Rome
Content
ROME
ROME
1
R I D E A V ES PA
12
Rome
NE W WAY S TO FAL L I N LOVE W I T H
From revving a Vespa through handsome piazzas to
peeking through secret keyholes, we find a dozen new
ways to unlock the Eternal City’s immortal beauty
WORDS OLIVER SMITH l PHOTOGRAPHS SUSAN WRIGHT
Ancient Rome may have been built on
the principle of straight roads, but all
that went out the window long ago.
This is a city where alleyways zig-zag
manically up the hillsides and where
everything from the ice-cream van to
the hearse gets driven like a dodgem.
According to Claudio Serra, there is only
one way to navigate this pandemonium.
‘In Rome our streets are crazy – the
only way to reach everywhere is on a
Vespa,’ he insists. ‘You can park a Vespa
outside the Pantheon; you can drive it
along the motorway. It means freedom.’
In addition to running a small Vespa
museum, Claudio offers Vespa-back
tours of Rome and private scooter hire
from his store near the Colosseum.
Riders whoosh through the many
species of roads in Rome: the multi-lane
highways that squeeze through gaps in
ancient city walls; back streets where
laundry lines flaps overhead; and the
confusing roads that end at a piazza –
before re-emerging on the other side,
as if regaining a lost train of thought.
Vespa drivers stay eerily composed
as they weave through the traffic –
perhaps because, as Claudio points
out, they are sitting, ‘as comfortably
as if they are in their own living room’.
❤ Rates for scooter hire at Bici & Baci begin
at £12 per hour; bicibaci.com
76
Lonely Planet Traveller September 2014
September 2014 Lonely Planet Traveller
77
ROME
ROME
2
C YC LE OV E R
ROMAN C O B B LE S
O N T HE APPIAN
WAY
All roads lead to Rome, but none do
so more gracefully than the Appian
Way. Built as the king of all Roman
highways in 312BC, it is a road more
storied than any other in history.
Olympic sprinters have raced down
it, armies fought along it in WWII,
6,000 followers of Spartacus were
crucified by the roadside and
St Peter heard Christ’s footsteps
beside his own on its cobbles. These
days, divine apparitions in the
lay-bys are uncommon – although
this doesn’t stop modern Roman
cyclists pedalling the nine-milelong stretch closest to the city.
Bearing south from the gridlocked
streets of southern Rome, the
blaring of car horns soon recedes
to a distant toot as cyclists enter
a pocket of Lazio countryside
miraculously preserved at the heart
of the city. The scent of wild mint
hangs in the air as the road passes
crumbling Roman villas and
medieval towers. Technically the
Appian Way is open to all traffic –
very occasionally a car passes with
the driver jabbing at his satnav in
confusion. But much of the time
cyclists find themselves alone but
for the ghosts of wayfarers past.
❤ Bike hire is available from the office
at Via Appia Antica 58/60 from £2.50
per hour; parcoappiaantica.it
Many parts of the road have grooves
left by centuries of carts and chariots
dating back to Roman times
3
Children play at
a ‘nasone’ on
Piazza di San
Silvestro, close to
the Via del Corso
D R I NK FROM
A ‘BI G NOSE ’
On roasting hot summer days, the
saviour of every Roman citizen is
the nasone or ‘big nose’. This is no
genetic quirk, but a nickname for
the 2,500 drinking fountains dotted
about the city: from the one gurgling
quietly beside the roaring fountains
of the Piazza Navona, to the pump
on the Aventine hill which spurts
out water from a tap the shape of a
wolf’s mouth. So called because of
the shape of the spout, the fountains
were first installed in the late 19th
century, but are part of a proud
Roman tradition dating back to the
great aqueducts of ancient Rome
(it’s rumoured some nasoni use
millennia-old plumbing systems).
Nasoni are used variously by locals,
thirsty sparrows, bathing dogs, kids
starting water fights and curiously
few tourists – and though the iron
spout can get very hot, the water is
always clean and miraculously cool.
