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Rome Day 3: Vatican

 




Street performer, pretty cleaver!


Saint Peter's Basilica, a view made possible by Mussolini

Pope's water fountain; fountains exist all over water providing the public with access to drinking water
Though we enjoyed Campo di Fiori, we didn't feel like we had discovered an authentic street market, so we set out on Saturday morning on a quest to find something real. The market was near the Vatican so we headed that direction by way of the Castle San Angelo, a large fortress that was once a tomb for emperors and later a safe house for popes, and found an amazing market a few blocks to the north east called the Mercato Ingresso. It was a sheltered market with rows and rows of vendors selling everything from fish to kitchen supplies. It made me want to live in Rome just so that I could shop there daily for amazing ingredients. We bought olives, oranges, a cannolo (singular cannoli), and a coconut chocolate dessert thing that was divine.
Bufala mozzarella is made from water buffalo milk and it is delicious!





Fresh ravioli



A butcher carving prosciutto

Shoppers buying fresh artichokes which were in season


We took our plunder to the Pizzarium, which had a more modern and innovative interpretation of pizza. Pizza is a long rectangle and it is priced by weight. You tell the server how long the piece should be and they cut it with a pair of scissors, weigh it, and warm it for you. We had three variations: pumpkin with cabbage, mozzarella cheese and cherry tomatoes, and bacon, potato, and pecorino cheese, in addition to an arancini bite as well. YUM!



After we enjoyed our lunch feast, we headed to the nearby Vatican museum. It seems almost cliche to write about our experience because words like "amazing" just don't seem to cut it. I studied the humanities for my undergraduate degree and thought I was pretty well versed in all things Italian, and I wondered how amazing it would be to see the real thing (and thought perhaps I might even be disappointed). To say the least, I left humbled and in awe of the true genius of many generations of great artists. We marveled at the scope of the building itself, the halls that seemed to go for miles filled with treasures. The highlights like the Sistine Chapel and the Popes study chambers with The School of Athens and The Disputa by Raphael were inspiring, but the details were amazing too.
Outdoor gallery with Greek statues


Laocoon and His Sons, one of my favorite sculptures


Raphael painting

Egyptian artifacts




Large bath from Nero's palace

Large sarcophagus





La Disputa (faces the School of Athens in the same room)

School of Athens

Map Room that seems to stretch forever!



I love this detail because it took me a long time to realize that THIS IS A PAINTING! None of the molding is real, it is all on a flat surface. Crazy!


We visiting St. Peter's Basilica next, which is staggeringly large. The architects even made an effort to design the interior to feel smaller (i.e. the statues are shorter the higher they are placed along the walls) but it still is huge. The letters on the base of the dome, for example, are seven feet tall! My favorite moment was a pilgrimage to see Michelangelo's "Pieta."





Sitting in the square, we tried to take it all in but it was really impossible.




As I mentioned previously, it was artichoke season in Rome and we were determined to try the Cariciofi da Giuda  (Jewish artichoke) and the best place to find it is in the Jewish Ghetto. We headed to dinner at Il Portico and we were not disappointed. The Cariciofi da Giuda is a deep fried artichoke. Instead of scraping the base of the leaf and then eating the heart like you would for a steamed artichoke, you eat the entire choke. It is crispy like a potato chip on the outside and soft on the inside, an amazing combination! It was one of my favorite dishes! Of course we had to finish the night with a trip to Frigiderium.

Our walk to the Jewish Ghetto took us past many Renaissance Palaces




Car in the Jewish Ghetto

Jewish Synagogue
Cariciofi Giuda

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