Mostly mosaics

Last week was Settimana Bianca, white week, or ski week for My Girl.  But with all of the ski resorts closed in spite of a very snowy winter, we stayed in town and did what we could.  My girl had the week off school while boy's school was still in session.  They don't have ski week.  They traditionally have school trips at this time, but they couldn't happen this year with all of the travel restrictions.  Even though we are in a yellow zone, travel in between regions is not allowed, with exceptions for work, emergencies etc.  International school trips are completely out of the question.

Even the oranges know it's Valentine's day

The week started on Valentine's day.  With John in California for tax season I thought we would try to have some fun anyway.  My girl made little cookie bags for her friends at school filled with Batticuori, chocolate heart shaped cookies.  On Saturday we went to SAID, a chocolate shop and kitchen to see what we could find.  It's a family-owned local shop that has been in the San Lorenzo neighborhood since 1923, but there are also locations in London and Dubai.  They opened as "Zurich" because of their partnership with a Swiss manufacturer.  The Fascists pressured them to change their name, so they became Società Anonima Industria Dolciumi,  Anonymous Confectionery Industry Company, SAID.  Everything we tried was exceptionally good.

Salted caramel truffles, dark chocolate hearts, dark chocolate truffles, orange truffles, and frutti di bosco truffles (like raspberry)

Since John was not at home he sent his minions to do his bidding.  In this case John sent them to "borrow" some money from my wallet to buy flowers from one of the local flower stands.  They went to a little place a couple blocks away that Jack remembered from his walk home from school.  They were incredibly pleased with themselves and their adventure.  It was so much fun to see them beam and to be remembered.  It still makes me smile.

I thought it would make for a more interesting week at home if we had a purpose.  What would we do if we were tourists on vacation for a week?  A lot of people wish they could have a week in Rome right now.  My Girl is great with museums etc. if there is a reason behind it.  So this week is all about mosaics.  We first pinned down a mosaics class for Friday then planned to go see mosaics around town so that we could get an appreciation for what it is all about.

Our first stop was Palazzo Massimo.  In spite of this being one of the major museums in town I had not heard of it.  Only two of the four floors were open, but it was still enough to really enjoy the visit.  The first floor was filled with ancient busts and statues and a couple of calendars.  

My Girl was fascinated by the busts of the Roman women and their hairstyles.  In the notes below the busts they made comments about the different styles and the women who popularized them.  Some of the women depicted have been identified by their distinctive hairstyles.  Maybe we'll try them out.  The sculpture is detailed enough that you can pretty much tell what is happening in the parts that haven't broken off.  Probably enough to try to duplicate it at home.

Two Ancient Greek bronze sculptures were particularly interesting.  The Romans idealized the Greeks and borrowed heavily from their art and culture.  After conquering Greece they just "borrowed" the objects themselves.  This life sized boxer is incredibly detailed and realistic, including cauliflower ears and copper to color the cuts, scrapes, and drops of blood.

Photo of the discovery of the Boxer at Rest on the Quirinale Hill in Rome (source)

This Hellenistic Prince was discovered near the boxer and is also incredible.  Bronze statuary in Ancient Greece was not terribly rare, but surviving examples are, since the metal is easily melted down and reused.  The workmanship the on sculptures are amazing, but I also really loved the patina on the metal.  These sculptures may have been buried by the Romans to protect them from the invading Goths, preserving them for today.

Hellenistic Prince

Our main purpose in coming to this particular museum was to see the Roman mosaics.  These were originally part of the floors and walls of villas.  It is amazing to see the intricacy of the work.  Most of the stone bits are roughly 1/4 inch squares.  But at times the central image is made of pieces many times smaller.  The detail is amazing.  There are many different styles and images, colorful geometrics, black and white animal and human figures, monsters and creatures, flowers and fruit.  In these particular mosaics the colors came from different colors of stone quarried in different parts of the empire.  More colors were a show of wealth and power.  You had to be able to access and perhaps control an area to be able to get colors unique to the areas.  In addition to the multicolored stones, the Romans also used colored glass for their mosaics.

So many monsters and creatures.  It seemed like they would put a serpents tail or wings on anything to create some new monster, like the hippocampus.  I knew the word from brain anatomy, but it is also a winged horse with a fish or sea serpent tail.  The fish tailed bull is a taurokampoi, a creature from the Etruscans.  There were similar hybrid sea creatures with leopards, lions, and goats.  You learn something new every day.

