Rome trip - Feb 2017, culture and history

I gave you an update on the food highlights of our weekend in Rome last week.
Seriously, if there wasn't that slight bottleneck in life that is the need to digest your food before you start eating again, I could have just stopped at that, but hey, I thought maybe we should also check out all that historical stuff going on in the city.

Culturally, our highlight was a guided tour of Ancient Rome we booked with the company Through Eternity. The company is passionate about giving excellent quality tours from the knowledge and professionalism of their tour guides. 

Ours, Enrica, a well-travelled PhD in archaeology with fantastic English and a real passion for being a tour guide, stoked our imagination with her skilful storytelling and frequent references to Anglo-saxon culture.

From insightful etymological facts to the real intentions of political intrigue behind historical events, her rapid and constant flow of stories kept me transfixed for the whole 3.5 hour tour, taking us from the Roman Forum through Palatine Hill to the Colosseum.

Beating the crowds at 9am on our way to the meet up point by the Colosseum

Let me give you a little taster.

You may have heard of the legend of the founding of Rome by Romulus, the first Roman King.

Legend goes that Rhea Silvia, a vestal virgin, was "visited" by the god Mars during her sleep and found herself pregnant with twins, Romulus and Remus (no, definitely not immaculate conception and yes, somehow in ancient mythology, rape was not an abomination but just something that happened when the gods lacking self-control would just use humans for the relief of their sexual impulses). 

Vestal virgins were highly venerated young ladies who had been carefully selected from aristocratic families to dedicate their lives to tending to the fire in the temple of Vesta (the goddess of the hearth) day and night. The fire should never die, lest some misfortune should come to pass. 

These young ladies had to make a vow of chastity, and would be buried alive as punishment for breaking their vow.

Poor Rhea Silvia found herself having to abandon her sons in the forest, where it is said that they were found and raised by a she-wolf or lupa. 

The new information for me was that the word lupa is also used for brothel, and therefore maybe those twins did exist but they were raised by a kind and caring prostitute and not by a wolf!

I really liked this version of the story, one that not only makes the legend a more realistic version of reality but also that shows humanity and the main role of a social outcast in the making of a king.



Another story which struck me was about the reality of life for the gladiators.

Those men were enemies of war captured on the victory by the Roman Empire, carefully selected for their fighting skills then trained in the gladiator complex next to the Colosseum.

They were expensive, highly trained slaves which were rented by the Roman emperor for the free games they would offer the Roman people to increase their popularity.

It was likely for friends or brothers would have to fight each other for the amusement of the Romans.
Fighting weapons were only carefully handed to the gladiators once they would reach the arena, after many of them would rather commit suicide rather than fighting each other to amuse their enemies. 
Some stabbed themselves after having been given their weapon on the ramp before the entrance to the arena, another choked themselves to death with the dirty sponge used in the toilet, and a group of Saxons strangled each other to death in their cell, the last one hanging himself.


On that cheerful note, here are a few pictures of just light strolling we did around the city. We used the book Strolling Through Rome by Mario Erasmo, which was marvellous in giving us snippets of insightful and interesting information along our walks.

The Trevi Fountain, mobbed as usual

View over the Via Sacra from higher on Palatine Hill

Colosseum and Constantine's triumph arch

Yep I AM trying to imitate one of the saints' awkward pose on St Peter's Square, Vatican! 

My lover and me in front of St Peter's Basilica, Vatican

Pigeons having a bath in one of the many water fountains in the city

I turned into a pigeon for a minute and basked in the February sun, on our walk up to the Terrace of the Janiculum

Another great view on our walk up to the panoramic view point at the top of the Janiculum

We reached the top and had sore legs and feet and a peanut butter and double chocolate Magnum!

Rome trip - Feb 2017, Food highlights

We decided to stay in the Testaccio area, a half hour walk south of the Colosseum, to experience the "real Rome" slightly away from the crammed touristic areas, and we were very glad we did!

All the great meals worth writing home about, we had in Testaccio; the others in tourist areas being delicious but not exceptional.

On the first night, upon arriving, we had a late dinner at the local Pizzeria Da Remo, a delightfully cramped and noisy local place with stocky waiters expertly carried armfuls of plates around and cleared tables in one swift sweep, folding the paper tablecloth into a parcel then efficiently taken away.

