Rain in Italy was very different from how it is at home. In Seattle the rain mostly comes as a steady drizzle or shower. The ‘hard’ rain is just a very steady downpour with a very occasional thunderstorm. It’s pretty mild generally speaking. Italian rain is RAIN. Big, loud, and completely soaking in a matter of minutes. Why am I writing about it like that? Because it rained on our last day in Rome. So hard that the streets flooded after about an hour and we ended up walking in water up to my calf.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Fair warning: I don’t have many pictures from this day, although I have lots of memories. With the rain I was hard pressed to keep my camera dry.

Also: we did have umbrellas, purchased for 10eu apiece from an enterprising young man just outside of the hotel. We did not have rain coats, and I was dressed for the day in a maxi-dress.

We woke up to grey skies and the threat of rain. But Context Travel tours meet in rain or shine, so off we went for our tour “Of Cows and Commerce,” billed as a tour in which we will explore areas away from the Colosseum and Forum, such as the temple complex along the Tiber River. The Boarium is the ancient Roman cattle market which forms the heart of the old city- Forum complex. Our guide was Jose, a Cuban who had moved to the USA with his family as a boy and who now lives and teaches art and architecture in Rome.

While we were waiting for Jose the skies began to drizzle and darken, then rain. Jose had us all move into a hotel lobby where we sat and talked about the early history of Rome and how commerce played such an important role. Jose was hoping, he told us, that the rain would wear itself out, but instead it deteriorated into a flooding downpour.  The eight of us decided we were game for the tour and we all set out.

tl;dr: we were soaked by the end.

We began in the Foro Boario, or cow market, of ancient Rome, located along the Tiber River. This is an area of Rome that few people explore which is a shame because there is a tremendous wealth of ancient sites, including over 15 different temples.

We made our way to the western foot of the Palatine Hill, where — in the middle of an old boario, or “cow pasture” — sits two small 2nd-century B.C. temples. The Temple of Portunus was crafted in the squared-off, Latin style, while the Temple of Hercules Victor (sometimes erroneously said to be the Temple of Vesta) was built in the older, rounded Etruscan style and ranks as the oldest marble structure surviving in Rome. Neither temple is open to the public on anything like a regular basis.

This little field lies right in front of the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin and right above the famous Cloaca Maxima, ancient Rome’s main sewer: the world’s first major sewer. In the portico of the church, on the north side, can be found La Bocca della Verità, an ancient sculpture thought to be a drain covering.

A legend states that, if a person places his hand inside the mouth (“bocca”) and then swears falsely, the mouth will close and sever the hand. It was a huge attraction for the large tour groups. I felt hugely sorry for the church official who had to make sure the flood of water from the street didn’t overflow into the church (which, btw, meant that the water level was higher that the 6″ curb between the street and the church entrance) but also that visitors had covered arms and knees. (The solution was to either tell that person to come back properly dressed, or to lend them a sheer scarf to place around the shoulders or midriff/upper legs.)

Underneath the main part of the Church is a lovely old worship space. The crypt, constructed in the eighth century, is located beneath the altar and was built to store the relics taken from the catacombs by Pope Adrian I. The crypt is shaped like a small basilica. The side walls have several niches, each with shelves made of marble, where the different relics are displayed.

After spending time in the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, we made our way across the Tiber River to view the Ponte Rotto, or broken bridge, one of the oldest bridges in the world.

Walking to the Tiber we spent a great deal of time out in the open, and it started to thunder and lightning. That was the moment I began to strongly consider the wisdom of staying on the tour.

There is only one island in the Tiber, shaped vaguely like a long, curved boat plowing through the wide waters of the S-bend at the heart of the city. In ancient times it was avoided as a cursed spot. For centuries Tiber Island was believed to have formed around the body of the hated King Tarquin Supurbus, whose overthrow (and tossing into the Tiber) led to the founding of the original Roman Republic in 509 BC.

All this changed in 291 BC when Rome was visited by a terrible plague, so the Senate voted to build a temple to Aesculapius, the god of healing. They sent a delegation to Greece to obtain a statue of the god, and while it sailed back up the Tiber with its holy cargo, an enormous snake suddenly dropped off the decks, swam through the waters, and slithered up onto the supposedly haunted Tiber Island. While modern folks might might think this would confirm the ‘cursedness’ of Isola Tiberina, to the ancients it was a portentous and positive sign from the gods. Specifically, a sign from Aesculapius himself, to whom snakes was sacred. So the Temple of Aesculapius was built, a sacred spring was discovered and was believed to have healing powers, and the formerly shunned island became a place of worship and pilgrimage site for the afflicted.

