Enjoying Rome--with a Campari Spritz

We arrived in Rome in mid-April ready to imbibe (no doubt from the Latin for "drink"—bibere) a lot of Campari,  the somewhat bitter liqueur that we had first experienced decades ago, and immediately disliked. The bars in San Lorenzo, Piazza Bologna, and elsewhere in the city were ready to oblige the evolution in our tastebuds. The Campari Spritz (Campari and Prosecco with a twist of orange peel) is ubiquitous, exceeded in popularity only by its counterpart, the Aperol Spritz—sweeter, not to our liking.

The classic Negroni—made with equal parts Campari, sweet vermouth, and gin, is also very popular, as is the Milano-Torino (Campari and sweet vermouth, no mixer), known familiarly as the Mi-To (pronounced Me-Toe), the name derived from the origin of the ingredients: Campari is made in Milano, sweet vermouth [by Martini and Rossi] in Torino (mito also is "myth" in Italian). 

In the city center, across from Piazza Venezia, a busy bar filled with tourists had as its centerpiece over-sized bottles of Campari and Aperol.

High-up, center: Campari featured prominently at the local bar, "My Way," we frequented in
the Piazza Bologna area (it was our favorite morning coffee bar in the neighborhood).
 And 5 bottles Campari to 1 Aperol.

In Rome, the "spritz" is almost always served in a large wine glass with plenty of ice. 

Nothing like a spritz (pronounced "spreetz") to put a 
smile on your face.

You can also get a "spritz" to go. At this place—at a Liberation Day celebration—the price was E6 (about $6.60).

The spritz has also reached London, but only in the trendier areas, like Soho in the photo below. The Brits will have trouble giving up their beer.

London

The standard price in Rome for a Campari Spritz is E5 (the Happy Hour price) to E6/7, and the price sometimes includes potato chips, olives, and peanuts. The price was E10 at Satyrus—no chips, no nothing—but it's a trendy, seasonal bar, on the edge of Villa Borghese, across the street from the National Gallery of Modern Art (with free admission that day, so we could afford the pricey spritzes, and the Euro is currently a beguiling $1.10).

Dianne at Satyrus—

—overlooking the gallery

Enjoying a "spritz" at Tree Bar on via Flaminia—note the hand-cut chips and other goodies.

Of course, the grocery stores carry Campari Soda, in those cute one-portion triangular bottles designed by Futurist artist Fortunato Depero in 1934, shown here in an all-Depero exhibit currently at Rhinoceros Gallery in the Hotel Rhinoceros. The gallery is just steps from the Bocca della Verità and down the street from the Campidoglio. 

Curiously, it proved difficult to find our own bottle of Campari, for home consumption (mostly by our guests, we claim). Rome's grocery stores all carry copious amounts of wine, spirits, and liqueurs, but Campari was never on the shelf. In one store, a cashier who appeared to be knowledgeable told us that the Campari was under lock and key in storage, because it was a frequently stolen item. He sent an employee to the back room—he was sure it was there—but the employee came up empty, twice, as did the cashier on his own expedition. Then we noticed that some bars had what looked like Campari, but the label was somewhat different; we wondered what was going on. 

Finally, we found our Campari, in of all places—a mini-market just down the street from our Piazza Bologna apartment. Mission accomplished!

Mini-market to the rescue! An ample supply of Campari. Aperol, too. Sweet vermouth to the right.

We later became aware that over the last decade or so, Campari—made only by one company—has now and then been in short supply. Given that some young folks have abandoned wine for beer and cocktails, and given that Campari is a widely favored cocktail ingredient, the shortage that we experienced makes sense.

Just a few years ago, a sign for "cocktails" would have been a rare sighting in Rome. Not today. We have since learned from a teacher friend that Italians are not particularly good with the apostrophe—even in their own language, let alone English (nor are Americans, we've noticed).

 

Bill

The Holidays in Rome, Part I: Markets, Displays, The Vatican, Worshipping

RST is pleased to welcome back guest blogger Theresa Potenza (her last RST post was in 2018 on holidays in Rome and before that on the Etruscans in nearby Cerveteri  - she's a scholar of Etruscan history). Based in Rome, Potenza is an art historian, private tour guide, and freelance writer. To learn more about her private tours of Rome and read her travel and feature stories about Italy, check out: www.tourwiththeresa.com. (Also, her article here, on giving birth in Rome during Covid - an amazing tale [yes, they both got Covid] - and at the end of the post a photo of Theresa and her family.)

