RST Top 40. #11: Monte Mario - "wild" within the city

Views from Lo Zodiaco at the top of Monte Mario

 Monte Mario is Rome’s own “mountain.” At 450 feet, it may not seem like much, but it has nice wooded paths and great views at the top. For both its green space within the city and its sweeping views, we put it in Rome the Second Time’s Top 40 countdown at #11.






The paths are broad and well-maintained

Monte Mario is a great reclamation story for Rome, since its 150 hectares (370 acres) have been taken from private property. There are some nice explanatory boards and, while they’re in Italian, even without the language one can make out some of the history (foundries operated here 2000 years ago) and flora and fauna.



As you near the top, you have nice views of St. Peter’s and behind you the Fascist-era observatory (you can’t go in).

Then the best views, from the restaurant/bar Lo Zodiaco, where you can sit outside with a coffee or beer, look through the telescopes at the Tiber and monuments, and feed the animals (see photo at right).



A map of the Monte Mario "park."  One of our techniques
is to take a photo of a map and then check it on our camera
as we proceed on our trek.



There are more walks around here - urban and green - and more history and buildings, all described in Itinerary 9 of Rome the Second Time.  

Buon trekking!



Dianne

Of pigs and pork in the hills outside Rome: when gourmet cooking meets us



Looking for porchetta in Ariccia



Found it!  Dianne watches her sandwich being made

We have to admit a craving for porchetta - that's the roast pork that is sold at road side stands, and also in shops around southern Italy.  But the classic porchetta is from a small town, Ariccia, in the hills outside Rome, the Colli Albani.

We heard from our friend, B, in the States, that even Gourmet Magazine had found its way to Ariccia.   Glad you finally made it, we say.

the view towards the Agra Pontina

Looking back at Ariccia from its bridge

Ariccia sits perched on the side of the hills with sweeping views of the plains that lead to the Mediterranean (the Agro Pontino - or Pontine Marshes, now densely inhabited after the Mussolini government's reclamation efforts).  It's a fun town to visit, with its tiny shops, many of them selling just porchetta. 

Ariccia is full of porchetta and pig references.  We rather like this anthropomorphic pig holding a piece of his own species (photo right).

You can get a sandwich to go - the best way to eat your porchetta.  You may not be used to the large piece of salty skin they throw in the sandwich.  And you can hit a bone now and then (Bill lost a piece of tooth to one years ago)- so caveat emptor.

Buon porchetta!

Dianne

Finding Mr. Fix-it for scooter accessories in Rome

Despite all the complaints of what doesn't work in Italy, we're always impressed by the ingenuity of sole proprietors and small businesses.  Here's an example:

The key to our "box" (bauletto) - the carrier on the back of our scooter - broke off in the lock.  The first reaction of some businesses we contacted was that we'd have to replace the whole box.  That's a minimum of a $100, an amount we don't part with easily. 


So we took ourselves to Porta Portese - the dense line-up of corrugated sheds that passes for a two-wheeler (all kinds - bicycles, motorcycles, scooters, and some kids' trikes) market place.  Porta Portese (also the scene of Rome's largest flea market on Sundays - when these "regular" shops are closed) is where we bought our helmets, got the box originally, bought a cover for our scooter, etc. 

A merchant figured out we needed to replace the lock (not the whole box), sold us one, and told us to just do it.  We pled incompetence and so the merchant took us down the way to another shop where this repairman replaced the lock.  Bill is looking on so he can do it in the future.

The whole transaction - lock and a small payment to the repairman - was about $20.  We are satisfied customers.

Dianne

Rome the Second Time Top 40. #12: The Fosse Ardeatine



Cells at the former SS prison on via Tasso

The grounds of the Fosse Ardeatine (Ardeatine Caves) include the caves [photo below] where, in March 1944, the German SS executed 335 Italian men--Jews, partisans, and others--in retaliation for a deadly partisan attack on the occupying German forces in via Rasella, and the haunting cemetery/memorial housing the bodies of all those killed there.  The Fosse Ardeatine are located a few miles south of the Centro on via Ardeatine, but can be easily reached by Bus 218, which has a stop in the city at the corner of Piazza San Giovanni and the wide via Amba Aradam.

Itinerary 6 ("Attack and Reprisal--a Story of Partisans and Nazis") in Rome the Second Time covers the via Rasella bombing and the SS prison on via Tasso, which now is home to the Historical Museum of the Liberation, where some of those killed at the Fosse Ardeatine had been incarcerated.   

The tombs of those killed at the Fosse Ardeatine

A good (Jewish) friend who read Rome the Second Time enjoyed and praised the book but was critical of the space devoted to Italian Fascism and the 1943/44 German occupation of Rome, which produced the Fosse Ardeatine tragedy and the deportation of many of the city's Jews to concentration camps.  We think the material is not only appropriate but vital.  More than half a century later, these issues and events--Mussolini and Fascism, the ugly Italian campaign, the role of the partisans, the inhumanity of the Germans, the occupation of the city after the withdrawal of Italy from the war, the deportation of Italian Jews--continue to resonate with and to divide Italians, shaping their social relationships, politics, foreign policies, and art and architecture, well into the 21st century.  You can't tell the players without a scorecard, and you can't fully understand contemporary Italy without knowing something about what happened between 1922, when Mussolini marched on Rome, and 1945, when sanity returned to the Eternal City.

Bill

A poster from the late 1930s, now in the Historical Museum of the Liberation, announcing the expulsion of foreign-born Jews from Italy and the exclusion of native-born Jews from banks, insurance companies and other occupations, as well as from the public schools.

Ducati Caffe': a classy spot for a break in Rome's center

Glitzy and commercial is not usually our thing, but we have a spot in our hearts for Ducati Caffe' just off Largo di Torre Argentina in Rome's center. 

There's something about that motorcycle on the wall, the red and black high-tech decor, AND the occasional live music that appeals to us.  The food looks good (tho' we haven't tried it). 

Ducati Caffe' is open all day, beginning with breakfast (Italian style) at 8 a.m.  The website is mostly in Italian, but enough is in English that you can figure out what's happening and if you want to try it. 

Ducati Caffe' is a classy spot to take a well-deserved break from Rome's hectic streets.

Dianne