City to Mountain Top, Life to Death: Signs of Summer in Rome

If Americans can't get there, at least we can have some dreams of Rome.  Below some photos from an earlier summer, exhibiting some of Rome's uniqueness - and markers of life and death

Here's life  - a bra ad - and death - notices of death pasted over them. In Castel Gandolfo (summer home of the Popes - and featured in the award-winning 2019 film, "The Two Popes"). "In forma smagliante"  is a sort of double entendre  here, trans. "In great shape" "In top form" "Fit as a fiddle" etc.

 Though from 2012, these graffiti faces at left remind us of our 2020 "mask-up" days.

On the "life" side (mostly), right - "Brigata Peroni" or "Peroni [as in the beer] Brigade."  One doesn't normally associate brigades, as in armed forces or the anarchical - and deadly (they killed Aldo Moro)- leftists, the "Red Brigade," with beer.

Left, a fully-stocked outdoor bar/cafe', complete with the requisite photo of iconic actor Alberto Sordi, in the iconic still of him eating spaghetti (from the film "Un Americano a Roma") - we've probably seen a hundred of these in restaurants and cafes and bars - and books!

Okay - we've posted photos of the nonsensical writings on shirts and jackets, but we think not this one, which does have the word "death" in it - seen in a Rome market. I just finished reading Bill Bryson's "The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way" in which he quotes some of these.  None is better than this one at right.

Eating IN the streets of Trastevere. This could be a good model for restaurants in the US
trying to expand their outside service.  Not exactly social distancing.  And no
worries from those actually standing in the street that they could be run over.

For the death end, here are two photos from the top of a mountain an hour or two outside Rome in the Abruzzi (the Gran Sasso). Yes, the ubiquitous cross was there, but also Mary, complete with rosary, and several plaques to hikers who had gone on to other heights.

In the photo below, the plaque on the right says, "Friendship doesn't need time or space. We know you will always be at our side.  Ciao Nicola."

And in that same photo, the plaque on the left reads, "In memory of Ezio Noce. Your mountain friends affectionately remember you, in this place familiar to you."

Dianne

La Dolce Vita gets a little less sweet - the City closes down some via Veneto outdoor cafes.

"Alex," part of the Hotel Alexandra, on via Veneto near Piazza Barberini, advertises you can "live the 'Dolce Vita' life"

The Dolce Vita life on via Veneto is getting tough for some of these "outdoor" restaurants.  The City recently cracked down on what it termed "abusivo" or illegal cafes.  The Trevi police (yes, as in the Trevi Fountain) taped up some of the outdoor spaces. We couldn't figure out why some were still open and some - very obviously - were not.  Apparently those closed by the city had not obtained the proper permits to build and run their enterprises on the sidewalk, which most of them do.

The photo below is of one of the closed-down outside spaces on the "upper" part of via Veneto, nearer Corso d'Italia.  The 21st- century saga of this restaurant is a sad tale.  The cafe' to which the outdoor space belongs is Cafe' de Paris, the inspiration for Fellini's 1960 film.  Cafe' de Paris was supposedly run by mafia; the anti-mafia task force closed it down in 2009 and the court case is coming to fruition now.  In 2011 the government reopened the cafe'.  But apparently the mafia had the last word - the cafe' was destroyed by arson in 2014 and hasn't reopened.  The outside space has been inhabited since then, however.  It looks like a cell phone company set up shop there - perhaps without any permits at all.  Ah, Roma.

The restaurateurs - at least the true restauraeurs, not the cell phone companies -  have cried "foul" and stated the city should have at least negotiated with them.  And perhaps it will.  To be continued.

 Dianne

Caffè Perù: Time for an Aperitivo

Caffè Perù is one of our favorite spots (Bill's especially) for an early evening aperitivo, and not least because of its location near one of Rome's busiest tourist attractions: the complex that includes Campo de Fiori and Palazzo Farnese.  In that area, it can be hard to find a place that feels Roman.