This is the first of two posts - since there is so much happening in Rome over the holidays. Part II, which will go up in a week or so, features "Listen" (music apart from the religious context, which is detailed below), "Taste" (special holiday restaurant meals), and "See" (exhibitions and light shows).

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There is no better place to visit than Rome during the holidays.  A city that is eternally enchanting becomes even more so during the magic of Christmastime. The holiday season traditionally begins in Italy with the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8 and ends with the feast of the Epiphany on January 6.  The Eternal City is the center of the action and provides many opportunities and occasions to celebrate. Whether you want to shop, eat, pray, or witness the great spectacles of holiday cheer, here is an updated list of what to do and where in Rome during winter 2023.

Holiday markets

Above, another photo of the Piazza Navona market
(photo at top of post also is from the market).

One of the city’s oldest Christmas traditions is the Mercatino della Befana in Piazza Navona.  The Baroque square with Bernini’s fountain has been a backdrop for holiday magic and events for hundreds of years. In the ancient times the area was a stadium for track and field competitions, and in the 17th century it was the stage for elaborate events for the Papal Pamphili family. Since about the 18th century when the legend of the Italian witch known as the befana became popular, the square has been a favorite destination for Roman families and tourists alike shopping for, among other things, candy “coal." According to Italian legend, the befana witch delivers presents or coal in stockings for children the night before the Epiphany. As the legend has it, the three Magi stopped the befana to ask for directions on their way to bring gifts to newborn Jesus. She apparently did not have directions and is still out wandering, visiting families. The story began in Rome and is still thriving in Italian households and especially in Piazza Navona. At the market you can enjoy a carousel ride, puppet shows, games, and stalls selling candy, hand-crafted befana, nativity sets and other crafts. The festival will be open until the day of Epiphany of January 6.

The largest Christmas festival in the city, Il Natale nel Mondo, will be held in Villa Borghese. Covering an area of 60,000 mq, it hosts everything you can dream of for Christmas. You will find original folklore shows, gospel concerts, a chocolate factory, an ice-skating rink, Santa’s house, a double-decker carousel, life-sized nativity scenes, reproductions of cities around the world, and food and wine stalls. What more could you ask for Christmas? https://christmasworld.net/, [Website in Italian; try your translator if you need it. Tickets may be purchased online through the website.]

The city hosts several small artisan markets throughout December in various locations where you can shop for anything from hand-made ornaments to specialty chocolates. Most of the markets run earlier in the month and finish by Christmas Eve, designed for those getting a head start on gift shopping. For some of the best local Italian food items, check out the Testaccio market until December 24. You can find the program for Rome’s markets on the city’s website,  https://www.comune.roma.it/web/it/notizia.page?contentId=NWS1114598 [Great information, again, in Italian.]

Christmas displays

This year, Rome’s Christmas tree will be displayed in Piazza del Popolo, instead of its usual location in Piazza Venezia. The tree comes from Como in northern Italy [a shout-out to Dianne's relatives' home province] and was lit today, December 8, a public holiday in Italy.

The Vatican Christmas tree will be lit and the nativity scene unveiled instead on December 9, following the Pope’s celebration of the Immaculate Conception on December 8.

The Vatican

As you can imagine, the Vatican makes a big deal out of Christmas, making it one of the most magical destinations to visit and celebrate in December. The decorations in St. Peter’s Square include an 80-foot silver fir tree from Cuneo in Northern Italy, decorated with edelweiss native to the Alps, and a life size nativity scene. Every year different artists from around the world are chosen for a creative nativity display. This year the nativity set will feature terracotta statues made by the Italian diocese in Rieti. The life-sized figures are designed to commemorate the 800-year anniversary of the first living nativity started by St. Francis in 1223 in the town of Greccio. The anniversary of the live nativity also corresponds with the celebration of Pope Francis’ 87th birthday in December. In the colonnade of St. Peter's Square there will be a display of 100 artistic nativity sets, an annual art exhibition known as 100 Presepe. [See Larry Litman's RST post about the presepe display in 2020.} 

Nativity scene at St. Peter's 2020. Photo by Larry Litman. 

Greccio 

It is also worth a day trip to the historic village of Greccio, just an hour outside Rome, for a creative collection of artistic nativity scenes, and to walk through history as it relates to the life of St. Francis.
https://www.wantedinrome.com/news/greccio-home-of-the-worlds-first-nativity-scene.html

Pray

To celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception and the official start of the holiday season in Rome, Pope Francis made a pilgrimage to the statue of the Virgin Mary at the Spanish Steps on December 8. On Christmas Eve, “midnight” mass will be held at 7:30pm inside St. Peter's Basilica, and the Pope will also greet the crowds on Christmas Day at noon for the “Urbi et Orbi” benediction. It is also possible to attend the Pope’s Te Deum prayers on New Year's Eve inside St. Peter's Basilica at 5pm.

