What I will miss from Rome

Leaving Rome after 4 years in the Citta Eterna is difficult, the only other cities in my various postings abroad I had regrets about leaving were Cairo and Warsaw. Cairo had a special feel in 1991 when I left and to this day when I think of Egypt I always feel nostalgic, there was a certain elegance to the city and our lives there at the time, memories of Mountolive perhaps, our penthouse apartment on the Nile, to see this magnificent river pass under our balcony with Cairo at our feet and to our right the eternal pyramids of Giza in the distance in the setting sun was truly magical.  Warsaw was another city, full of elegance and style in the only way the Polish people know how to do it, full of dignity, pride and sense of history. What a great place it was then in 1999, what friends we made.

Statue of the Bersaglieri soldier Piazza Porta Pia

Porta Pia known in antiquity as Porta Nomentana

                               Piazza Repubblica

                                    the opera house of Rome

a good after theater restaurant in front of the opera house

via Genova leading to the gardens of the Quirinale Palace

Leaving Rome is a similar experience, so many wonderful memories, so many delights and experiences which will remain with me for the rest of my life. Like this morning seeing the white transport helicopter of the Pope flying him and the Papal Court from the Gardens of the Vatican to his Summer Palace at CastelGandolfo where he will remain until September escaping the heat of the city.

Via dei Serpenti leading to the Colosseum which can be seen at the end of the street.

the private family home of the Italian President on Vincolo dei Serpenti.

the full moon over the dome of the Church of San Rocco by the Mausoleum of Emperor Augustus.

the museum housing the Ara Pacis of Augustus, with his great text Res Gestae Divi Augusti which is the funerary inscription of the deeds of Augustus and the basis of jurisprudence today.

I will miss our box at the Teatro del'Opera di Roma and our attendant who always unlocked the door to our box or the summer evening open air presentations of the opera in the ancient ruins at the Baths of Caracalla. The Accademia Santa Cecilia concerts at the Parco della Musica and the very nice lady who would always reserved a taxi for us for after the show and who knew us by name. The many wonderful restaurants in Rome where we were regulars like Stella Maris and Checco e Lina Le Petit Bistrot or on via Borgo Pio at Il Mozzicone were we would go for comfort pasta like the best Carbonara in Rome, this is were we ended up when our dear old Reesie died 3 years ago. We could always count on a table. We also discovered many great eateries in Italy, often in small towns or villages, thanks to Gambero Rosso and le Guide Michelin. Being able to discover and taste the fine wines of so many regions including Sicily while the waiter explained the food specialties of the area.

The incredible choice of Men's fashion in stores, so much variety and so much style. I am so glad I took full advantage of it to renew my wardrobe. I will also miss my barber Franco and his colleague Mimo, sharing him with the President of the Italian Republic. How many people can say that or that is shop is below the President's private home on Via Dei Serpenti, steps away from the Quirinale Palace. I will also miss our butcher Armando on Via Alessandria, our having my morning espresso at the Australian bar served by Sandor, Massimo and Germana, excellent coffee, not to mention Judy's cooking at lunch time. All the wonderful people we met and of course our friends in Rome and the Canadian Club of Rome, www.canadianclubofrome.blogspot.com

an old street in Rome near the Tiber, a residential district.

the bridge King Vittorio Emanuelle II crossing the Tiber to the Vatican with the dome of St-Peter in the background.

On the more mundane, things like our fruit seller on Viale Regina Margherita or the Esso station attendant at Piazza Galeno with whom I chatted each time we walked Nicky and Nora, talking about results of cricket matches in Asia. The old 1950's vintage trams on line 3 or 19, riding them across town. Being able to walk over to the Villa Borghese park on a hot day in Rome when the sun is like hot lead and just enjoy the shade and quiet of this great park. The cashiers at our local CRAI grocery store on Via Alessandria. Or the ladies selling wine at the Enoteca on the Piazza Regina Margherita, who always had good advice and a little discount for the wine I purchased. Many people in the service industry are themselves expatriates, guest workers from Bangladesh, India and Egypt, all making a life for themselves amongst the Italians. Italy today, I discovered, is a cosmopolitan country with little to do with the Italy of the movies.

We are thinking of coming back one day, renting a small apartment, not in Rome, no, but possibly elsewhere like in Pesaro on the Adriatic, for a vacation.

our building entrance on Via dei Villini, an oasis of greenery.

On the rooftop of the Minerva Hotel, Rome
But now it is time to think of departure and goodbyes and renewal.

September

A funny month, the summer is coming to a close and schools are re-opening, life returns to its usual routine. The weather is changing and a new social season is opening. Have been very busy with my Club here in Rome organizing the first event of the new Season, a million details to think about. Members who do not appear to be able to read bulletins or give correct information.
Having to deal with the media, caterers, security and bringing people from Canada for the party. Hoping the weather is good that day.
New colleagues at work are getting use to life in Rome, want things to be like in Canada, do not quite understand that you cannot have lunch in Rome in 25 minutes, minimum here is 90 minutes. Coffee is not that American stuff served in a bucket called a mug, but rather a well prepared drink in a china cup not a styrofoam or plastic one.

