19-26 March 2024

SFO – Rome

Twenty-three hours door-to-door. We left San Francisco on TAP Air Portugal early evening. Stopped in Lisbon for a few hours and then hopped to Rome, arriving in early evening. Robert slept most of the time. He watched one movie; Bonnie, four! She did not sleep. TAP was fine. Luciana arranged for Laura (private car service) to pick us up for the forty-five-minute drive from Fiumicino airport to the Monte Sacro neighborhood of Rome.

Palazzo Sabbatini

Luciana and Adriana, Robert’s first cousins, both have condos here. Built in 1955, their parents purchased the apartment around 1961. Another was added later. As well as an apartment down the street.

First-Day Errands

Cena con Adriana e Gino Secondo

Adriana (Luciana’s sister) and Gino Secondo made dinner for us. They live downstairs from Luciana. Great meal. Great company. Bonnie is holding her own speaking Italian. Robert now asks her for definitions to some words!

Monte Sacro

Monte Sacro is the sixteenth quartiere of Rome, five miles northeast of the city center. Its original name was Città Giardino Aniene, Garden City of the Aniene. The Aniene River and valley run through the area. Renamed in 1951, it is known for its small villas surrounded by gardens inspired by the Garden City Movement of the 1920s. Some of the villas remain among the many apartments built in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Innocenzo Sabbatini was the architect of a complex of buildings that surrounds one the public squares. Kirk Peterson would appreciate the architectural sensibilities and style. Via della Egadi where our cousins live is named after the Aegadian Islands west of Sicily.

Wanderings around Monte Sacro

Rosati Cafe

Local cafe, bar, and pasticceria, barely two blocks from Casa Sabbatini. A nice place for Robert to sit and enjoy his morning cafe latte/cappuccino and cornetto con crema while working on the blog.

Liam and Preschool

On some days Nonna Luciana picks up Liam, son of Marta and Francesco, at his private Montessori preschool, Parco dei Bambini, about twenty minutes from home. The setting is pastoral. The children are well looked after. There is a nutritionist on staff and a generous outdoor play area. It’s a full day gig for Liam starting at nine am and ending at four.

A Short Walk with Gino Secondo

While Bonnie slept, Robert went on a “short” one-hour four-mile walk with Gino Secondo. Just a short distance from home, the walk skirts the Aniene River—Rome’s second largest river. Very rustic where the trees and shrubs take control of the landscape. The river was flowing fast and full. We saw several platforms extending through the river-edge wall of plants to provide fishing spots. Gino says the fish are mainly carp.

Lunch with Bruna e Tullio

Robert has known Bruna since his second trip to Italy in 1968. Bruna is a Berardi. (Robert’s dad’s mother was a Berardi). Although she and Tullio live in Rome, she still has a place in the mountains in Isola Fossara where Robert’s grandmother was born. We try to get together each time we come to Rome.

Quartiere Monti

On 23 March, we decided to explore this neighborhood in Rome that is purported to be young, hip, and filled with shops of art and fashion design. It is close to the Colosseum but not often covered in guidebooks. Monti is attractive, populated with busy restaurants, and buzzing with fashionable young foreign tourists.

Sephora, Rinascente, and a National Museum

After lunch we did a bit of shopping before heading to the Palazzo Barberini National Museum. Bonnie ran short of eye liner and Robert wanted to hit the Rinascente department store to expand his collection of Aqua di Parma cologne.

(Bonnie’s rule of thumb: Although an eyeliner pencil lasts for months at home, on a foreign trip you will run out. This time in the first week. Yes, she brought a backup in a new box, but that pencil turned out to be empty. Yes, she considered bringing a second backup but that seemed excessive. Fortunately, in Rome, all roads lead to Sephora.)

The crucifix is of particular interest because in this style the head is tilting down with Christ’s eyes wide open. It was intended to be seen from below, and the open eyes indicated that Christ was still alive. This style was popular in Le Marche. Also of note to our New Zealand family, it was created around 1200—about the time the Māori settled in New Zealand.

Heading Back . . . A Pickpocket Followed by Drinks

We took the Metro home, entering the Barberini station at the foot of the Via Veneto that is well known for pickpockets. They did not disappoint. As we struggled to enter a very crowded subway car, a small, young, gypsy-dressed woman leaned hard against Robert. Typical of these incidents, she entered the car just before the doors were closing, pressed against Robert’s side, and slid around his body slightly. Robert understood what was happening and intervened. It helped that his wallet is attached to his pants pocket with a cord. She immediately exited the train as the doors closed and exchanged a long stare with Robert. Safely back in Monte Sacro we met Luciana for drinks and appetizers.

Lunch with Tiffany and Nazila

Bonnie knew Tiffany when she was still at Berkeley HIgh School because both Tiffany’s parents were professors of geography who Bonnie knew well. Tiffany and her wife Nazie live in Seattle but come to Rome four times a year, so it was terrific to meet them at their favorite restaurant—Al Pompiere in the Roman Ghetto. As appropriate to the neighborhood, we began the meal with fried artichokes, Carciofi alla Giudia. Spaghetti al limone and trippa were also on our table. On a warm Sunday afternoon the Ghetto was jammed with families having a midday meal. This is a great restaurant that Tiffany and Nazie frequent on each trip for more than 20 years. Highly recommended.

More Wandering

We are enjoying great weather. Low 50s in the early morning, rising to the high 60s. Unusually warm for Rome in March. They do not anticipate this kind of weather until April.

But Italians dress by the calendar, not by the temperature, so although Bonnie is warm midday in a cotton shirt, the Romans around her are often in puffy coats and a winter scarf.

At the moment, Rome has less crowds that in the summer, although it is still bustling. It will be much different when we return in later May.

Pinsa Anyone?

Pinsa, the Roman version of flat bread with toppings, is popular here. Luciana, who treated us to dinner around the corner from the apartment, said she had not really heard about pinsa until the 1990s, although the concept dates back to Ancient Rome. The dough is made with a mixture of grains—wheat, rice, and soy flours—and left to rise for 30 to 72 hours. The pinsa we ate here is more dense and flat than what we eat in San Francesco at the Montesacro restaurants. You can order pinsa with tomato sauce and cheese, but most variations don’t have these two toppings and are much lighter alternative to pizza.

Picking up the Car

Once again, we are leasing a car from AutoEurope. Laura, who shuttled us from the airport when we arrived a few days ago, took us to the leasing office where we picked up our car for two months—Peugeot 3008 diesel. We had requested a hybrid. No luck. It’s a mid size car that offers the covered trunk space that we need. Last time, the tank showed empty. This time they were generous. We had a quarter tank full. The first fill up cost about $90.

Last Night Out for Dinner

We decided to check out a new restaurant in Piazza Adriatico. It opened in Fall 2023 with a bar/cafe at ground level and rooftop restaurant with an heated enclosure. (It has gotten cold in the evenings now.) While the space and decor is nice, the service and food were not. Plenty of other places nearby to go a much more reasonable prices.

Next – Gubbio!