Rome, Tourism, Accomodations Blog – Roma Turismo

Trastevere Charm behind the river Tìber

 

Trastevere
Charm behind the river Tìber

This is one of the most famous and old quartiers in Rome, its name comes from the latin trans Tiberis, which means “Behind the Tíber”. It is always full of tourists and locals for many reasons;coblestones roads (girls wearing high heels may show their best skills walking here) ancient buildings, street artists, alleys, piazzas, fountains, restaurants, pubs, cafés and more.

The arquitecture is charming: medieval houses with the original facade, in light and neutral colors, some of which have climbing plants on the walls, trees and flowers; in many corners there are still images of the Madonna or the Virgen Mary, that have been there since the time when Rome was owned by the Vatican;it is a trafic limited zone during the the night, so if you’re coming with a car,you better inform yourself about the forbidden hours because if you break the rule, no matter from where you’re coming from, you’ll receive a fine afterwards!.

The neighborhood has many museums, from which the Museo di Roma in Trastevere stands out, there you can see “Landscapes recalled: watercolours of Rome between 1876 and 1895 by Ettore Roesler Franz” . The districts, narrow streets and houses of times past shown in the watercolours provide a record and a reminder of how Rome looked up until the end of the 19th century. His work reflects the provincial city Rome once was, evidently behind the other european capitals, nevertheless after Italy became one country, great advances were made which the artist decided to disregard maby out of melancholy. The museum has another exhibitions, so it’s worth it.

http://en.museodiromaintrastevere.it/

One of the most popular restaurants is “La Parolaccia” which means “The dirty or the four-letter word”, this place is a typical trattoria where the funny thing is that you’ll be insulted by the waiters, some of the comments are really offensive, therefore sensitive or thincklish personalities will do better not going. The clients already know what to expect, actually they wait with pleasure the first “slap”, if you dare to confront them you may have some digestion problems, because the waiters wont leave you in peace for the whole night! According to the reviews online, fun is guaranteed though.

For a sweet treat, go to the ice cream chain “Ciuri-Ciuri” at Piazza San Cosimato, where you can taste a traditional sicilian dessert, best flavors to try are nociola (hazelnut) and almonds. Not very far from there over the Piazza San Calisto you’ll find a Bar (same name as the piazza) chocolate ice cream here is absolutely superior, the place is open up until one or two in the morning, depending on the day, beers cost not much (around €3) they also have these vodka sorbets, that are just perfect for the summer heat. Other choices are Fior de Luna and Da Checco, but don’t worry, the gelato is never running short!

If you’re on a low budget and you still want a nice evening, you could make an aperitivo for just €7 at Freni e Frizioni, served from 7 to 10 pm, it includes a drink and all you can eat buffet, which is pretty assorted with salads, pasta, rice, many dressings like hummus, bread and fruits, the staff is always checking that there is no empty plates; the bar is at Via Politeama 4, near Piazza Trilussa. If your budget is really limited you can go to that piazza and bring your own beer or wine, the place is always crowded and a meeting point to start a walk in Trastevere, just be careful not to drink outside after 11 pm because is not allowed, at least up until march 17 you can’t buy a drink to take away.
Another cheap solution is the trattoria and pizza place Carlo Menta, at Via della Lungaretta, be sure of arriving early because people do know about its low prices, a simple Marguerita pizza costs €4, while a pasta dish goes from €5 depending on the ingredients, anyway this is a well known restaurant with a good price/quality food.

At the street Vicolo del 5 there is a special Café called Rivendita Libri Cioccolata e Vino, we suggest to pay a quick visit and drink one of the very original shots, not only the mix is a house creation but they flaunt erotic names that prone to fantasizing like: “Quickie” “Orgasm” or “Lovebite”,the shot will be served in a little chocolate shot . It’s an tradition to put it the whole shot in your mouth, so you can enjoy the liquor and chocolate at the same time.

