A Walk in the Cemetery

Rome has so many beautiful and unusual places to visit. One of my favourite is the cemetery for non-catholics (Cimitero accatolico per gli Stranieri) also known as the Protestant cemetery.

It is nestled behind the pyramid of Gaius Cestius, (metro stop Piramide) in Testaccio. Gaius was a tribune of the plebs under Augustus with a fondness for all things Egyptian. Hence his rather unusual tomb. Thanks to the close fit of its marble blocks it has never been pillaged.

However it has suffered time and again from pollution as it is located at one of the busiest city crossroads. It gets begrimed and filthy and the creamy white of the carrara marble blocks becomes greyer and greyer while weeds start poking out of crevices. The latest clean up job, funded by a Japanese clothing magnate, was completed earlier this year. 

The entrance of the cemetery is down Via Caio Sestio. It dates back to 1716. Some of the first people buried here would have been 'tourists' on their Grand Tour. The earliest grave found belongs to one George Langton, an Oxford graduate who died in 1738.

The first thing that strikes me on entering is how peaceful and orderly the cemetery is. Parallel rows of graves rise up towards the Aurelian walls that edge the cemetery, gravel alleys make a pleasant crunch when I tread along them and trees are everywhere, so many trees: Mediterranean cypresses, Judas trees and the ubiquitous umbrella pines with their needles shed all over the tombs and paths.
 
As I look down, at ground level, I see arrows engraved on stone blocks. They point me in the direction of some of the cemetery's more illustrious residents.


And none are more illustrious than the poets Keats and Shelley. Keats died in Rome of tuberculosis on 2 February 1821.  Beside him lies his friend, Joseph Severn.
 

Pointing the way

On the gravestone, beneath an engraved lyre, is the following epitaph:
"This Grave / contains all that was Mortal / of a / Young English Poet / Who / on his Death Bed, in the Bitterness of his Heart / at the Malicious Power of his Enemies / Desired / these Words to be / engraven on his Tomb Stone: / Here lies One / Whose Name was writ in Water. 24 February 1821"

The ashes of another Romantic poet, Shelley,are close by. Shelley, who couldn't swim, drowned while sailing his yacht off the Italian riviera. A simple tombstone reads 'Cor cordium' (heart of hearts), followed by a quotation from Shakespeare's The Tempest. Shelley and Mary's three-year-old son, William, is also buried here.

Shelley

While Keats and Shelly may be among the main reasons tourist flock to the cemetery there are many other famous deceased, in fact, the cemetery's website claims that there is possibly the highest density of famous and important graves anywhere in the world here.

 Some noteworthy names are: Henry Christian Anderson,sculptor and friend of Henry James;  the Scottish novelist, R.M. Ballantyne; an Australian novelist and autobiographer, Martin Boyd; Giorgio Bulgari,an Italian businessman; Gregory Corso, American beat generation poet; the Italian novelist, Carlo Emilio Gadda; an Italian philosopher also leader of the Italian communist party, Antonio Gramsci ....

But not all the illustrious dead really lived, the fictional character 'Daisy Miller' from the Henry James novella of the same name, was buried here too.

When the weather is mild, it's a nice place to stroll through and while away an hour or two. But even on hot days the large umbrella pines offer plenty of shade. 

I've been here before, so I turn left at the entrance towards the back of the pyramid where I can find Keats and Shelley in a large meadow.

Once I get there, I'm reminded that I am just metres away from a heavily-trafficked junction. I can hear the buses rumble on the cobbles opposite the post office where I go to pay my bills

A cat strides by, another one jumps off a tomb stone, in the distance down a path yet another is lying on the gravel among the fallen pine needles and pine cones. The whole of my walk will be peppered by chance encounters with the cats which live here, a small and protected colony in this oasis amid the din of the city. Visitors can leave donations for their up-keep.

 I turn my back on the Romantics and explore the paths of the cemetery. At every turn there are details that draw my attention: 
a statue of a Spaniel-like dog, a bird with a twig in its beak, engraved horses, stone flowers, angels in various poses...Wherever I look and whichever path I wander along there is a detail to admire.

And if it isn't the tombs themselves that draw my attention there are beautiful plants,trimmed hedges, bushes with delicate blue flowers as well as  little creatures such as snails and beetles, and in small nooks in the walls pigeons coo and flutter around while an optimistic cat runs along the top of a wall.

                                                                                                      

Inside the cemetery there is a small chapel. It was built in 1898 by the German architect Andreas Holzinger. It is a mixture of classical and European styles.

The entrance to the cemetery is free but a donation of minimum 3 euros is suggested at the entrance. I always give more. The place is so beautiful. It needs all the contributions it can to keep it going. There is also a contribution box for the cats beside the main gate.




Once you've finished your stroll, go out the main gate and turn left down the road further into Testaccio. The road leads to Via Nicola Zabaglia and there towards the ancient walls beside Monte Testaccio is the  small war cemetery. 

The cemetery is usually padlocked outside of the gardeners' working hours to protect it from theft and vandalism. When I went by it was closed so I could only look at the neatly aligned crosses through the railings which surround the area.