Don't be put off by the signs in English, Spanish, French, and Chinese on the front of the building; Italians eat and drink here. It's a real bar. The aperitivo--food with a drink--is reasonably priced, and the white wine selection is very good (though some premium wines add a euro or two onto the cost of the aperitivo).

There are two rooms--the main room on the left, with the bar, food, and the cassa, where you order and pay, in advance.

And another, to the right as you go in, quieter and more homey and comfortable, though more divorced from the action. Depending on the weather, both rooms are open to the light, air, and activity of the small piazza.  Much of the drinking--and talking--takes place outside.

Don't miss the bathroom, which is one of the city's funkiest.

Caffè Perù is easy to find.  Facing the Palazzo Farnese, exit the piazza up and to the right.  The café is a half block up the street, on your right.

Bill
PS from Dianne, the accent inserter.  This is an accent-challenging post; hope we got them in correctly.

Music to our ears in Trastevere: Ombre Rosse

Musicians in the main room; art exhibit on walls

As most RST followers know, we are fans of popular music in Rome, especially the Italian brand of singer-songwriter and jazz.  One easy place to take in music is Ombre Rosse, a bar/cafe'/music venue in Trastevere, right off the main piazza (Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere), in Piazza San Egidio (with the quarter's Rome museum across the way).

Ombre Rosse - which means Red Shadows, but perhaps more to the point is the Italian name of the iconic John Ford Western, Stagecoach - has music every Thursday evening. Check out the Web site (in Italian only, but look under "Concerti" and it will be obvious).  They also have regular art exhibits on the cafe' walls. 

We noticed the October concerts are all Italians.  Often the performers are foreign.  We heard an excellent Canadian singer-songwriter here one year.  And, the music can be non-Italian as well.  An homage to Robert Johnson by an all-Italian group was fascinating (and we sat next to some Swedish tourists who were enjoying it as much as we were).

The most we've eaten here is the buffet that goes with the drinks for aperitivo hour.  The most recent TripAdvisor reviews are negative, complaining about the service and the food.  These reviews vary greatly from past ones.  We've always had good service.  And, as noted, we don't go to a bar/café/music venue for the food.

Ombre Rosse's atmosphere is sweet, especially in contrast to most of heavy-drinking Trastevere.  You can sit outside/inside and catch the music and do people-watching at the same time.

And for a two-fer, first go to the museum, called simply The Museum of Rome in Trastevere. Operated by the city, it often has nice exhibits that go beyond the usual in Rome.  Check out the Web site.

We're also devotees of Ombre Rosse's outside patio, complete with people watching

Dianne

Nice from one perspective - another stand-alone bar outside Rome

Stand-alone bar, in '30s architectural style, with signs for Lotto,
Tabaccheria, etc.  This bar was on a particularly busy cross-roads
and probably accessible only if you are going out of Rome.

The stand-alone bars of Rome and its environs are a special pleasure of ours.  Many of these (by the looks and placement of them) seem to have been put up in the Fascist era, as the road system in and around Rome expanded.

looks nice from this perspective

We ended up in this one because we needed to return some hiking boots we came away with after hiking with an Italian group (Bill thought they were Dianne's, Dianne thought they were Bill's, and we found ourselves with 3 pair of hiking boots).  In case you wonder why they weren't on our feet, it's de rigeur - even proscribed -  when hiking with Italians to bring an extra pair of shoes to wear in the car - so you don't wear your dirty hiking boots in someone's macchina.

So we met the owner of the boots near her workplace, out of Rome a ways at this bar she suggested.  And, being us, we couldn't resist having a coffee in the bar's sweet outside spot. At least it looked sweet from one point of view. From another, the "terrace" was filled with garbage cans, leftover furniture, and even (though out of the photo) an unused refrigeration case.  The Italian sense of style seems to have only one perspective here.  We'll leave the theories up to the reader.

but not so nice from this one

Dianne

The Building Wars: MAXXI vs MACRO - Rome's Contemporary Art Blockbusters

MAXXI looking good - summer night art work lights up the courtyard,
 and the jutting out window is always captivating

Is Rome's MAXXI – the State’s 21^st century (get the “XXI” in the name?) contemporary art museum all it’s cracked up to be?  Did Starchitect Zaha Hadid do her best work here?
(We thought enough of it to highlight it in one of the ours in our new book, Modern Rome: 4 Great Walks for the Curious Traveler; see below for more information.)