What else is waiting for you in Trastevere? Clothes shops, vendors street, comediants, magicians, like the AKA “The magician Guarda”, guarda in italiano means ” to look” he does his show with simple magic tricks, he’s pretty obvious but funny too, if he has a big audience who participate, they will usually get excited by asking him not to stuck a sword in his throat.
To reach Trastevere you could catch one of the many buses like the H or tram 8, you could even walk from the center, is not far.

Paulina Ceballos

The Capitoline Geese

Among the Seven Hills of Rome, the Capitol is certainly the most famous, known as the nerve cente of daily life in ancient Rome. Someone may not know that this hill is also the home of many events where historical and legendary protagonists meet.
One of the most popular legends of Rome refers to the sacred geese living on the Capitol Hill, in the temple dedicated to the mother of the gods.
The story goes that in 390 b. C., when Rome was fighting against the invasion of the Gauls, Roman citizens who were in town had to face hunger and isolation, and the soldiers who guarded The City had no other place to spend the night but the temple of Juno.
One night a former consul Marcus Manlius, who was sleeping together with the army, he heard the geese honking, immediately got up and ran to the walls of the fortress and found one of the Gauls who tried to climb the rock of the hill, confronted him and tore his fingers. Meanwhile, the geese who kept squawking, woke the whole army, which finally defeated the invaders.

Are you coming to Rome on Valentine’s Day? Best Places to watch the sunset!!

Without doubt Rome is one of the most romantics cities in the world, full of : little streets, lovely cafés to sit and enjoy a cappuccino,
charming piazzas with street artists playing tarantella (a folk italian music) or even singing opera and  beautiful fountains in every corner.

If you are coming with that special someone, don’t forget to take a minute and watch the sunset in one of these places:

• Gianicolo: if you are in Trastevere is really easy to get there: take Via Garibaldi, that street leads onto the place, on your way you’ll see a big fountain called Fontana dell’Acqua Paola, it’s really impressive and also offers a great view, nevertheless keep on going, because the Gianicolo offers a unique opportunity to get a panoramic view of Saint Peters dome on one side and on the other the center of Rome. Best things is that it’s free!
• Castel Sant’ Angelo: try to visit it in the afternoon, in the winter you can catch the sunset at 17:30 more or less, from the top you can enjoy the view of the river Tiber and the storical center.
• Giardino degli aranci (Orange Trees Garden): In the winter the trees are full of fruits therefore since you get in you’ll sense its perfume, the view is fascinating: the river Tiber, Trastevere, the domes in the center, the gianicolo hill, the Tiber Island. In the same street at the end, you’ll see a big gate, look closely through the little hole, you can see St. Peter’s Basilica. From the metro B Circo Massimo: Take Via del Circo Massimo, when you get to the Piazzale Ugo La Malfa turn left at Via di Valle Murcia, go straight, that street turns into Via di Santa Sabina, the garden is at the Park Savello at the end.
• Pincio: From it’s terrace you’ll get the view of the storical center, the Castel Sant’Angelo and Saint Peter’s Dome. The easiest way to get there is by metro A Flaminio, got to the Piazza del Popolo, there is a ramp, go up, if had eaten a big pizza you might need a few minutes to catch your breath, but believe me, it’s worth it!! Anyway there is another option, go to the metro Spagna, take the Monti steps, pass the church at your right and continue until you get to Piazza Napoleone I, then you’re there!

BTW if you decided to visit the last suggestion and you still can’t get enough of romanticism, perhapes before that you could go to the
Lake’s Garden in Villa Borghese, you could rent a boat there and row in front of the Esculapio Temple, which is an imitation of a greek temple.

Rome is always enchanting, full of colours and terribly romantic, so for those who are single in this day: take precautions!!!. No matter where you go, you’ll surely find something that will take your breath away.  Don’t forget to take your time sit somewhere to just observe the people walking, the voices of the Italians (loud enough trust me) and a big gelato.

