A day in the Trastevere

After four days of er, changeable weather - meaning blasts of sun, blasts of rain, wind, and clouds, today dawned crystal clear and warm.  It was as if Autumnus took a sick day, headed back up to Olympus, and handed the world back to Aestas for a moment.  Blues skies clear as a bell, crisp as a new apple and nearly 70 degrees, and I took a day off work too, and all four of us, Patty, myself and the doggums headed down the hill into the Trastevere to enjoy the day

Trastevere is a bit off the Roman beaten path as it doesn't have the big-ticket monuments, the Colosseo, the Forums, the Pantheon or Bambino Gesu!, St Peter's square.  What is does have is vibe.  It's long been where University students, artists, and other broke lowlifes have made their home and it still has the vibrancy and gritty, edgy feeling of youth.  It's changing with gentrification I'm told but it's some of the last of the true Roman neighborhoods. Kind of why we chose this for our home base, actually

The first stop was the Cosimato market square/triangle where I'd hoped to find the real deal green market,  stalls macellaria and negotio di formaggio.  I wasn't disappointed even slightly

All our food-based shopping was intact.  I counted 9 separate greengrocers with just luscious veggies. One even sells you carciofi (super cheap!!) and will prep it on the spot for Carciofi Alla Romano or Alla Giudia. Win!

Behind the stalls were more established shops;  macelleria  (butcher) shops, cheese shops, pasta shop.  Heaven on earth to me and just a brief 12 minute walk down from the casa and 15 back up.  It's amazing how quickly one can become accustomed to walking everywhere and not just jumping in a car and running down to the Safeway an hour before dinner.

After scoping out our future food suppliers, we headed into the midday Trastevere. Yes, it's everything you've ever been told or seen n a picture or a movie.  Shady narrow streets with cafes every ten steps and arte, both traditional, punk and guerilla, coolio shops, bars and tattoo parlors. Oh yeah, I could live here.

I saw this yellow-headed tag in three different places.  He gets around.

I should have taken a video as the lights were cascading down like a waterfall.

A Hollywood central casting set of a Trastevere street corner.

It was feeling like lunchtime, but we pressed on to see Basilia Santa Maria, the oldest church dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Rome. They started building it around 340 and finished it in 870 or so. That's a bit of job security. We took turns holding the dogs outside and ventured in.  No photos allowed, so you'll have to imagine the high dome completely plated with gold and frescos after frescos, friezes and statues.  Pretty amazing even for a country with churches on every corner. Not the drama of the Pantheon, but boy-howdy that were a few fortunes in gold on that ceiling,  

The outside in the piazza wasn't too shoddy either.

We nicknamed the saint on the far left "Santo Whatever."

All that gold made us hungry and we found without much work, a likely looking spot: Il Baccanale.

I had bruschetta with speck (more pig parts) and cheese and a few suppli which I generously shared with the doggums.  Patty had a pizza with shockingly good tuna and red onions., which also found its way to the lucky dogs.

Please, may I have some more?

All in all a fine day which we topped off with another gorgeous view of the skyline as we hiked back up Gianicolo hill to our home, this photo with hardly a cloud in the sky.

A small, wondrous moment happened on the Gianicoo scale.  As we descended a couple of semi lost Spanish tourists asked us in Spanish/Italian via pointing at a map, how to get to the Garibaldi terrace monument. I answered solo in Italiano, which translates pretty well into Spanish if you concentrate.  Up the scala, turn right, walk 5 minuti to the Pancrazio arche and turn right again, walk for another 5 minutes and you're there.  They seemed to understand, said gracias and walked away up the steps, map in hand.

Later while we were down in the Trastevere having lunch, they walked by, recognized us and gave us a huge smiling thumbs up. Succeso!  They found Garibaldi.  Fun to have a conversation in Italian to a Spaniard who doesn't speak Italian or English and be helpful and communicate. It's a lovely world, sometimes,

Tomorrow rain again so I guess I'll suck it up and do a day's work instead of playing hookey.

A Presto!