❤ To find your nearest fountain in Rome,
download the I Nasoni di Roma app from
the Apple iTunes store; free
78
Lonely Planet Traveller September 2014
September 2014 Lonely Planet Traveller
79
ROME
4
6
S WIM IN
A FASC IST
S WIMMIN G
P OOL
Rising mightily over the northwest
bank of the Tiber, far from the
itineraries of wandering tourists,
the Foro Italico sports complex
is one of the city’s unsung
wonders – a monolithic park
inspired by the glories of ancient
Rome. It underwent some tactful
rebranding some 70 years ago: upon
construction in the 1930s it was
known as the Foro Mussolini after
its founder. The Fascist leader
envisaged it as a factory for a
new, all-conquering Italian master
race, and lined the athletics track
with statues of muscular signors
looking condescendingly down
on competitors. The ideology
went long ago – but Mussolini’s
impressive if questionable artistic
taste remains: nowhere more so
than the swimming pool, where
visitors can splash about beneath
soaring ceilings and marble
surfaces. Lining the walls are epic
mosaic depictions of sea horses and
nude Fascist Adonises (flexing their
guns and looking like they might at
any moment go skinny-dipping in
the shallow end).
❤ Admission £10; comune.roma.it
The Foro Italico hosted Rome’s
1960 Summer Olympics
5
Pietro Giusto
wielding a gladius
– the preferred
sword of the
Roman foot soldier
The Non-Catholic
Cemetery is a
burial place for
Jews, Protestants
and Muslims
ROME
VI SI T K E AT S AND
SHE L L E Y I N T HE
NON-CAT HOL I C
CE ME T E RY
Dating to the 18th century, Rome’s
Non-Catholic Cemetery is a leafy plot
of land most famous as the resting
place of John Keats. He died in Rome
aged 25, and lies beside the ashes of
his friend Percy Bysshe Shelley.
A steady trickle of pilgrims potter
among the wisteria-lined pathways
to pay their respects to the poets. But
they are only part of the story: lying
around are a cast of characters from
across the world who breathed their
last in Rome. One volunteer who has
researched the lives of all buried here
is New Zealander Geoff Spedding. He
recounts the story of Margaret Graves
Mather – a woman who survived the
Hindenburg airship disaster in 1937
(with bits of molten metal in her
coat). And close by lies Beatrice
O’Brien Marconi: a passenger booked
on a transatlantic crossing from
England in April 1912. Her baby son
caught a fever, and she cancelled her
trip on the Titanic at the last minute.
‘It’s never just a case of your name,
the date you’re born and the date you
die,’ says Geoff. ‘There’s always more
to the story than that.’
❤ Suggested donation £3; cemeteryrome.it
LEARN TO BE A GLADIATOR
To any gladiator facing the prospect of meeting the gods
via a lively and heated encounter with a bear or lion, the
idea that someone more than 2,000 years later would pay
for a similar experience might seem perverse. Still, for
20 years the Gruppo Storico Romano has been hosting
gladiator training classes at its ‘1st-century AD barracks’
on the Appian Way. There are no half measures: imperial
flags fly overhead, classical statues are dotted about the
camp and the whole operation is overseen by a man
named Nero (‘Like the Emperor, but nicer,’ he says)
who occupies a curious office full of imperial bugles,
Filofaxes, stationery and spears.
‘For our students it is about discipline, order and
respect,’ explains Senator Marcus Valerius Messala
Barbatus – real name Pietro Giusto – a gladiator trainer.
‘Unfortunately, if you do not pay attention you may be
food for the lions.’ He begins the task of uniting students
with their inner Russell Crowe: studying the craft of
killing tall Germanic hordes (by sneaking between their
legs and slitting their femoral artery) and using a tribulus:
spikes hidden in the grass to injure enemies too
uncivilised to wear sandals. Before going outside to fight,
Marcus schools his students in Roman honour: ‘Rome
means culture, Rome means art. It’s an ideal by which
people across our Empire live and die – even if they have
never been here. Rome is not a city, it is a state of mind.’
