Happy 4th Birthday RST - of Meier, Mosques and Kebabs

Richard Meier's suburban Tor Tre Teste church - Number 1 on the blog.  
That's Dianne at left. 

Having reached a couple milestones recently – 4 years of blogging as of today (Feb. 17) and more than 400 posts (the 400th went up November 20 – the rather esoteric Hamlet in the Weeds on sculptor Amleto Cataldi), it seems appropriate to look back and share some statistics with our loyal readers.

Amazingly enough (to us), several of the top 5 posts, and even the top 10, remain remarkably consistent from day to day, month to month, year to year.

And, you probably couldn’t guess the consistent posts in the top 5 – at least we couldn’t if Google Analytics didn’t tell us every day.

Coming in routinely in the top 5 are: Richard Meier’s Jubilee Church (Tor Tre Teste), the post on kebabs (Bill, you were right on that one),  Europe’s largest mosque.  Posts on Fascist architecture - which is the subject of dozens of posts - also regularly rank high  The post on Meier's church and the one on kebabs appeared 2-1/2 years ago, and the mosque 3-1/2.  But their popularity never seems to wane.  The church and the mosque are both on RST's Top 40 list, coming in at 17 and 24, respectively.

Inside Portoghesi's mosque

Architectural works by “starchitects” often appear in the top 10: E.g., besides Meier and Paolo Portoghesi (the mosque), Zaha Hadid and Massimiliano Fuksas.

The all-time top 10 includes three reasonably accessible tourist sites: Foro Mussolini/Foro Italico (#5 on the RST top 40), Piazza Augusto Imperatore (# 9), and Garbatella (#16).  And one suburb where tourists seldom venture: Centocelle. 

Readers have also been drawn to the rich and famous, like Elizabeth Taylor.

We learn from Google Analytics, not surprisingly, that the US is the top country, in terms of readers of the blog, with Italy second.  The third may be surprising, however, - it’s Russia (spammers, maybe?), followed by the English-speaking countries of the UK, Canada and Australia.  Of interest, perhaps only to computer wonks, our readers come in more through Safari than any other search engine, followed by Firefox, then Chrome, and only 4th, Explorer. But for operating systems, Windows is used twice as much as Mac.  Go figure.

Back to content: romethesecondtime is what is known as a “content blog” – we’d have to be that after 4 years of this!  We continue to be surprised at Meier’s staying power, along with the mosque and kebabs.

So next time you go to Rome, head for Portoghesi’s mosque, and be sure to pick up a kebab outside (if it’s market day).

Dianne

Church Lady's latest two finds

Santa Prassede's apse - that's Paschal I with the square halo on the left

Main entrance, crunched in
by  pizza place

Main entrance, from inside... one can get the feel of
how one is supposed to enter the sacred place (but the
gate is locked)

Not far from the imposing Santa Maria Maggiore on the Esquilino in Rome, known in part for its mosaics, a somewhat unusual phenomenon for Rome churches, are two often overlooked gems of churches, with stunning mosaics themselves. Combine these two, or if you're a glutton, add Santa Maria Maggiore, for a nice outing.



The ceiling of Santa Prassede's jewel-like St. Zeno's chapel

Santa Prassede is the more hidden and, in our opinion, more jewel-like of the two.  You enter from a narrow side street, the via di Santa Prassede (the main entrance on San Martino ai Monti  is covered with a [usually] locked gate with tables from the adjacent pizza place abutting it) and at first are captivated by the classic and lovely mosaics in the apse and arch (top photo).  We almost walked out without stopping in (more like stooping in) the tiny side chapel to St. Zeno that is the mausoleum for the mother of Pope Paschal I, who built the church in the 9^th century.  Once in the apse, check out the mosaic of the pope himself, carrying the church.  He has the rare rectangular halo.  Then to St. Zeno's chapel, which is completely covered in mosaics – the only one like it in Rome. 

Entrance to Santa Pudenziana

There are many other objects of interest in the church to those who like exploring religious art, but don’t miss a funeral statue by the 17 year-old Bernini (along the right aisle near the front of the nave).

