Yet more updates to Rome the Second Time: Don't Leave Home Without It

What's left of the Tiber boat service; "Non Attivo" - Not active.
They could at least take down these signs.

The boats on the Tevere (Tiber) are completely defunct; don't try to book one.  We discouraged visitors from Rome from doing these cruises, and now we can somewhat happily report you can't even try.



Kino's new Bistrot

Grauco, a very particular film club in the Pigneto area of Rome, closed in 2010 after 30 years of operation.  But we're happy to report, like a phoenix from the ashes, Kino a "cineclub" sponsored by Italian film lovers, directors, and the like, has opened in its place. 

These are two of the "Updates" that are in the now 18-page Updates to Rome the Second Time.  We remind our loyal readers that you can access these Updates through the link to the right of the blog, but also via this link:  http://www.scribd.com/doc/34815572/UPDATES-to-Rome-the-Second-Time.  Readers of an eBook version can click directly on "Update" anywhere it appears in the eBook.  For the paperback readers, we strongly recommend you download or printout the Updates before you start on any of the itineraries.

Buon visite!  Dianne

Once Grauco, now Kino theater space

Updates to Rome the Second Time

New in 2012 - the Metro B1 stop Sant'Agnese-Annibaliano -
perhaps more glamour than function

        Rome may be the Eternal City, but it also is eternally changing.  Everyone who visits has some experience with a museum that is supposed to be open, but isn’t; a restaurant that is supposed to be there but now is run by someone else; an ancient ruin that one should be able to see but now is blocked by high walls. 

                Writing a guidebook to Rome, and perhaps especially an alternative guidebook, means many things do not stay the same and the book needs Updates!  And so we try to keep up with ever-changing Rome through our Updates document, available with a click here, or on one of the tabs at the right of this blog.  The Updates themselves are updated periodically, and we just did a new set of Updates – so we encourage you to try it.

We like this combination of athletes and mythical sea
creatures in the Foro Italico swim complex of 1937



                Our Updates include new, and improved, hyperlinks.  The hyperlink you all have been clicking on madly – that has nice photos of the mosaics in the Foro Italico (then Foro Mussolini) swim complex – doesn’t work any longer.  So we provided a new one.   

                There is a new Metro line, the B1, that runs out of Piazza Bologna.  So our Itinerary for Piazza Bologna, and the maps that relate to it, have been modified, and our links take you to those revised maps.  See our map for the Piazza Bologna Itinerary 8:  https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Rome,+Lazio,+Italy&msa=0&msid=115234173574934358486.00048bff8c1136f67d863&ll=41.917104,12.515616&spn=0.021523,0.037723&z=15

Rome's Eataly - just opened

                We found more restaurants we liked near one of our itineraries – and so we included those restaurants in our Updates.   We’ll give you a hint – we like L’Oste de Coste next to the Jolly Theater off Piazza delle Provincie.  via Giano della Bella, 2; tel. 06.999.24.609.  We had very mixed feelings about another blockbuster, Eataly, that we've included in our Updates.

Now missing - the plaque to Primo Levi
and the more than 1,000 Jews  taken from
Rome to the Nazi camps October 16, 1943

                The Lion Bookshop – the oldest English language bookstore in Rome—simply closed its doors last year. 

                The plaque to honor Primo Levi, and the Jews who were transported from Rome to extermination camps, has disappeared from the Tiburtina Station.  The old station was torn down; a new one takes its place. 

                And you’ll find much more in the 17 page list of Updates (coordinated to the pages of RST).  If you’re using the book version of RST, we urge you to print out those Updates right before you leave for Rome.  If you’re using the eBook versions, your click on “Updates” – hyperlinked - will take you to the Update list.

                Buon viaggio!

Dianne

Rome the Second Time Refreshed

We just updated critical chapters of Rome the Second Time, including the chapters on food and drink.  Because entertainment venues change so frequently in Rome, one really can't ever rely on one being open  - or closed.  But we brought you as up to date as possible.  The link to the Updates is at right of the blogsite.  Originally the Updates were designed for the ebook versions of Rome the Second Time, which has over 100 hyperlinks.  But it's equally useful for the paperback users as well.

To give you a taste of the ebook versions, we provided a Google overlay of one of the book maps that appears in those versions.  This example is from Itinerary 9:  Monte Mario (from Chapter 4: "Getting Away Inside Rome").

Above, me trying to read maps - so we know how hard it is and we've tried to make it easier. 

Dianne

Rome the Second Time: In Hyperspace

Rome the Second Time is now available in a new hyper-linked version in all the basic e-versions.  Thanks to goading from Kindle and others, we hyperlinked the new Kindle, iBook, Nook, and other versions of Rome the Second Time.  The hyperlinks include links to websites in the book (such as the museums, wine bars, artists) as well as to additional historical, art, and other knowledge sites. 

All the maps now are overlaid on Google Maps (whew! I say) in these e-versions.  For an example of one, click here for the link to the Water and War itinerary on the Gianicolo. 

The hyper-linking also led us to current, real-time Updating.  These updates are linked in the eBooks and also are on this website:  look at the right for "Book Updates Link"  and by clicking on that, you'll get a current list of any changes to material in Rome the Second Time.