❤ ‘Gladiator for a day’ classes from £45; gruppostoricoromano.it
80
Lonely Planet Traveller September 2014
September 2014 Lonely Planet Traveller
81
ROME
ROME
9
EAT A
G R AT TAC H EC C A
The Temple of
Aesculapius stands
on an island in the
Villa Borghese
Gardens’ lake
At clocking-off time, the Villa
Borghese Gardens are Rome’s
rallying point: a hilltop refuge of
cypress-lined colonnades, and a
serene spot from which to marvel
at the mayhem of the city below.
Perhaps its quietest corner is the
boating lake in the north of the park.
Here visitors and locals cast off in
rowing boats, navigating the still
waters among paddling terrapins,
falling leaves and quacking ducks.
It pays not to be in a hurry (you
could row from one side to the
other in a few seconds), so many
are content to rest their oars, lie
back in the hull and let their boats
be carried by the cooling hilltop
breeze. Presiding regally over the
lake is the Temple of Aesculapius:
an 18th-century recreation of an
ancient Roman temple that once
stood on the Tiberina Island, two
miles to the south. In a strange twist
of fate, the boating lake was said to
have been influenced by the gardens
in Stourhead, Wiltshire, some 950
miles to the northwest.
❤ Boat hire is available from 9.30am to
sunset daily; from £4 for 20 minutes
82
Lonely Planet Traveller September 2014
8
FIND A VATI CA N
E U RO COI N
Some come to the Vatican for spiritual enlightenment,
others to step into the cool colossus of St Peter’s on a hot
summer’s day, and see mortals and immortals meeting on
the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. But for a few, crossing
into the Holy See is the chance to go in search of a chunk
of metal with a maximum face value of £1.61 (for the
two-euro coin, the biggest in the set). Among collectors,
a Vatican euro coin is a Wonka’s golden ticket of currency:
a cherished oddity from the smallest nation on Earth.
The Vatican minted its first euros a decade ago, but only
in recent years have they entered circulation. Admittedly
the odds of finding one in a handful of change from the
Vatican Post Office aren’t huge. But if you happen to see
Popes Benedict XVI, John Paul II or Francis looking up at
you benignly from your palm, don’t spend it – a rarer coin
might fetch as much as £60 from a collector.
❤ Sora Mirella stands close to Ponte Celsio
in Trastevere; grattachecca from £2
Popular Grattachecca
flavours include mint,
lemon , raspberry and
blackberry
❤ If you’re happy to cheat, buy a euro coin for £10 from the Holy See’s
Numismatic Office. Admission to St Peter’s is free (vaticanstate.va).
A five-cent euro
coin with Pope
Francis’s image,
and the Vatican’s
Bramante Staircase
PHOTOGRAPH JUSTIN FOULKES
7
GO ROWING
AT THE VILLA
B ORGHE SE
GARD E NS
Ice cream is everywhere in Rome:
flavoured with every possible
ingredient and served in Pavarottisized portions. But curiously the
capital claims a different frozen
dessert all of its own – grattachecca.
Translated as ‘shaved ice’, the recipe
isn’t an awful lot more complicated
than the name would suggest, with
chunks of ice coated in syrup and
topped with fresh fruit. A dubious
legend tells that the Emperor Nero
invented grattachecca, ordering
his grunts to fetch ice from the
mountains around Rome and
consuming it to cool his angry
moods. Though sadly something
of an endangered species today,
grattachecca is a traditional
accompaniment to an evening stroll:
bought from a stall, and ideally
slurped on a bench overlooking
the sluggish current of the Tiber
as the city stirs with early evening
life. One of the oldest grattachecca
stands in Rome is Sora Mirella:
occupying a handsome racing-green
stall beside the Tiber since 1915,
serving ices cold enough to appease
any overheating emperor.
September 2014 Lonely Planet Traveller
83
ROME
11
VI SI T TH E P OP E ’ S
P RIVATE G A RDE N S
10
A marble mosaic
slowly taking shape
in Studio Cassio
MAKE YOUR
OWN ROMAN
MOSAIC
Requiring the patience of a saint and
the critical eye of a master jigsawpuzzle solver, mosaics have been
part of Roman interior design for
more than two millennia, ever since
craftsmen adorned the floors of
villas. Nowhere is this legacy upheld
more proudly than Studio Cassio – a
workshop in the butterscotch-yellow
streets of the Monti neighbourhood,
and a place that offers mosaicmaking classes to novices.