Paulina Ceballos

 

A church in Rome decorated with real bones and skulls? Discover this secret place: the Church of the Cappuccini Friars

Death closes the gates of time, and opens those of eternity”

That is the message that welcomes you when you arrive to the Cappuccini Crypt, which is in the Church of the Immaculate. Probably is not included in every “To do” list in Rome, but if you have time and you want to see one of the secret places of the city, you’ll be amazed. Actually is really easy to get there, because it’s right outside the Metro Barberini, after paying a visit, you could continue your walk along the worldwide famous Via Veneto. The walls and ceilings are “decorated” with the remaining bones of the Cappuccini friars, who died between 1528 and 1870.

These friars obtained their named Capuchin from the hood, or capuce they used to wear. The church is small, while you walk along the corridor your eyes will be delighted seeing different crypts with this peculiar decoration of skulls, pelvises, lamps made out of leg bones and even a complete skeleton lying peacefully in front of the tourists eyes.

Not to miss: Check the design of the clock on the wall opposite the door, it represents the continuity of life, in time and in eternity.

It could be a little macabre or creepy for some people, but definitely it’s a place in Rome that you will never forget!!

http://www.cappucciniviaveneto.it/
How to arrive: Metro Red Line A: Barberini, take the Via Veneto exit and look for the number 27.

Price: 50 cents donation.

Opening hours:9-12 noon; 3-6 p.m. Closed Thursdays.

Paulina Ceballos

IN THE VICTOR EMMANUEL MONUMENT: AN EXHIBIT OF IMPRESSIONISM

“FROM COROT TO MONET: THE SYMPHONY OF NATURE”

This prestigious exhibit is open until June 29, 2010 inside the Victor Emmanuel Monument.

 

It’s a trip through the extraordinary innovations of the XIXth century that revolutionized  traditional painting.  These new techniques modernized painting, resulting in Impressionist painting that displays an expanded, broader understanding of nature and the culture of the times.

 

For the first time in Italy, you will see vintage photos, paintings and drafts from the beginnings of Impressionism of the Barbizon School of to the chromatic triumph of the Water Lilies by Claude Monet.  You will explore the colorful revolution of the Impressionists, admiring the atmospheres of Frédéric Bazille and Alfred Sisley, Gustave Courbet’s Poppy Field, paintings by Auguste Renoir and Camille Pissarro including his Pontoise landscape.

 

Organized by major art historians from throughout the world, the works come from galleries and private collections including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Public Library of New York, the National Gallery of Art and Corcoran Museum of Art of Washington, Toledo Museum of Art, Kimbell Art Museum, Musée Fabre of Montpellier, Bibliotèque Nationale de France of Paris and the Hamburger Kunstalle.

 

 

Address: Complesso del Vittoriano

Via S.Pietro in carcere (Imperial Forums)

 

From Monday to Thursday: 9.30AM-7.30PM

Friday and saturday:           9.30AM-11.30PM

Sunday:                               9.30AM-8.30PM

 

Cost of the ticket: EU 10,00

 

INFO: 06/6780664 – 06/6780363

 

Lorenza Faraone

Roman Guide Center

 

 

TU QUOQUE BRUTE, FILI MI.

Was Brutus really Caesarʼs son? Lacking any DNA proof, weʼll always be in doubt! But, we like to believe it and recount for you this story: Cleopatraʼs arrival in Rome was the cause of Cassiusʼ and Brutusʼ decision to lay the plot to murder Caesar.

 

Brutusʼ mother, everybody knows, was Servilia, a member of the patrician family of Servili.   While she was married to Marcus Giunius Brutus, tribune of the people,  Caesar was her young, tall and handsome lover.  We donʼt have any portraits of her, but she was certainly beautiful.  She was clever and, above all, so charming that her passionate love affair with Caesar lasted thirty years.

 

Servilia became pregnant by Caesar.  Unknown to Caesar, her son, Brutus, was also his.  As time went by, the young Brutus, did not hide his rebellious, oligarchic ideas.  Caesar was the unconquerable General.   Young Brutus was in danger.  As her son was in danger of being defeated and killed by his own father, Servilia revealed the truth to Caesar.  “Spare Brutusʼ life”, were her last words to him.  Caesar honored her wish and on the battle ground he ordered: “Donʼt touch Brutus!”

