Past Piazza Venezia and through the Jewish Ghetto, there sat Campo De' Fiori. In the center of the square is a statute of Giordano Bruno who was considered to be an intellectual heretic and was burned in this spot in 1600. Campo De' Fiori is a busy morning produce market and often is the place for political demonstrations. This morning there was no demonstration, just the smell of fresh fruit and excited shoppers. Walking through the peddlers I paused to decide my next move. The Pantheon.
Like Campo De' Fiori, the Pantheon is on the western side of Rome's city center, slightly southwest of the Trevi Fountain and even further south from the Spanish steps.
I was starving this morning and decided that I would need to eat prior to my day's large meal. So along the way I stopped a little sandwich shop. You will find these throughout the city and they are labeled on the outside in Italian as being "self-service." I believe what this means is that it is cafeteria style. It does not mean that you grab your own food. Let me pause to further explain what I mean by "cafeteria-style." The quality of the food is much better than any cafeteria I have ever been to and does not constitute sub-par or stale food. Behind the glass there are sandwiches, pizza, salads, and then deli meats and cheeses. I grabbed a drink from the refrigerator and approached the counter. The girl spoke a bit of English and I pointed at one of the very long sandwiches and asked for a piece. She said "about this big?" and begin cutting off a huge hunk. Yum! Then what she did was place the sandwich on a scale. For eight euro I got a huge sandwich and a drink. Seems maybe a bit expensive right? Well let me tell you something about this sandwich. Of all of the food that I have yet to eat here in Italy, this sandwich was perhaps the best thing. It consisted of only three ingredients: what we consider to be focaccia bread, prosciutto, and fresh mozzarella. That was it. When I took my first bite, I asked myself why I had not gotten one of these every day. My God. Better than any pizza I have ever eaten. What a simple, fresh, wonderful thing that sandwich was. I ate as I walked.
Through the winding cobblestone streets I went. Suddenly I heard some water from a fountain and I turned a corner and there I was standing in front of the Pantheon. I walked over to the fountain, not wanting to stop eating to start taking photos and I sat down. Unbelievable. In just a short distance I had walked from a famed open air market to one of the greatest archaeological sites in the world. Awe-struck, again. The really interesting thing is that there the Pantheon sits, in the middle of a village square. People go about their business, eat, go to work, and there's the Pantheon.
The Pantheon. It was built as a Roman temple dedicated to all of the gods (Pan- all and Theos- the gods). The original temple was built in 27 B.C. by Augustus' son-in-law, Marcus Agrippa. However, the original structure was destroyed by a couple of fires and it was completely rebuilt around 120 A.D. by the emperor Hadrian. Rumor has it that the emperor was an amateur architect and that he helped design the structure. Here is the interesting part. While the Pantheon seems pretty typical from its exterior you have to stop and think for a moment. This is perhaps one of the most influential buildings in art history. Not only was its dome the model for the Florence cathedral dome which launched the freaking Renaissance, and for Michaelangelo's dome at St. Peter's, the Capital Building in Washington D.C. is modeled after the Pantheon.
As I toured around the Pantheon there was actually a local church's mass going on inside. The smell of the burning incense added to the ambiance of my tour.
From the Pantheon, I headed north to the Trevi Fountain. I threw three more coins into the fountain so that my return-trip is definitely confirmed (Just in case something went wrong with the other coins I had thrown in).
From there I headed even further north to see the Spanish Steps one more time, and to do a little more window shopping at all of the designer stores.
Tonight, I will eat my last Roman meal until I return. What a trip it has been. I hope that all of you come here one day.
My final words of Roman travel advice: Come here in the spring- it would be too hot in the summer. Wear comfortable walking shoes- my choice, mocassins, but I am a bit of a hippie. Stay at a hotel near the Trevi Fountain as this is about as centrally located as you can be- I did not do this, but it did not stop me from seeing nearly everything. Spend a lot of your time immersing yourself in the local neighborhoods and not eating at the touristy places. Plan to spend at least two hours seated for each meal. Bring lots of cash as most places do not accept credit card. Order the house wines, it is extremely inexpensive and better than any fine wine you would order in the U.S.. Bring lots of batteries for your camera. Bring your husband, boyfriend or lover- it is Rome and there are plenty of romantic spots. The next time I am here, I will not be alone, this time though- Rome was a place of self-discovery. And finally, but not least importantly, bring a suitcase large enough to hold all of your purchases on the way home- I did not do this and now need to spend the next couple of hours trying to figure out how to defy physics to bring everything home with me.
"Ci se vede" to each of you and to Rome!
It was probably the mozzarella that made the sandwich so divine.
ReplyDeleteit was the combination of all three for sure. but you are right. the fresh mozzarella was amazing.
ReplyDelete