Thursday 17 April: Grill, rain, and Trevi with Mom and Dad

This was Mom and Dad’s last day in Rome, and they had some errands to do in the morning (like get tickets to Florence, their next stop, and do laundry). I spent the morning researching at AAR, working on the prosopography of some of the priestly colleges under the Julio-Claudian dynasty, in the vein of Sir Ronald Syme in Some arval brethren (if you are interested in the early Roman Empire, you should read everything by Syme, starting with The Roman revolution). I then headed for the Borgo to hook up with my parents.

We decided to have a big Roman lunch for their last full day in the city. David, the proprietor of their b&b, had recommended a place nearby, famous for their grilled meats. By the time we left for the restaurant it had started drizzling outside. We made our way through the damp to the restaurant, where Dad and I ordered grilled skewers of mixed meats and Mom had pasta tubes baked with a cream and meat sauce. We also ordered grilled vegetables, salad, and carciofi alla giudea, Jewish-style artichokes, a Roman-Jewish classic, and one of my favorites. While we were waiting for our food, the owner brought out an enormous covered platter to show us. I was afraid that when he removed the cloth covering there would be a whole pig’s head or something else the folks might not find appealing, but I was wrong. Instead, it was a monstrous whole ham, an entire pig haunch on the bone, with the skin and fat sizzling and crackling. I wanted to pick it up right there and eat like Fred Flintstone, right off the bone (I have an affinity for pork products). The owner told us that the ham had just come out of the oven after fourteen hours of slow roasting. When our food came, it was amazing. Our meat sampler had pieces of lamb, veal, pork, ham, and some of the best sausage I have ever had. Sides of cold steamed spinach with lemon came along with the meat, and of course the Jewish artichoke, an entire blossom deep-fried in olive oil. All in all, it was entirely too much food, which is not to say that it didn’t all get eaten. Check my Flickr for food pics.

By the time we were done with lunch it was mid-afternoon, and had started raining again. Mom and Dad wanted to see one more famous Roman site, so we caught a cab, meaning we roamed around until we found a taxi stand at Piazza del Risorgimento, and headed for the Trevi Fountain. Less than three hundred years old, the Trevi is new by Roman standards, and it’s a great piece of late Baroque sculpture, with Neptune and tritons (more mer-dudes) and cascading water. If you throw in a coin over your right shoulder with your back to the fountain, it’s supposed to guarantee that you will return to Rome. It’s worked every time for me so far. You can’t really swim in it like Anita Ekberg did in Fellini’s La dolce vita; that will get you arrested these days. I’ve said before how the Trevi Fountain takes up most of a tiny piazza that is always mobbed with tourists, traffic, and street vendors. The rain didn’t keep any of them away, although a number of tourists seemed to appreciate being able to buy an umbrella on the spot. Despite the weather Mom and Dad got in a couple of good photo-ops here.

Being downtown, we had to go looking for a taxi stand, and the nearest one with cabs in service was all the way back at the Piazza Venezia, at the foot of the Vittoriana. I told Mom and Dad goodbye there. They are leaving early Friday morning for Florence and points north. It was great seeing them, and lots of fun being able to show them some of my favorite places in my favorite city. They’ve still got a couple of weeks of adventuring through Italy and Germany ahead of them. I hope they stay out of trouble! At least the traffic will improve as they head north. I headed home for an evening of writing and editing.