take metro line A. Rome seems a quieter city and, besides, there aren't many people around (several shops are still closed for the holidays).

We decide to go to Santa Maria Maggiore, one of Rome's four papal basilicas The basilica is very beautiful. Once outside we sit on the steps. Refreshed by the rest, we head for the Vittoriano, the imposing Altar of the Fatherland that Ricciotto Canudo so despised, and from there we glimpse Palazzo Venezia with the legendary balcony Mussolini used to appear on — not a very big balcony, to tell the truth! From there we push on to the Imperial Fora, the Roman Forum, glimpse the Arch of Constantine and the Colosseum, pass by the basilica of Ara Coeli and the Capitoline Hill, where you can admire the copy of the bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius. Most of the tourists around the city are foreign: English, Americans, French and Spanish, but the Japanese are ever-present, along with many Germans and Slavs, mostly Poles.

Many non-EU immigrants work in the jobs, while real Romans only start coming back from their holidays in the late afternoon.

23/8/2005

The phone alarm goes off at 8.10 but we allow ourselves an extra half hour in bed. In Piazza dei Cinquecento we look at the Baths of Diocletian and then head up Via Barberini to reach the Quirinale; first, though, we pass by Via Quattro Fontane. The Quirinale is an immense palace, not the most beautiful architecturally. The obligatory photo is of the cuirassier; the square in front is practically deserted, perhaps for security reasons. We enter the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, in Piazza della Minerva, where St Catherine of Siena rests (after a maze of streets lined with taverns and outdoor trattorias so dear to overseas tourists, we arrive at the Pantheon. In the Pantheon we see the tombs of Victor Emmanuel II, Umberto I and the painter Raphael.

We then reach Piazza Navona, immortalised many times by 1950s films; nearby, on Corso Rinascimento, stands Palazzo Madama, seat of the Senate of the Republic. We walk down other typical little streets of the city and, among the other shops, spot a butcher's; then, in Via del Mastro, we collect precious water from a little fountain to quench our thirst. We come out onto the Lungotevere Tor di Nona, from where you can see the green, muddy river. On the water a boat, on the bank huts and deckchairs like a river beach, an imitation of the one in Paris. Along the Castel Sant'Angelo bridge, non-EU immigrants, mostly people of colour, sell all kinds of goods, ready to vanish as soon as a finance police car timidly appears. There are also living statues: an Egyptian mummy, the Statue of Liberty, all motionless.

Along Via della Conciliazione there are shops and street vendors with souvenirs of the two popes (Wojtyla and Ratzinger). Towards St Peter's basilica you notice a long human snake in a composed queue: a conditio sine qua non for getting in because of the anti-terrorism laws. We queue too. Near the steps, the line splits: those entering the basilica, those going to visit the tomb of John Paul II and those climbing to the dome. Behind us a group of Poles. We go down into the grottoes and finally can see the tombs of the various popes, some rich sarcophagi abandoned by time, others simple and clean. We climb back up towards the basilica, still besieged by tourists and still splendid; I see the Pietà, always heavily protected, I see John XXIII, serene and smiling in his glass case, I see the Baroque statues of Veronica and Helena Augusta.

The baldachin of the basilica and the staircase leading to the crypt are very similar to Santa Maria Maggiore. Heading back towards the Tiber, we come across a dead rat (yuck!). The city is filling up: the traffic, steadily increasing, proves it. We enter the Napoleonic Museum. The museum is small: it's a collection belonging to a descendant of Napoleon, consisting mostly of furniture rather than truly historical relics… We thus pass by the very central and crowded Via del Corso, the street for strolling and shopping, near Via Condotti, literally overrun and therefore ignored by us, Piazza del Popolo, a large square much frequented, from which the Pincio starts, Via del Babuino with a strange mythological figure that has made the street a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We then pass through the tourist streets of Trinità dei Monti and Piazza di Spagna, crowded with horse carriages, then by the small, crowded Trevi Fountain.

24/8/2005

This short holiday has come to an end too! We have no clear idea where to go, but then we move along Via Merulana (known for Gadda's novel That Awful Mess on Via Merulana) towards St John Lateran. San Giovanni is more linear and simple than the two papal churches we've already seen. We take the road towards the Colosseum and rest in a garden on the Oppian Hill, where the Domus Aurea stands; then, before returning to the hotel and thinking about leaving, we pass by the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, besieged by tourists of every age and nationality. It's very hot and walking is tiring. We decide to stop for lunch in Piazza dei Cinquecento, near the Baths of Diocletian, imitated by other people. In particular, our attention falls on a northern family whose eldest son, a boy of about 12, doesn't seem very careful about keeping the surroundings clean.. We arrive at Tiburtina station

At 18:00 we decide to head for the train and go into a tunnel that leads us to fake travelators. The train is there, ready for us. At 18.40 the train leaves, while the conductor on the microphone wishes us a good trip in airline style. The journey is calm, the only flaw being the air conditioning at full blast. We arrive in Bari tired but satisfied at 23.45, a few minutes late on schedule. Outside it's still dark, as when we'd left, but there are certainly a few more people. Bye Rome, it was lovely to see you again, you're always beautiful even if a little changed…