Can MACRO – the City’s contemporary art museum with its dramatic new addition by Odile Decq compete?

What makes a good modern art museum in the 21^st century? 

RST has pondered these questions for some time, esp. since – when we lived in the neighborhood in 2009 and saw it being built - we were initially turned off by Hadid’s monumental concrete bunker.   With a heavy dose of humility (we are not professionals in the art world), we’ve come up with a list of criteria to apply to these two critical museums that opened/reopened in 2010.  After evaluating those criteria and performing a totally unrepresentative sampling of friends and neighbors, [drum roll] the Conclusion: – we still prefer MACRO to MAXXI, but it’s a closer call than we first thought.

Odile Decq's MACRO addition shows off best with this colorful artwork replacing
 a dysfunctional fountain on the roof and shining through to the main floor

Here are our criteria for a new – or newly refashioned with a new addition – modern public art gallery:

Is the building an architectural statement in itself?
     Does it work in its environment – physically is it a good fit? And does it invite the local public?
       Does it provide good and sufficient, logical and exciting space for the art, or is it just about itself?
Is the collection good enough to support the building?
        Are the temporary shows interesting and provocative?
Is the programming embracing?

MAXXI


MAXXI at its worst - concrete bunker and no entrance from the side
 where most people live

MAXXI looking to the back, a year later, opened up and looking better

The building.  No question Hadid’s MAXXI in the Flaminio neighborhood just north of Piazza del Popolo is a blockbuster building with an international draw.  But it’s no Bilbao or Disney Hall (Los Angeles).  We think the internationalistas will not find it interesting for long. It’s just too much concrete; too uninviting – even tho’ it made RST’s Top 40.  And it does not at all fit the neighborhood, in RST’s opinion.  It sits like a colossus without any feeling of the lines of the neighborhood (and no, this wasn’t just a wasteland pre-Hadid).   And it has blocked out the neighbors from access to it much of the time (it’s possible that has changed/is changing).  It IS fun to prance up and down its stairs and ramps and look out the big projecting window.  But it’s also confusing to find any particular gallery or exhibit.  Even many of the employees have no idea where shows are or how to get from point A to point B.  In fact, many times you cannot get from point A to point B without going to ground and starting over (witness the architectural archive area).

It seems to provide good art space, if by that one means big rooms that one can refashion any way one wants, the current trend in art museums, it appears.

Stairways and ramps are seductive, but don't enhance the art much at MAXXI

The collection.  The collection is extraordinary weak; clearly the money ran out.  The temporary shows CAN be good – last year’s focus on art from India (“Indian Highway”), or just ordinary – this year’s homage, from MAXXI’s thin collection, to Marisa Merz (apologies to all feminists), which runs through May 2013.  The architectural shows can be more promising – an initial one on one of our favorites, Luigi Moretti, and last year’s “Verso est [Towards the East]. Chinese Architectural Landscape.”  Or just paltry – a show of the models of the competing plans for the museum itself (on into February 2013); although here one can get a sense of how the board came to pick Hadid’s design – it looks a lot better from a bird’s eye view, smaller, and not in concrete plus you can see the complex would have been another 50% larger (hmmm, would that have been better?).  Another show this summer was of 4 finalists for a competition – how to put on a show for nothing, it appears (closed this past June).  This may be in part because the president of the MAXXI foundation was forced to resign and it has only an acting president at this time.  So nothing new in 2012, it appears.  You can see for yourself on the MAXXI website (there’s an English button too); current and past (archive) shows are described.  MAXXI, btw, stands for Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI Secolo (“National Museum of 21st Century Arts”), i.e., more contemporary than “modern” and run by the State.

