Arrivederci, Roma!

Like all good things, our time in Rome eventually came to an end. You can catch up on our adventures earlier in the week and look at the google map we created to plan our time:

Benvenuti a Roma

Exploring the Vatican

Family Cooking Class

Classical Rome

Museums, Catacombs, Churches and Baths

Google map of sites in Rome

This post covers our last day and a half in Rome and starts in the afternoon after our mad dash through museums and churches in the city. After half a day of walking all over the place and being super tourists we needed a drink. We stopped by Harry's bar on the way to our reserved ticket entry into the Galleria Borghese. You can tell it was a nice part of town by the price tag on the drinks, €16 each!

The Galleria Borghese is one of several museums and galleries located in the Villa Borghese park. This area used to be the private grounds of the Borghese family, but has since become a large centrally located public park. The Galleria Borghese is a must-see art museum filled with works from Bernini, Titian and Caravaggio. Unlike other museums we visited that focused on classical sculpture and frescoes, this gallery was mostly focused on Renaissance works. It's not a huge museum, but there's a masterpiece around every corner. We were in and out within about one hour. Make sure to order your timed ticket early, as this museum sells out days in advance.

Having a snack and an expensive drink before heading to Villa Borghese.

Grounds of the Villa Borghese.

Galleria Borghese, an impressive art museum.

Again the museum itself is really a piece of art.

Bernini's self portrait. He was a painter, a sculptor, and architect. He's our favorite Italian artist.

Leda and the swan.

Marcello Provenzale's Orpheus mosaic. This was a small piece (maybe only a foot across) made from thousands of tiny tesserae. Very impressive.

Another impressive mosaic in the Borghese Gallery.

Every room was packed with art from the floor to the ceiling.

Bernini's beautiful sculpture of Apollo and Daphne. Daphne is turning into a tree.

Bernini's David - a marked contrast to Michelangelo's version. A look of determination.

The pillow (made of marble) of Canova's Paolina Borghese (Bonaparte) as Venus Victorious.

The marble carving was so delicate we had to double-take to be sure it wasn't really a pillow. 

Mariano Rossi's huge 1770s ceiling fresco in the central hall.

Hades and Persephone by Bernini. So much emotion depicted in marble.

St. Jerome Writing by Caravaggio. 

Another Caravaggio oil painting - David with Goliath's Head.

After touring the museum, we went back to the AirBnB and then to eat dinner with David's Uncle Rick and Aunt Terri in Trastevere at a restaurant called Hosteria La Botticella. Overall, this was probably one of the best meals of the trip and we'd highly recommend it. We arrived a little after 9pm and the place was pretty full. The waitress told us to hold on a moment and pulled out a folded table and chairs from inside the restaurant for us to use. She set them up on the street, which luckily had very little traffic. The waitress was endearingly surly and haggard, but very welcoming. For dinner David had lasagna and Paul ate a baby pig, and we drank some delicious Sicilian wine. After dinner we strolled through Trastevere, which was bustling on a Saturday night, and made our way back to the AirBnB for a nightcap on our balcony.

Hosteria La Botticella in Trastevere. We highly recommend eating here.

Bustling Trastevere around midnight on a Saturday.

For our last full day in Rome we split up for the first half of the day. Paul woke up at the crack of dawn to go ride some roller coasters at Rainbow MagicLand. Getting there involved a train to Valmontone and then a free shuttle bus. Rainbow MagicLand is a medium sized park that is really well themed and has a couple of great coasters - the launched Shock and the indoor spinning Cagliostro.

Cows on the way to the amusement park.

The impressive theming at Rainbow MagicLand.

Some kind of weird halloween dance thing when the park opened.

Shock was a unique and fun coaster, definitely the highlight of the park.

Catching the train back to Rome at Valmontone station.

While Paul was busy riding roller coasters, David went to Campo de Fiori to buy some produce since his Dad wanted a salad for lunch. Lettuce, tomatoes, arugula, and a red bell pepper cost around 4.50€. Then he came back picked up his mom and went to the Spanish Steps area for some shopping on Via del Corso. David bought his mom some perfume and they wandered around for a bit. After his AM roller coaster dash, Paul joined for lunch at a little cafe off the Via del Corso.

Spanish Steps from the top.

David's Mom at the Spanish Steps.

Lunch prosciutto. Basically 75% of meals in Italy involved us eating prosciutto.

Last cacio e pepe of the trip.

Piazza del Popolo. Near the Villa Borghese, the old northern entrance to the city.

