Roamin' about Rome

Hadrian's Tomb across the Tiber

Impressions of Rome: August 2019.  My eighth visit to the Eternal City, from which I returned Thursday. 

The heat.  Good golly!  None of my prior visits have been this hot.  The temperature reached the high 90s virtually every day.  I took a siesta -- reading in my air conditioned room -- each day between about 1 and 5 p.m., after which the temperature dipped below 95.  Visitors to Rome have always complained about the August heat, and those Romans who can swing it take the entire month as a vacation.  They flee to the beaches or to northern climes, leaving the city to the clueless tourists.

The people.  As a corollary of the above, Rome in August is a city full  of tourists.  Largely American, judging from overheard voices and accents.  I've joked about American tourists in the past -- their ignorance, their lack of sensitivity, their loudness, their, well, American-ness.  Either I've grown more mellow with time, or there has been a real change in the typical American tourist.

Traveling alone, I had plenty of time to observe those around me, and I was pleasantly surprised by many or most of my compatriots.  They spoke quietly, they were good-humored, they seemed intelligent, they were interested in what they were seeing.  They were traveling on their own, not herded about in tour groups (nor were the Japanese tourists, of whom there were many).  They seemed at ease.  They brought their teenage and pre-teen kids, also a revelation.  The kids weren't whiny and bored, even when it was hot and they must have been tired.  They sat at dinner with their parents, joining in the conversation with interest and laughter.  I saw no eye-rolling at the follies of the "old folks."  Does Rome improve kids?  Or do only "good" kids come to Rome?

The major attractions.  Don't go to Rome in August -- or maybe anytime during the summer -- planning to check items off your bucket list.  The Vatican Museum, St. Peter's, the Colosseum, the Forum?  Maybe one of them, if you have the time, but not all of them.  How long can you tolerate standing in line in unshaded 98 degree heat?  Nor maybe should you count on visiting many of the other, lesser indoor attractions, such as certain churches -- a surprising number of which had lines.  Save those for another visit, if possible -- a visit during an off-season.

Lonely streets in the centro storico.  Don't get me wrong -- even in August, there are plenty of "lonely streets," plenty of quiet corners in which to sit and reflect.  But under this strange heading, I include a goal, which even I myself hadn't quite formulated -- to wander alone, pleasantly lost, in the centro storico -- the maze of ancient streets in the Campo Marzio between the Tiber and the major arterial called the via del Corso.   I'd wandered into that area on earlier trips, but without quite understanding the area's history.  But I had since read André Aciman's atmospheric reflections:

This warren of old alleys goes back many centuries, and here sinister brawls, vendettas, and killings were as common in the Renaissance as the artists, con artists, and other swaggerers who populated these streets. … Getting lost -- the welcome sense that you are still unable to find your way in this maze of side streets -- is something one never wishes to unlearn ….
--André Aciman, Alibis, "Roman Hours."

In August, the maze of streets and piazzas remains magical, but not really sinister and not so conducive to daydreaming while one wanders.  I still was lost, constantly, but the maze is full of your American countrymen, and every tiny trattoria or café has extended its tables and chairs out into the streets.  The magic is real, but it's a more immediate and contemporary magic than the echoing sounds of old duels and brawls and the clashing of swords suggested in Aciman's writing.

So those are some of the reasons not to visit Rome in August.  But if you can't go in, say, June -- by all means go in August.  Neither the heat nor the crowds could overcome my conviction that there were few places on earth better worth visiting, and especially visiting as a solo traveler.  And especially, if walking is for you a pleasure, and not an unavoidable chore.

I was in Italy for only one week, and out of that week I spent only 3½ days in Rome itself.  But in that 3½ days, I walked 53 miles.  Rome's a big city, but a very walkable city.  It has three subway lines, which are sometimes useful, but the subway doesn't cover the tourist's city in the way New York's does.  I used it most frequently as a quick way to move from my hotel, near the railway station, to the Spanish Steps, which served me as a launching point to the centro storico, the Tiber riverbank, and the Vatican area.  But taking the subway in Rome was like driving to a trailhead in the Pacific Northwest -- the walking had yet to begin. 

And more frequently, I just started walking from my hotel.  Either walking down the via Nazionale to the Victor Emmanuel monument, and from there following the Corso directly to the Spanish Steps.  Or, more interestingly, walking south past the basilicas of Santa Maria Maggiore and St. John Lateran, looping back to the Colosseum, around the Palatine Hill, past the Circus Maximus, to the Tiber.  (I provide these details only because they're fun to write down.)  As the days passed, I discovered (or remembered) alternative streets leading from the railway station area, but those were the two principal routes away from my hotel toward "tourist" Rome.

Days before I left Seattle, newspapers carried the startling news that the police were banning tourists from sitting on the Spanish Steps -- something tourists had done for generations.  Rome is one large museum, went the argument, and no one allows tourists to sit on the floor of the New York Metropolitan Museum eating sandwiches and ice cream.  And, like it or not, no one was sitting on the steps, although the police didn't interfere with a minute or two of sitting while a friend took a photo.  At the top of the steps, past the church (Trinità dei Monti), one enters the Borghese Gardens, an enormous park full of museums, amusement rides, a zoo, a lake, and playing fields.  I had often skirted the edge of the park, but had never really explored it.  Like New York's Central Park, it was a green haven made for walking -- but less crowded.  It made the city's heat more tolerable at mid-day, and some of the museums sounded worth exploring on a future visit.

I also had passed the famous Hadrian's Tomb (aka Castel Sant'Angelo) on many past occasions, but had never gone inside.  It was well worth the visit, with informative panels explaining the intricate history of the tomb/fortress/palace, and with an excellent view of the entire city and the Vatican from the top. 

Long walks along the Tiber were irresistible, because of both the views and the shade from the sycamore trees planted along its entire length.  Meals at cafés -- mainly but not always -- in the centro storico -- were always good, and never rushed.  (It's a common theme among travel writers that Italian waiters are always available and helpful -- until it's time to pay the bill.)  People watching, while hanging around squares like Piazza Navona and the Pantheon was a source of free entertainment --  watching the buskers, as well as the antics and interactions of my fellow travelers.

One week is not long enough for a trip overseas, but travel creates a form of time dilation.  My visit to Italy was just underway a week ago, but that time feels far more distant.  Aside from my 3½ days in Rome, I spent another two days traveling by train to Levanto on the Ligurian coast for a very brief few hours visit, and then to Florence for a night's sleep, with the following day devoted to the city that was my very first experience with Italy.

I will offer a few thoughts about Florence in a later posting.
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PS -- Another problem with Rome in August is that all of the city's music series seem to end in July or the first week of August, including the open air opera series at the Baths of Caracalla. Operas performed outside obviously don't have the best acoustics going for them, but I saw Aïda at the Baths of Caracalla many years ago, and it made up in drama for anything it lacked in musical fidelity. Fun experience.

PPS -- Gelati! Another reason to visit Italy. A good temporary antidote against 98 degree temperatures!