photos of Ferragosto

From what I hear and messages I received from friends in Rome some people are leaving the Città for  the beginning of the Summer Holidays which in fact started as early as Monday 11 August and will continue until at least the 2 September for the very lucky and up to the 18 August for those not so fortunate in more ways than one. Italy has slipped back into a severe recession and the economy is not good, unemployment for young people (under 30) is hovering around 43% which is a disaster. This is due in large part to years of Right Wing Conservative Politics and negligence under Sylvio Berlusconi as Prime Minister.

As a tourist you are not likely to see anything and if you do not speak Italian you will not even be aware of the problems facing Italy.

Nonetheless now is time for the annual vacation and the 15 August which was instituted by the first Roman Emperor Octavian know as Augustus some 2000 years ago. When in the fourth century Christianity became an official religion in Rome the holiday meaning was gradually changed and became a major religious holiday dedicated to the Assumption into Heaven of the Blessed Virgin Mary,  nowadays it is the signal for summer vacation time.

Here are some favourite photos of Rome and Italy.

 The Church of St-Agnes in Agony on Piazza Navona, the church dates from the 8th century, the baroque facade from 1652 on the orders of Pope Innocent X of the Doria Pamphilij Family. 

 Our pool in our first home in Rome, Via Asmara 9. It was quite large, no we did not have to clean it.

The old garden area of the former estate on Via Asmara 9, never did discover who had built this garden but it was quite large and pleasant.

Another view of our pool on Via Asmara 9, never used it really.

 Our Reesie, he was a long hair Dachshund. Sitting quietly amongst the white roses in the garden

 The Oculus of the Pantheon in Rome, the opening is 27 feet in diameter or 8.2 meters

  Moon over Rome, if you look closely at the picture the middle dark part you can see the ruins of the Imperial Palaces on the Palatine Hill.

 Seen from the Market of Emperor Trajan a side view of the Italian Altar to the Nation also known as the Vittoriano on Piazza Venezia, the largest marble monument in the world. 

 The window of the French Ambassador's Office at the French Embassy in the Farnese Palace in Rome. The Coat of Arms above the window are those of the Farnese Pope Paul III.
Incidentally the first French Ambassador to rent out the palace as a residence was none other than the brother of Cardinal Richelieu who was Chief Minister of the King of France. Cardinal Alphonse Richelieu (yes it ran in the family) was the religiously inclined one compared to his politician brother.

Street parking in Rome with Olive trees

 Castle San Angelo originally built as the Mausoleum to Emperor Hadrian.

Carabinieri in gala uniform, they are the elite police corps in Italy 

 The famous fountain of the turtles near the old ghetto of Rome

Equestrian statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius on the Campidoglio Piazza in front of the City Hall of Rome on the Capitoline Hill. The original statue is 1900 years old and is inside in the museum to the left of the photo.

On our way to the Adriatic coast

The Oreste Ruggieri House in Pesaro, c.1900 Art Nouveau style.

We left Rome around 10 am and it took us about 2 hours to make it to Ancona on the Adriatic coast, most of the highway across (west to east) of the Italian Peninsula (A24) had very light traffic. We turned off unto the Adriatica Highway (A14) just North of Pescara. We stopped for lunch in Ancona at a restaurant we went to last year. Very good food, many awards and friendly owner. See www.osteriastrabacco.it

Ancona is one of those cities, a seaport, where you need a GPS to find your way unless you are very familiar with the city.

Afterwards we were just 66 km south of Pesaro so we took the SS16 towards Fano and then Pesaro. On our way to the coast, I got a phone call from the hotel we had booked our suite. The receptionist tells me that our room is really too small for what we reserved would we mind moving one block away to their other hotel the Vittoria, same price, etc. I knew the Vittoria, it is owned by the same family who owns several hotels in Pesaro and Urbino. The family of Count Alessandro-Ferruccio Marcucci Pinoli are old Papal nobility stock and related to the Duke of Montefeltro and Della Rovere. His web site www.nani-faivivere.it The families ruled the Marche region at the time of the Renaissance. The hotel Vittoria is small about 38 rooms and suite, formely a private noble house on the seashore. It is very much a 1900 style hotel, formal, quiet, elegant. It is I am told amongst the 20 best hotels in all Italy. It has all the services any one would want, pool, sauna, gym, the restaurant has haute cuisine and all dishes served have a calorie count so if you are watching your weight, it’s very useful, no fast food or children menu here, waiters in dark suit, silverware, linen tablecloth and fine porcelain.
The view from our room.

I like the hotel because it is so quiet, you hear nothing even in the lobby or the restaurant. The parking is interesting, they have exactly 4 parking spaces for small cars. The other hotel, a block away, were I am parked has space for 8 cars total. They expect their clients to arrive by train like in 1900. Their site www.viphotels.it
The most common language spoken or heard in Pesaro after Italian is German, the Rossini Festival brings a lot of fans from German speaking countries.

August means summer vacations!

Beach at Pesaro, Italy on the Adriatic.
Today marks the third anniversary of our arrival in Rome. We arrived and little did we realize that we were at the beginning of the long summer holiday in August. Rome was quiet, no traffic, lots of parking and most shops closed until September. As of Monday many shops will be closed, our butcher is gone until September, the drugstore is closed, cafes are closing, in our neighborhood I realize today that all the cafes will be closed including the one who is usually open, because this year it is under renovations. Cash ATM machines will also run out of money and banks are on shorter hours, due to lots of staff being on leave. Grocery shopping will have to be done in the morning.
So we too are going away to the beach with 3 rules to follow for these long days of summer.
1) siesta from 1-4pm (or later), 2) don't dine before 9pm (or later), and 3) la passeggiata e il aperitivo! (An evening stroll walk and an aperitif.)

Buon estate a tutti! (A great summer to all!)