We're on the cutting edge here. Rome the Second Time is one of the first books to go up on Nook and other sites, and one of the most digitally sophisticated travel books available.  In some cases, we're part of the betas for these e-publishers.  So if you see anything that needs changing, or you come across any updates that should be included, let us know... this is a new world in publishing for everyone.

Welcome to hyperspace.

Dianne

28DiVino Jazz Club Swings Again

We’re happy to report another jazz club has risen from the ashes. 28DiVino Jazz is under new management (now as a club with a tessera requirement) and has a full schedule of events.

We tried one of their relatively new Monday night jazz offerings – it’s a night that usually is fairly quiet around Rome. Here too, there was not exactly a crowd (at most, a dozen people), but we who were there were treated to a wonderfully intimate and accomplished set from the duo of Nicola Puglielli on guitar and Fabrizio Montemarano on bass. And the price per person is right, Euro 8 for the show AND a glass of wine plus Euro 2 for the tessera for the remainder of the season. Several people had dinner before the performance, upstairs at this atmospheric club.

Thrown into the mix was great conversation before the concert with the club manager/owner Marc Reynaud and one of the musicians, Nicola, who had studied at the Berklee School of Music and is the teacher of one of our favorite young jazz musicians around town. Puglielli teaches at the legendary and – until recently only offering classical music - Santa Cecilia Conservatory, which opened a jazz program just a year or two ago.

We're happy to see 28DiVino rise again, in part because Rome's jazz scene, while healthy, seem to be going the way of New York, with institutional spaces replacing the more inpiring clubs. Centrale Montemartini, even Cinema Farnese in Campo de' Fiori, are hosting jazz series. And, while these are wonderful new additions, sitting in an auditorium or straight-back chair is not the same as drinking and grooving in a dimly lit club (so say I).

We recommend 28DiVino Jazz and add it to Rome the Second Time’s jazz offerings. Via Mirandola, 21, near Stazione Tuscolana (San Giovanni). http://www.28divino.com/.

In the Update category, we note Be Bop Jazz Club is no longer active, although the website says they will reopen (but then so did La Palma’s website, and, several years later we’re still waiting). Pages 202-203.

Dianne

Hiking outside Rome - the pleasures of Lazio's hills

Central Italy offers wonderful hikes, full of history and flora and fauna - wild and not so wild.

Because Lazio's hiking pleasures seem unknown, we recently published an article in the Adirondack Peaks magazine to encourage English-speakers to try out the hills of Lazio and other provinces of Central Italy. "Under the Lazio Sun" is linked here, in pdf download, or directly.

The Peaks magazine, btw, is published for Adirondack "46Rs" - those who have climbed all 46 of the Adirondack peaks over 4,000 feet high, and, yup, we must admit, that's us.

While we're at it, an update for Rome the Second Time in our sidebar on joining an Italian hiking group. Cammina Natura is has changed its website, but even their latest website is "under construction. They also have a Facebook page, but that lists the very old website. For information, you might try emailing the group at: 3928296421@tre.it - yes, that's the email. Most of the Italian hiking groups also sponsor winter treks, snow-shoeing and cross-country skiing.

Photo above is to whet your appetite.

Buon trekking!

Dianne

Updates to Itineraries in Rome the Second Time

see sidebar at right... a couple new ones...



the Anita Garibaldi statue on the Gianicolo is swathed in scaffolding and opaque sheeting - don't go there until it's unveiled (but we're glad they're restoring it).... photo of what you're missing at left, but from across the street you still can see her head, gun and an infant's arm in the air (below).







our favorite tiny restaurant in the Appio Latino neighborhood, Mithos - la Taverna dell'allegria - is now closed Sundays and Monday through lunch (but open on Weds) plus the prices are about 15% higher than in our Rome the Second Time - but still a deal. Plus we were too optimistic saying you might be seated at 7:30 - don't even think about it until at least 8:10 - until Mario dons his apron. And you can get fish on days other than those listed (we had a wonderfully sauteed orato last week). FURTHER UPDATE - Mithos is now located in the nearby Piazza Scipione Ammirato.  We plan to do a full post on this, our favorite restaurant in Rome,  shortly.  Updated info:  address - Piazza Scipione Ammirato, 7; phone + 39.067840034. email - info@mithostaverna.it.  All Italian, all the time, not Greek.







many of the stairways to the Tevere are blocked off (some ala' Romans - you can still get through) as the comune continues to work on the river "walks" - such as cutting down trees [the comune seems to be on a tear for cutting down trees this year] and making the walks unpleasant, especially in the heat.





Bar Gianicolo is closed Mondays.

Book Updates: Protestant Cemetery

We've added a feature on the right to update the book. Check the right sidebar for updates before you head out on an itinerary.

We're starting with the Protestant (Non-Catholic) Cemetery. The folks (the alive ones) there sent us a lovely email noting they added Sunday hours: 9 - 1, last entrance 12:30. I appreciate this, having been there many times and crushed when it was closed (older son, recall my walking you there from piazza Re di Roma - only to find it - and Scipione's "house" - closed?). They also have a lively website in English as well as Italian: http://www.protestantcemetery.it/english/index.php. And they kindly pointed out I had perpetuated the myth that Shelley's heart is in the cemetery. It was returned, they informed us, but his grave (with what in it, one might ask) is still there.

btw, on this itinerary, the trattoria on the piazza near the porta where Don & I had a very nice lunch - serving locals for over half a century - has been replaced by a bank. )=:

Dianne