‘The best thing about being a
mosaicist is always touching and
feeling your materials,’ explains
Giuliana, part of the third generation
of the Cassio family to work in
mosaics. The dynasty has restored
ancient artwork in places like
Pompeii, and created new designs,
such as the John Lennon memorial
mosaic in New York’s Central Park.
Surrounded by a motley assortment
of mosaic centaurs, clock faces and
saints, Giuliana helps students piece
together their own creations, while
also explaining the art of restoring
ancient Roman mosaics – handling
marble put in place by a fellow
craftsman 2,000 years ago, and
filling in missing chunks (by
chopping in half existing pieces
and rearranging them).
‘When you’ve restored an ancient
mosaic, you can walk past it and
think to yourself, I put that tiny
piece in there,’ she says.
❤ Day courses from £40 per person
(minimum two people); studiocassio.com
84
Lonely Planet Traveller September 2014
The Villa Barberini
gardens at Castel
Gandolfo contain
remains from the
villa of the Roman
Emperor Domitian
As holiday homes go, Castel Gandolfo is not the most discreet:
a 17th-century pile the size of a football field outside Rome,
with a magnificent garden overlooking the shores of the
Tyrrhenian Sea. It is precisely this grandeur that meant its lawful
resident (the humble Pope Francis) chose not to spend his
summer holidays here as his predecessors did – instead opening
his gardens to the public for the first time this summer.
Visitor numbers are strictly limited, so stepping through the
grand wrought-iron gates can feel a little like entering a secret
garden. Secret it may seem, but modest it is not: statues of
classical gods swagger about the fountains, rows of flower beds
stretch into the distance, while a small army of gardeners clip
the holy hedgerows and lap huge lawns on ride-on mowers. The
quieter corners of the gardens are just as captivating, especially
a little statue of the Virgin watching over a fishpond. It was here
that Pope Benedict XVI reputedly used to come on summer
mornings to pray – and to feed a pair of koi carp given to him as
a gift by the Emperor of Japan. Pope Benedict no longer visits,
but the fish still look very well fed.
❤ Mandatory guided tours to the Villa Barberini gardens take place
daily except Sundays. From £21; biglietteriamusei.vatican.va.
12
PEEK T H RO U G H
A S EC R ET
KEY H O L E
Walking around Rome and peering
through keyholes will typically
result in concerned phone calls
to the local carabinieri. One
exception to this rule is the Villa
del Priorato di Malta – a building
whose metal gate contains a tiny
keyhole framing one of the finest
views in the city.
Those who press their eyes to the
metal witness a perfectly composed
scene: a path shaded by trimmed
cypress trees and rosebushes, the
tower of Santa Maria in Trastevere
rising on the far bank of the Tiber
and the hulking dome of St Peter’s
at the centre. It’s a composition so
perfect, no-one can say for sure
whether the locksmith (or the
gardener) intended it or whether
it was a happy accident. Strangely,
the view overlooks three separate
countries (sort of): St Peter’s is in the
Vatican, Santa Maria is in Italy and
the foreground is under the
jurisdiction of the Sovereign
Military Order of the Knights of
Malta. Though not technically
running their own independent
state, they are territorially
autonomous from Italy, issuing their
own passports and postage stamps.
The villa’s gardens are open to the
public by appointment (though this
may mean someone needs to insert
a key in the lock and temporarily
spoil the view).
❤ The Villa del Priorato di Malta stands on
the Aventine Hill, southwest of the Circus
Maximus (ordinedimaltaitalia.org).
The keyhole view
from the Aventine Hill
– the southernmost
of Rome’s seven hills
Oliver Smith would have loved to have
fought with the gladiators, but all the
other contestants were eight years old.