After soaking in the Ancient Roman styles we went to look at slightly more recent work at churches around town, Santa Pudenziana, Santa Prassede, and Santa Maria Maggiore.  Santa Pudenziana was our first stop.  It is rather small and very old, a second century bath house on top of a first century house that was converted to a church in the 4th century.  Legends say that a it was the house of St Pudens, a man referred to in Paul's letters in the Bible (2 Timothy 4:21).  A Medieval tower was added around the 12th century.  So many layers.  The church has been remodeled many times through the centuries.  Unfortunately some of most interesting features, like the ceiling and parts of the apse mosaic. were destroyed in a 16th century remodel.  The front doors are many steps down from the current street level since the street was raised in the 19th century to improve access to the more important Santa Maria Maggiore just up the street.  

The facade is quite impressive, interesting, and different from the typically Baroque facades on so many churches.  But we really came to see the mosaic inside.  It is one of the earliest church mosaics in Rome dating from 390 AD.  What is so interesting about it is how the style bridges the naturalism of the classical style and the more abstract Byzantine style that came later.  Unfortunately, the lower part of the mosaic was lost in the 16th century remodel.  So sad.  Such a gem of art history.  I love that you can see the winged swimming? flying? creatures above that we saw in the ancient mosaics.  In my readings I found that these are symbols of saints.  The winged bull represents St Luke and the eagle, St John.  I'm not sure how they got from ancient mythology to Christian saints, but there it is.

Santa Prassede is a 9th century church a few blocks away.  Of course there have been changes over time, but the spectacular mosaics have mostly survived.  One quirky detail about this church is that many of the walls weren't straight or parallel when built so it has had to be reinforced with odd arches and other reinforcements over time.  Another thing I found interesting is that the entry (street view) is so plain, just a set of doors in an orange wall off a slightly wider spot in a narrow road.  It's like an after thought of a side entrance.  You would never guess there was anything interesting inside.  Then you see this...   spectacular Byzantine mosaics.

Pope Paschal, who built the original church, included a side chapel in honor of his mother, Theodora, dedicated to St Zeno.  The walls and ceiling are encrusted with tessere of gold leaf and multicolored glass.  It is a very small room, but very impressive.

We ended our mosaic tour at Santa Maria Maggiore where the apse mosaics are still medieval, but from the 13th century.  It was difficult to get a good look because the center part of the church was not accessible.  We could see enough to get a sense of the style.  It is spectacular, but it is not the original.  This mosaic replaced an earlier 5th century version.

After seeing so many amazing examples of mosaics we were excited to try it out ourselves.  I found a class at Studio Cassio in the Monti neighborhood.  There were a couple other options, but I liked this one because it is a working mosaic studio, not just a tourist craft shop.  Lorenzo Cassio worked as the head of the Vatican mosaic shop for many years and founded the studio in the 19th century.  His children continued his work and the shop is still in the family.  They continue to make and restore mosaics in Rome and around the world.  In fact, they worked on the ancient mosaics at the museum we went to.  When we arrived they were working on a large new mosaic for a church in Bari, on the east coast of Italy.  They create the mosaic in pieces then install them puzzle-like on site.

The desks where we worked were originally from the Vatican mosaic shop.  (more here) They were old and rustic and I loved them.  Our teacher showed us bits of old Roman mosaic in stone and Roman glass compared to modern glass.  The gold-covered Roman glass was beautiful and textured.  The modern glass was smooth and sleek, pretty, but much less interesting.  We talked about the Vatican mosaics.  When I first saw them I thought they were paintings.  In fact they were made to replace paintings of the same design since the mosaics are much more durable than a painting on wood or canvas.  In order to get the detail the mosaic shop used over 25000 different colors of glass.  There are only 300 commercially available to the studio today.  The square of yellowish glass in the photo is from the Vatican.  You can identify it from the stamp on the surface.  The brooch and the face are micro mosaics made from filaments of glass roughly the diameter of a toothpick set on end to create an incredibly detailed image.

We chose our patterns and got to work.  We had eight colors to choose from.  Each color comes from a different place.  The red is from Verona and the yellow from Sienna.  The white, of course, is from Carrera.  We worked by setting our tessere onto the paper patterns.  My Girl chose a geometric pattern we had seen as a border on the floors at the museum.  I chose a peacock head because I like the black and white figurative images.  