It was still pouring.

The tour ended on Tiber island and we immediately looked for a taxi to take us home. It seems, however, that Sundays are when many drivers take the day off. So we started to walk.

Now, you have to imagine me in that maxi-dress I mentioned earlier. Somewhere in the middle of the tour the dress had gotten so soaked that it was sucking up more water which was creeping up into my midsection. COLD. So I said ‘eff it’ and knotted it up above my knees. Now that we were on the streets, and it had stopped raining, I undid the knot . . . only to realize (a mile later) that my legs were chaffing from the wet cotton slapping against them. So up went the knot again and I just toughed it out. (Yes, people started at me.)

It was really only about 2.5km and 35-40 mins, but that walk felt like forever. We were SO GLAD to turn the corner and see landmarks that let us know we were within a few blocks of our apartment.

Hot showers and a nap were on our agenda for the rest of the day, but we managed to get out for dinner at La Soffitta Renovatio. This restaurant specializes in cuisine from Abruzzo Italy, and made for a nice change. We each had a pizza — easy peasey after the day, and truly delicious. A green salad and glass of wine (house, of course) rounded us out.

(Sadly, the tour is no longer offered, but seems to have been renamed the Daily Life in Ancient Rome Tour.)

Continuing our new habit, we slept until after 10am then leisurely prepared for a day out. Lunch was at Il Brillo Parlante, another restaurant specializing in traditional Roman favorites. For me that meant all the fried food: suppli (a rice ball with mozzarella cheese in breadcrumbs), arancino Siciliano (a Sicilian version of suppli), and Filetti di Baccala (fried cod); J. had the Stringozzo (fresh pasta with meat ragu).

I didn’t take a picture, but here’s one from the internet.

Replete, we walked through town to the Borghese Gallery, the former home of the family  of that name (not to be confused — as I did — with the slightly more infamous Borgia family). It’s an intense place: 22 rooms across 2 floors PACKED with art. Everywhere you look there is something to delight the eye, starting with the entryway:

I don’t know about you, but I’m happy if my boots are lined up neatly and my coats hanging from the hooks if company comes by. It didn’t occur to me to try and provide this for my guests as well:

A number of Bernini’s are here, including his Apollo & Daphne:

which features her melting into bark, even her feet dangle into roots. Not mentioned as often but just as powerful is his Rape of Prosperina:

It was exquisite, and slightly exhausting. The one I found the most amusing was some artists depiction of Anubis:

The piece I found the most magnificent was a picture made of inlaid precious gems:

(Sorry it’s slightly blurry. the light was a bit dim and it was tucked behind a door. So, yes, this was an afterthought. But that’s not paint, it’s stone. Incredible.)

For dinner we decided to not be adventurous and returned to Renovia. This time I enjoyed rabbit poached in wine and served with a melange of grilled vegetables. J. enjoyed his pici with meat ragu.

We’d had a problem with our debit card the day before, but neither of us paid attention . . . BAD IDEA. You see, taxis in Rome don’t take credit cards. The metro is pretty cheap, but still requires moolah to make it work, and we didn’t have enough to make it to our meeting point for today’s tour. Bank after bank machine turned us down and we were running out of time. . . . and then we missed the tour by 5 minutes.

DAMN.

Turns out our Capital One debit card — which we use because it doesn’t cost a fee to withdraw money in Europe — developed a ‘glitch’. We found this out after buying Skype for a month and using it to direct dial the US number. (Int’l toll free didn’t work.) So I talked to a nice young man who was very apologetic and un-glitched the card so we had access to cash again.

And we didn’t make it to Hadrian’s Villa. Again.

Deciding to not make it a bad day, we walked across the street to our neighborhood restaurant for lunch. Il Mozzicone was nice, and safe and nothing further be said. Afterwards we spent some time reading in the sun and had a glass of wine as we talked and wrote and enjoyed a quiet day.

Dinner was at Osteria della Commari which specializes in traditional Roman dishes. I started with zucchini blossoms stuffed with anchovies (delicious!) while J. enjoyed a caprese. His main was a polpette (meatball) in orange sauce (red pepper and tomato) and I had cod fish in a sweet and sour sauce with onions, pine nuts and raisins. Yummy and recommended.

I know, I know — where are the pictures? I didn’t take many. So here’s a selection of street art I found interesting and/ or amusing.

We slept in and barely made it out in time for a lunch reservation at Marzapane, a hot new restaurant with a fantastic 3-course 30eu lunch prix fixe menu.(Many thanks to Elizabeth Minchilli for the tip) you choose between fish and meat and the whole table has to agree.