September 2014 Lonely Planet Traveller
85
ROME
1
R I D E A V ES PA
12
Rome
NE W WAY S TO FAL L I N LOVE W I T H
From revving a Vespa through handsome piazzas to
peeking through secret keyholes, we find a dozen new
ways to unlock the Eternal City’s immortal beauty
WORDS OLIVER SMITH l PHOTOGRAPHS SUSAN WRIGHT
Ancient Rome may have been built on
the principle of straight roads, but all
that went out the window long ago.
This is a city where alleyways zig-zag
manically up the hillsides and where
everything from the ice-cream van to
the hearse gets driven like a dodgem.
According to Claudio Serra, there is only
one way to navigate this pandemonium.
‘In Rome our streets are crazy – the
only way to reach everywhere is on a
Vespa,’ he insists. ‘You can park a Vespa
outside the Pantheon; you can drive it
along the motorway. It means freedom.’
In addition to running a small Vespa
museum, Claudio offers Vespa-back
tours of Rome and private scooter hire
from his store near the Colosseum.
Riders whoosh through the many
species of roads in Rome: the multi-lane
highways that squeeze through gaps in
ancient city walls; back streets where
laundry lines flaps overhead; and the
confusing roads that end at a piazza –
before re-emerging on the other side,
as if regaining a lost train of thought.
Vespa drivers stay eerily composed
as they weave through the traffic –
perhaps because, as Claudio points
out, they are sitting, ‘as comfortably
as if they are in their own living room’.
❤ Rates for scooter hire at Bici & Baci begin
at £12 per hour; bicibaci.com
76
Lonely Planet Traveller September 2014
September 2014 Lonely Planet Traveller
77
ROME
ROME
2
C YC LE OV E R
ROMAN C O B B LE S
O N T HE APPIAN
WAY
All roads lead to Rome, but none do
so more gracefully than the Appian
Way. Built as the king of all Roman
highways in 312BC, it is a road more
storied than any other in history.
Olympic sprinters have raced down
it, armies fought along it in WWII,
6,000 followers of Spartacus were
crucified by the roadside and
St Peter heard Christ’s footsteps
beside his own on its cobbles. These
days, divine apparitions in the
lay-bys are uncommon – although
this doesn’t stop modern Roman
cyclists pedalling the nine-milelong stretch closest to the city.
Bearing south from the gridlocked
streets of southern Rome, the
blaring of car horns soon recedes
to a distant toot as cyclists enter
a pocket of Lazio countryside
miraculously preserved at the heart
of the city. The scent of wild mint
hangs in the air as the road passes
crumbling Roman villas and
medieval towers. Technically the
Appian Way is open to all traffic –
very occasionally a car passes with
the driver jabbing at his satnav in
confusion. But much of the time
cyclists find themselves alone but
for the ghosts of wayfarers past.
❤ Bike hire is available from the office
at Via Appia Antica 58/60 from £2.50
per hour; parcoappiaantica.it
Many parts of the road have grooves
left by centuries of carts and chariots
dating back to Roman times
3
Children play at
a ‘nasone’ on
Piazza di San
Silvestro, close to
the Via del Corso
D R I NK FROM
A ‘BI G NOSE ’
On roasting hot summer days, the
saviour of every Roman citizen is
the nasone or ‘big nose’. This is no
genetic quirk, but a nickname for
the 2,500 drinking fountains dotted
about the city: from the one gurgling
quietly beside the roaring fountains
of the Piazza Navona, to the pump
on the Aventine hill which spurts
out water from a tap the shape of a
wolf’s mouth. So called because of
the shape of the spout, the fountains
were first installed in the late 19th
century, but are part of a proud
Roman tradition dating back to the
great aqueducts of ancient Rome
(it’s rumoured some nasoni use
millennia-old plumbing systems).
Nasoni are used variously by locals,
thirsty sparrows, bathing dogs, kids
starting water fights and curiously
few tourists – and though the iron
spout can get very hot, the water is
always clean and miraculously cool.