Roman mosaics are made with lines and "worms", not a grid pattern, so the tessere need to be cut into the right shape to turn the corners.  If the line gets too wide you divide the worm into two, saving the triangle of the worm end for artistic emphasis.  When we were finished the board filled with mortar type stuff was pressed onto the top.  The board is more like a tray with gently sloped inside edges.  It is quiet meticulous work, but we really enjoyed it.  Just for fun we walked home through the neighborhood and passed the Colosseum before catching the bus home.  It was a beautiful almost spring afternoon.

We ended the week with a scout hike to Croce di Tuscolo in the Parco dei Castelli Romana just south east of town.  It was a great outing to get back into scouting again after a long winter break with lockdowns and restrictions.  So nice to spend a day outside with friends.  We started and ended Italian style with coffee and cornetti in the morning then pizza in a piazza afterward.  A great day to finish a fun week.

Caravaggio, Coppede, and a few other things

With museums closed and churches open, a friend and I went to see some of the art housed in the churches.  In any other city these would be masterpieces enshrined in special exhibits.  Here, they are part of the decorations, but no less spectacular for it.  In fact it is interesting to see the paintings and works in the places they were created to inhabit.

She found a description of a guided walking tour  of some Caravaggio masterpieces and we did our DIY version.  There were three churches on our list, Santa Maria del Popolo, San Luigi dei Francesi, and Sant’ Agostino.  We made it to the first two, but Sant' Agostino was closed by the time we got there.  Through all of this church touring I have learned to check opening hours since all but the major churches seem to be closed in the afternoon and sometimes the morning too.

San Luigi dei Francesi is the national church of France in Rome.   It is also the home of the Chapel of St Matthew where three Caravaggio paintings hang.  They were painted for this location and haven't moved.  They are some of his first public works and are truly spectacular.  Caravaggio even took the direction of the light from the window above into account and mimicked it in his paintings.  While in Rome his patron was a powerful Cardinal from the Medici family.  Caravaggio lived in the Cardinal's home, the Palazzo Madama, during the time he worked on these paintings.  From the upper windows of the palace you would be able to see the entrance to the church.  It is now the Senate building for Italy, so you can often see reported hanging around outside and important looking people in fancy suits coming and going from the guarded entrance.  

The paintings are each impressive in their own way.  The centerpiece, the Inspiration of St Matthew, is the second version painted.  The first one was rejected.  Perhaps it was because the angel was too close or he was holding the hand of Matthew and directing the writing rather than inspiring it.  Some thought this implied that Matthew was rough and illiterate.  It was considered blasphemous because of its humanized interpretation of the Saint.  After it was rejected the painting was quickly purchased by a private collector and later found its way to Berlin.  Unfortunately, it was destroyed during WWII.

The Calling of St Matthew and The Inspiration of St Matthew

The Martyrdom of St Matthew

After the success of the St Matthew chapel, Caravaggio earned commissions for two paintings in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo at Piazza del Popolo.  These paintings depict the martyrdom of St Peter, the chief apostle, and the conversion of St Paul on the road to Damascus.  Once again these are this second attempts at the paintings after the first tries were rejected by the commissioning Cardinal.  Caravaggio's stark style is so dark and lacks the cheery lighter and brighter colors of earlier painters.  It almost looks out of place with the ornate white and gold on the walls.

My girl refers to the masterpiece, Conversion on the way to Damascus, as "the one with the dude falling off of his horse".  Other less respectful people call it the horse butt painting.

Conversion on the way to Damascus

Crucifixion of St Peter

Later I went back to Sant' Agostino just outside Piazza Navona to see the Madonna of Loreto, another controversial Caravaggio.  At the time this painting was criticized for it's realistic depiction of Mary and the pilgrims, including their dirty feet.  Caravaggio scandalously used a well known prostitute as his model for the Madonna.  Interesting, since this particular church was popular during the Renaissance with humanist scholars and poets and the prostitutes who accompanied them.  This particular group included educated women who were influential enough and just respectable enough to be buried in the church.  Sadly, their funerary monuments were destroyed during a 19th century renovation.

