Cute Cat Clickbait - Roman style

We're not immune to cute cat photos, having owned several cats in our lifetimes - all of them wonderful in their own ways (yes, Zelda, the last, you were the best). So we have shot a few cat pix in Rome, along with shooting Bill's graffiti and my daily chronicles.

Rome is a cat-loving city.  There are its gattori - the women (mostly) who put out food for the cats, and the cat sanctuaries at the Pyramid and in Largo

Inside the cat sanctuary at Largo di Torre Argentina.

di Torre Argentina, the latter where Caesar supposedly was killed (talk about iconic places). Bo Lundin, who is the author of the Swedish guide to Rome, wrote on RST about Nelson, the one-eyed cat who hung out in those Roman ruins.

Cats chilling out on scooters are our favorites.  At the top of this post and immediately below are two from last year.

Our scooter was parked right next to this guy; so we had to take care not to disturb him (or her).

Just to show our long-lived interest, the photo below is from 2007.

Then there's this cyclist - whom we saw in both 2018 and 2019 - so we know the cat survived at least one year riding on his shoulders (and the cat obviously is no kitten).

In Villa Borghese.

We conclude with a few favorites - below, eating a potato chip on the terrazzo of Lo Zodiaco on Monte Mario (this one made it into the print edition of RST - p. 132):

That's me giving this bold cat a non-nutritious treat (the chips
came free with our drink).

And these wonderful cat/ghosts from, I recall, Trastevere.  I can't recall the graffiti artist's name, but in looking for it, I discovered lots of graffiti cats, including those by 215 and Alice (who once were a couple) and Diavù (Anna Magnani with cat). Bill says he has more photos of cat graffiti in his files as well - so there likely will be another "cute cat clickbait" post in RST's future.

Dianne

Walking the (Aurelian) Wall (III): the Tame and the Wild Sides

A handsome portion of the wall, near the Pyramid, with a tropical look

This section of the Aurelian Wall, running from Porta San Paolo and the Pyramid to the Tevere (and Porta Portese), has two faces: one quite touristy and civilized, the other rather odd and possibly even a bit dangerous.  It is noted by some as one of the longer, intact stretches of this third century wall, once encircling all of Rome.  But the stretch has its limitations, as RST discovered. [Update: a Google map that includes this itinerary.]

To the left of the Pyramid, a short section
 of the wall, extending toward - but not to -
Porta San Paolo; here you also can see
where the wall  has been removed for traffic.

The tame, or civilized phase begins at the Pyramid (here, a part of the wall - another "existing structure" used to build the wall quickly in 271-75 AD).  Because this area is well known for armed resistance to Nazi occupation of Rome in 1943, the wall here is a resource for memories of that moment.

Remembering the dead

The pillar (photo right) remembers 471 people who died defending the city.  Just beyond, between the Pyramid and the wall proper, volunteers who care for the hundreds of cats that live in a special facility here, were closing up for the day.






And beyond that, the wall itself is impressive (see photo at the top of this post), even if the grounds on the outside of the wall are unkempt and full of evidence that a lot of drinking is done here: not only bottles but dozens of bottle caps embedded in a stump.  Though we're on the outside here, the inside of the wall is accessible in this area through two cemeteries: the well-known Non-Catholic Cemetery, which contains lots of important bodies, including that of the Italian intellectual Antonio Gramsci, and the haunting (British) Commonwealth Cemetery just across via N. Zabaglia, just ahead (both, again, inside the wall).

Mailbox for wall "address"

Now things get a bit funky.  As we continued beyond the small turnabout/piazza, following the outside of the wall, we passed a man relaxing in the weeds, then came upon a locked gate to which was attached a mail box, as if someone had once (or still did) live inside. 

Street-cleaning/garbage truck facility restricts access to wall

At this point the wall continues as part of an Ama (trash-collecting, street cleaning) facility.  We decided we would not have been welcome inside.  So we tracked back, hoping to follow the wall from the inside, past the front of the Commonwealth Cemetery, then a bit downhill onto the road that curves (clockwise) around Monte Testaccio, with its cool collection of late-night bars.

The Aurelian wall is somewhere ahead.  To the right,
the wall of the ex-Mattatoio

Following the curving road, in a couple of minutes we ended up at the long, straight road that fronts the ex-Mattatoio (literally, Killing Center, what we call a slaughterhouse, once a stockyard).  Heading left, toward the Aurelian wall (not yet visible), graffiti covering a portion of the ex-Mattatoio, then right--there's just a glimpse of the wall here--along a row of houses occupied, we think, by new and poor immigrants, Romanians and others, perhaps Roma (Rom, "gypsies").