The war cemetery was designed by Louis de Soissons. It was started shortly after the Allies had taken Rome from the retreating Germans on 3 June 1944. 

It was used for burials for soldiers of the occupying garrison as well as for some soldiers and airmen who had died as prisoners of war in Rome. Four hundred and twenty-six men are buried here.

My walk through the cemeteries was over but the day was still young. I was in Testaccio, home of the most authentic Roman food, and while I would always pass on the offal-based dishes, all that walking had made me hungry. I headed in direction of the new market with thoughts of 'cacio pepe' or 'matriciana' urging me on.

For more information check out: http://www.cemeteryrome.it/about/about.html , 

 http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/2019300/ROME%20WAR%20CEMETERY

Day Trip to Tivoli

Other than go to the beach there are a number of other places to visit in Lazio. So last week, I decided to return to Tivoli and re-visit the Villa D'Este. I'd originally gone there in 1997 - before I came to live in Rome - and I remembered its cool alleys and numerous fountains in the garden.
I left home early-ish (9.30) and took the B-line metro to Ponte Mammolo. At Ponte Mammolo I waited somewhat longer than anticipated for the CoTRAL bus to Tivoli - it had got held up in road works on the outskirts of Rome. by the time I made it to Tivoli I was soaked through with sweat - the air-conditioning on the bus didn't work - and in none too good a mood. It was ten to midday. It had certainly taken longer than anticipated to cover the 40kms that separate Rome from Tivoli.
I crossed Piazza Garibaldi and found the entrance to Villa D'Este.

On wall beside the entrance

The entrance fee was heftier than I'd remembered - E11 - and included an exhibition which I wasn't really interested in. I descended into the Villa and then out onto the terrace which overlooks the gardens with its tantalising glimpses of fountains and the constant sound of running water.

Stairs to the garden

Motif throughout the garden of eagles and fleur de lys

Detail from Fountain of the Organ

Walk of a hundred fountains

One of the hundred

Shell

Detail in the garden

The Villa had originally been a convent and was transformed in 1550 by the architect Pirro Ligorio. It belonged to the Cardinal Ippolito D'Este (son of Lucrezia Borgia) and was his country Villa - a pleasant retreat from the bustle of Rome. He died before the garden was completed.
The garden is almost perfectly symmetrical and has fountains in every nook and cranny. Bernini worked on the Fontana del Bicchierone. Another fountain is dedicated to Rome (the Rometta) with the Tiber Island represented by a boat with an obelisk on it.

Prow of the Tiber Island

Two fountains play music - the Fountain of the Organ and the Fountain of the Owl.
In the central basins there are fish and while I was there - and despite signs that told people not to lean - a number of people were sitting on the edge of the basins with their feet in the water enjoying their picnic lunches.

After a leisurely hour and a half I returned back to the Villa glanced at some of the fresco-ed rooms and then went out into the afternoon heat in search of lunch. This proved harder to find than I had envisaged - I avoided the obvious tourist traps placed opposite the entrance of the Villa D'Este and went up some of the narrow alleys of the medieval town with hopes of a Trattoria or an Osteria. I gave up - August in Italy means that a lot of places are closed 'per le ferie'.
 Back on Piazza Garibaldi I went to a place called Bar Ariston which served one of the most memorably unpleasant lunches I've had in Italy. I opted for a chicken salad - fairly simple fair - it arrived before the cutlery or the drinks (a beer and a bottle of water). The food was dumped down and making separate journeys the waitress brought over a bottle of olive oil, balsamic glaze, salt and last but not least the cutlery.

I set to on the salad and discovered that beneath the char-grilled strips of chicken were slivers of tuna, wedges of artichokes, mushrooms, olives, cherry tomatoes and lettuce. The drinks arrived ten minutes after the food. This rather unusual service was not for my benefit only as the man at the table next door also got his food - Pasta in tomato sauce - before the cutlery , and as for the bread he ordered , it never came.
Lunch over I decided to find the entrance to Villa Gregoriana. I followed the signs that led to the falls entrance and handed over the E6 entrance fee. I was advised to prepare myself for the gruelling walk as the way down would be in the shade and the way up in the sun. The ticket seller was wrong - maybe it had been like that when she started her shift - but in fact at 3.30pm the way down was in the sun and the way up was in the shade. Just as well as it was a 160metre climb into and out of the gorge.
Today the Park of Villa Gregoriana is a protected site and is part of the FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano) - a non-profit organisation to safeguard Italy's artistic and natural heritage.
The park as seen today was designed under Pope Gregory VII (1831 - 1846), the engineer Clemente Folchi managed to find a way of diverting the course of the river Aniene so as to avoid the periodic flooding of the town. Two artificial tunnels were created the Cunicoli  Gregoriani (Gregorian tunnels) almost 300 metres long under Monte Catillo.