Madonna of Loreto

Many people come to this church to see the Madonna, but the church has other artistic treasures including a fresco of the prophet Isaiah by Rafael on a pillar.  You would walk right by if you didn't know.  The fact that they are selling posters and prayer cards with the image is a clue that it is something important.

This fresco high on the wall opposite the Madonna shows just how revolutionary Caravaggio was.  The story and the scene are similar, but the style couldn't be more different.  These frescos were done after the time of Caravaggio, but are more similar to the earlier light and bright idealized Renaissance style than the naturalistic moody Baroque style of Caravaggio.

On another day I took a ride up to the Quartiere Coppedè.  This is a neighborhood knows for its quirky Art Nouveau architecture designed by Gino Coppedè during the 1920s and teens.  The center is Piazza Mincio with its frog fountain and outdoor chandelier.  The houses are sometimes referred to as fairy houses for their fanciful decorations in a hodge podge of styles.

On my way to Piazza Mincio I passed this amazing church on Piazza Buenos Aires.  I immediately noticed the colorful mosaics.  This is the Church of Santa Maria Addorlorata, the national church of Argentina.  The bell tower and arches at the entry are reminiscent of older churches, but it was built in the 1920s.  The mosaics mimic the style and motifs of the much older mosaics in other churches around the city.  Peacocks and winged animals representing saints are found in early Christian and later stone reliefs and mosaics.

In my wandering home from Quartiere Coppede I went to Villa Torlonia.  The museum in the main house was closed, but the grounds were open and many people out enjoying a warm sunny day.  I even found another obelisk.  I'm not sure if it is Egyptian or new.  The original builder and owner was a famous collector of antiquities.  Part of his collection of marble busts and figures is on display in a special show at the Capitoline museum.  The show is closed along with the museum, but I hope to see it when it opens.  His son was obsessed with ancient ruins and had several "follies" constructed on the grounds when no actual ruins were found.  In the 1920s the young owner offered the home to Mussolini for 1 lira per year.  Mussolini lived there until 1943.  During that time he build underground bunkers, just in case.  After the war the villa and grounds were occupied by the Allied high command.  Later the city took control and repaired the significant damage that had happened during the war and post-war years.  The villa and grounds were opened to the public as a series of museums and a park in 1996.  It is outside the historical center, but worth a visit if you are in the neighborhood.

There is a church just a block from the Pantheon that I've been trying to visit for ages, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva.  It has the strangest opening hours, or should I say hour.  It is open for one hour and 45 minutes a day starting at 5 pm.  I'm usually at home or busy with the after school things at that time so I haven't been able to visit.  One day, when I knew I had the time, I made a special trip.  Because it is still wintery it was pretty dark at that time of day and there was very little illumination.  It made me think of what it must have been like during the Medieval years.

Outside in the piazza is an obelisk resting on the back of a Bernini elephant, what a strange little creature.  There must be a school nearby since there were kids playing soccer and mom's standing around chatting.  It's nice to see the city and the people who live here without all of the tourists.  The obelisk's twin is in the piazza just around the corner in front of the Pantheon.

The church name includes Sopra (above) Minerva because it was believed that it was built above an ancient temple dedicated to the goddess Minerva.  It is now believed that it was a temple to the Egyptian goddess Isis and that the temple might not actually be under the church, but off to the side.  Also up for debate is when the original church was built.  It's old.  It was mentioned in documents from 800 AD and may have been built as early as the early 7th century.  

What we see today is the new church from the late 13th century, of course remodeled and redecorated over the years.  The more gothic style, rose windows included, is quite unique for Rome.  The Mediaeval ceiling is quite spectacular.  It somehow escaped the full Baroque remodel that so many other churches suffered.  It was quite dark and much of the nave was blocked off when I visited so I couldn't see much.  I definitely need to go back later in the year when the lighting is better.

Off to the side of the main altar is Michelangelo's depiction of Christ, an example of a major piece of art almost lost in its environment.   It is a beautiful piece of work.  Sadly, bits of bronze have been added and removed through the years, to protect the toes from being worn away by the kisses of the faithful and to provide a bit of modesty during the years when the church turned a bit more prudish.  But the statue remains.  If you don't know what you are looking at it is easy to overlook.  There is so much inside I need to explore a bit more.