A glimpse of the wall, between the wall of the ex-Mattatoio (left) and housing (right)

NO TAV graffiti, inside the ex-Mattatoio

Dianne would go no further.  Bill took the first right, then a quick left, quickly observing a row of about ten home-made shacks and a big barking black dog (which was fortunately chained).  Bill, too, retreated--from danger and likely embarrassment--and our not-so-intrepid couple retraced their steps to one of several open entrances to the yards, heading to and beyond a heavily graffitied tower at the center of the complex (of the graffiti on the walls to the left, note the nice train with
the NO TAV sign: in northern Italy, especially, there's strong opposition to a proposed new high-speed train (Treno Alta Velocita) through the French and Italian Alps.

The wall ends--or appears to end.  Photo taken from train.
Despite the sign, we are still in Testaccio, not yet across
the Tevere in Trastevere.

At the far end of the large open area of the ex-Mattatoio there's another road, inside the complex, leading left.  Not useful, we decided, in locating the wall.  So we left the complex, ahead and just to the right, through an exit onto the Lungotevere Testaccio that wasn't open a year ago.  Walking left, the road ends abruptly after about 200 meters, at a railroad bridge over the Tevere.  We still can't see the wall, and-- from a train several days later--we saw why: the wall, too, ends abruptly before it reaches the river.

Along the Tevere.  If not part of the wall, what is it?

We're thinking that the wall planners didn't see any necessity for a wall along the river--a sort of natural barrier--but there is an existing wall-like section, including a tower, along the road that runs above the river here, and some - but not all - maps show the wall was indeed here.

Tent housing, along the bank of the Tevere

But (we're trying to think this through) if the Aurelian wall had been built along the expanse of river from the railroad bridge (to the south) to Ponte Sublicio/Porta Portese (to the north), then surely there would be visible remnants of the wall.  And there are none--except, possibly, that tower and related remains--or none to be seen from the road, anyway. Another theory - that the remnants of the wall became part of the now-high river embankments.  But, back to our trek: below the road, near a path that runs along the river bank, people are living amid weeds in tents and huts.  Not for tourists, not even us.

A favorite bar, at corner of via Galvani and via
N. Zabaglia.  Time for an aperitivo.  

Today's search for the wall at an end, we turned back into the ex-Mattatoio,  past the old stockyards and the giant Bambu' installation that is part of MACRO Testaccio, along the bars and clubs built into Monte Testaccio, to the next corner and one of our favorite bars.  We were lucky.  It was 6:05 p.m., and five minutes earlier happy hour had begun: an aperitivo and plenty to eat, a photo show of historic Testaccio, and all for Euro 4 per person.  What a city!


Bill   

The Protestant Cemetery is Now the Non-Catholic Cemetery, with an Updated History

John Keats' (1795-1821) and Joseph Severn's (1803-79) and his son's tombstones,
with the Pyramid in back; the graves came close to being moved, and this route
turned into a car and tram road, according to a new book on the history
of the cemetery.

The Non-Catholic Cemetery (as we now must call it; previously it had several names and most common being The Protestant Cemetery) is one of our favorite places in Rome, and hit #31 on our Top 40 RST list. 

Its history also fascinates us - so many stories to tell from those gravestones.  I confess to making an error by repeating a rumor that only Shelley's heart was buried there.  I was quickly corrected by one of the Cemetery volunteers... but the error remains in the print edition of RST, to my embarrassment.  Now I can't claim poor sources for any errors because there's a terrific new book out on the Cemetery:  Nicholas Stanley-Price's The Non-Catholic Cemetery in Rome: Its History, Its People and Its Survival for 300 Years.

Keats' tombstone; now
cleaned up; without his name,
as he requested of his friend,
Severn; only "Young English Poet"
 and the words he requested:
"Here lies one whose name
 was writ in water."

We had not known that the cemetery started in 1716 as a concession from the Pope to grant a place to bury non-Catholic members of the Stuart court, which was in exile in Rome.

Gramsci's tombstone, the third most
popular in the cemetery, per Stanley-
Price

Stanley-Price's description of the various attacks on the Cemetery were surprising to me.  In his chronology he has a note for 1888:  "Proposal of 1883 Master Plan to destroy the Old Cemetery is blocked."  Nor did we know the cemetery suffered bomb damage (by the Allies) in World War II.

Stanley-Price relates a late 19th century plan to cut a road for cars and a tram-line through the Cemetery and sever the ancient part - where Keats lies near to the Pyramid, from the merely "old" part (now called the New Cemetery) which was the orderly beginning of the main part of the cemetery.  In the 1880s about 30 meters' length of the Aurelian Wall next to the Pyramid was destroyed to make way for the road, then left boarded up for decades, then in 1930 put back in place ("restored" or rather a simulacra of it put in place).  Hence those lighter colored bricks, the opening for the cat pound, and the placement of numerous memorial plaques on this rather new section of the wall.

The book has nifty sidebars with lists such as  "Artists buried in the 18th century with no grave known today" and "A selection of noted sculptors buried in the Cemetery," as well as some with interesting side stories:  "Hendrik Anderson's sculpture Eternal Life" and "Cosmopolitanism of the cemetery burials." 

Angel of the Resurrection by Franklin Simmons (1839-1913) for wife Ella and himself
The cemetery has a plethora of notable sculptures, and many are described, with their history and artist information, in the new book.