The pizze had an amazingly thin crust baked to a crunchy crisp on the edges in the wood oven; the capricciosa offered the separate flavours of the mushrooms, cured ham, and artichoke, while the pizza Remo had a delicious topping of soft roasted aubergines, chunks of succulent rosemary and fennel infused sausage meat. This welcome to Rome left us elated and looking forward to the rest of the trip.

We went to Barberini, a caffe / pasticceria around the corner, for breakfast the next morning and returned every morning thereafter! Reminiscent of the scene in Eat Pray Love where Julia Roberts tries to order a coffee in a fast-paced gilt-colour decorated coffee shop where she first meets her Swedish friend Sophie, this was a bustling place where local people would gulp down a quick caffè and cornetto (croissant) standing over the savoury pastry counter before starting their day.

As I was wondering how I was going to make it to the counter, with a slightly stunned and anxious look on my face, the staff would ask for my order and humour my limited Italian by generously filling in the gaps with the missing Italian words in my broken sentences.

Our last hour in Rome before our mid morning flight was spent savouring their creamy and light cappuccino and the warm prosciutto e funghi panino, the bread evoking the comfort of a mother's embrace, with its crispy outside crust and delicately fluffy and light flesh in the middle, the mild saltiness of the prosciutto cotto e funghi elevating the taste of whole panino.

On another morning when Charlie was vegetating back at the Airbnb after a hangover from the previous night's mezzo litro of the house red, I decided to visit the local Testaccio indoor market. The stalls were brimming with fresh and colourful vegetables and fruits, and particularly carciofi (globe artichokes) which are in season.

I stumbled upon Casa Manco, a stall opened 3 months ago by a couple of former architects who chose to pursue their passion for pizza. The dough is organic and they leave it to rise for 3 days, making it taste of real bread that satisfies your stomach and your soul. The lady in her conveniently fluent English insisted on me sampling liberal portions of the arm-long pizze freshly coming out of the oven one after the other, with inventive toppings such as grated fresh zucchini, houmous & rosemary-infused shredded cabbage, onion soup, or simply sesame seeds with sprinkled coarse sea salt. 

As I stuffed my face, trying to keep my pleasurable murmurings at low volume, I observed the locals snapping up whole pizze in their entirety to take back to their families.   I settled on generous slices of zucchini, onion soup and sesame pizza, which I brought back to my hungover beloved. Now there's feeding and there's feeding; and I felt proud and happy to bring food that was not only delicious but also nurturing for mind and soul.

After all the pizza and pasta, my gut was craving vegetables. The merchant helpfully directed me to a stall where Zoe made juices from fresh fruit and vegetables (estratti). Mine was personalised - "lo faccio io?" (shall I choose the ingredients for you?), she asks for my permission, standing behind all her fresh produce.

The sweetness of the ingredients including cabbage, fennel and pineapple triggered happy hormones in my brain as the juice was sliding from the straw through my mouth and into my stomach.

Another great place for juices was Foodie Mercato Fresco on Piazza Testaccio, with their amazing array of colourful fruit and veg, a great local place for vegans, with their estratti, soups, panini, and Pukka & Clipper teas. 

We also had a great meal at Tavernaccia Da Bruno, starting with a bruschetta of cured lard and dollops of thick and intense honey - heaven!

The wild boar pappardelle and rigatoni amatriciana left us silently savouring every mouthful, and the suckling pig was so succulent that although we already felt uncomfortably full, the plates were left empty, the juices mopped with bread.

With the globe artichokes in season, one restaurant in the Jewish ghetto offered an 8-course carciofi menu.
We loved the carciofi a la giuda, fried until the leaves are crisp, while the heart is tender and perfectly cooked in the middle.

All those meals were satisfyingly inexpensive, the cappuccino at Barberini costing €1, the pizza at Da Remo €6-7, the pasta at la Tavernaccia €9. It made us feel welcome into the community to have access to real honest nutritious food at the cost that locals pay. 

This week's menu is going to be mostly veg soups, bone broths and smoothies - the body is happy but feeling heavy!