On a different grey dreary day I went to our local church to draw.  It was strangely quiet.  This is San Giovanni in Laterano, a pretty major church in Rome.  It is the seat of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope.  Along the nave are niches with statues of the apostles.  I think it is quite interesting to see how they all have something that makes them recognizable without the viewer being able to read.  St Peter holds keys.  St Bartholomew holds a human skin because he was flayed alive.  Yikes.  St Phillip holds a cross and has his foot on a dragon's head because he drove a dragon from a temple in Hierapolis.  I had heard this story before.  It's not as far fetched as you might think.  Archeologists have found the entrance to a Roman shrine in Hierapolis that leads to an underground opening.  Poisonous gas leaks from this opening and even today kills birds and small animals.

In less exciting news, the neighbors are doing a major gut renovation.  There have been weeks (months?) of hammering as all of the tile was removed and cement walls were taken down.  When you take out the tile in an Italian apartment it is a LOT of tile.  At one point the terrace was half full of bags of broken tiles.  They all got carried down the stairs by hand and dumped on a truck to be hauled away.  Imagine trying to work or do online school with someone, or a few someones, hammering on the walls.  It isn't fun.  We had a break over Christmas, but they came back.  After the hammering ended there was a break as they did something else.  Then the tile installation started.  It sounds like it should be quiet, but it came with a tile saw on the terrace.  I'm not sure which was worse.

While the museums were closed...

 In early January I was quite excited to hear that after a couple of months of closure museums would once again be reopening, but only in "yellow zones".  In spite of a fall spike, Rome has had relatively few virus cases compared to other areas.  I think the main thing keeping us in the yellow zone is that we have a lot of hospitals.  The zone determination is based on infection rates, case positivity percentages, and hospital occupancy etc.  Umbria just to the north hasn't had that many more cases for their population, but they have fewer hospitals so they often end up an orange zone.  It's a bummer.  I want to go to Orvietto.  Well, just as the announcement that the museums could open was made, Rome went into the orange zone.  Another stretch without museums.  Fortunately, churches were open.

Here in Rome there are so many amazing works of art and architecture in the city.  Many of them are in place, not in museums.  That amazing altarpiece by a famous artist is still an altarpiece.  Sculptures by Michelangelo and Bernini are still in the churches that commissioned their work.  I get restless and grumpy if I stay home too long, so off to the churches I go.

I've been learning a bit about Baroque architecture and the names Borromini and Bernini keep coming up.  One one block on the Quirinal hill there are two churches, one designed by each of these famous rivals.  

The first is by Borromini, San Carlino alle Quattro Fontane.  Quattro Fontane refers to the four late Renaissance fountains on each of the corners of the intersection from which the street and the church get their names.  Two an possibly all four of the fountains figures represent rivers, specifically the Tiber in Rome and Aniene, a tributary of the Tiber that provided water to the city. The other two are the goddesses Diana and Juno or perhaps other rivers.

Juno

River Tiber

Aniene river

Diana

I first learned about these churches on an art history documentary on YouTube.  I love this tiny little church.  It is so different from the many other Baroque style churches that saturate the city.  It is light and white and geometric.  It is all about the shapes.  It is so tiny.  There is only room for six rows of small benches.

Off to the side there is a cloister with a well in the center where the priests would walk in quiet.  It feels so stark with the plain walls, but then you look up and see the fluted roofline and the topsy-turvy balustrades.  It really is Baroque after all.

Just down the road the interior of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale is a riot of gold and multicolored stone.  It is a theater piece telling the story of St Andrew's martyrdom and ascent into heaven.  Bernini considered this his masterpiece, but I prefer Borromini's style.

The exterior is all curves.  So very Baroque.

At the end of the street in Piazza Quirinale on top of the Quirinale hill.  The piazza is the home of the presidential palace, formerly a papal palace and Napoleon's imperial palace in Rome.  This means that there are frequently guards and reporters hanging around.  There is also a spectacular view of the city.

This is also the latest home of one of the many obelisks in the city on the Fontana dei Dioscuri.  The fountain was assembled in the 16th century from bits and pieces around town.  The Dioscuri, or Castor and Pollox, are Roman copies of Greek statues representing sons of Zeus, possibly from the Baths of Constantine.  Without markings, the obelisk is difficult to date and or trace.  It has undoubtedly moved around town many times.

Many old palaces are now museums.  The museum at Palazzo Barberini was closed, but the garden was open so I wandered around.  It's quite an impressive place.  The team of architects includes both Barberini and Borromini.  It was strange to see it so quiet.  An area that would normally have been full of people was empty except for me and a few cats.  It was a grey almost drizzly day.  It was nice but could have been a bit spooky.