❤ To find your nearest fountain in Rome,
download the I Nasoni di Roma app from
the Apple iTunes store; free
78
Lonely Planet Traveller September 2014
September 2014 Lonely Planet Traveller
79
ROME
4
6
S WIM IN
A FASC IST
S WIMMIN G
P OOL
Rising mightily over the northwest
bank of the Tiber, far from the
itineraries of wandering tourists,
the Foro Italico sports complex
is one of the city’s unsung
wonders – a monolithic park
inspired by the glories of ancient
Rome. It underwent some tactful
rebranding some 70 years ago: upon
construction in the 1930s it was
known as the Foro Mussolini after
its founder. The Fascist leader
envisaged it as a factory for a
new, all-conquering Italian master
race, and lined the athletics track
with statues of muscular signors
looking condescendingly down
on competitors. The ideology
went long ago – but Mussolini’s
impressive if questionable artistic
taste remains: nowhere more so
than the swimming pool, where
visitors can splash about beneath
soaring ceilings and marble
surfaces. Lining the walls are epic
mosaic depictions of sea horses and
nude Fascist Adonises (flexing their
guns and looking like they might at
any moment go skinny-dipping in
the shallow end).
❤ Admission £10; comune.roma.it
The Foro Italico hosted Rome’s
1960 Summer Olympics
5
Pietro Giusto
wielding a gladius
– the preferred
sword of the
Roman foot soldier
The Non-Catholic
Cemetery is a
burial place for
Jews, Protestants
and Muslims
ROME
VI SI T K E AT S AND
SHE L L E Y I N T HE
NON-CAT HOL I C
CE ME T E RY
Dating to the 18th century, Rome’s
Non-Catholic Cemetery is a leafy plot
of land most famous as the resting
place of John Keats. He died in Rome
aged 25, and lies beside the ashes of
his friend Percy Bysshe Shelley.
A steady trickle of pilgrims potter
among the wisteria-lined pathways
to pay their respects to the poets. But
they are only part of the story: lying
around are a cast of characters from
across the world who breathed their
last in Rome. One volunteer who has
researched the lives of all buried here
is New Zealander Geoff Spedding. He
recounts the story of Margaret Graves
Mather – a woman who survived the
Hindenburg airship disaster in 1937
(with bits of molten metal in her
coat). And close by lies Beatrice
O’Brien Marconi: a passenger booked
on a transatlantic crossing from
England in April 1912. Her baby son
caught a fever, and she cancelled her
trip on the Titanic at the last minute.
‘It’s never just a case of your name,
the date you’re born and the date you
die,’ says Geoff. ‘There’s always more
to the story than that.’
❤ Suggested donation £3; cemeteryrome.it
LEARN TO BE A GLADIATOR
To any gladiator facing the prospect of meeting the gods
via a lively and heated encounter with a bear or lion, the
idea that someone more than 2,000 years later would pay
for a similar experience might seem perverse. Still, for
20 years the Gruppo Storico Romano has been hosting
gladiator training classes at its ‘1st-century AD barracks’
on the Appian Way. There are no half measures: imperial
flags fly overhead, classical statues are dotted about the
camp and the whole operation is overseen by a man
named Nero (‘Like the Emperor, but nicer,’ he says)
who occupies a curious office full of imperial bugles,
Filofaxes, stationery and spears.
‘For our students it is about discipline, order and
respect,’ explains Senator Marcus Valerius Messala
Barbatus – real name Pietro Giusto – a gladiator trainer.
‘Unfortunately, if you do not pay attention you may be
food for the lions.’ He begins the task of uniting students
with their inner Russell Crowe: studying the craft of
killing tall Germanic hordes (by sneaking between their
legs and slitting their femoral artery) and using a tribulus:
spikes hidden in the grass to injure enemies too
uncivilised to wear sandals. Before going outside to fight,
Marcus schools his students in Roman honour: ‘Rome
means culture, Rome means art. It’s an ideal by which
people across our Empire live and die – even if they have
never been here. Rome is not a city, it is a state of mind.’