The official Vatican website provides a calendar of holy celebrations by Pope Francis. https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/events/year.dir.html/2023.html [Website in Italian].

For English language mass, you can reference the web pages for St. Patrick's Catholic American Parish, which will offer a family mass on Christmas Eve at 4:30pm, and the “midnight” mass at 7:30pm. https://stpatricksamericanrome.org/.

All Saints Anglican Church will have a Crib service at 5pm on Christmas Eve, and the “midnight” mass at 11:30pm. https://www.allsaintsrome.org/schedule.

St. Paul's Within the Walls church will host a grand Christmas concert on December 23rd with solo artists, choir and orchestra, featuring popular holiday music. https://www.operainroma.com/rome/?re-product-id=271221 [Website in both Italian and English].

St. Paul's Within the Walls 

Left, author Theresa Potenza and her family. Photo by Rome photographer   will.i.am.mbiena.

Part II next week!

Raffaele de Vico: Everywhere, but Hardly a Household Name

A dapper de Vico, appropriately in the bushes

If you're headed to Rome and been brushing up on your Rick Steves, you'll have read about Michelangelo, Borromini, Caravaggio, Piranesi, Bernini and a dozen other luminaries of Rome's art and architectural past. Maybe even Marcello Piacentini, who was the creative force behind EUR on the city's outskirts, or Luigi Moretti, who designed several of Rome's best modernist buildings.

A name you won't find in the index to your Blue Guide is Raffaele de Vico, though in your week or two in Rome you'll probably experience more of his work than that of any of his much more famous counterparts. Before Palazzo Braschi gave de Vico his own show in the spring of 2018, we had never heard of him.  And now, for us, he's everywhere.



Raffaele de Vico (1881-1969), an architect, designed a few buildings and other structures in Rome, but none are notable--indeed, none are "tourist attractions."  One that we've always liked--we've been by it hundreds of times and wondered what it housed--is a serbatoio (literally a tank--a building housing a waterworks) --in via Eleniana, a few steps from Porta Maggiore.  It was completed in 1934.



Another, in the famous Verano Cemetery, is an impressive memorial to those who died in the Great War.  We've been in the cemetery more than once, but because it's so large--or because the architect in this case is not so well known--never had it pointed out.

Great War monument, Verano Cemetery

Monument to the regions of Italy, never built.

De Vico also designed (1944) a spectacular monument to the regions of Italy, which--had it been constructed (if it could have been constructed)--would have
been off-the-charts cool.







There's a hint of de Vico's future importance early on, when as a youth he became interested in plants.  Yes, plants.  At the Academia di Belle Art di Roma, he studied classical plants with Giacomo Boni while pursuing a degree in architecture. For a while he worked with many other professionals on the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, making important friends and contacts, including sculptor Adolfo Cozza.  In about 1913 he was appointed professor of architecture at the Liceo artistico di Roma, while exploring "green" (plant-related) projects.

Impressive neo-classical serbatoio, Villa Borghese

After serving four years in a non-combat role in World War I, in 1920 de Vico took up residence in a house in Villa Borghese, where he lived the rest of his life. The Villa is the site of another of his few buildings--a second serbatoio, and an impressive one.










De Vico completed his degree in architecture in 1923, then (1924) took a position as a consultant to the city's garden services agency. Marcello Piacentini nominated him to be general advisor for the EUR gardens, and he was appointed in 1940. He served as head of EUR garden services from 1955 to 1961. In 1950, he and others founded the Italian Association of Landscape Architects.

And that's why you'll see so much of de Vico as you tour the city.  As a landscape architect (and perhaps to a lesser extent, as an architect), he had a hand in designing and planting dozens of Rome's piazzas, boulevards, and parks, as well as some of its hills and "mountains." He landscaped Parco Savello (better known as Garden of the Oranges) on the Aventino (1931). He was involved in the restoration of Villa Sciarra (1930). He worked on Piazza Bologna and Piazza Verbano (1930), on the Piazza Sempione gardens in Monte Sacro (1926), on Piazza Monte Grappa (in della Vittoria, 1930), and the still-lovely Parco Virgiliano (in the Trieste quartiere).

Parco Virgiliano

He drew up some elaborate plans for Monte Mario (1951), though most of his ideas were never realized:

He is also credited with designing Testaccio Park, though, having been up Monte Testaccio, it's hard to see that any of his contributions remain.

