A perfect day in Trastevere, Rome's favourite neighbourhood. By Louise Hanzlik · You’ve thrown coins into the Trevi Fountain and marvelled at the Colosseum – what next?
Take a trip across the Tiber river to Trastevere, a charming medieval neighbourhood with a fiery temperament. A stroll around Trastevere, a formerly working-class district with a heady nightlife, will take you away from the crowds to the hidden corners of Rome. Pin this image Evening in Trastevere's Piazza di Santa Maria. Morning: labyrinthine streets and glittering mosaics After an early morning at the Centro Storico's colourful Campo de' Fiori market, stroll three minutes to the Tiber and cross the river via the stone footbridge, Ponte Sisto, to reach Trastevere. Head towards Piazza di Santa Maria, the heart of this labyrinthine district; take Via del Moro, with its many shops and cafes, then divert into the quiet cobblestoned side streets lined with crumbling buildings with faded paintwork.
Pin this image Inside Basilica di Santa Maria. Pin this image Villa Farnesina. Pin this image. Hidden Rome. Esquilino and Testaccio may not be the prettiest neighborhoods in Rome, but they’re two of Gary Shteyngart’s favorites—where artists and butchers mingle with immigrants and intellectuals, and everyone eats very, very well.
Someone call il medico. In Rome, Stendhal syndrome is real. I’m talking about the numbness, fatigue, anxiety of seeing one more Caravaggio swaddled in a church’s cheap electric light, of one more oculus beaming the brilliant Roman sun into your eyes, of one more imperial aqueduct commanding you to snap your neck back and admire, of one more set of sculptured B.C. buttocks practically begging you to lean in for a squeeze.
Native Romans take these things in stride, but when I recently spent a year in Rome along with some other wide-eyed foreigners, I got the feeling that every day and in every way Rome conspired to make fools out of all of us. And yet many Romans have a different, less affectionate view of this part of their city. By now you will be fat. Rome. 36 Hours in Rome - Video. Top choices from NYT video. What to Do in Rome. Continue reading the main story Video Paolo Sorrentino’s mesmerizing film “La Grande Bellezza” (“The Great Beauty”), which won an Oscar for best foreign-language film in 2014, sparked controversy and endless conversation about the current state of the Italian capital.
But one fact was indisputable: , as the film’s seductive backdrop, was gorgeous. This is true in every season, but especially in colder months when the summer flood of tourists ebbs. From outlying neighborhoods that beckon with new restaurants and bars, to the historic center, where Mr. Sorrentino’s protagonist, Jep, wandered through so many scenes, Rome remains poised to prove that its beauty runs deep. Friday 1. One of the most poignant scenes in “La Grande Bellezza” transpires at the ruins of the Terme di Caracalla, colossal Roman baths that date from the third century. 2. 3. Photo 4. From Centocelle, the tram back toward the city center stops in the night-life neighborhood of Pigneto, so finish your night there.
Saturday. Testaccio Market - Markets of Rome. A walk through the stalls The old covered market of Piazza Testaccio has been waiting for years to be moved to a location that had been given to a private real estate manager by the municipality.
A move announced years ago and postponed several times, including a delay due to the discovery of archeological findings (that by the way could be an antique market). We have visited it before – between a glorious past and an uncertain future – and after. Before Next to the traditional fruit, vegetable, fish, meat and bread stalls, some different ones have appeared at Testaccio in the last few years, the kind of stalls that you would not expect in a farmers’ market. After The new market at via Galvani was officially opened on July 2nd. 5000 square meters, of which 2000 dedicated to public services and shops, slots for 103 vendors, an underground of 6000 square meters for a total of 270 parking spaces. Rome attractions. The challenge is deciding what not to do: there are so many churches, archaeological sites, piazzas and paintings to see that a lifetime is hardly enough.
Don’t try to cram too much in: Rome moves at a slower pace than many northern cities, and to enjoy it you should take time out in pavement cafés as well as shuffle round the Sistine Chapel. Borghese Gallery (1 on map) One of the world’s great art collections, the haul that Cardinal Scipione Borghese assembled in the early 17th century in his Roman garden villa includes Titian’s Sacred and Profane Love, a gaggle of Caravaggios and Bernini’s sublime sculpture Apollo and Daphne - perhaps my single favourite work of art in the whole of Rome. Later generations made some bad mistakes (allowing Napoleon, for example, to make off with 154 statues and countless other artefacts) but also some worthwhile additions, such as Canova’s risqué statue of Pauline Bonaparte. The Borghese Gallery is one of the world’s great art collections.
Colosseum (2) Rome churches.