❤ ‘Gladiator for a day’ classes from £45; gruppostoricoromano.it
80
Lonely Planet Traveller September 2014
September 2014 Lonely Planet Traveller
81
ROME
ROME
9
EAT A
G R AT TAC H EC C A
The Temple of
Aesculapius stands
on an island in the
Villa Borghese
Gardens’ lake
At clocking-off time, the Villa
Borghese Gardens are Rome’s
rallying point: a hilltop refuge of
cypress-lined colonnades, and a
serene spot from which to marvel
at the mayhem of the city below.
Perhaps its quietest corner is the
boating lake in the north of the park.
Here visitors and locals cast off in
rowing boats, navigating the still
waters among paddling terrapins,
falling leaves and quacking ducks.
It pays not to be in a hurry (you
could row from one side to the
other in a few seconds), so many
are content to rest their oars, lie
back in the hull and let their boats
be carried by the cooling hilltop
breeze. Presiding regally over the
lake is the Temple of Aesculapius:
an 18th-century recreation of an
ancient Roman temple that once
stood on the Tiberina Island, two
miles to the south. In a strange twist
of fate, the boating lake was said to
have been influenced by the gardens
in Stourhead, Wiltshire, some 950
miles to the northwest.
❤ Boat hire is available from 9.30am to
sunset daily; from £4 for 20 minutes
82
Lonely Planet Traveller September 2014
8
FIND A VATI CA N
E U RO COI N
Some come to the Vatican for spiritual enlightenment,
others to step into the cool colossus of St Peter’s on a hot
summer’s day, and see mortals and immortals meeting on
the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. But for a few, crossing
into the Holy See is the chance to go in search of a chunk
of metal with a maximum face value of £1.61 (for the
two-euro coin, the biggest in the set). Among collectors,
a Vatican euro coin is a Wonka’s golden ticket of currency:
a cherished oddity from the smallest nation on Earth.
The Vatican minted its first euros a decade ago, but only
in recent years have they entered circulation. Admittedly
the odds of finding one in a handful of change from the
Vatican Post Office aren’t huge. But if you happen to see
Popes Benedict XVI, John Paul II or Francis looking up at
you benignly from your palm, don’t spend it – a rarer coin
might fetch as much as £60 from a collector.
❤ Sora Mirella stands close to Ponte Celsio
in Trastevere; grattachecca from £2
Popular Grattachecca
flavours include mint,
lemon , raspberry and
blackberry
❤ If you’re happy to cheat, buy a euro coin for £10 from the Holy See’s
Numismatic Office. Admission to St Peter’s is free (vaticanstate.va).
A five-cent euro
coin with Pope
Francis’s image,
and the Vatican’s
Bramante Staircase
PHOTOGRAPH JUSTIN FOULKES
7
GO ROWING
AT THE VILLA
B ORGHE SE
GARD E NS
Ice cream is everywhere in Rome:
flavoured with every possible
ingredient and served in Pavarottisized portions. But curiously the
capital claims a different frozen
dessert all of its own – grattachecca.
Translated as ‘shaved ice’, the recipe
isn’t an awful lot more complicated
than the name would suggest, with
chunks of ice coated in syrup and
topped with fresh fruit. A dubious
legend tells that the Emperor Nero
invented grattachecca, ordering
his grunts to fetch ice from the
mountains around Rome and
consuming it to cool his angry
moods. Though sadly something
of an endangered species today,
grattachecca is a traditional
accompaniment to an evening stroll:
bought from a stall, and ideally
slurped on a bench overlooking
the sluggish current of the Tiber
as the city stirs with early evening
life. One of the oldest grattachecca
stands in Rome is Sora Mirella:
occupying a handsome racing-green
stall beside the Tiber since 1915,
serving ices cold enough to appease
any overheating emperor.
September 2014 Lonely Planet Traveller
83
ROME
11
VI SI T TH E P OP E ’ S
P RIVATE G A RDE N S
10
A marble mosaic
slowly taking shape
in Studio Cassio
MAKE YOUR
OWN ROMAN
MOSAIC
Requiring the patience of a saint and
the critical eye of a master jigsawpuzzle solver, mosaics have been
part of Roman interior design for
more than two millennia, ever since
craftsmen adorned the floors of
villas. Nowhere is this legacy upheld
more proudly than Studio Cassio – a
workshop in the butterscotch-yellow
streets of the Monti neighbourhood,
and a place that offers mosaicmaking classes to novices.