Carlo Montani painting of Testaccio Park, 1935

Several of de Vico's "creations" are specially notable.  One is his contribution to Colle Oppio, the hilly area just across from the Coliseum. If you're near the Coliseum it's worth trekking the few paces up the hill--and especially so these days, when volunteers have been cleaning things up.

Montani, Colle Oppio, looking toward the Coliseum

The fountain in Parco Cestio (below)--part of the Colle Oppio--is attractively designed and remains a favorite spot for sitting and relaxing:

View of the Coliseum, fountain in foreground

Here's de Vico, photographed while supervising the the installation of the fountain (1939): 

Then there is the landscaping along viale Carlo Felice, which runs east from the basilica

Viale Carlo Felice (right) and adjacent park, 

of San Giovanni in Laterano. Today it's a favorite place for itinerant merchants to lay out their
wares.

The charm of Piazza dell'Indipendenza (charming despite a taxi lane running through its center, replacing the trolleys of yesteryear) is indebted to de Vico's skills. It's close to the Termini station. There's a nice cafe in center of the piazza, which somehow seems immune to the traffic.

Piazza dell'Indipendenza, then with trams

De Vico also did significant "green" work on Villa Glori, on the city's north side, including the viale dei Settanta, in the Parco della Rimembranza (1924) and a reconstructed portal of Villa Capponi on via Flaminia at the entrance to the viale dei Settanta.

Villa Glori, viale dei Settanta, as it looked in 1924

One of de Vico's greatest achievements is the design and landscaping of Piazza Mazzini, and the intersecting Viale Mazzini, both completed in 1926. The sculptures that grace the marvelous fountain in the piazza were done by someone else. The fasci--the symbol of Mussolini's Fascist regime--remain.

Piazza Mazzini, 1926 and, above, painting by Moldani, 1935

Lots of de Vico to see in Rome--if you know what you're looking for, and at.

Bill

The Pleasures of Parioli's via Paisiello

We were living just a few blocks away from via Giovanni Paisiello, where we [thought] we had identified the location of a fine piece of mid-century modernist architecture.  We set out to find it.  All we lacked was the precise address.

Our task seemed easy.  There's not much to via Paisiello, which runs northeast (the direction we walked) for just a few blocks between Villa Borghese and viale Liegi.  Moreover, the Parioli quartiere isn't exactly loaded with great buildings; so we figured if we saw one that was worthy--and of the appropriate time period--we would have found our prey.

And there it was, at #10.  Powerful angular corner balconies.  Captivating mosaics.  Everything in need of repair, but the elements were there.  A lovely example of a species we enjoy: mid-century modernism.

These are great balconies. Pour me a
glass of Arneis!

Today it's a bank

Very 1960

Except we had the wrong building.  As we later learned, the building we were looking for--clearly the most famous on the street, was the one in the photo below, a couple of blocks further along, at #39.  At first glance (and maybe second) it's an odd duck: the bottom half is a handsome but rather traditional palazzo in the classical language common in Rome in the early 20th century.  The top half--3 + stories--is mid-century horizontal glass and metal.  Between 1950 and 1952, some part of the original palazzo was removed and, under the supervision of prominent architect Mario Ridolfi, a modern addition added.  That kind of radical surgery doesn't happen often--we can't think of another example in Rome--and that's why the building is notable. It helps, too, that the surgery was successful.  So successful that on our first trip up via Paisiello we hadn't even noticed the structure.  Ridolfi did well.

The building's reputation also owes something to the fact that Ridolfi was in the first tier of 20th-century Italian architects.  Among his buildings are the rationalist Nomentano post office in Piazza Bologna (1932), one of the 4 commissioned for Rome by the Fascist regime; a playful and architecturally significant public housing project in Tiburtino (1950-51); and the headquarters for FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), begun in 1938 as the Ministry for Italy's African colonies.

We might have considered our first effort on via Paisiello a failure, were it not for some other discoveries, all within a few blocks.  We admired the enormous cantilevered corner balconies of this otherwise ordinary apartment house:

Then there was this treasure, at first sight just another classic palazzo, this one in red.  On closer inspection, it turned out the palazzo wasn't so classic.  Indeed, it's of Fascist-era origins--1935 to be exact.  It carries a Latin inscription, some heads that reminded us of the heads that decorate one of the buildings in Piazza Independenza and, high above, a couple of elegant statues to link the building (and the regime) to ancient Rome.