After a week of running around Rome and Florence we were pretty tired and crashed for an afternoon nap. After we got up, we did some packing and went out for a farewell to Rome and family dinner with all of David's family at Enoteca Ferrara - another restaurant we'd recommend if you're in the Trastevere area. David's parents were heading home the next day and his Uncle and Aunt were heading up to Tuscany while we went to Naples/Amalfi with Christina and David E. It was also Paul's family's last day in Italy. They opted to go to a cat cafe for dinner. It was in neighborhood to the south.

Last meal in Rome at Enotecca Ferrara.

Not wanting to leave Rome, we took one last stroll through the city center after dinner. We walked past the Pantheon, the Altar of the Fatherland, the Roman Forum and the Trevi Fountain. We threw a coin into the fountain over our shoulder - a customary promise to return to Rome again in the future.

Pantheon at night.

The Trevi Fountain all lit up.

Altar of the Fatherland.

Column of Marcus Aurelius.

Close-up of the column.

The Arch of Septimius Severus.

With that we bid arrivederci to Rome. Quite possibly one of the most interesting cities in the world with countless layers of history. At first we thought nine days would be way too much time, but it ended up being appropriate - we didn't see everything on our list. We're sure we'll be back to this city again some day. The food, history, art and the people make it a great destination! Onward to Naples and the Amalfi Coast!

We'll be back.

Rome Part Four: Museums, Catacombs, Churches, and Baths

Continuing our week in Rome after our day trip to Florence, we spent some more time exploring a few museums and historic sites. There are a lot of things to see in Rome, so it's hard to prioritize. We found it was best to do a lot of research ahead of time, but then stay flexible. Even with seven full days in Rome, we still didn't see everything on our list. On our last few days we set out to visit some of the key sights we hadn't seen yet. We started the day with an early morning visit to Crypta Balbi, part of the Museo Nazionale Romano. It's a small and uncrowded museum that highlights the layers of Rome's history. Throughout the building you can see evidence of ancient Roman ruins (the theatre of Balbus) and the subsequent changes to the site over the centuries. There are interesting artist renditions of how the neighborhood looked during the Republic, the Empire, the middle ages, and in to modern times.

Down in the basement, where you can view old Roman foundations and latrines.

The main exhibit area of Crypta Balbi.

After the museum, we walked back to the apartment and went with Betsy, Chad, and Paul's Mom to the Baths of Caracalla. Although they're in ruins, this was a very impressive archaeological site. It was much larger than we expected, with the remains of soaring walls and quite a few mosaic floors still in place. You can even go into the basement and see where they would heat the pools from below. We made friends with a bunny rabbit hanging out on the grounds, and had a quick snack before continuing to our next stop.

The impressive mosaic floors.

The baths were very grand and large in scale.

The huge remaining walls of the baths.

The entire place used to be covered in marble, art, and mosaics. It would have been stunning.

More of the cool mosaic floors.

Group picture at the baths. On "mom quality" cell phone. :)

After a quick snack/lunch from a cart, we caught an Uber to the Catacombs of Domatilla. A few days earlier we had toured the nearby Catacombs of San Callisto. The Catacombs of Domatilla had more pieces intact, including a couple of tombs that were still sealed, some early Christian paintings of saints, and an underground church. The guide wasn't as good and it felt more like a commercial operation than a historic site, but it was still interesting. The tour only took us to part of the second level of the sprawling (11 miles long!) catacombs. Once again, no pictures were allowed inside. If you have to choose between the two, we'd recommend the Catacombs of San Callisto. On the way home we found an Italian Ice store near our apartment, which Maggie had been craving. David's was a spicy chocolate flavor and was pretty delicious.

Mmm! Italian Ice (snow cones).

Later that evening, the two of us set out to visit another museum while everyone else rested before dinner. Luckily, Palazzo Altemps is open into the evening. The museum is also part of the Museo Nazionale Romano and is included on the same multi-day ticket as the Crypta Balbi. This museum is a must see in Rome. It has some amazing works of art, dramatically lit statues,  and was relatively uncrowded. Some of our favorite pieces here were the statue of The Galatian Suicide ("The suicidal Gaul"), and an intricately carved sarcophagus. The building itself was also interesting, with many painted ceilings and walls, and even a small church.

Walking in the lively Piazza Navona.

The courtyard of the Palazzo Altemps.

Some of the impressive artwork and painting within the palazzo courtyards.

Lots of ancient statues.

The building itself is a work of art.

The Galatian Suicide - another Hellenistic copy from the 2nd century.

Close-up of a sarcophagus.

There, there.

Crossing the river at dusk on the way back to the apartment.

