Food Lover's Odyssey

Saturday Scene: Rome at Night

 

Rome, a walking city? Yes, it is usually included in any list of top walking cities around the world. Ok, so you might need to be a little extra careful of cars; meaning you risk life, limb and camera whenever you step foot off a sidewalk.  Rome is also one of the most beautiful cities to walk at night, when the heat of the day has left with the sun and its monuments are alit both from the night lights and the moon. 

One of my favorite travel memories was my trip last summer in Rome.  Every evening while we were there, my friend Daniel (my roommate in Venice) and another friend Marcello roamed Rome after dark, where we made several wine sipping stops along the way in piazze and even under the moonlit shadow of the Colosseum.

For today's Saturday Scene, I have for you Rome at night; monuments and evening scenes from some of my favorite night walks in Rome:

 

From the Capitoline Hill to the Colosseum

 

Michealangelo's Piazza Campidoglio illuminated

 

Monument Vittorio Emanuele

 

Statue of Garibaldi, in front of the Monument Vittorio Emanuele

 

 

Arch of Constantine

 

 

 

Isola Tiberina and Along the Tiber River

This walk is especially fun in the summer as the Tiberina Island and the surrounding area hosts one of the many outdoor summer festivals.  There's dining al fresco along the river, along with cocktail bars, booths with jewelry, clothes and more for sale, and the biggest outdoor movie screen (cinema sotto il cielo) in the city.

 

Isola Tiberina and the Church of San Bartolomeo during summer festivities 

 

Ponte Rotto (the Broken Bridge)

 

Ponte Sisto (Sisto Bridge)

 

Summer eveing festivities along the Tiber River

 

Lounge along the Tiber River

 

 

Castel Sant' Angelo 

Evening views from the top of Castel St. Angelo are some of the most romantic and  picturesque in Rome.  The star-shaped piazza that surrounds the castel, and the area along the Tiber below it, also host another of the city's summer festivals.

 

Castel Sant' Angelo and the Ponte Sant' Angelo (also called the Bridge of Angels)

 

Ponte Vittorio and the Dome of St. Peter's from the Ponte Sant' Angelo

 

From atop Castel Sant' Angelo

 

St. Peter's Basilica from atop the Castel St. Angelo

 

 

Trastevere

Trastevere is one of the livelier neighborhoods at night.  The streets have a Christmas-like glow as many of the trattorie hang strings of lights above the al fresco dining areas.  Street musicians play for a coin or two everywhere you look.

 

Santa Maria in Trastevere - one of the oldest churches in Rome 

 

 

 

 

 

Campo de' Fiori - Piazza Navona - Pantheon - Trevi Fountain

This walk is probably one of the most popular with visitors to Rome.  Starting at the Campo de' Fiori you go north to Piazza Navona.  From there an almost pedestrian-only path leads you to the Pantheon and farther along.  You end at the Trevi Fountain where swarms of people gather to throw in their coins and ensure a return to the eternal city.

 

Campo de' Fiori under the moonlight

 

Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona

Bernini's Statue of the Nile River shading his eyes from the Church of St. Agnes in Agony (a work of Bernini's rival Borromini)

 

Neptune's Fountain in Piazza Navona

 

 

The Pantheon

 

Trevi Fountain

 

 

 

Related Posts:

Taste of Testaccio - Food Tour with Eating Italy in Rome

Saturday Scene: Italy and France in Shades of Blue

Saturday Scene: The Tricolore in Turin

Roman Pasta Dishes and 10 Places to Eat Them in Rome

Food in Rome: Taste of Testaccio is Offal

Coda alla Vaccinara - Roman Style Braised Oxtail

Best Picnic Spots and Picnic Fare in Rome

Pizza al Taglio at Pizzarium in Rome

Caramel Gelato and Five Favorite Gelaterie in Rome

Cacio e Pepe Pasta in a Parmigiano Bowl - Inspired by Roma Sparita

Pasta all' Amatriciana - A Roman Treat

Potato Gnocchi for Gnocchi Giovedi

Rome with a View - Five Favorite Spots for Photo Ops in Rome

Villa d'Este in Photos - Day Trip from Rome

Saturday Scene: The Tricolore in Turin

 

Last weekend in the U.S. was the 4th of July holiday, a fairly big affair.  Even if you're not especially patriotic, it's a four-day weekend in the summer!  Besides barbecuing, desserts dressed in red, white and blue, pool parties, and fireworks, it is traditional to display at least one star-spangled banner somewhere outside one's house.  This being one of a few summers over the last 14ish years where I've actually been in the United States, I decided to attend my first ever 4th of July Parade. 

My thoughts on the parade: Italy has vespas and cinquecentos as their iconic vehicles, and well, it seems that ours are motorcycles (Harley Davidsons in particular) and lowriders.  The parade ended with a stream of lowriders cruising through, hydraulics bouncing up and down, not to the music of The Star-Spangled Banner or America the Beautiful, but instead to the tunes of "Lowrider" (made famous by the Cheech and Chong movie, Up in Smoke). Oh, dio mio!  