Next door, and not so well cared for, another 1930s building with nice curvelinear lines, no doubt originally an apartment building but now the Hotel Paisiello.  The round side/rear balconies are exceptional.

From another era, but equally fine, at the far (northwest) end of the street.

And that's via Paisiello--or rather, what we saw of it.

Bill

Cows first, then Sheep: Rome trims up its Parks

Rome is going backwards, back to the Rome of a century ago, when oxen were used to plow the earth around the Altare della Patria in Piazza Venezia (above).

In a world of tractors, power lawn mowers, and weed-whackers, the city's populist mayor, Virginia Raggi, has asked the city's environment chief, Pinuccia Montanari, to tackle the weed problem in Rome parks by employing--you won't believe this--sheep and cows.  It's well known that both species east copious amounts of "grass," and it shouldn't take long to turn fields of 2-3 foot weeds into neatly trimmed soccer fields and play areas.

Casa del Cinema bar and restaurant, Villa Borghese.

After the city's wettest spring in years, the weeds are of serious concern.  The region's premier park, Villa Borghese, looks reasonable, especially compared to the others.  But it, too, is mostly weeds, trimmed here and there--though never meticulously--so picnickers can picnic without fearing that their children will disappear in the green expanses beyond the blanket.

The photo at right is Villa Borghese.   But the nice grass which the children are enjoying (our granddaughters are upper and lower left) is artificial, put in by the restaurant/bar at Casa del Cinema.  They know what people (those who can afford it) want.

Weeds could be 2 feet high

Villa Adda, an enormous mile-long half-mile wide expanse on the city's northern edge, has always been rather primitively maintained, and we're glad that some elements of it, elevated stretches to the west, in particular, retain a mystery; there's a pleasure in feeling one could get lost, or just feel a bit lost.

Not bad, but not the best, for picnicking 

That said, the most utilized portions of the park, including a small lake at the north end and a lovely wooded glen just to the east of the lake, are not maintained with the attention they deserve.  Narrow paths around the lake are in the process of being swallowed by weeds.

The glen.  8-10" weeds.  

The wooded glen is an idyllic setting for summer social activities, if only it were mowed and trimmed.






The large stone paths running north and south in the park remain open, but fallen trees to the side have not been removed; instead, they're marked off with yellow "crime" tape.  One hillside expanse, obviously mowed when the weeds were long, resembles a farmers' hay field, ready for the foliage to be picked up.

Soccer in the weeds, with garbage cans for goals.  Anything
shorter wouldn't show up.

In Villa Adda as elsewhere, many Romans have given up soccer for informal volleyball, which can be played above the weeds.  On the Sunday we visited, we did find one soccer game, played in tall but not intimidating grass, between goals made up of trash cans.

Half a bike path available.  

Weeds present problems for bike paths too--in this area and elsewhere in the city.








But let's get back to our sheep and cows.  Montanari, who's in charge of the effort, says the animals will be used only in parks on the "periphery," and she notes that sheep are already doing the job on an experimental basis in Parco della Caffarella, to the south of the center.  We can testify that there have been sheep in the Cafferella for years, but we would take exception to the implication that their purpose there is to cut the grass; they're part of a working farm in that park.

One agricultural expert has weighed in on the Mayor's sheep and cows idea, first proposed on her Facebook page.  The problem, he says, is that sheep eat with their heads low to the ground; they're bottom feeders.  But in most parks the grass is already so high that the sheep won't be able to find their food.  Hence the need for cows, which are top feeders.  Looks like a tandem deal: the cows go in first, followed by the sheep.

As other have noted, sheep and cows bring with them an enormous amount of excrement.  Watch where you put your blanket!

We imagine another problem.  Sheep and cows require herding and restraint.  Restraining cows often means barbed wire--probably not a good idea in the parks (though there is already plenty of it).  Sheep can be herded, by dogs (trained to treat humans as threats to the sheep--as we know from experience) and by human sheep herders.  These days, most of the herding in Italy is done by eastern Europeans from Bulgaria and Romania, just the sort of immigrants most Italians are hoping to keep out.  We think Italians, even if unemployed, will not likely take to herding sheep in the parks.

Some have found humor in the situation.  In the 4th Municipio (Colli Aniene-Tiburtino), a group known as "Merlino" (named for the sorcerer Merlin) has cut-outs of lions, zebras, and giraffes in the tall weeds of the area's parks (Baden Powell), green spaces (via Grotta di Gregna), and boulevards (Palmiro Togliatti).  It's a jungle out there!

Lion in the weeds

 Bill

Newspaper photos: Il Messaggero