Back side of Palazzo Barberini

Garden grottos

Barberini Bee

I saw another obelisk in the distance and didn't recognize it so I went to check it out.  In fact I've seen it many times.  In my wandering I'm not sure how all the bits of the city fit together.  So it is fun to make the connections and build the map connections in my head.

New year, new rules

 After quiet Christmas celebrations we were looking forward to a new year.  Although I'm not sure how much will change.  We celebrated the new year at home along with everyone else.  I couldn't help remember the incredible celebrations downtown last year.  This year there was a televised concert and fireworks from Circo Massimo, but we didn't watch.  It turns out there were plenty of fireworks in the neighborhood.  The noise was incredible!  It was well after curfew and the sound of the fireworks echoed through the empty streets.  We added our own with sparklers from the balcony and a few fireworks in the piazza.  John and Jack picked some up in San Marino earlier this fall.  They were fun but didn't go quite as high as they probably should have to avoid the risk of serious damage or injury.  The boys had a good time with it.  I was nervous.  We could see other fireworks on other balconies.  I couldn't help think of the fire risk, but people didn't seem to worry to much about that.  Our neighbors upstairs a couple of floors dumped water before lighting their balcony fireworks, Roman candles I think.  That was probably a good idea, but a bit surprising, especially since we were directly below.

After the holiday lockdowns I was looking forward to reopening in the new year.  I was especially excited to hear that museums would be reopening... in the yellow zones only... not in Rome.  For the first time Rome is in the orange zone based on infection and transmission rates, hospital capacity, and a few other indicators like contact tracing capacity.  It doesn't mean much for our day to day life since shops are open and restaurants are open only for takeout.  But many of the things I want to do and see are closed and travel is quite restricted for now.  At least our favorite gelateria, Gelateria Procopio, is still open. 

The best thing is that both kids are back in school.  Evelyn has been going to school all year, which has been fantastic.  They follow precautions with masking, distancing, and ventilation and have had only a very few cases among students and no cases in the last two months.  The open doors and windows keep it rather cold during the winter, but better than having to stay home.  She has after school activities three times a week with robotics on Monday and soccer on Wednesday and Friday.  The late bus stops near our favorite gelateria so we can continue our tradition of stopping by on the way home.  Soon she will start helping with the school play costumes and props.  She is quite excited about the chance to be involved.

Jack has been at home doing online school since October.  It has improved a lot since last spring, but still far from ideal.  Toward the end, arts classes and labs were allowed to meet so he could attend his drama classes twice a week.  Now they are allowed to meet half of the time.  Students had to have a negative COVID test before returning to school.  Now it is fairly easy to get one.  There are many pharmacies around town where you can easily get a test if you can find the times that they are open for testing.  One Saturday afternoon we went to four pharmacies without luck.  The only risk with that is that if the test is positive you get caught up in the Italian quarantine and tracking system.  They are quite strict about this.  You aren't even supposed to leave your apartment to take out the garbage.  People come to check on you and if you aren't home you are fined.  It makes no sense that our Region went up a restriction level and the high schools were allowed to go back to campus.  That's not a complaint.  I'm glad, but it doesn't seem logical.  I'm OK with the Italian lack of logic on this one.

Over the holidays we got a break from the constant hammering from the neighbor's remodel.  They were breaking out the tile.  There was a LOT of tile.  The hammering lasted all day for weeks.  With the new year the hammering has lessened, but has been augmented by some kind of power sawing on the balcony.  The joys of city living.  The best days are when they are applying plaster, just a gentle scraping sound.  I'd definitely hire these guys to work on my apartment.  I know they show up Every
Single Day.  The arrive early each morning while Evelyn and I are waiting outside for the school bus.  We exchange greetings and I try to catch a glimpse of the work inside while the door is open as they carry the bags of plaster up the stairs.  The work is happening in apartment 2.  We are in 6.  The couple in 4, in between, has a new little baby.  I worried about her sleep until I ran into the mom who told me that the baby seems to like the noise.