 

So the young man came safely back home to his mother who probably told him everything.  Caesar should have come back too, but the war wasn’t over.   His next move was to run after Pompeo to Egypt.  This is where he met Cleopatra.  He was 52 years old, she only 20.   He forgot about the civil war, Rome and…Servilia.

 

When Caesar finally came back to Rome, Servilia was ready to greet him. But she surely couldn’t compete with her young rival.   However, her daughter, Giunia Terza, was now the stunning beauty that she was at 16, her age when she first met Caesar.  So she offered her daughter to Caesar who was now returning with honors and substantial gifts.

 

While Caesar left again as a winner, in Rome the Senate’s resentment against him grew stronger, and Brutus firmly supported them.

 

In the meantime, while Servilia vicariously relived her love for Caesar through her young daughter, Cleopatra arrived in Rome.  She came with her little son, Tolomeus Caesar, fruit of her love affair with Caesar.

 

In the Senate, spirits got excited.  Cassius suspected that Caesar could take Cleopatra as his legitimate wife and recognize Tolomeus as his son.   This would mean the return of the kings, the end of the Republic… Certainly, this would be the end for Giunia Terza and, above all, Servilia.  This time, however, while she suspected the plot against him, Servilia didn’t side with Caesar, but let her son Brutus punish the betrayer.

 

Maria Elena Mastroiacovo

Roman Guide Center

THE COLOSSEUM UNDERGROUND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

 

After
centuries of neglect, part of the area beneath the Colosseum stage is being restaured and cleaned. Thanks to a couple of hoists faithfully reconstructed according to ancient models starting next July 2010 it will be open for viewing.

 

Visitors, who so far could only catch a glimpse of it, will be able to explore the underground of the famous “Blood and arena”. Gladiators used to reach it through a tunnel connecting it with their school, the “Ludus magnus”. In addition to the athletes for  gladiatoral combats, the subterranean maze of galleries, ramps and cells, were the waiting room for hunters and wild animals and condemned prisoners. Also housed  here were scene-shifters, operators, workmen ready to give life to the show with the striking noises of machines, screams, cries and roars.

 

One will shiver watching one of the most exciting and dreadful places of all times.
Now from the point of view of the service staff and the applauded gladiators, you will be looking up at the massive architecture of the Flavian Amphitheatre.

Also for the first time, you will see the advanced engineering of the Ancient Romans: the reconstructed underground machinery and the cruel ways of turning death into a show. This will be a thrilling experience from the very heart of the Circus.

 

Lorenza
Faraone

Roman
Guide Centre

POPE JOAN

This is one of the most famous medioeval legends: Joan is a young English woman, educated at Magonza. Because of her love for theology, she decides to dress-up like a monk and thanks to her great culture, once i Rome, rising through the Church hierarchy, she is chosen as Pope. She took the name of John VIII and reigned between 855 and 857.
Joan became pregnant by one of her lovers. While in Easter procession between Saint Peterʼs and Saint Joan the Lateranʼs Basilicas, meanwhile the crowd was growing its pressure, her horse got scared, frisked and she fell off. People watched in horror and astonishment when she gave birth to a child, revealing her female nature. The angry mob tied her feet at her same horse and dragged her to Ripa Grande. There she was stoned to death together with her baby.
it is a harsh story which takes us back to the darkest centuries of Rome. According to some scholars this legend, this is what it is, could have born as a “satire” against papacy and a ferocious criticism of some female personages as the corrupt noble ladies Teodora and her daughter Marozia, who during the 10th Century were at the same time lovers, mothers and killers of several popes.
The story of “popess Joan” gave rise to the following odd legend: since then, to avoid a repeat of such a shaming event, as soon as elected, popes had to sit on one of the thrones, with a potty-style hole in the seat, while an examining cleric felt under it to check his sex. Though, one of these two thrones, the so-called “sedes curules or prophyreticae”, according to recent studies, was actually established to be a thermal de-luxe water-closet, dating back the time of Emperor Hadrian.
The result is a complicated plot we better leave to historians. Lovers of Rome can satisfie their curiosity in Via dei querceti, by looking up at the niche on the wall with a Vergin Mary with child, which was built up on the same spot where our heroine is said to have given birth to her child.