You'll also find out why Gramsci is buried there, even though Italians generally cannot be (it goes back to his in-laws - they were good for something).  And Daisy Miller is buried there - at least in Henry James's novel.

The book - a good read -  generally is available at the cemetery office/book shop, Euro 18, or by mail outside Europe for Euro 37.  See more information on the Web site: The old drawings, maps,  and photos of the cemetery are evocative as well. www.cemeteryrome.it.

Dianne

Rome War Cemetery - an isolated reminder of World War II

Lesser known than its partner across the road, the Rome War Cemetery is no less peaceful, or sobering.  Here lie the remains of over 400 Commonwealth soldiers who died, defending Italy, in World War II.  Like the Protestant Cemetery in Rome, where Keats, Shelley, Gramsci and others are buried or memorialized, this cemetery is nestled against the Aurelian Walls and the tombstones are solemn reminders of the sacrifices of the English and their Commonwealth countries.  The cemetery began as a burying ground for the soldiers garrisoned in Rome, when it was occupied by the Allies after the Germans left the city on June 3, 1944, but it also includes the bodies of soldiers from the surrounding area, as well as those who died as POWs.  There are, of course, much larger British cemeteries in Cassino and Anzio, and elsewhere in Italy.

The memorial at right includes a stone from Hadrian's Wall - in the UK - the northernmost point of the Roman Empire, tying the United Kingdom historically to Italy for some 2000 years.

To visit the Rome War Cemetery, either walk around Monte Testaccio, or walk past the Protestant Cemetery - further away from the Pyramid.  Address:  via Nicola Zabaglia, 50. The cemetery is open only when the gardeners are there:  Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m. - noon, and 12:30 - 3 p.m.

Dianne

plaque with the stone from Hadrian's Wall

A. S. Roma's Soccer Field: Soon to be a Parking Lot

Stadio Olimpico, current home of A.S. Roma.  At left,
a few of the 1930s statues that line the Foro Italico
athletic field. 

A.S. Roma is one of two great Rome soccer teams (the other is Lazio).  For many years both teams have played their games at the Stadio Olimpico, originally built as part of Foro Mussolino (now called Foro Italico) in the 1930s, but significantly remodeled for the 1960 Olympic Games.  Recently the new American owner of the team, for reasons unknown to RST, has been pursuing plans for a new stadium for the Roma club, to be built on the outskirts of the city.  Those plans were dashed when the land was sold for yet another big housing project.   Now there's talk of building it in Guidonia, a country town about 25 kilometers northeast of Rome's center, served by a 2-lane road.   We can imagine the Monday morning headline: "Traffico nel Caos" (Traffic in Chaos).   

The stadium where Roma once played, seen from
Monte Testaccio.  Here it still resembles
a soccer field.  In the background, right,
the Pyramid. 

Decades ago the Roma team (generally considered to have a more leftist and working-class fan base, than also Rome-based Lazio, whose fans are generally more upper class and right-wing) played in a small stadium in Testaccio, then a working-class quartiere and home to a massive slaughterhouse, and known to tourists primarily for Monte Testaccio, a substantial hill created two thousand years ago from shattered amphorae, the huge clay jars used to transport oil and wine.  We first saw the old stadium in 2010, from the crest of Monte Testaccio (photo left). 

The same stadium, 2 years later.  The photo was
taken from via Caio Cestio. 

And just last month we walked by the field, now just weeds.  In a year or two, we learned, it will be a parking lot.

Bill

This photo, recalling a 5-0 Roma victory over Torino (Turin) powerhouse Juventus in 1931, is in the new Testaccio market,
not far from Roma's old field, where the game likely was played.  The market is another sign of gentrification of the neighborhood.

RST Top 40. #31: Protestant Cemetery

"It might make one in love with death, to think that one should be buried in so sweet a place."

It's hard to top Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley's take on Rome's Non-Catholic (usually referred to as Protestant) Cemetery, and shortly after penning these words, in 1822 he drowned off the coast of Italy and was buried here.

There are myriad reasons to put the Protestant Cemetery in Rome the Second Time's Top 40, including visiting the graves of figures such as Shelley, fellow Romantic Poet John Keats, and 20th-century Italian intellectual atheist Antonio Gramsci, who died in 1937 under police guard in a Rome hospital (having spent a decade in Fasicst prisons).

Another reason to visit is simply its lushness and quiet, especially compared to the zaniness that is Rome. It's a lovely break from one of the most congested of areas, the Porta San Paolo, right outside the Cemetery walls. A third is the spectacular - and perhaps best - view of the Pyramid.

The Protestant Cemetery has been much better maintained in the past few years, with regular (!) visiting hours, a newsletter, and a very helpful website in English.

The Cemetery appears in Rome the Second Time as part of Itinerary 4 at pages 71-72, and note the correction on Shelley's heart (now that should tempt you to check it out) in our post of May 5, 2009.

Dianne