The woman in the next table at Antico Arco was complaining about everything. "The cheese sauce is too salty," she whined. Poor thing: the "cheese" in cheese sauce should have been a clue. "The wine is too dry," she ventured to say about the red she and her boyfriend were having. Bring on the white zinfandel! "After this," I told my dining companion, "we need to walk around the area to remove the aura of the hippie backpacker who got lost in this nice restaurant." Fortunately, there was the warm air of the late Roman summer up in the hills of the city that could burn off anything.
Trastevere, in the Janiculum Hill region near one of the famed Seven Hills of Rome, lights up at night with a mysterious and certainly more pleasant aura, one which must be unique to ancient cities. To walk around the area is to experience almost exactly the steps people took from hundreds of years ago, if those people heard a bunch of little minicars whizzing through the city like I did. It's at once romantic and eerie, the spotlighted monuments and statues silent watchers of the goings-on below. Soldiers stood guard around the corner near certain sights, something that puzzled me but I was too timid to ask them about their presence. Besides, I don't speak Italian that well. Still, I must say it was quite a memorable area, particularly after our dinner at nearby Antico Arco.
At the vista point, where you could catch a spectacular panoramic view of Rome from up the hill, sits a monument dedicated to Giuseppe Garibaldi, an Italian general from the 19th century who helped unify Italy.
Nearby, the Fontana dell'Acqua Paola from the 17th century, supposedly the inspiration for the more famous Fontana di Trevi. "Paulus Quintus Pontifex Maximus," engraved at the top, refers to Pope Paul V, who conceived of the fountain. It was designed by the aptly named Giovanni Fontana and Flaminio Ponzio.
A map and short history of Trastevere.
Another view of Antico Arco, the restaurant where we had just dined. Italy is like this everywhere I went: old, at times simultaneously modern, pretty, monumental, an ancient city slouching through modernity, burdened by the weight of its art and history. It was quite a wonder. And Trastevere is a little secret with its own secret history and art, away from crowds of tourists in the main sights of Rome. Check it out.
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Trastevere, in the Janiculum Hill region near one of the famed Seven Hills of Rome, lights up at night with a mysterious and certainly more pleasant aura, one which must be unique to ancient cities. To walk around the area is to experience almost exactly the steps people took from hundreds of years ago, if those people heard a bunch of little minicars whizzing through the city like I did. It's at once romantic and eerie, the spotlighted monuments and statues silent watchers of the goings-on below. Soldiers stood guard around the corner near certain sights, something that puzzled me but I was too timid to ask them about their presence. Besides, I don't speak Italian that well. Still, I must say it was quite a memorable area, particularly after our dinner at nearby Antico Arco.
At the vista point, where you could catch a spectacular panoramic view of Rome from up the hill, sits a monument dedicated to Giuseppe Garibaldi, an Italian general from the 19th century who helped unify Italy.
View Larger Map
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