We headed out over the Ponte Palatino in search of the Mouth of Truth, only to find that it was closed and wouldn't open until 9:30am, which I found kinda funny.
We kept wandering, negotiating the chaos that is Rome morning peak hour traffic to find relief in the hills of Ripa. Here it was much quieter and we found peace in the Giardino degli Aranci (Parco Savello).
This beautiful public garden has an elevated view of Rome that is within an orange grove. Such a peaceful spot to sit and take in the beauty of the cityscape.
We stroll down the street. The sound of church bells and school children running in from the playground to the classrooms to start their days rings through the street.
We go in search of the Buco di Rome, a keyhole entrance to a door that has an amazing framed view to St Peters Basilica. We come to a vacant carpark, no one is around apart from a gelato/takeawayfood/souvenir Van. Thinking he's here for a reason we must be close. I mumble in my apprehensive Italian, il Buco di Rome? "Ahhhhh sexy woo-maan" the man replies. He has a cheeky and somewhat creepy look on his face. I look and sim and we both are lost! He pints behind us to a door and then it starts to make sense. Haha. A small van then pulls up and a guide and some Brits get out. Yep were in the right place. We look thru the small keyhole and it's like a fairytale other works on the other side. The view is amazing.
We meander down the quiet residential streets past another school where it seems the real housewives of Rome are dropping there kids off. These woman are quite dressed up! A father is also dropping his kids off too and looks like he's heading off to work after. Not sure when that is. But it's now 9:40am. He might be an architect!
We make our way to Pyramide and check out the bizarre Tomb. It's quite unimpressive in a city that has so many other monuments. I get a cappacino and then we hop on the 280 bus to Mancini, to check out how the former Man City boss is doing.
The bus takes us right across town via the river and then out to Prati and on to the Flaminio Quarter. Along the way we see the beautiful Piazza Cavour, which unlike the other piazzas we e seen has some lawn and trees. We also go past the Olympic stadium and village area. One of the main things we notice heading out from the traditional centre is the more ordered and wider character the streets have. It feels more Parisian over here with wider boulevards and organised avenues. Less organic in structure than the rest of Rome we've seen.
We finally arrive at Piazza Mancini and make our way past Zaha Hadid's MAXXI art museum on to Pier Luigi Nervi's Pallezetto deli Sport centre designed for the 1960 Olympics. It's a little tired and rundown now. I must say Rome don't do a great job at public maintenance. It's like they've given up, with an attitude of "well half the city is ruins so what's the point"
Nonetheless I appreciated Nervi's work. His structural rationality yet bold ambitious designs paved the way for buildings like Sydneys Opera House. We then walk not too far at all to check out Renzo Pianos Parco Della Musica, a complex of 3 red brick and lead roof buildings surrounding an outdoor theatre.
We walk back to MAXXI and go into the gallery. The building is so interesting spatially. Voids, stairs, ramps and platforms intersect and overlap. It's quite an intriguing space. The general collection exhibitions are interesting, with lots of drawings of models of famous Italian architects. There was also s shall exhibit on future urban ideas, looking at Paolo Soleri, Sou Fujimoto and others which was interesting too. But my highlight was the exhibition on the urbanism group Superstudio from the 60s. Really cool work and was great to delve into after studying at uni. The MAXXI as a building within the urban setting is quite interesting. Like many buildings in Rome the relationship to the surroundings is so abrupt and immediate. The MAXXI is no different, you turn the corner and then bam its there. I kinda like that connection to old Rome.
We caught a tram up the Flaminio line to the Palazzo del Popolo stopping for lunch in the Campo Marzio. Our first pizza here in Italy and the crust is thin as! We sit on the street and once again I cannot believe the proximity to the street. Rome has no threshold!
We stroll the streets on via Condotti and its surrounds, window shopping at the expensive brands and boutiques before checking out the Spanish Steps, which sadly are closed for maintenance (contrary to what I said earlier). Piazza di Spagna is a nice urban space however. Very active.
We crawl our way up the hill and make our way into the Borghese Gardens. The park is something out of Mary Poppins, full of bike riders, kids playing, Merry go rounds, and Segways - lots of Segways! We stroll through the park and sit by the Lake - Lago! It's very beautiful with people riding boats and turtles swimming around in the lake.
After sitting and catching some sun, we stroll the rest of the extensive garden grounds, making our way to Galleria Borghese. We wait for our strict 5pm time slot to enter and once in we are greeted to some amazing paintings and sculptures. What impressed me must however were the ceiling frescos in three dimensions. They truly are magnificent. The time and effort put into art pieces during the Renaissance is astounding.
After a good hour wandering the gallery we enter the outside sculpture garden. Again, it's a little underwhelming due to poorly being maintained but it's a nice experience nonetheless. We hop on the novelty train, which costs double the metro at €3 and head back to Piazza del Popolo. After a busy day in our feet were trying to plan the easiest way back to Trastevere, but the quickest is by foot.
We head back down through Sant'Eustachio and Regola, and along the way I stumble across a vintage football jersey store. They remake old rugby and football jerseys, from as far back as the 20s. I decide to get a 1950s Sampdoria shirt, my Nonno's team from Genoa in the Italian scudetto. It's awesome!
Walking some more we then stumble across what must be the only modernist building in old Rome, Richard Meier's Ara Pacis Museum. It's a cool structure, which I later discover is a new canopy effectively to protect the monument. The forecourt stairs and fountain are quite a cool space.
We finally make it back to Trastevere for a shower and some rest before heading out to dinner. Dinner is at 9 at Rona Sparita in Trastevere and I'm looking forward to trying the Taglilioni Cacio Pepe, thin spaghetti with pecorino cheese in a baked Parmesan cheese basket with pepper.
It's delicious. After making our way through a bottle of Vermentino we head back to the lift apartment to put our feet up! Seriously, our feet are f*#!ed from all the walking And cobbles!
arrivederci
mat + sim
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