One can't argue with success.  Crowds line up for an evening program at MAXXI

The programming.  Programming gets a higher grade even now – perhaps this was all scheduled before the president departed, but it clearly shows potential.  The pamphlets in each room are excellent.  There are many talks, films, videos, and, of course, parties (you can compare the toilets to MACRO's).  Using the outdoor space in the summer, with some connection to MOMA’s PS 1, has brought in some of the neighborhood.  And, it seems the back side of the museum may actually be open some of the time (and that’s where people live; the front side fronts on a military installation).

Via Guido Reni 4. Open 11-7 Tuesday-Sunday, later (to 10 p.m.) Saturday; Euro 11; buy tickets up to 1 hour before closing; closed May 1, Dec. 25.

MACRO

MACRO's unabashedly postmodern interior

The walkway at MACRO gives great sight lines onto the exhibition below

The building.  We’ve always had a soft spot for MACRO (Museo d’Arte Contemporaneo di Roma, i.e., the City’s (not the State’s) contemporary art museum) because it is a) not too big, b) in a repurposed Peroni beer factory, c) nestled in a real neighborhood, d) adventurous in programming, e) used to be friendly and cheap – 2 Euros (then about $3).  The new addition by Odile Decq definitely entranced us.  Perhaps that’s because we had a hard hat tour, complete with free Campari soda, when it was under construction. But we think it’s more than that.  The addition has an in-your-face postmodern interior.  The suspended walkway in the new main gallery gives onto wonderful views of the artwork in that space (this year, the Neon, on through November 4), much more art-friendly than any of MAXXI’s ramps and stairways.  The addition is playful, it encourages art in interesting spaces (lit up on the high walls, streaming in from the skylight, on top of the auditorium “roof” and on top of its own roof (including a Sten/Lex peel-away graffiti mural), and adds a distinctly modern flavor to the somewhat staid Peroni buildings.  And, did we say the rooftop cafe and bar are great, and well used by the young professionals of Rome?  The view from the bar down the city street is captivating.  MACRO’s location near Porta Pia and Piazza Fiume facilitates its integration with real people and a real neighborhood.  But, one opinion we solicited called Decq’s addition a failure, adding – she said - almost no gallery space for all the money and design.

Exhibit A, the toilet wars: MAXXI's toilet

And, can we add (if we needed a tie-breaker), the restrooms beat MAXXI’s – and we’ve posted on both!

Exhibit B, the toilet wars: MACRO's sinks



The collection.  The shows this summer featured excellent retrospectives of lesser known Rome artists (easier work to come by) Claudio Cintoli (closed Sept. 2) and Vettor Pisani (on through Sept. 23), Open Studios (thank you Dana Prescott for starting this at the American Academy in Rome) with the current slate of artists on through May 2013, and an okay, but not particularly blockbuster show on neon art (again, more retrospective).  So MACRO too suffers from a limited collection. Again, the directorship has been something of a revolving door, esp. with the party of the Mayor changing from left- to right-wing.  (Thanks to Temple professor and Rome art curator (one of the best - go to anything she curates) Shara Wasserman for filling us in on some of these political details.)  We also almost had a fight with a ticket seller here a year ago when he sold us our tickets and THEN told us the new wing, which had been billed as having had its grand opening, was not in fact open and wouldn’t refund our money.  And, this year, the tickets are up to Euro 11 (about $14+), and the ticket sellers are just as unfriendly and unhelpful.   The web site is not too user friendly.  You have to hit the “Menu” button at the bottom to get any categories, and it’s not clear how to get the site in English.)  On a website tiebreaker, MAXXI would win.



Sten/Lex on MACRO's roofop (the face was revealed as the outer layer
 wore off, or was picked off by visitors (including me)

The programming.  Appears weaker than in prior years.  Not much in the way of talks, special showings, events.

Via Nizza 138, open 11-7 Tuesday-Sunday, and until 10 on Saturday (again, get there an hour before closing); closed Jan. 1, May 1, Dec. 25.


AND THE WINNER IS?  For us, MACRO, but we know we’re in the minority and welcome other opinions!

