Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Roma: non basta una vita...

"It is a night with a lovely girl and 100 flowers," Antonio says....

We are on a night tour of the city on his scooter, my arms wrapped around his waist and his lap filled with two dozen roses that I bought for my friend Francesca, who is hosting me here in the city... It is my first night in Roma. He takes me to Trevi Fountain, breathtaking by night, where I toss a coin over my shoulder and make a wish to return to Roma...

We zip by the Colloseum, Piazza Venezia, Piazza di Spagna with the famous Spanish steps where beautiful people historically gathered hoping to be spotted for work as models... onto the Piazza del Popolo with dual churches at the foot of Pincio Hill. The city is marvelous by moonlight.

Antonio wants to kiss me and I refuse; I learn "abbracciare," the Italian word for hug. He is a friend but also a hot-blooded Italian man so I have to set the boundaries. Sometimes I feel like I should hang one of the museum-style "non toccare" signs around my neck - look, don't touch.

The attention is still lovely however and it is a gift to have friends in the city as I do, mostly people I have connected with through other friends in the States. Roma is like a dream to me and the magic of these moments makes it so.

There are many more: dinner at Fortunato near the Pantheon where Bill Clinton and Prince Charles dine when they are in town, a treat from Claudio who works in PR for the Minister of Justice; we have spaghetti with frutti di mare (seafood) and it is exquisite in a red sauce with just the right touch of red pepper, then white fish in a light buttery sauce with patatas. Mmmm...

There is champagne with Gianfranco, who deals in Napa Valley wines, at the Pergola on the top floor of the Hilton with stunning views of Roma. Flavio, another friend, takes me out in Trastevere and we have liqueur shots out of dark chocolate cups in an out-of-the-way bookstore cafe that specializes in exotic drinks, like Absinthe, which they actually serve! And Alessandro and I drink amaretto and chocolate liqueur and eat fine chocolates from Brazil while discussing Buddhism, politics and friendships around the world.

Life, what can I say, is good... It is la dolce vita, indeed... I've never been wined and dined so much in my life. The men have all been gentlemen and good company; some have become good friends already and will remain so after this trip. I could get used to this...

And life is sacred here, eternal... I awake to the sound of church bells my first morning in Roma, here in the home of the Pope, the eternal city that is a living museum, streets full of monuments, sculptures, fountains, piazzas by some of history's great artists, the grandeur of the days of the Empire still present in every walk I take...

Rome is monumental. Besides being home to master works by Michaelangelo, Raphael, Bernini, Caravaggio, the city itself is a work of art. The buildings are grand, there are metro stations with marble angels perching on ledges above the curving facades, there are mythological figures spouting water in the endless fountains...

For me the feeling of the eternal city is expressed in the water fountains along the street that run eternally, water pouring from a tap into the street, where fashionably dressed cat-eyed Italian women stop for a drink, pulling back their long dark hair to drink from the flowing water, before rushing to their next destination in this buzzing modern and historic city...

Although the pace here is of a big modern city, Roma slows me down. I walk more slowly to admire everything, feeling like I have all the time in the world.

I sashay, walking like a runway model, swishing my hips, wearing heels on cobblestone streets and fitted skirts and dresses, only because this is Roma and it feels right to do this here. La moda matters here.

And I feel sexier in Roma...

If you are a 35 year old woman getting a divorce, as I am, and want to feel feminine and beautiful, even adored, again, I suggest spending some time in Roma where you feel like a W-O-M-A-N... There is something in the air here.

It doesn't hurt here that the men who sell you coffee or bus tickets often look like Calvin Klein underwear models. And you don't buy shampoo at CVS, you buy it at a profumeria. How much more sexy is that?

Even the names of my friends here all have three or four syllables, are more melodic: Giambattista, Alessandro, Gianfranco, Francesca, Claudio, Flavio... They roll off the tongue.

La lingua italiana is poetry to my ears; the national language was shaped by La Divina Commedia by Dante after all and all the words ending in "o" and "gia" make basic conversation, even swear words, which I am learning, perche non (why not?), sound like music....

I feel like I traveled 9,000 years to get here as well, having traveled back to the Paleothic and Neolithic Ages in Greece...