ACCA LAURENTIA: Eros in Rome

 

The legend tells that Romulus and Remus, who founded Rome, were adopted by a
she-wolf (lupa) hence ‘she-wolf’ became the symbol of Rome. She-wolf is an
ambiguous word by which the roman prostitutes were referred and the word
‘lupanare’ (brothel) is also derived from lupa.
The legend suggests that Acca Laurentia, the wife of Faustulus, shepherd of
Numitor, saved the lives of Romulus and Remus. The shepherd’s wife who had
found the twins and who very likely adopted them, was she-wolf, a prostitute.
The populace passed on the origins of the Eternal City with many tales; we can say
metaphorically, that Rome is born with an inclination towards chaos. Ancient
Rome, both republican and imperial, had plenty of brothels, even though they
were placed in the suburbs of the town. Romans paid frequent visits to the
brothels mainly for erotic purposes. They favoured the mercenary love intended
as a peculiar pleasure, and in their turn, many women –honest matrons –
disguised themselves as ‘she-wolves’ in order to attend the brothels and enjoy
the unidentified services. Messalina, the wife of, Emperor Claudius, camouflaged
herself under false names and common dresses in order to participate in the
brothels’ life.
Not to overly dwell on dark images of sexuality, this form of ‘eroticism’, besides a
state of heritage of the origins of Rome, was due to the cult of Venus Ericina, who
was the symbol of fertility, therefore, of sensual love and as such, was the reason
why she was worshipped, unlike the Hellenic Venus who was the symbol of beauty
and chastity.
According to Aristotle and his syllogisms, the practice of the prostitution in Rome
at the time of its Empire comes from religious reasons.
Grazia Brasi
Centro Guide Roma

ROME 2010: IN THE SIGN OF CARAVAGGIO, EXHIBITION AT LE SCUDERIE DEL QUIRINALE

In the occasion of the 4th centenary of the death  of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio,on
February 20th opened up the exhibition dedicated to him and going on until June 13th.

We will find his works coming from all over the world, for the first time gathered in an exhibition
also telling us about his tormented life through 30 out of his 40 paintings.
Only the works clearly signed up by the master were chosen, leaving aside those attributed to
his work-shop.

The artist who painted revolutionary and shocking canvasses commissioned by the Church and other
wealthy lovers of art, full of a deep religious feeling but  even of such a tormented and harsh realism
to make customers feel so embarassed to sometimes prefer to refuse his works.
The artist who was painting during the night, maybe while drinking wine, or taking a walk with his friends
through the old Roman alleys, taking part to riots and fights and even brutal crimes.
But no other painter was ever able to render such a tangible reality of life through that mysterious darkness
and that filtering and almost divine light which still capture our eyes and our souls.

It is worth taking this trip through his works of art, especially now that they are concentrated in one only
exclusive exhibition, such as  “BACCO” FROM UFFIZI GALLERY, “CANESTRA DI FRUTTA” FROM MILAN PAINTING
GALLERY, “THE MUSICIANS” FROM METROPOLITAN MUSEUM, “DINNER AT EMMAUS” FROM LONDON NATIONAL
GALLERY.

Lorenza Faraone
Roman Guide Centre

INFORMATION AND RESERVATIONS:
SCUDERIE DEL QUIRINALE
VIA XXIV MAGGIO, 16
ROMA
TEL: 06/39967500 – 06/696270  FAX: 06/696271
www.scuderiequirinale.it
info@scuderiequirinale.it