Fruits, vegetables, flowers…every morning (except Sunday) a colorful neighborhood market blossoms in Campo dei Fiori, miraculously tranformed from the previous night’s boisterous party scene. You’d never guess that philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned alive on this site in 1600 to punish his heretical views contrary to the Church.
My birthday: 54 years. We left the apartment in the fresh morning air to make our way to the morning market at Campo dei Fiori (which means Field of Flowers). We bought a few items, both food and otherwise, and continued on our way to the Borghese Gallery, our plan for the afternoon.
The portico of the Galleria Borghese — just a taste of what lies ahead. The villa was built by Cardinal Borghese who collected an amazing array of fabulous art, which is displayed within: sculpture, paintings, and other art objects from various ages and cultures.
We arrived at the majestic building that is now the Borghese Gallery. In typical Virgo style, we were early so we checked out the gift shop, purchased our reserved tickets, and bought a little snack to eat outside while we waited for our appointed hour to arrive. The museum is not huge, but it is hugely popular and only so many people are allowed in at once. One disappointed family was turned away, being told, “It’s sold out until next Sunday!” We were glad to have done our homework and secured reservations long before leaving California.
To arrive, we had walked by way of the Spanish Steps, Gino and I scaling them to take pictures. Gazing down, we were struck by the clash of the ubiquitous sirens and church bells.
Continuing down Via del Babuino (Baboon), we arrived at a statue where for tens of decades Romans have left their thoughts and complaints about the current affairs of Rome and the world.
Found on Via del Babuino which takes its name from this fountain, the sculpture represents Sileno (Silenus) with a bagpipe. However, the 16th century Romans found the statue so ugly, they renamed it Baboon. It is one of Rome’s infamous “talking statues,” serving as the people’s voice during a time when public expression about the political state of affairs could lead to arrest. Citizens left notes posted around the fountain, claiming the statue itself was the author.
That night for dinner I had it in mind to try Trattoria del Pallaro, whose motto is: You Eat What We Serve You. We sat down and waited for the surprises to begin. Course after course of fabulous food, so scrumptious and varied that I won’t even attempt to describe it. Hours later, we rolled ourselves towards home. As we waded through the partying crowd at Campo dei Fiori, I pointed out to Mom and Dad that they were real Romans now. It was 11:30 p.m. and we had just finished dinner!