The flag-waving festivities, however, reminded me of another holiday in another country.  March 17, 2011, Italy celebrated its 150 years of unification.  For part of that day I was in Naples, for the other part I was in Lecce.  In both cities I saw a lot of Italian flags.  Later that week I was feasting on chocolate in Turin.  The flag display there was a whole other story.  I remember thinking I hadn't seen so many national flags since I left Texas.  Everywhere I looked the city was red, white and green. Not only flags but also food; pastry shops made tricolore cakes. Chocolatiers dressed their chocolates in the tricolore.  Flower displays, storefronts, window boxes, balconies, bridges; all were waving flags or dressed in the tricolore.  While I was there, I think my dreams were only in red, white and green. 

For this second edition of Saturday Scene, I'm sharing a few photos of Turin dressed in the colors of the Italian flag. Sadly, I did not see a vespa in red, white and green....but I'll keep looking.

 

Storefront of A. Giordano Chocolates

 

 

Piazza San Carlo in Turin

 

 

Pastry Shop Window

 

Tables of Caffe Mulassano

 

 

 

Chocolate and Hazelnut Torta at Caffe Platti

 

 

 

Storefront Windows

 

 

 

Torta in honor of Cavour

 

 

Ghigo Gelateria and Pasticceria

 

 

 

Turin is celebrating Italy's 150 years of unification all year long with special events and exhibits.  The site Italia150 has information on these events.

 

 

Related Posts:

History of Chocolate in Turin: Gianduja and Much More

Scenes from CioccolaTo - Turin's Chocolate Festival

Italy's Monuments in Chocolate at Turin's Chocolate Festival

Seven Sensational Gelaterie in Turin - After Over 100 Scoops

Everyone Should Eataly

Gianduja Budino and a Chocolate Pass in Turin

Gianduja and Nutella Cheesecake for World Nutella Day 2010

Nutella Love Cakes for World Nutella Day 2011

Saturday Scene: Italy and France in Shades of Blue

Happy 150th Birthday to a United Italy

Saturday Scene - Italy and France in Shades of Blue

 

Welcome to a new series on Food Lover's Odyssey, The Saturday Scene.  I've been tossing around the idea of a day dedicated to sharing a few of my favorite scenes from Italy and France.  Also, one of my friends, who regularly gives unsolicited critiques of my blog, told me that my posts are too long! Yes, he basically said I talk too much. 

After picking both my mouth and my ego from the floor, I decided to mix things up a little and provide shorter posts and ones that are more photo-oriented for those that would like to look more and read less. So committed I am to doing it, I have dedicated every Saturday to posts that are short-on-words and long on lovely views of my two favorite countries.

An inspiration for this week's post has been a Twitter event I've been taking part in called #frifotos. I started participating a few weeks ago, and it's been a lot of fun.  Every week @EpsteinTravels, the founder of the event, and his co-hosts pick a theme. On Friday people from around the world share their photos based on that theme.  Yesterday's theme was "blue."  If you missed the event but still want to see what it's all about, on Twitter you can check out the hashtag #frifotos and see all of the photos there.  There are also two great roundups of the photos: @CorkBilly produces one here, and Wild About Travel shares their picks for the best FriFotos of the week. 

Below are my contributions: the blues of Italy and France.   

 

 A few blues from Carnival in Venice

 

 

Images from the light show at the Bi-Annual Fete du Vin in Bordeaux

 

 

Dusk in the Cinque Terre - Above Vernazza and along the beach in Monterosso

 

 

 

Blue Hydrangeas from the Cours Saleya Market in Nice...

and from a florist near Rue Mouffetard in Paris

 

 

 

Some blues among the colorful houses of Burano

 

 

 

A Rue in Paris - Wouldn't you love to live here?

 

 

Blue window scene at Fauchon in Paris for Easter

 

 

Blue pedal boat at the beach in Camogli

 

Blue sea off the coast of Panarea in the Aeolian Islands

 

Along the shore in Otranto and a few blue boats there, too

 

 

The Bay of Poets in Portovenere - Liguria

 

 

Sailing in the Amalfi Coast

 

 

Blue Umbrellas and the beach in Nice

 

 

 

 

Related Posts:

Villa d'Este in Photos - A Day Trip from Rome

Market Day in Sarlat and the Food of Dordogne

My Last Meal - Preparing for the End of the World

A Tour of Lecce: The Baroque Beauty of Puglia

Spaccanapoli and Naples' Historic Center

Pizza Lover's Odyssey in Naples

Scenes from CioccolaTo Chocolate Festival in Turin

Rome with a View - Five Favorite Spots for Photo Ops in Rome

French Pastries and Ten Top Patisseries in Paris