Back to Rome

As occurs every Friday, a group of students leaves (“graduates”). The tenure at this Italian language school depends on the individual student’s desires and can range from one week up to several months. At 12:30 pm, after the regular class sessions are complete, the departing students receive a certificate of attendance.

Yesterday was the final class day for me and about ten others. Ricardo, the coordinator of curriculum (and also one of my instructors) gave a little speech and certificates were handed out by one’s last teacher, in my case it was Giulia.

It also a day of other “lasts”: the last cappuccino and cornetto at Bar Rosa, the last aperitivo at the Embarcadero Bar on the lungomare

and a farewell dinner with some schoolmates at Ristorante Cicirinella. Unfortunately the weather was quite gloomy, and a steady rain persisted until around 5 pm. I spent the afternoon (after my private lessons) trying to fit clothing, a large bottle of pistacchio creme, two moka coffee pots, a large bag of coffee beans, two espresso cup and saucer sets, and several books into a 22 inch suitcase and a backpack.

I was the last one to vacate the apartment this morning. The taxi picked me up promptly at 9 am and transported me to the train station. The high speed Frecciargento was ten minutes late in arriving (from Reggio Calabria) and our arrival at Roma Termini station was about 20 minutes late. A quick taxi ride took me back to Hotel Smeraldo where I was greeted with a hug by Leonardo, one of the desk clerks with whom I had a nice conversation during my stay four weeks ago. And the good news was that I was upgraded from a single room to a double room!

Forno Roscioli, a famous bakery and pizza/ light lunch eatery, is across the street and I could not resist trying two different pizzas- one topped with spinach, the other with cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, basil and eggplant.

Other items on the agenda were a visit to Feltrinelli bookstore (I bought two more books to shove into a suitcase), cat sanctuary in Largo Argentina

and a meet up with Constance from New Jersey, who was in my class for a week.

Because there was a break in the precipitation, I took an extended stroll to see the Coliseum, Arch of Constantine, and Trevi Fountain. The road to the Coliseum was flanked on both sides by barriers erected for construction of the Metro line C (which has been going on for at least 20 years.

There was also a filming of a music video (I have no idea who this singer is).

I had a 7 pm dinner reservation at Roscioli where I was seated at the bar between two young American women, one from Lancaster PA studying abroad in France and a recent Johns Hopkins bioengineering graduate working in Geneva, Switzerland. We had a nice conversation while enjoying some iconic Roman cuisine (of course Cacio e Pepe) for me. No food pictures this time though!

Since it was still early (before 9 pm), I strolled the Piazza Navona and enjoyed some street musicians in the Campo dei Fiori.

Although there were noticeably less tourists than a month ago, the major tourist attractions were still crowded and there was a tremendous line to enter the Pantheon.

And there was quite a crowd waiting to try a Roman specialty, fried baccalà, at a small restaurant that was featured in an Anthony Bourdain TV episode.