One of MACRO's Open Studios, and one of our favorites

We should point out that, in addition to the revolving directorships, these government-run institutions are suffering like all others in Italy from extreme budget cutbacks.  MACRO may have a better group of wealthy patrons behind it.  In any event, we hope better times are coming.  Perhaps we should just be grateful there is this much contemporary art in publicly-run galleries in Rome.

Dianne

P.S.  2.5 more.   Rome also hosts the State’s “modern” art gallery, GNAM (Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna – “National Gallery of Modern Art”).  Modern is used as older than contemporary, in European parlance.  GNAM has the best collection of any of the 3, esp. of 20^th century Italian art.  Its building, constructed in 1911 to host Italy’s first state modern art gallery, is serviceable, but not something to write home about.  It’s situated in “Academy Gulch” – Valle Giulia, behind the Villa Borghese.  Definitely worth a visit. Don’t skip too quickly through the atrium space right behind the ticket counter; it often has the best exhibit.  A fourth public modern art gallery is the City’s modern (as opposed to contemporary – i.e. MACRO) gallery not too far from the Spanish Steps and the Gagosian: Galleria d’Arte Moderna.   Recently reopened after an extensive multi-year remodeling, the current show (through September) is a great showcase of (mainly) 20th Century Italian art.  And one last note – MACRO also hosts MACRO Testaccio in the quarter of that name, in the ex-slaughterhouse, about which we’ve posted several times; though now relegated to special shows (i.e., not open all the time) and events – what there are, however, are excellent, if pricier than in the past.

And for more on MAXXI and the 21st art and cultural quarter of Flaminio, see our new print AND eBook,  Modern Rome: 4 Great Walks for the Curious Traveler.  Along with the tour of Flaminia, that includes Mussolini's Foro Italico, also the site of the 1960 summer Olympics, Modern Rome features three other walks: the "garden" suburb of Garbatella; the 20th-century suburb of EUR, designed by the Fascists; and a stairways walk in classic Trastevere. 

This 4-walk book is available in all print and eBook formats The eBook is $1.99 through amazon.com and all other eBook sellers.  See the various formats at smashwords.com. 

Modern Rome: 4 Great Walks for the Curious Traveler now is also available in print, at amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, independent bookstores,  and other retailers; retail price $5.99.

Coffee in the traffic circle

Rome's traffic can get to the best of us, and Piazza delle Rovere is no exception.  It's a broad crossing of busy, even by Rome standards, streets, including a multi-lane one leading into and out of a formidable car tunnel - where the drivers act like they're on a private raceway.  For a pedestrian negotiating the so-called piazza (it hardly looks like one), it feels like taking one's life into one's hands.  And, the piazza, since it's is on the way from Trastevere to the Vatican, is often crossed. 
And so we found ourselves one day at the piazza and in need of a "pausa" - a rest.  We plopped ourselves down at the outdoor kiosk/cafe' there, and soon found ourselves not just watching the cars zooming by, but watching the world go by.  The service was friendly and generous and lovely.  We watched a waiter attempt conversation - with much grace and effort on his part - with an Asian tourist.  The Asian tourist watching the military men smartly walk by.  The ubiquitous businessman on cellphone.  Teenagers taking a break from their - well, whatever they take breaks from, perhaps life - as they had a gabfest at a small table near us. 

Somehow, this "rest" spot in the midst of what until now had seemed like one of Rome's ugliest piazzas brought us succor.   We now go by this piazza with fondness and stop there on a whim.  But, nestled against a Michelangelo Vatican wall with views up to the Gianicolo hill, how ugly can it be? And, somehow the shot above doesn't do the traffic danger justice  - maybe that's why the cafe' is such a relief.

At the end of this post is a map to give you some idea of this un-pedestrian space (the blue marker is the cafe').

The lesson we took from this?  Take that break any time, any where, any place... don't wear yourself out (Bill would say to Dianne) looking for the perfect cafe'.  The best one might be under your nose, or in the midst of a traffic circle.
Dianne