Ostia Antica outside Rome

John and I took the subway to Ostia Antica early one morning during our stay in Rome. It was a beautiful, gusty and sunny day. 

The site of the ancient city is a short walk from the Ostia Antica subway stop. Soon we were on the Decumanus Maximus, the street that bisects the ancient city. Ostia was the major port for Rome in the 1st and 2nd century AD. Eventually it's harbour silted up and malaria raged in the surrounding marshland and the city was simply abandoned and then preserved wonderfully in sand and mud.

The site is a treasure trove of Roman architecture of the period - private, public and commercial. Above, we see John, with his umbrella, entering a large private home complete with an atrium in the foreground. All types of domestic architecture are represented here including apartment buildings. 

This atrium pleased me. It had a comfortable and human-scale quality that I found very satisfying. Still a pretty wealthy household. Probably, I'd have been a slave here.

I love this centaur decorating the floor of a covered arbor in the same house.

Did I mention the wonderful umbrella pines and cyprus trees throughout the city? I like to think  of Ostia Antica as Pompeii in a park. The trees give the streets a lived-in feel too.

How about this interior of the tavern on Via di Diana! It strongly resembles modern Roman restaurants and has wonderful details like this lovely fresco of local food. It also had a wonderful marble bar, hangers for clients' coats and a lovely little patio out back, lined with marble benches and featuring a charming, shallow fountain. Nice!

I loved the mosaic floor of the Baths of Neptune near the Theatre. Neptune rides a chariot driven by four sea-horses and surrounded by a retinue of sea beasts and deities. Pretty sumptuous and preserved in the open air.

We sat on the steps of the Temple to Ceres for an alfresco late-morning picnic of sandwiches bought in Rome earlier in the day. John loved the view.

First, he shot a fragment of column lying nearby. What attracts us so to fragments of architecture or sculpture, eh? Are we hopeless Romantics?

Ostia Antica's beautifully preserved Theatre lay before us in all its glory.

Look closely. You'll see some adventurous young visitors at the very top enjoying the view. That's the main entrance to the auditorium at the bottom.

I loved the marble Theatre Masks that decorated the stage. Let's leave off our visit here. Hopefully we've intrigued you sufficiently to tempt you to visit next time you visit Rome. It's on the subway. Go early and you'll have the place to yourself. When we left around noon the tour buses were just arriving.

Villa Borghese, Rome

One morning during our stay in Rome last May after a rainy night, John and I walked up the steep Via di Porta Pinciana to the Villa Borghese through its park high above the city. The Villa was built as a pleasure palace by the avid art collector, Cardinal Scipione Borghese. He was an avid fan of the work of the young sculptor, Bernini.

The early Bernini works in the Borghese collection like The Rape of Prosperpine, Apollo and Daphne and David are considered amongst the artist's best pieces. Unfortunately we were not allowed to photograph inside the Villa so instead I documented the exterior sights like the parterre gardens behind the palace.

After visiting the art collection, we wandered through the park in the direction of the Piazza del Popolo. Here we pass the Baroque aviary in the Villa's private gardens.

John couldn't resist shooting the spectacular pines that tower above the paths.

Here I've tried to capture the peaceful, shady, gravel paths of the Pincio Gardens high above the piazza.

Soon we were catching views down on the Historic Centre of Rome before finally descending into the Piazza del Popolo. Suddenly we were back down in the noise and chaos of the streets of the ancient city after a delightful escape.

Our neighbourhood market in Rome

Situated just north of the Pantheon and very near to our apartment, the Mercatino di Piazza delle Coppelle became John and my local market during our stay in Rome last May.

Open weekday mornings the little market has been run by the extended Giammatteo family since 1957. The excellent fresh produce comes from their market garden in the Alban Hills, eggs come from their own free-range hens and extra virgin olive oil from their own groves. 

On Tuesday and Fridays the market also features a small stand of fresh Mediterranean seafood like these octopi to the family's loyal customers.

They always featured a small, choice collection of fresh cut flowers as well. We loved starting our days with a visit first thing in the morning.

Here, I've photographed some gorgeous peonies from the market that we displayed on our balcony table.