They are still running around when everyone else around them are walking. They will learn, it will take 6 months or like so many others will start hating this place and long to return to bleak suburban Northern climes. Rome is a difficult place to live, compact city, high density, noisy, dirty, poor infrastructures, no big shopping malls, lots of small shops open at odd hours for North Americans.



You either love Rome or you hate it, in fact this city is an excellent place to test if you are a flexible person, if you are adaptable. Can you rise above pre-conceptions, can you change your way of thinking in such a way as to adapt to your new surroundings, some can, others cannot, so stuck in their back home mentality. Can you stop thinking about how much things cost, this constant conversion of currency for every transaction. Wanting to take the bus instead of a taxi to save a few dollars when in the end taking the bus is a huge inconvenience and no savings at all. Being intimidated by a person or a place because of a title or because of what this place represent.

Not understanding where you are because you have not made the effort to inform yourself beforehand. Making silly assumptions, why do they not speak English here, could it be because it is not their language. They must be very devout Catholics because of the Pope being here in Rome. No, Romans have always had a difficult relationship with the Papacy and being close to a religious leader does not make people more religious. In fact in Rome the papacy is discredited because of its long association with the city and the many scandals through the ages.



They will learn eventually, or they will leave disillusioned, so is life in Rome. Like the movie la Dolce Vita which speaks of the disillusionment of so many people at the failed social and political promises in the aftermath of the Second World War between 1950-1960, a lost generation. People come to Rome with illusions, but it is all smoke and mirrors and in the end you find your place or you don't. We will see how this new group of colleagues will fare.

a stroll in Rome on a Friday afternoon

Usually on a Friday afternoon after lunch I like to either get my haircut or go out to see something. This friday I thought I would go out and get my haircut since we are going on vacation next week to Austria. So I called Mimo and made an appointment.
Photos here are of the streets I walked to get to my appointment and then the walk home.

I walked down Via Palermo which is a back street parallel to Via Nazionale. Went by the Opera House of Rome, then by a series of shops, many are specialty shops, like the one selling decorated cakes and designer handbags, well that is what I thought walking by. I was intrigued by the fact they were selling cakes and handbags, what a strange combination. I looked more closely at the Chanel Bag and the Ferragamo and the Louis Vuitton, they were very nice but then I realize they were made of marzipan.
What a fun thing to do for a party as a novelty, am sure they would be as good to eat as they are to look at.

Then I arrived at the corner of Vincolo dei Serpenti (alley of the snakes) it's a very old street in Rome, it is also the street where the private home of the President of the Italian Republic is located. A little street nothing special, in an old neighborhood. It took me a while to realize that something was odd about that street, no cars are parked, except for one with 2 fellows sitting in it, they are policemen, guarding the street.

President Giorgio Napolitano is 84 yrs old and has been a politician all his life, a communist Italian style. He is much respected by the Italians, a very dignified figure, a defender of Italian democracy and the Constitution. While he is in Office he lives at the Quirinale Palace just about 2 blocks away. Then I turn the corner and am at the barber shop, just across the street from the massive Palazzo Koch which is the seat of the Bank of Italy. The President and I share the same barber.

After my haircut, I decided to walk a little down to the old Market of Emperor Trajan, it was in its time the first shopping mall of antiquity, 5 floors of shops. Today it houses the exhibits of the Forum of Emperors Trajan, Nerva and Augustus.
These forums were fairly well preserved until 1605 when Pope Paul V decided he needed all the marble for a palace and a fountain he was building, what you see today is the result of this act of vandalism by the Pope. From the market platform you can look directly at the Altar of the Nation, this white marble monument was built about 130 yrs ago to commemorate the Royal House of Savoy and the unification of Italy as one country in 1860. It is the largest marble monument built in modern times. The belly of the horse on which sits the figure of King Vittorio Emmanuele can have inside a dining table and 9 men around it for a meal, there is an actual photo of this feat.

I then crossed Via Nazionale and walked up to the Quirinale Palace on my way home passing by the back gate of Prince Colona's garden where once stood the massive Temple to Serapis. The Quirinale was once a Papal Summer Palace, then in 1860 it was confiscated and became the Palace of the Italian King and in 1946 it became the Presidential Palace under the new Italian Republic. However it retains all of its grandeur and the President is housed like a king with all the ceremonial and protocol this entails.

I then walked up along the palace towards Piazza Santa Suzanna where the fountain of Moses has been cleaned after years of neglect, the stone has this soft butter color, it use to be part of a Cardinal's Palace, the palace today is the St-Regis Hotel. The fountain is in fact just a facade, it hides a beautiful apartment attached to the back.

Then onwards towards Porta Pia and home, the street lined with orange trees, full of oranges, they are apparently good to make jam but not to eat. I thought to myself, when would I ever be able to do this back in Canada. This is what I will miss most of Rome when we leave, this certain theatre of life and the elegance of this old city. Will continue to enjoy our stay and make most of it.