When in Rome - (Lunedi -- la mia serata finale a Roma)

Monday evening -- my last evening in Rome. 

Dana and Tom have invited me to their home for dinner tonight.  I haven't seen them for quite a while.  They left NYC two years ago for a year-long visit to Rome.  That one year has now extended into its third year!  They live in a very old building deep in the Monte Rione section of Rome, near Trajan's Forum, so I head out to the Via Cavour to begin my walk down to their apartment.   Along the way my right hip gives out so I hail a cab.  The cabdriver insists he knows where Via di Campo Carleo is, but it seems like we are driving in circles -- I'm seeing the same landmarks over and over.  I ask him if he is certain he knows where he is going and he tells me if I don't like what he's doing I should exit his cab immediately.  I refuse because my aching hip needs us to get closer.  So I begin to give HIM directions (based on my fascination with Google maps for weeks before arriving in Rome).  We eventually get to a street that I recognize as being very close to the little street, ending in Roman ruins, called Via di Campo Carleo.  I exit the cab, give the driver half the fare, and hobble down the hill to a building I easily recognize (also from Google maps) as my destination -- (easy -- as it's rather unique:  painted yellow, around six storeys tall, has an ancient tall tower, and has stacked rooms in a bridge over a side street -- how could I miss it!).

I ring the bell for what I assume to be the topmost apartment.  Fortunately I am correct and soon hear Dana's voice on the intercom telling me to take the elevator to the 6th floor and then walk up a flight of stairs.  She buzzes me in and I find the elevator -- one of those open types (I always think they're French, for some reason) -- big enough for perhaps two French people, with lots of open ironwork and a wooden bench well-patinated by dozens of years of buffing derrieres. 

Arriving at the top I'm greeted by Dana and Tom and their 2 boys, now ages 13 and 11.

Dana and Tom

I haven't seen this family since Sam, their older son, was two years old and Michael, their younger, was soon to be born.  What a nice family they have become!  They are enjoying Rome and their travels in the Mediterranean area tremendously.  The boys have taken Italian lessons since they were toddlers so attending excellent Italian public schools is very easy for them.  Outside of school they are busy with sports, music lessons (piano, cello, and clarinet), and reading.  Every day purposeful reading is de rigeur.  They have been blessed with the same inquisitiveness and zest for learning as their parents.

I'm given a tour of their apartment.  It has many rooms on many different levels.  At the top level is the master bedroom -- in a 14th century tower.  

14th century tower with 18th century exterior embellishments and a bedroom inside!

Taking some steep narrow steps from that bedroom to the rooftop of the tower provides a priceless 360 degree view of Rome.  The Palatine, the Esquiline, and the Capitoline Hills, the Colosseum, several other ancient towers and monuments, domes everywhere including St. Peter's, and extensive areas of excavations of buildings from Imperial Rome.

Back downstairs we spend the evening on their huge west-facing terrace, blooming profusely with bougainvilleas and jasmine and affording stunning panoramas as well.  We watch the gulls swoop and dive.  The most amazing views of Rome are everywhere I turn.

Right below us are remains of Trajan's Forum and Trajan's Markets.  When it was constructed (AD 107-112), it was the last and largest of the Imperial Fora and was considered one of the most important monuments of Imperial Rome.  The giant complex was "unlike anything under the heavens."  And now, to realize in 2011, the colonnades and the western hemicycle are just feet away from this family's everyday life.

 

Just to our left, across the Boulevard Via dei Fori Imperiali (built by Mussolini at the expense of destroying much of Trajan's Forum and other sites) is the Palatine Hill.  It is thought that Rome has its origins on the Palatine.  Recent excavations have shown that people have lived on the site since approximately 1000 B.C.  According to Roman mythology, the Palatine hill was where Romulus and Remus were found by a female wolf that kept them alive, allowing Romulus to grow up and choose the site to build the city of Rome.  The Palatine, due to its close proximity to the seat of power, became "the place to live."  The very powerful and wealthy chose to build their homes there.  Eventually the emperors took over the hill completely.  (more info here)

The Palatine

Just to the left of the Palatine is the Colosseum.  The Colosseum, built in AD 79, is located at the foot of Mussolini's Via dei Fori Imperiali. This architectural masterpiece was designed to hold approximately 50,000 spectators.  Underneath the original wooden floor a series of storage rooms and passageways were added later. In this confined space, a range of animals, fighters, slaves and stagehands worked in almost total darkness.  I was able to briefly see the Colosseum up close the next morning before heading out to the airport but next time in Rome it will be first on my list of things to do and see!

The Roman Colosseum

Below is a view of the huge Victor Emmanuel Monument completed in 1911 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Kingdom of Italy with Victor Emanuel II as its emperor/king.  The northern side of the Capitoline Hill was chosen as the site.  To clear the site, many churches and ruins that stood there were first destroyed. That fact, and the mass of white marble used, make it not a popular addition to the neighborhood.. 

The Victor Emmanuel Monument

Off in the western distance is St. Peter's Dome and the setting sun.  In a few hours AD XXIII May MMXI will become part of history too.  What a spectacular way to finish up my 3 day whirl through Rome. 

By the way, in the lower right quadrant of the photo above is a building on the Via dei Fori Imperiali where Mussolini lived and used the large open window to greet the public and watch passing parades.

Dinner on the terrace with Dana, Tom, and the boys was wonderful.  Vegetables and pasta from the local markets were a treat.  It was so good to catch up on what's happening in their lives and to see the boys thriving in all they do.  Michael, the 11 year old, has decided he wants to be a pope so he can take the name Sixtus -- and be Sixtus VI.  Why not, he would live just down the via!  

After hearing that, there was not much else to do but take the following obligatory photograph and bid everyone arrivederci.  It was a very special evening that I will never forget.  Molte molte grazie, Dana and Tom.

Dana and Tom K.