Vittorio and Farnese

I ran out of cereal yesterday, and hadn't yet replenished my stock. So, breakfast consisted of bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Not a bad way to start the day, if I may say so.

We began this morning by taking a trip down to Piazza Vittorio, an immigrant community about fifteen minutes away (via bus) from the Campo di Fiori. Despite having the same type of buildings seen all over the city, the foreign languages on signs and posters confirmed that we were in the right place. The Piazza features long rows of shops owned and run by immigrant families from various countries. There seemed to be a particularly high number of Asian people present, and this was reflected by a high concentration of Asian shops. The open market has hundreds of stalls in which vendors sell various foodstuffs from fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat to dried goods. Stepping into the market was like stepping out of Rome and into another world. The sights, sounds, and smells felt a lot like markets in the International District in Seattle.

I'll have to return this weekend to get some groceries there, and take photos for our project. Emilio and I did jointly purchase a package of dried mango, though. It makes for a good snack.

After lunch, we reconvened in front of the UWRC to begin our trek to the Palazzo Farnese and then Capitoline Hill. The Palazzo Farneze is literally just a block from the Campo di Fiori, and we've all gone by that building many times. Just goes to show that there is so much rich history all around in Rome. The museum at the top of the Capitoline Hill is an impressive collection. It features hundreds upon hundreds of marble busts and sculptures, along with various paintings and tablets. Prof. Schultz worked some more magic and got the ticket price down to €2 instead of €11 for the group. Though there's really too much art in the museum to write about, I took particular liking in the Dying Gaul sculpture. I remember learning about it in Humanities class, and it was really cool to see it in person. I'm still amazed at how much emotion can be conveyed by a piece of marble.

Following the museum visit, we took a group trip to Prof. Schultz's favorite gelato place, Gelateria del Teatro. It's a small shop, but they make all of their flavors from scratch, including a particularly popular chocolate gelato made from seven different types of chocolate. I elected to have white peach and pistacchio, both of which were very good and not overpoweringly sweet.

By that time, it was about six o'clock, and we were all rather tired. We had one more stop, though, so we walked to the Castel San Angelo. The drive up to the Castel is something to see, and apparently the castle is fortified with two walls, a moat, and what used to be a drawbridge over the Tiber. Talk about high security... Unfortunately, however, we were just a tad too late, and the castle was closed for the evening. We'll have to return on another day to check out the interior.

Most of us weren't too keen to cook after the long day, so dinner was a crab salad at L'Insalati. Another very fresh and tasty salad it was. We had a group of about fourteen, and it was a fun meal.