We are still attending Zoom church from home.  Fortunately, there is an English Sunday School class which we enjoy and help take turns teaching.  Evelyn even had her turn.  She did a great job teaching a class with both adults and teenagers.  On the day that Jack was sustained as a Priest he dressed up for the occasion by putting on a white shirt and tie.  He kept the three pajama plaids and added a striped tie.  Quite the fashion statement.  

After the Marvel movie marathon over the holidays we have moved on and changed directions with Jane Austen movies.  We started with Sense and Sensibility, then the full 6 hours of BBCs Pride and Prejudice.  Up next, Emma.  It is fun to watch them with My Girl.  My Boy is less than interested and hides in the other room while we watch and discuss.

One weekend there was a threat of snow.  We'll take anything for a bit of excitement.  It was all over the news and the mayor issued a brochure about what to do if it did actually snow.  The last snow was in 2018.  So it happens sometimes.  Things like remove the snow in front of your building and be careful moving around the city.  It has been rather cold (for Rome) with occasionally freezing temperatures.  It might not sound like much to my family in Idaho, but even though they are colder, damp mornings in the 30s feel cold.  It's cold enough to frost the ground and make things slippery.  Evelyn and her friends have fun sliding around on the frosted basketball courts before school.  The coldest nights never matched the rain so we didn't get snow where we are.  There has been plenty of snow in the hills and even a little bit on the other side of town, but it missed us.

Tour busses have started showing up on the streets.  I was quite surprised since there aren't any tourists.  The city is using the tour busses for new express routes to reduce crowding on the metro.  More busses have been added to existing lines to reduce crowding as well.  You still occasionally find a crowded bus during rush hour, but for me that is easy enough to avoid.

One of the missionaries asked if I am cooking all Italian now.  Not at all, but we have added a few things.  We've been eating a lot of pomegranates this winter.  These aren't new, but they are much easier to eat now that I have learned an easier way to open them.  Blood oranges are also something we like a lot that aren't new to us, just much more available.  We've started eating arostacini, little mini lamb skewers.  These should really be grilled outdoors during the summer.  We broil them in the oven and call it good enough.  Probably the most popular addition is pasta gricia.  It is one of the four classic Roman pasta dishes.  They all center around pecorino cheese and black pepper.  Gricia adds either guanciale or pancetta.  I've heard, guanciale is more traditional, but I find it a bit greasy.  Amatriciana adds tomato.  Carbonara adds eggs.

I also like suppli, but I haven't tried to make them yet.  They are easy enough to find at many of the little pizza places in the neighborhood.  They are little breaded and fried balls of rice and tomato sauce with a bit of mozzarella cheese in the middle.  Sometimes they are called suppli al telefono because you can pull them apart and the cheese strings out between the two halves like a telephone cord.  Further south a similar food is called arancini.  I don't know the difference between the two, but I'm sure a food purist could tell me.  Food here is so often strictly traditional and very regional.  In the US, especially in California we like to take the best food from anyplace in the world and mix it all up together.  Fillipino Hawaiian burritos with tater tots or  Korean tacos anyone?

One thing I want to try cooking is rabbit.  It is fairly common in the grocery stores and butcher shops, but I don't really know how to prepare it.  I got some tips from my cousin so I'll try it soon.

The kids like the Babish cooking videos so we have made his baguettes and one of his mac and cheese recipes.  There are four recipes in the video.  We made the last stove top version with cheddar and fontal, something similar to fontina.  In Ireland there is cheddar everywhere, here it is rare and sold sliced to go on your American hamburgers.  We eat cheddar with chili and burritos but never hamburgers.

I'm quite excited by a new place that sells bagels.  Before this there were a couple of places you could buy a bagel sandwich, but there wasn't anywhere in town you could just buy bagels.  This new place is run by an American couple who started their business as a bed and breakfast hostel.  When tourism dried up due to the pandemic they started selling their bagels and bread to the public and their business exploded.  You have to pre-order bagels and the sourdough bread is only available to people willing to commit to a regular subscription order.  It might all be worth it.  I'll know next Monday when I pick up my bagel order.

One sad note is that the cookies here have been a bit of a disappointment.  The are beautiful, but the flavors and textures are mostly disappointing.  I would like them better if I liked shortbread.  The best we've found are the lingua di gatto, cat's tongues.  They are thin sweet butter cookies that are sometimes dipped in chocolate.  I've also seen two made into an apricot jam sandwich and then dipped.  They are what Pepperidge Farm Milanos are trying to be.