My penultimate day in Rome

During my stay in Rome, I began most days with a stop in the kitchen of Sant’Anselmo where I knew that I would find a cup of coffee. This is also where I still knew the most people, so alongside of my coffee, I had the daily interrogation about what I had eaten on the previous day. “When are you going to eat here?” they asked. We’d already been over this territory, but I said “Tomorrow, it’s my last day in Rome.” There was an audible gasp. I had used the Italian word ultimo for ‘last’. Apparently, I had just committed a linguistic faux pas. I was promptly informed that you never use the word “ultimo” as a living person. Its use is reserved to the dead, as in “those were his last words”. Well, no one ever told me that. Curiously, though, this visit had taken on something of a “final tour” aspect. I found myself wanting to revisit places that had been important to me in my early years in Rome.

Alleyway in old Rome

There was a general strike today, so there was no public transportation. Anything I did would have to be within walking distance of Sant’Anselmo. So I set my sights were set on the area in and around the old Jewish ghetto. Just a few days earlier the last Jewish survivor of the deportation of Rome’s Jews had died. I had just seen him interviewed in a documentary about this. I thought there might be something going on. When I was a student, this was my favorite neighborhood to just get lost in. It seemed to have so many secret doors and passageways where old trades were still being plied. As I approached, I could see that it was now possible to visit the ruins around the Theater of Marcellus. This had never been possible on any of my previous visits, so I jumped at the chance. There were excellent historical panels that talked about both the ancient and medieval structures in this area. From there, it was a just a hundred yards into the ghetto.

The mattress shop

The street behind the central synagogue is lined with eateries that feature Roman Jewish cuisine. There had always been a few restaurants here specializing in that, but Roman Jewish cuisine has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years. Needless to say, many restaurateurs have been willing to respond to the demand. I was happy to see that an old standby was still going strong. On a corner, there’s a little storefront bakery (if it has a name, I’m sure I don’t know it). It’s famous for its pizza ebraica, a dough covered with dried fruit- raisins, citron, etc. and then baked in the oven. There was quite a line, so I passed. For the next hour, I just wandered in and out of these dark streets. In one I saw an old mattress shop where everything was still made “su misura”, or, to measurement, i.e. custom made. An elderly woman was sitting at a table with a pair of scissors in her hand. This kind of scene was quite common, at one time. Like so many things in Rome though, the old ways are dying out.

The Turtle Fountain

I had one more ‘must see’ stop in this area, the turtle fountain, or La Fontana delle Tartarughe. This fountain is in the Piazza Mattei and I think it is the most beautiful fountain in all of Rome. It has four, smiling young men holding up the bowl that catches the water first before it gets spurted out into the basin below. The four figures are each lifting a very realistic looking turtle into the basin above them. Not only is the fountain gracious and well proportioned, but also the sense of whimsy added by the turtles just makes it seem like a happy place. While I was admiring the fountain, I noticed that the doors to a palazzo on the square were open and I saw people walk in. Rome enthusiasts know that, when you see a door open, you need to seize the opportunity. I walked over and stepped inside. The inner courtyard was lined with classical sculptures and one wall was embellished with friezes and other sculptural elements. The other walls had beautiful arcades. It was a magical space and I was glad I had a chance to see it.

The courtyard of Palazzo Mattei

The Shrine of Our Savior

I continued on my way back in the general direction of Sant’Anselmo. As I was just about to leave the warren of streets for the major roads, I noticed a little shrine on a wall. These shrines are very common and are usually dedicated to the Virgin Mary, but this one was unusual. The figure in the shrine was that of Christ. The inscription on the shrine reads, ”Savior of the World, Save Us.” There is a serenity about this little shrine that I find very appealing. It invited me to spend a little more time there, before heading back into the chaos of modern Rome. It was time, however, to move from the sacred to the secular on this penultimate day of pilgrimage. I was making another stop, this time at Trapizzino.

There it is!

For those of you who don’t know, the trapizzino is another Roman food innovation. The name comes from the word for a traditional Italian sandwich called a ‘tramezzino’ and ‘pizza’ the generic name for a flatbread cooked in the oven, hence ‘trapizzino’. This was the brainchild of Roman pizzaiolo, Stefano Callegari. He wanted to take some traditional Roman dishes and figure out how to turn them into street food, food you could eat without necessarily sitting down to a meal. His invention was a cone shaped piece of pizza dough that you could then stuff with a variety of fillings. The fillings have to have a certain moisture content for them to make sense. The result is that many of the fillings are dishes that are typically braises. The original storefront was in Testaccio, the neighborhood below Sant’Anselmo. That’s where I headed. I ordered ‘pollo alla cacciatore’ (chicken hunter style) and ‘pollo e peperoni’ (chicken and peppers). These are two of my favorite Roman dishes. Both were great, but I really loved the pollo e peperoni. Now, it was time to face the inevitable. I had to begin packing for my return to the USA.

I spent the afternoon deciding what things I could abandon in Italy and what things I needed to take with me. I had been pretty good about not accumulating too much ‘stuff’, so the task was relatively easy. I had made reservations for that night at one of my former ‘go to’ restaurants, Taverna Cestia. Back in the day, a rather solid and stolid Roman place, which specialized in seafood at a reasonable price. I hate to say it, but it was a place frequented by many senior citizens. It had passed into the hands of the next generation, but was still very much a neighborhood place. I hadn’t eaten that much seafood, so I wanted my last dinner out to center around that . . . and it was Friday. 

Linguine with tuna, tomatoes & capers

Even at 7:45 (early by Roman standards) the place was crowded. I am glad I made a reservation, even if I did have to share a table with the servers’ supplies. I may someday write something about all the crappy tables you get stuck in if you are a solo diner, but not right now. I ordered pasta with fresh tuna, cherry tomatoes and capers and a mixed fry of shrimp and calamari. The pasta was perfect with chunks of tuna that had barely cooked and a luscious quick sauce. The fry needs no explanation, just straightforward home cooking. I washed it down with a jug of the house white. A very nice meal to end my Roman holiday.