And here is John's photo ot the wonderful fresh strawberries that we bought regularly and ate with yogurt as our breakfasts during our stay in the Eternal City. If you stay in the historic centre be sure to pay the Mercatino a visit.

Chilly September Sunday

Bill and I rode our bikes uptown today. I had to stop on the Bathurst Bridge and have a look at where the land has been cleared for the "Library District Condos" on the old railroad lands.

The Go Train came in right at that moment.

We stopped into the Shanghai Cowgirl for brunch. Bill had fried rice with barbecued pork. I had bacon and eggs with home fries. I wondered what this dish would look like to our friends in Rome.

Bill drew my attention to the guy at the counter who appeared to be sitting on a dove.

When we got home I tried to read on the balcony but the cold and damp chased me back inside to my favourite spot on the couch. I got this Vogue Living book (Knopf, 2007) from the library last week and I've been saving it for this moment. Look at this gorgeous title page. That's François Halard's photo of her own Louis XVI bed on the left. In the book they call it a "lit à la polonaise". (Copyright © Condé Nash Archive.)

Look at the stunning Olatz Schnabel standing in her kitchen under her husband, Julian Schnabel's painting, Dentro Dite (1995). I'm thrilled that a big show of his work has just opened at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Maybe we'll go see it next week-end. (Photo by François Halard. Copyright © Condé Nash Archive.)

Let me show you one more picture. This is Cy Twombly's six year old standing in front of his father's painting Triumph of Galatea. How fabulous is that! (Photo by Horst P. Horst, Rome, 1966. Copyright © Condé Nash Archive.)

By the way, MarcoRmedia made me some photographic proofs last week towards a show I'm going to have in November. I had them propped up at the end of the couch. I think these are ready to print. I'll call them tomorrow.

Museo Barracco, Rome

On one of our last days in Rome last June, John and I visited the wonderful Museo Barracco. It is housed in the charming, miniature Palazzo Piccola Farnesina at Corso Vittorio Emanuele 168 near the Campo de' Fiori market.

The palazzo was built in 1523 by a French clergyman, Thomas Le Roy, and now houses the truly beautiful, small collection of Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek and Roman sculpture of Baron Giovanni Barracco. It's a must see!

The well-cared for little palace is worth a visit on its own. We found it quiet and livable despite its location on the busy Corso.

And the collection of sculpture, like this one of Hermes with a ram, is one of those small, exquisite collections of art that we so love.

This long gallery has Greek and Roman sculpure, often busts and portraits.

An exception is this 5th century BC funerary stele with its gorgeous relief sculpture.

I loved this elegant-looking original Greek relief of Bacchantes in ectasy. Note that they are tearing animals apart in their frenzy!

John loved this Roman copy of a Greek youth in marble.

And this head of Apollo.

My personal favourite of the busts was this charming Etruscan head. I'd sit next to this fun-loving fellow on the bus.

Rather than next to this stern-looking Roman portrait bust.

Here's John admiring small Greek sculptures in a cabinet.

Athena

and this Classic Greek female profile were amongst the pieces in that cabinet. When next in Rome don't forget to visit this lovely, relatively unvisited collection.

Procession in Rome

No, we haven't returned to Rome in body, only in soul and even more so in more stories and pictures from our stay last May/June. Actually, the day before John and I left Rome, the city was steamy hot. We lunched in the Ghetto and as we walked back towards Largo Argentino, I stopped to take this photo of a man drinking and splashing his face from one of the city's many public fountains. In the distance we heard singing and hurried towards Piazza Mattei.

What we encountered was magical. A West African Christian Church procession was filling the narrow street of Via di Sant'Ambrogio. Every 20 feet or so, the girls in blue gowns would stop, turn around and run toward the cross throwing metallic confetti. The effect was magical.

Then the women would turn back to the street ahead and lead the group in their journey.

Here the women in blue are sprinkling the cross with confetti again at the gate to their church compound.

The group entered the gates into a courtyard and then into a church and we the onlookers were ushered back into the street. A beautiful farewell to Rome on our last day there. So exotic, so gorgeous. Thank you!