Our next stop was dinner, which was organized around the fact that David E loves meatballs. If we learned one thing about him during this trip it's that he will literally eat nothing but meatballs if Christina lets him. So, that evening we hopped into a cab with Chris, David E and David's parents and went to the Southern end of the non-touristy Testaccio neighborhood to eat at a trendy meatball restaurant. Unfortunately, it was a bit too trendy: everyone else in the neighborhood had the same idea and there was no seating available at Polpetta. Instead, we ate at a nearby restaurant called Gasomestro 38. The food here was very good! So, while David E was a bit disappointed in the chicken meatballs, everyone else was pretty pleased. The neighborhood itself was more modern and filled with more locals than the center of Rome. There was a lot of street art and more of a New York feel.

On the way home we strolled past the pyramid of Cestius and found a well-reviewed gelato shop called Il Gelato. This was probably the best gelato of the trip with very unique flavors. David got a very spicy habanero flavor that nearly burned his tongue off. There was also a delicious malbec flavor to counter the heat from the habenero. We topped off the evening with a drink at Garbo. The interior was very cute but there were only a few patrons and they were all tourists, so we left after one aperol spritz.

A potato and sausage pizza at Gasomestro 38.

David's mom was clearly very hungry today!

Possibly the best gelato of the trip!

The next day, we woke up before everyone else again and took the bus to Piazza Republica. We walked by a fountain and a few churches on our way to the church of Santa Maria della Vitoria, famous for Bernini's statue the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa.

A church that we didn't even go in - the church of Santa Susanna. So many churches in Rome!

The Fontana dell'Acqua Felice.

The over-the-top interior of the church of Santa Maria della Vitoria.

Saint Teresa in ecstasy. Very edgy for the time.

The next church on our whirlwind church tour was the Basilica of Santa Maria of the Angels and Martyrs. It was designed by Michelangelo and built within the remains of the baths of Diocletian. Inside was a really neat meridian line - essentially a sundial that traces the calendar year. It had a huge interior, thanks to it's original use as public baths. From the outside the building doesn't look anything like a basilica, as it still has the original brick walls of the bath complex. We appreciated that a lot of the art in the church was dedicated to science.

As if we hadn't seen enough churches in one day, we walked to Santa Maria Maggiore but the line was too long (it's basically Rome's main church). Instead we went to the nearby basilica of Santa Prassede to see its famous mosaics. It's a small church, but has very intricate mosaics covering most of the space above the alter and a few of the side rooms. Since the mosaics are medieval with a byzantine influence, this church offers a refreshing change of pace from the renaissance and baroque frescoes and art that decorate most of Rome's churches.

The cavernous interior of the basilica, which utilizes the structure of the baths.

The meridian line. Sunlight shines on it from a small hole in the wall.

We saw the outside of Santa Maggiore. That counts. Not pictured: 1,000 tourists in line to enter.

Some of the 8th century mosaics at Santa Prassede, in the San Zeno chapel/ 

The interior of Santa Prassede.

Mosaics above the alter.

We were near the train station at this point, so we walked over to have lunch at Mercato Centrale. The neighborhood around the Roma Termini train station isn't great, but the station itself is nice enough and the food hall is excellent. It's inside Termini, but kind of attached to the side. It's very modern and trendy. We had some veggie burgers and beer, then strolled to the nearby Pasticceria Regoli for delicious cannoli and cream puffs. Probably our favorite bakery of the trip, and we tried a lot of bakeries.

Heading in to the food hall attached to Roma Termini.

Yay, cannoli!

Our next stop on this very busy day was the Pallazo Massimo alle Terme, another museum of the four-part Museo Nazionale Romano. The basement had a huge ancient coin collection. We also really liked a bronze statue of a boxer and several impressive mosaics. It's worth a visit. A block away is the Termi di Dicleziano (Baths of Diocletian) - a sprawling museum and our final branch of the national museum. This museum isn't laid out very well and there is very little direction - so we did a lot of wandering. It was still impressive, but probably our least favorite of the four national museums.

The bronze boxer statue. Very few bronze statues survive because most were melted and re-used.

A neat mosaic. That cat looks agitated!

Close-up of a discus thrower statue.

Another crazy sarcophagus.

Fun with mosaics!

Is this was they thought dolphins looked like?

Another huge impressive mosaic.

The soaring interior of the Baths of Diocletian.

Courtyard at the Baths of Diocletian Museum

This is also part of the museum in the Baths of Diocletian - it's really a massive museum.

I just see two masks hanging on a wall in this photo!

An interesting painting.

Still some original paint on this relief.

Well that's enough museums and churches for one blog post! After a while they start to blend together, and writing this blog is mostly for us to remember where we went and what we saw. Up next - our last day and a half in Rome.