Life is better with a broomstick: creative solutions to appliance problems in Rome

 

Italian ingenuity often has to extend to making appliances work.  Here a broom handle is used to keep the oven on.

But it wasn't the only use we found for broom handles.

Below, the only way we found to keep the washing machine door shut:

Needless to say neither the stove (which was in a friend's apartment) nor the washing machine would work without these tricks.

And finally, maybe not crucial - unless you don't want to put dishes away with one hand while the other holds the cabinet door open - our solution to a sky drain door that wouldn't stay up:

We are fans of the sky drain - Italians way of drying dishes. We wish American kitchen designers would use them, though Americans are addicted to electric dishwashers.

We don't think we're dissing Italian products by saying that often design trumps utility, though these aren't the coolest designs we've seen. Just routine appliances that don't quite work.

  BTW, don't expect the Airbnb host to tell you how to solve these problems - just look for the broomstick in the closet.

Dianne

Golf Bags and Blood Vats - Rome's Art Scene

Italy’s ability to put in contradistinction almost anything – art and labor, history and design, the repellant and the beautiful – never ceases to engage us.  And MACRO Testaccio – an evolving part of the city-sponsored contemporary art gallery - has always been one of our favorite Rome locales for these contexts. 

We recently marveled at the design winners in the show there that ends Sunday – the last 3 years GoldenCompass winners from the Association of Industrial Design in Italy.

Dental station

Everything from toilets to purses, bedroom lighting to sports equipment (the golf bag for my Dad), dental office equipment (right).  All is set in one of the largest buildings (La Pelanda) of this former slaughterhouse in the Testaccio neighborhood.  Even the blood-letting vats still stand – just a few steps from elegant dining room décor. 

And we like MACRO Testaccio’s hours – 4 p.m. to midnight (except Mondays), and the other art and performances there.  The evening we were at the “Made in Italy and National Identity” show we also saw a couple performance pieces by artists from the international group, “Black Market International”(as to what they meant, we’re have very few ideas, tho’ we tried – the accordion and the slowly moving bell that finally rings? The man wrapped up with little pieces of paper and string?). 

The bar at MACRO Testaccio is clearly becoming one of Rome’s hot spots.  And the woman in the see-through blouse just added to the atmosphere. 

MARCO Testaccio is open only when there’s a show, and the price can vary (the design show is Euro 4, but somehow we got in free).  Check out the current shows at their website (this is the English version).  Dianne

Mad Men should be so good: Cat Food and Aperol



hanging in a Metro exit

 

Italian design sense extends to ads, in our opinion.  In this blog we feature a couple that particularly appeal to us.

The one at left is from a series we had noticed but not photographed until a US friend said "what is THAT advertising?"  And well she might ask:  nudity, interracial couple... " Ah, I told her, pet food."  And so it is.

The "hot" couple sporting swizzle sticks between their mouths and noses below are part of a good (we think) ad campaign for the liqueur Aperol, which is the main ingredient in a "Spritz" - another part of the ad.  Our NYC friends were excited to find a large bottle of Aperol for not so many Euros in our very ordinary local grocery store in Rome (it has only recently been available in NYC, they told us).  They gave us the recipe for the Spritz, but when we went to a dinner party in Rome later that month, the issue of the REAL Spritz came up, and naturally someone had to call a friend in Venice to find out the true ingredients, since the drink comes from that region.  Was it Prosecco or white wine? Did it have lemon? what else?  (BTW, the ironic tag line reads:  "For all those who always take themselves seriously.")

In any event, here's our Americanized version for one drink from Food and Wine:

3 oz. Aperol, 1 oz Prosecco, 1 oz club soda, 1 lemon twist.  In an ice-filled rocks glass stir together the Aperol, Prosecco, and club soda; garnish with the lemon twist.  Put swizzle stick between your nose and mouth - if you can.  We tried it but the photos are so silly we are embarrassed to show them!

Dianne

Favorite Toilets Series: Trajan's Market

William Klein photo

One of the best ways to create excitement is to have a "series"--here, our Favorite Toilets Series--even if you don't have one.  But if we don't have a series, we do have a starter entry.  It's located in Trajan's Market, on the back (southeast) side, and to get  access you'll have to pay the regular fee for admission to the market.  So no matter how much you fancy toilets, we recommend you hold off seeing this one until you've got a reason to be there--say, an exhibition (we were there for the William Klein photo show--left), or just to see a really old market. 

The entrance to the men's toilet is in the photo at right; the men's facility is left, and the women's (if I recall) is right.  Watch the first step after you enter; it's a doozy, and you can easily end up admiring the restroom from floor level.  

Once inside you'll know why we like these toilets: for the magnificent contrast between the ancient structure and high modern Italian design, between the rough brick surfaces of a once-functioning market and the gleaming, stainless steel fixtures of a bathroom for tourists. 

Mosaic tile walls, nifty fluorescent look.  You just want to spend some time in here.
 
Apparently the architect decided that tourists don't use or need a toilet seat, but in Italy that's not exactly man bites dog. 

Bill