The opener was Duck Royale, shredded duck mixed with dates and apricots in a foie gras ‘sauce’. Slightly sweet, the richness of the duck was absurdly complimented by the fruits.

A carbonara followed: deeply eggy and rich I was glad it was such a small portion.

Nomad beef was the main. The chef took a cut of beef, marinated it in in a piquant sauce, then smoked it overnight and finished it with a vinegar based (American) BBQ sauce. It was a complicated layering of flavors coming together in a gorgeously silky piece of meat.

Dessert felt like a bit much, but was also winderful. ‘Baked Apple’ came as a layered pastry of nutty mousse with an apply jelly as a base. Superb.

Thank goodness we had a nice long walk to the Diocletian Baths.

The Baths are massive buildings, recently further excavated and restored and opened to the public. Built in 298-305 AD, they held up to 3000 (yes, thousand) people in a variety of pools, gymnasiums, and patios. In the 1560s the buildings were turned into a basilica and Michelangelo designed a church using two of the pool structures.

After that we walked across the plaza to the Palazzo Massimo. This building houses a superb collection of Classical art and we loved it. There are a ton of exquisitely detailed and complicated mosaics.

and frescoes

including the incredible Villa of Livia

Also of note is the statue of Hermaphrodite

Dinner was a nice walk across the Tiber to L’Orso 80, a quirky tasty restaurant. The house wine is 2eu for a ‘heavy’ pour and the walls are decorated with artwork from a variety of past patrons. (No Dalis or Picassos, but I’ll bet a number of the artists went on to fame.) Here I had a lovely Taglioni with seafood and J. had the sliced beef.

We were up fairly early (so hard!!!) to make our 8:30am meeting at the Pyramide metro station to go with our Context Tour guide, Janet to see Ostia Antica.

Ostia Antica is amazing, just a 20 min train ride from the city and a loooooooong day of walking. Of course we brought 50spf sunscreen, but it was still too much for me just before the end. This is a HUGE archaeological site, the ancient site of Rome’s harbor city. The shoreline has shifted over the centuries, so its now about 3km from the beach, but still right alongside the Tiber.

Of particular interest are the different levels of siting — Imperial and Republic. There are apartment buildings

and mosaics

and I especially loved the Mithraeum. A truly fabulous and valuable visit, especially with a tour guide.

We went home and had a nap, then – still on an earlier schedule- we went to a place in the neighborhood. Mamma Venerina was a great place for a starter of melon and prosciutto, followed by mains of shrimp and corn pizza (me) and carbonara (J.) Replete, we returned home for a drink and reading on the terrace until sleep.

We arrived in Rome and  . . . stood in line. I’ve said it before and it remains true: FCO is the worst for passport control. It took about 90 mins and there was no ‘global entry’ or ‘fast’ way through that we could buy into. Grumpy making.We arrived in Rome and  . . . stood in line. I’ve said it before and it remains true: FCO is the worst for passport control. It took about 90 mins and there was no ‘global entry’ or ‘fast’ way through that we could buy into. Grumpy making.

On the other side, our luggage was waiting and we were quick to get on the train and into Rome itself. (The Leonardo Da Vinci express is 7eu each and leaves every 20 mins. Definitely the best inexpensive way to get into Rome from the airport.

Once at Termini station we paused to get a sim card for the phone . . . and that was a much longer process than we expected. About 2 hours. We’d dropped our bags at the deposit (6eu/ bag for 4 hours. A lot of people were using the service, unlike 3 years ago when we were almost the only ones.

So we bagged our plans and took a taxi to our neighborhood and had lunch at La Soffitta Renovatio, a quaint place popular with visitors to Rome. Excellent pizza (I like a simple mushroom and cheese concoction); J. enjoyed his Amatriciana (spaghetti like pasta w/ a tomato sauce that includes guanciale and pecorino cheese). Then I met our hostess and J. went back to get our luggage.

Our AirB&B was great! Lovely terrace with umbrella overlooking a busy pedestrian-only street. Lots of neighborhood restaurants and (J’s favorite) a gelato store next door. Tiny kitchen, but everything we needed was there. We were pleased, and happily settled in until dinner. (Too early, but we got later as the week progressed. Italians like to eat at 8pm, or later.)

Dinner was at Il Sorpasso. A ‘wine bar’ with a lovely selection of tagliere — cut meats. The menu was a little hard to navigate (lots of unfamiliar words) but we ended up with a platter of cut meats and another of cheeses and happily munched away.