Just a few blocks from Santa Prassede, at via Urbana, 160, is the church dedicated to her sister, Santa Pudenziana, built originally as a conversion of a 2^nd century bath-house.  The church has some fascinating features, including its low standing compared to the street, which is now far above the entrance (the street was raised as part of Pope Sixtus V’s plan to provide greater access to Santa Maria Maggiore), its plain attractive facade, and its role as a minor basilica and national church of the Philippines. You can see more of the bath features on the church's walls on the street in back, via Balbo, which runs parallel to via Urbana.

Santa Pudenziana apse - count 'em, 10 apostles

In this church, like in Santa Prassede, one is captivated by the apse mosaics, the oldest in Rome, dating to the late 4^th century.  There has been controversy over restorations and who is who in the mosaics (besides Christ - the only one with a halo).  Two of the apostles were destroyed in one of the restorations – if you're counting.  To purists, these mosaics are of high importance because they are an older, classical style.  We simply like to look at them and compare; they're gorgeous.

Hours for these two churches generally are 8 a.m. -12 noon and 4-6 p.m., but nothing is for certain with Rome churches.  So you can have a nice morning or afternoon hour or 2 here, and begin or end with lunch.  Reputedly the city's best kebabs are at Shawarma Station on nearby via Merulana, 271.  See Katie Parla's review.

Dianne, the Church Lady (and sometime kebab eater)

Eating Ethnic: Rome's Kebab

We have been coming to Rome regularly for 17 years, and not until our last visit did we eat a Kebab. I had been longing to try the Roman version of this Mediterranean/Middle Eastern fast food, and one night, when the trattorias were closing and it seemed to late for the standard plate of pasta, I succeeded in muscling Dianne into Asterix 2, on via Ostiense. (You shouldn't have difficult finding a Kebab shop in Rome, but if you do, there's a website that lists them all--and even rates the Top 10: http://digilander.libero.it/romakebab/

The Kebab resembles the Greek "gyro," the latter so-named because the meat gyrates/turns on a spit as it is cooked.  But the dozens of Kebab shops in Rome are owned not by Greeks but by Egyptians, Turks, and Kurds, and the sliced meat for which the gyro is known--lamb--has been replaced in Rome by veal or, in most cases, a combination of veal and turkey. Kebab Valenziani (via Augusto Valenziani, 14), an Egyptian shop [see photo],
serves three meats from separate spiedi: beef, veal, and chicken. Most shops offer two kinds of bread: an Arab bread often made on site, and the familiar Italian Ciabatta. Condiments vary, and include hot sauce, sesame sauce, yogurt, lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, olives, onions, green peppers, carciofi and, perhaps in a concession to the Greek tradition, feta cheese.

We ordered ours with "everything" and were aghast at the size of the thing. One serves two, and seated on stools in the cramped shop, we passed the Kebab back and forth about 10 times, along with a Diet Coke. Fresh, great range of flavors, healthy ingredients.
A starving writer could live on one of these a day. Although some will prefer to "portare via" (take out, literally carry away) their Kebabs, we recommend dining in, enjoying the colorful interiors that many of the shops present. The photo is of Asterix 2 (we think).  You'll see it looks nothing like Eataly, which opened in Rome this summer.  Nor does it have the art to go with food that we savor in EUR at Caffe' Palombini, but it has it's own ambiance, one could say.

Sadly, the Kebab is understood as an "ethnic" food and has begun to suffer from the anti-immigrant sentiment currently infecting Italian politics. Berlusconi's center-right national government has been supporting local efforts to ban ethic foods. One such effort is underway in Lucca--the site of 4 Kebab outlets--where the city fathers voted to ban any new ethic food shops, and another has been launched in Milan, with support from the conservative (and anti-immigrant) Northern League.  These are no doubt the same folks who find Europe's largest mosque - in Rome - disturbing.

Minister of Agriculture Luca Zaia, asked if he had ever eaten a Kebab, replied, "No--and I defy anyone to prove the contrary. I prefer the dishes of my native Veneto."

Our advice, Luca, is try one.

Bill