At the Benaki Museum in Athens, I marveled at small red clay female figurines, with full breasts and swollen bellies likely symbolizing fertility, that could fit in the palm of my hand and that date back to 6500 BC.

I experienced the Early Bronze Age, the Cypriots, the Archaic Period, the Mycenaens, through art, history coming alive for me in a way that it cannot through only reading it in books. I feel the energy of the creative spirit that has documented history and stories through art for thousands and thousands of years, predating language.

I marvel at the time and precision needed to create a Byzantine mosaic, a gold-leafed icon, a richly embroidered traditional costume... The care, the love, the artistry that went into all of these is breathtaking and such a reminder of the power of the human spirit to create things of great beauty.

You feel so much through this art, it raises so many questions and tells so many stories, about how people worshipped and lived, how they ate and worked, what their lives were like. It's awe-inspiring to absorb this much history in a few short days...

I learn too more about the Byzantine era which spanned from approximately the 4th to 15th century AD, the Greek-speaking Roman empire centered in Constantinople, i.e. my beloved Istanbul. It is one of my favorite periods in art.

I learn how priests and laypeople both fought for the right to create and display iconography, that this art was nearly lost when all religious imagery was banned from Byzantine art for over a century starting in 726, and the efforts of a dedicated few saved it. Icons were the common people's bible, the way to share the stories of Christianity with the illiterate versus reserving the religion for only the learned.

This art had a real impact in that time and I marvel now at its beauty; I love the icons with gold-leaf and rich reds, the endless depictions of Madonna and child and Christ and his apostles.

It's easy to forget in an Internet age and coming from a country where it is common to earn advanced degrees that even today an estimated 870 million adults are illiterate; art has always been a vehicle to share stories and emotions with all.

I feel the sense of great civilizations rising and falling when Xenia tours me through the Acropolis in Athens, the Parthenon which I learn means "Temple of the Virgin Athena," the Acropolis Museum, the porch of Caryatides, the Propylaea, or grand entrance leading into the sacred temple area...

I learn the Greek legend about how Athena and Poseidon battled it out for the city; she planted an olive tree as her offering and Poseidon struck a rock and water came out. The people of the city valued olive oil more and voila, the city was named for this goddess...

I learn that the owl is the national bird of Greece, symbolizing wisdom, and that the pomegranates featured in the ancient statues symbolize fertility. In small traditional villages for a housewarming guests would throw a pomegranate on the steps; it would burst open and the red seeds were supposed to bring good luck and fertility.

I was blessed to get to see a live performance that same night in the Odeon of Herodes Atticus - the Martha Graham Dance Company bringing Greek myths to life through dance. I got chills thinking about the great performances and culture that had cycled through this land centuries before, when Aeschylus and Euripides would perform comedies and tragedies in theater competitions in the nearby Theater of Dionysus, that accommodated 17,000 spectators...

Xenia encouraged me to visualize, and I did, the great minds that helped launch Western civilization walking on these grounds, talking about philosphy... It's so much more palpable when you've been in the space, seen a performance in the theater, walked the sacred grounds.

I learn, and I learn, and I learn... After a few days in sexy Roma (which, my friend Gianfranco points out, is "Amor" spelled backwards!!) I make a detour to Firenze, i.e. Florence. The city is quiet and small in comparison to Rome, magnificently beautiful, with endless cobbled alleys, green shuttered buildings, red tile roofs....

Dante lived here and Michaelangelo, and endless artists including the incomparable Caravaggio flourished under the patronage of the Medicis. The vibe here is so different from Roma, much more mellow, more art students sitting in Piazzas endlessly sketching fountains and facades, less rushing and more women in sensible shoes versus the high stilettos on the cobblestones streets of sexy Roma.

This is interesting to me, since besides gelaterias, lingerie stores are the most frequent type of shop I see in Firenze. Sneakers and lingerie, art and history, Ponte Vecchio which survived the Nazy occupation and is a timeless symbol of the city... Firenze is complex...

My first night here my friend Giambattista tours me around on his scooter by night - how did I get so lucky to experience all of Italy this way?? We go to Piazza Michaelangelo for an overview of the city and Giamba, who is a professional photographer, teaches me how to take a night-time picture of the city skyline using an open aperture and lengthy exposure. I capture the Duomo and Santa Croce by night - wow...

