Rome (or) There's Corn in My Caprese Salad!

Rome is my favourite city in the world. Ok, I’ve only been there twice, and each time only for a week or so, but I love it. It’s has an indefinable quality, but somehow, I know it’s my city. I love that every corner you walk around is full of history. Buildings cobbled together out of other buildings, Huge, vast, enormous, gilded buildings, peeling shutters, large carved doors giving glimpses into courtyards. Complicated streets full of life and interest. I guess you could say that about a lot of cities, but there’s something perfect about Rome. I think it’s partly because, despite being a huge tourist destination, it still feels like a real city, where people live and work, get their morning coffee, park their tiny cars in ridiculous places, and where many of the shops are geared to locals. Sure they have a lot of tourists, but mostly they’re just getting on with their lives, it’s quirky, and slightly dirty. The perfect city in my books.

I know it’s different being a tourist, and maybe Rome would lose its gloss if waiters ignored you every night – but somehow I don’t think so. Any of its complications would be compensated for by its slightly jaded, grubby loveliness. At least I hope so, because one day I’m going to go back there to live.

The first place we stayed when we arrived was Hotel Colors in Prati on the Via Boezio. A small, inexpensive hotel in a residential building which really gave the feeling of living in Rome rather than just passing through (as least that’s how I felt – it’s a hotel, but not too hotelly, if you know what I mean). The rooms were basic but the building had marble stairs and you could push back the huge, heavy, peeling green shutters and lean out the window, taking in the streets cape. 

This is the Hotel Colors from the street.  You'd never really know it's a hotel from the outside. The X marks our window.

A quick snack about an hour after arriving. Let's get something light we said, just some cold meats and salad, but it also came with bread and an entire pizza. At least we went walking afterwards.

It was a fabulous location for the first half of our visit (we circled back to Rome on our way home to Australia so got to visit twice). The Via Boezio was walking distance to the Vatican, to the Piazza Del Popolo, The Castel Sant’Angelo and an easy walk across the river to the Pantheon. Part of the pleasure of travelling of course is to walk to these major sites and see all the unexpected things along the way.

We ate locally each day, never expensively (we had to compensate for those Business Class tickets somehow), just anywhere close by that looked nice. And the food was good, and there was so much of it. Why aren’t people in Rome fatter? One thing that did surprise me was the corn. In almost every salad I ordered there was tinned corn. Why Rome, why? Tinned corn does not belong in a Caprese salad. Or maybe it does, I don’t know. Apart from that the food was good, the waiters mostly ignored us and dining was everything I expected.

My two favourite things when travelling in a new city are to be centrally located and to be able to wander around and we did plenty of that, but we also booked a number of tours before we left Adelaide, and I’d really recommend doing this (I hadn’t done it before, always believing I’d be my own best tour guide) but it made all the places we visited so much more interesting. We booked to see The Coliseum, The Vatican and a day trip to Pompeii and Vesuvius. They were all really, really good tours (I know they can seem expensive and so many sites will tell you the cheapest way to see these things, but if you’re short of time and want to avoid some of the headaches, and to skip the hugely long queues, then I’d recommend choosing tours – we used Viator).

The Coliseum and the Palatine Hill will be on everyone’s bucket list I imagine. It’s extraordinary being in a place with so much history. We also got to see the houses of Augustus and Livia which can only be seen on a guided tour. It’s well worth making the effort to see them. Augustus was the nephew of Julius Caesar and when his uncle was assassinated he gained control from Mark Antony and set about making Rome the most influential empire in the western world. He was powerful and ruthless no doubt, but I quite liked that he made Livia’s house grander than his own. The fragments of frescoes that are still visible are beautiful.

The two photos below are in the house of Livia. It's easy to imagine how beautifully decorated they would have been.

The Vatican was a bit more problematic for me, it was packed with people, (we were there in July, so really what did I expect), but it did feel like we were herded along to keep that huge mass of people moving through in a reasonable time frame. Of course if you haven’t been before, you should go, but in a funny way it’s not even close to being the most interesting place in Rome. You can go into practically any church in Rome and see art and architecture and culture that is just as good.

Many, many people at the Vatican

And look, it was my first trip to the Vatican and it was on a short guided tour and there was an awful lot we didn’t get to see, so I wouldn’t want to put anyone off going – I’m no expert on the place – but don’t get your expectations up too high. Yes the Sistine Chapel is beautiful, but it was shoulder to shoulder crowds being yelled at to be silent (SILENCIO!) every few minutes, or being thrown out for taking photos of the ceiling. See it, tick it off the bucket list, then wander off to see some of the other amazing things in Rome. Like the mind blowing paintings by Caravaggio.

I’m a big Caravaggio fan. Huge. It’s hard now, hundreds of years later, to appreciate what an extraordinary impact Caravaggio had on the history of art. We are so used to the cinematic, to the chiaroscuro lighting that is so dramatic, that it’s hard to picture a time when this didn’t exist. But when you look at Caravaggio’s work compared to the work that preceded him, it is truly revolutionary, exciting and shocking. Here’s the amazing thing though, some of his most profound and interesting paintings are just hanging in local churches around Rome. And you can see them for free (all churches in Rome are free).

The Calling of Saint Matthew in the Church of San Luigi die Francesci, my favourite painting in the world.

The Church of San Luigi dei Francesi (on a side street near the Piazza Navona) has The Calling of Saint Matthew (which I would rate as one of the greatest paintings in the world, and my all time favourite work), The Inspiration of Saint Matthew, and The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew. All are staggering works of genius. When we went (the day after the sausage factory of the Vatican) there were, maybe 20 people in the entire church. It was moving and wonderful to see these paintings, and a profound experience to be so alone in a quiet church next to masterworks I’ve admired in books for twenty years.

Another almost inconspicuous church (in this city of extraordinary buildings) is the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo which has two large and beautiful Caravaggio paintings in a side chapel. The Crucifixion of Saint Peter and the Conversion on the Way to Damascus. And there was no one there. No one!

Fifteen thousand people at the Vatican, but I got to cry before Caravaggio’s masterworks alone. I wouldn’t have missed that for the world.