Meandering With Murphy

Campo de’ Fiori, Piazza Navona, the Forum and Colosseum and yes, a terrible meal!

We started our day, as we did every day we were in Italy, with a cappuccino and pastry. We had a great coffee shop just a few doors down from out apartment. The pastries were very sticky and we quickly learned, by observing the locals, the best way to eat them.

Notice how Beth and Kate are holding their pastries with their napkins. It avoids sticky fingers. (Sorry for the over exposed picture but you get the point).

Campo de’ Fiori

Campo de’ Fiori (field of flowers) is an open air market. In the Middle Ages it used to be a meadow of flowers, thus the name. The square is busy with vendors selling, flowers, fruit, vegetables, pasta, herbs, limoncello, olive oil, vinegar, clothing and various other items. Katelyn was looking for a pair of white pants and/or a dress and Beth was looking for a hat. Both were successful. I hung out with the boys.

In the center of the market is a Statue of Giordano Bruno.

Giordano Bruno was one of the major philosophers of the Renaissance. He was born in a village near Naples in 1548 and died in Rome at the hands of the Catholic Inquisition on February 17, 1600. He has become a symbol of free thought and an individual thinker independent from religion. He believed in the existence of infinite universes and infinite solar systems and that the Earth was not the center of the Universe. He is considered a martyr for freedom of thought and ironically the statue faces the Vatican. During the Inquisition other executions were held here as well.

Glenn, Jake and I found a cafe to wait for Beth and Kate and it had lots of inviting things to eat. Notice the Gluten free items.

And now where should we go? Well the Piazza Navona of course! And we found some interesting things along the way.

What we saw along the way. A religious picture on the corner of the building. We saw them frequently. Then, who needs a clothes dryer when you can just hang your clothes out the window? It was a “balmy” 88 degrees.

The Piazza Navona

The space currently occupied by he Piazza Navona was originally the Stadium of Domitian built in 80 AD. Very little of it remains today. In the last years of the 15th century the Piazza Navona was transformed into a highly significant example of BaroqueRoman architecture. In the center stands the famous Fountain of the Four Rivers (1651) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini which is topped by the Obelisk of Domitian.

There are two other fountains. At the south end of the piazza is the Fontana del Moro with four Tritons sculpted by Giacomo della Porta (1575) and Bernini added a statue of a Moor wrestling with a dolphin.

At the northern end is the Fountain of Neptune (1574) to balance with the Fontana del Moro ( I don’t have a picture of this). Below is the four of us just wishing we could jump in the fountain.

In the middle of the Piazza is the Church of Sant’ Agnese in Agone.

Then we decided to have something to drink in the Piazza and found a woman making pasta.

While sitting there the bread was delivered!

The Forum

The Forum was the center of commercial and judicial life in Ancient Rome. The largest buildings were the basilicas where legal cases were heard. Lawyers, bankers, brokers, and shopkeepers all did their business and negotiations there. It was the teeming heart of ancient Roman life. As you enter the area you can see the remains of the meeting hall where business took place.

Temple of Divus Romulus built in the 4th century AD. It is largely intact due to being converted into the present day church Santi Cosma e Damiano. The large well-preserved bronze door is original.

Above on the left is the Arch of Titus. Originally the menorah was painted a rich yellow. The arch inaugurated in AD 81 commemorates the Roman victory over Judea by Titus. It shows a triumphal ride on a chariot and the looting of the temple. On the right is the Temple of Antonius and Faustina. It was first dedicated in AD 141.

On the left above is the Temple of Vesta dated from the 4th century AD. The cult of the vestals was one of the oldest in Rome and centered o six Vestal Virgins who were required to keep the sacred flame of Vesta, the goddess of the hearth. In the middle is another picture of the Temple of Antonius and Faustina. The picture on the right shows the pathway through the Forum. The picture above is a picture of the ruins.

The Palatine Hill

The Palatine Hill is the most famous of Rome’s seven hills. In ancient Rome it was considered one of the most desirable neighborhoods. The walls separate the different rooms in what would have been the homes. The mosaic floor below would have covered all the area in the home.

Now, on to the Colosseum

Rome’s greatest amphitheater was commissioned by the Emperor Vespasian in AD 72 on the marshy site of a lake on the grounds of Nero’s palace. Deadly gladiatorial combats and wild animal fights were staged here. The Colosseum was built to a practical design with its 80 arched entrances allowing easy access to 55,000 spectators. Several other similar amphitheaters were built throughout the Roman Empire and some still survive in El Djem in North Africa, Nimes and Arles in France and Verona in Northern Italy.

Several pictures of the Colosseum.

The Goodman’s Jake, Beth, Kate and Glenn.

The Arch of Constantine above was dedicated in AD 315 to celebrate Constantine’s victory three years earlier over his co-emperor, Maximus. It is the largest Roman triumphal arch. It is situated between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill.

Dinner anyone???

By now it was 8 pm and we were all very hungry so we looked for a restaurant close to the Forum but also on our way home. We found Ristorante la Nuova Piazzetta which had 4.7 stars so we were hopeful. Not sure who these people were who rated this restaurant but it was a disaster!!!!

Mary’s mussels in a CHICKEN STOCK (who ever heard of this preparation and it was awful), Beth’s tomato mozzarella salad (Mushy tomatoes and the mozzarella was soft) and Glenn’s pasta with pancetta (It tasted like SpaghettiOs)

Jake’s pizza with pesto (not flavorful) and Kate’s Margarita pizza (over cooked).

This says it all!

While waiting for our taxi Kate found her car!