‘The best thing about being a
mosaicist is always touching and
feeling your materials,’ explains
Giuliana, part of the third generation
of the Cassio family to work in
mosaics. The dynasty has restored
ancient artwork in places like
Pompeii, and created new designs,
such as the John Lennon memorial
mosaic in New York’s Central Park.
Surrounded by a motley assortment
of mosaic centaurs, clock faces and
saints, Giuliana helps students piece
together their own creations, while
also explaining the art of restoring
ancient Roman mosaics – handling
marble put in place by a fellow
craftsman 2,000 years ago, and
filling in missing chunks (by
chopping in half existing pieces
and rearranging them).
‘When you’ve restored an ancient
mosaic, you can walk past it and
think to yourself, I put that tiny
piece in there,’ she says.
❤ Day courses from £40 per person
(minimum two people); studiocassio.com
84
Lonely Planet Traveller September 2014
The Villa Barberini
gardens at Castel
Gandolfo contain
remains from the
villa of the Roman
Emperor Domitian
As holiday homes go, Castel Gandolfo is not the most discreet:
a 17th-century pile the size of a football field outside Rome,
with a magnificent garden overlooking the shores of the
Tyrrhenian Sea. It is precisely this grandeur that meant its lawful
resident (the humble Pope Francis) chose not to spend his
summer holidays here as his predecessors did – instead opening
his gardens to the public for the first time this summer.
Visitor numbers are strictly limited, so stepping through the
grand wrought-iron gates can feel a little like entering a secret
garden. Secret it may seem, but modest it is not: statues of
classical gods swagger about the fountains, rows of flower beds
stretch into the distance, while a small army of gardeners clip
the holy hedgerows and lap huge lawns on ride-on mowers. The
quieter corners of the gardens are just as captivating, especially
a little statue of the Virgin watching over a fishpond. It was here
that Pope Benedict XVI reputedly used to come on summer
mornings to pray – and to feed a pair of koi carp given to him as
a gift by the Emperor of Japan. Pope Benedict no longer visits,
but the fish still look very well fed.
❤ Mandatory guided tours to the Villa Barberini gardens take place
daily except Sundays. From £21; biglietteriamusei.vatican.va.
12
PEEK T H RO U G H
A S EC R ET
KEY H O L E
Walking around Rome and peering
through keyholes will typically
result in concerned phone calls
to the local carabinieri. One
exception to this rule is the Villa
del Priorato di Malta – a building
whose metal gate contains a tiny
keyhole framing one of the finest
views in the city.
Those who press their eyes to the
metal witness a perfectly composed
scene: a path shaded by trimmed
cypress trees and rosebushes, the
tower of Santa Maria in Trastevere
rising on the far bank of the Tiber
and the hulking dome of St Peter’s
at the centre. It’s a composition so
perfect, no-one can say for sure
whether the locksmith (or the
gardener) intended it or whether
it was a happy accident. Strangely,
the view overlooks three separate
countries (sort of): St Peter’s is in the
Vatican, Santa Maria is in Italy and
the foreground is under the
jurisdiction of the Sovereign
Military Order of the Knights of
Malta. Though not technically
running their own independent
state, they are territorially
autonomous from Italy, issuing their
own passports and postage stamps.
The villa’s gardens are open to the
public by appointment (though this
may mean someone needs to insert
a key in the lock and temporarily
spoil the view).
❤ The Villa del Priorato di Malta stands on
the Aventine Hill, southwest of the Circus
Maximus (ordinedimaltaitalia.org).
The keyhole view
from the Aventine Hill
– the southernmost
of Rome’s seven hills
Oliver Smith would have loved to have
fought with the gladiators, but all the
other contestants were eight years old.
September 2014 Lonely Planet Traveller
85