Cobwebs in a grotto

Small cascade - Bernini waterfalls

Bernini waterfalls

Waters of the river Aniene in a basin at the foot of the Great waterfall

Tunnel

The way out

Temple of Vesta

I crossed the Park from the falls entrance to the Temples entrance in a little over an hour , the Grande Cascata, was a disappointment. it falls 120metres down into the gorge but the water flow was meagre. I could imagine it would be more impressive in the Autumn or in the Spring. There were lots of grottoes and small cascades and the route to follow was clearly sign-posted. The Temples of Vesta and Tiburnus though are not part of the complex but belong to the garden of a restaurant - but it was possible to approach them and have a look at the magical view from above the gorge and over the back of Tivoli.

Once out of the park it was time to go home but first I had to find my way back to Piazza Garibaldi and to the bus stop for Rome. I didn't have a map so it was after a half hour of meanderings through the medieval town that I eventually got to my destination.

 After that it was a question of waiting for the bus and, at least, the ride back into Rome wasn't as long or as hot as the way into Tivoli though nothing much can be said about the utter dreariness of the suburbs.

Alley way in the Old Town

detail on the wall of a house

Rome by the sea

The beach at Santa Marinella

The weather in Rome is great. Hot summers, mild autumns, mild winters except for the few days when the temperature dips below 5°C and everyone starts muttering about how cold it is, and warm springs which are a delight with birds singing and twittering and cherry blossoms all over the city bursting into colour.

However, statistically speaking, more rain falls on Rome than it does on London, albeit in heavy showers of monsoon-like intensity. Motorcyclists get off their rides and shelter beneath the ancient arches of the city walls, the larger roads that move traffic in and out of the city become rivers and the hapless people stuck waiting for public transport in such downpours are likely to be covered by the rising spray from the passing vehicles.

There are some spectacular storms - palms bent by the force of the wind as if they were mere saplings, Armageddon up in the skies of such intensity that one could believe in the ancient Greek gods throwing bolts of lightning in anger.

Summer is approaching and the temperature is rising. By July the temperature average will be in its thirties and humidity is throughout the summer remains high. Work comes to a pause at the end of July to make way for five weeks rest.

I'm dreaming of heading off to the beach.That is one of the big advantages of Rome: its proximity to the sea.  Even if, it must be said,  the Lazio coast is far from one of the cleanest in Italy and covered in the dreaded 'stablimenti' - places which will charge anything from 10 euros to a small fortune to rent out sun-loungers, parasols and deck chairs.

To be fair some of them can be quite classy joints, that is if you want your sunbathing experience alongside the possibility of a restaurant-quality lunch, Martini cocktail or a swimming-pool so as to avoid touching the polluted waters. This last is worth bearing in mind if you're at Ostia or Fiumicino where the mouth of the Tiber disgorges all manner of vile refuse for people to swim in. 

It could be worse, it could be Naples. A recent medical report revealed that the only people who can safely swim in the Bay of Naples are Neapolitans who have a natural resistance to the various horrors that live and thrive in the waters.

I'm not so keen on the whole beach resort experience all'Italiana, where at the height of the season the sun-loungers are parked so close together that a mere swivel might result in landing among a family or in demolishing a carefully built sand castle.

I prefer quiet places with as few people as possible - a challenge in August. Actually, non-existent. I avoid Ostia, too hot, too crowded, too like Rome-by-the-sea.

My first experience of the Lazio coast was pleasant. I headed down the coast in the direction of Naples and found a gem: Sperlonga. Up on a rock sit attractive, white washed houses vaguely reminiscent of a Greek seaside village on one of the islands. Little alleyways hide tasteful and tasty Trattorias for lunch.

 Tiberius' grotto is at the edge of a crescent shaped beach, with a museum on the main road above it. The beach is beautiful white sand slowly eroding into the sea, gradually disappearing - over the years the prices have shot up making it more exclusive. The water is clean, transparent full of fish enticingly swimming around the swimmers.

On my first visit, by train to Fondi then by bus to Sperlonga, I was enchanted. I loved wandering the little alleys in the town followed by a swim in cool, clear waters while to my right stood a fortress, the Torre Truglia.

A beach resort at Santa Marinella on the Capo Linaro

Further North towards Civitavecchia , barely 50 minutes by car from Rome, along the motorway and the Via Aurelia which neatly bissects it, is the 7 kilometre long town of Santa Marinella. 

Santa Marinella has a castle, and a small and attractive centre with the expected over-priced restaurants. 

The main beach is almost opposite the station: a sandy crescent covered in different coloured parasols representing the different 'stablimenti'. But it isn't cheap - a tenner for the parasol and a tenner for the sun-lounger. 

The sand is brought in each year (where from?) as the natural coast is rocky. So for  a more genuine, if slightly uncomfortable experience head over the Cape towards the Capo Linaro - there are free pebble beaches and  rocky promontories.

The water's clean and if there isn't any wind, very clear. On a windy day sand and algae mix to form an impenetrable cloud. Swimming can be a challenge as the breakers break over your head and deliver mouthfuls or nose-fulls of salty brine. The waves are such that this is known as the surfing Gold Coast of Lazio.

Just one step closer to Rome, Santa Severa, hosts surfing competitions at its famous Banzai Beach.

A friend from my last visit to Santa Marinella