Then he takes me to Pizza Man in Firenze where I have, I kid you not, THE BEST PIZZA OF MY LIFE (with apologies to DeFazio's in Troy, NY, where I regularly indulge in the best pizza I've ever eaten elsewhere in the world).

I eat a whole pizza. A whole pizza! This, for me, is a record, but every bite is mouthwateringly perfect and the next bite just as good...

The pizzas are simple. I have half a pizza margharita and half of one with fresh cherry tomatoes and basil. The crust is light and thin and you fold it in half. The tomatoes are so fresh. The cheese is exquisite, sliding off the sauce, yet sparingly applied vs. the greasy mozzarella that often gets glopped onto slices in the States. Everything applied judiciously- and so fresh!

The pizza is lighter with pure ingredients that all taste farm fresh and you taste every ingredient in every bite. That said there is really no way to describe properly in words why and how this is so much better than the pizzas in the U.S. (you must go to Pizza Man and experience it for yourself!) but one pizza and a few glasses of plum grappa later, I am a very happy, satiated woman.

Luckily I walk 1,000 steps the next day to burn off that pizza. I climb to the top of the Duomo and a few hours later climb the Campanile by sunset, for both daytime and evening views over the red roofs of Florence and surrounding Tuscan hillsides.

I catch a mass at the Duomo, just to experience that in Italian, and try ribollita, the filling and tasty Florence soup with vegetables and pieces of crusty bread soaked in the soup broth. It is delicious. I finally try panna cotta, one of my favorite desserts in the U.S., here in Italy and it is creamy, smooth, so creamy, delicious, and smothered in hot chocolate sauce flavored with liqueur.

The tiramisu is divine, and I've tried at least seven flavors of gelato by now, including the famous varieties at San Crispino near Trevi Fountain, which specializes in honey flavored gelato.

What can I say? I walk the streets of Italy all day and feast at night - My body is no worse for the wear, maybe slightly curvier, who can say, but I'm still in good shape and having nice curves never hurt a woman, especially here in Italy.... The men are not complaining.

I still have many sights to see in the week I have left in this beautiful country: Cinque Terre, Pompeii, Siena, Venezia. Today I toured the Vatican Museums, and there is too much to say here about that now (more soon) but suffice it to say I cried in the Sistine Chapel and could have spent a week there. Next week I will tour the famed Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

How did I get so lucky??? Sono felice, sono contenta.

That is not to say that every moment of my travels has been perfect and glamorous, of course... I've stayed in not-so-fancy but very friendly youth hostels and crashed on the couches of some gracious friends, been ripped off by an illegitimate taxi driver when caught during an Italian local transportation strike today, had some nights of less than optimal sleep.

But I'm happy, and I've learned that I can live with less, live more simply, than I once thought... We need so little, really, to be happy. Food, a safe place to sleep, some good company, and beauty.... I am an aesthete, seeking beauty everywhere, and I find it.

Seek and ye shall find...

Beauty will save the world... At least, I am counting on this. It is everywhere, and perhaps there is a higher concentration in Italy, but that is all a matter of perspective.

I breathe in beauty and it feeds me... It is replenishing. It calms my soul.

No matter the hardships or inconveniences of travel, which are always part of the deal, the moments of beauty define my travels for me.

These are the moments I will remember, always....

© Lisa Powell Graham 2006

2 comments:

Cindy said...

When you're in Cinqueterra, eat at a restaurant called "Ciak" in Monterosso (?). RIk and I had a very wonderful seafood meal there. Get the risotto.

Everything you say about Italy is true...

joycechupka said...

CAN IT BE THAT WE WERE IN ITALY AT THE SAME TIME? WE ARRIVED IN MILANO ON 10/4, WERE IN CINQUETERRA (actually Moneglia) two towns away) UNTIL THE 7TH, IN TUSCANY THE WEEK of the 7th, VISITED SIENNA ON THE 12TH ALONG WITH SHARON AND PAUL. OTHER TROJANS WHERE IN FLORENCE ON THE 11TH ON A SEPERATE TOUR FROM RPI. ISN'T MY HOMELAND JUST PERFECTO? BELLISIMO ITALIA! CANT BELIEVE WE WERE SO CLOSE TO SEEING YOU.

JOYCE