Rome - Saturday Night Dinner

For those who would like a special dinner in Rome on Saturday night, I've put together a list of possible restaurants for you to look through.  Fair warning, most of these are on the expensive side, but all are well known and respected; several have Michelin stars.  Click on the name of each restaurant to go to their web site.  Reservations will be required at each of these places and should be made at least a week in advance (before we leave for Italy).

La Pergola 

Situated a little outside of the historic center, La Pergola's top floor location at the Cavalieri Hilton hotel commands a phenomenal view of Vatican City.  It's also the only three-star Michelin restaurant in Rome.  (Click on the restaurant name to view their web site.)

Il Pagliaccio

Il Pagliacio is not far from Campo dei Fiori or Piazza Navona, on a block that parallels Via Giulia, a famous street of palazzi and antique shops.   (Click on the restaurant name to view their web site.)

Checchino dal 1887

As the name indicates, Checchino dal 1887 has been a favorite in Rome for more than a century.  Located in the Testaccio section, it is a little over three miles from our hotel.

Agata e Romeo

Less than a mile from our hotel (about ten blocks on foot) and quite close to the beautiful Santa Maria Maggiore, Agata e Romeo's decor matches its high end cuisine.

Ristorante Piperno

Perhaps the most well known restaurant in the Jewish Ghetto, Piperno is about a mile and a third from our hotel.


Il Convivio

Also about a mile and a third from our hotel, Il Convivio offers high end cuisine in a more intimate atmosphere.


Mirabelle

Talk about a room with a view!  Located just south of Villa Borghese, Mirabelle overlooks Rome from the opposite direction of the first restaurant on our list (La Pergola, at the Hilton).  Mirabelle is just seven tenths of a mile from our hotel.

Naples - Certosa di San Martino

The view of San Martino

One of my favorite places in Naples is the Certosa e Museo di San Martino (the Monastery and Museum of San Martino).  Overlooking the Bay of Naples and the city from the top of the Vomero hill, the Certosa is a beautiful and peaceful break from the chaos that is Naples, and the views are spectacular.

The view from San Martino

The structure of the church is Gothic, dating from the 16th century, but the decoration (completed about one hundred years later) is the best example of the Baroque in Naples. 

Equally impressive is the sacristy:

After all that decoration, the quiet and peaceful great cloister is a welcome break.

The former friars quarters now house the museum and its collection of paintings and prints illustrating the Certosa and the history of Naples.  The collection also includes porcelin, furniture, objects d'art, carriages and a large collection of presepi (nativity scenes).

Presepe Cuciniello

Housed in the former kitchens of the monastery, San Martino holds the largest collection of presepi in Naples.  The most famous is the Presepe Cuciniello, with about 800 elements.   It is set in a fake cave and has lighting that simulates sunrise, daylight, sunset and night.

San Martino is closed on Wednesdays, the day we will be in Naples as a group, but it is open on Thursday, our free day.  I'd encourage anyone who is planning to spend part of their free time in Naples to check out the Certosa di San Martino.

The easiest way to get up there is by cab but for the more adventurous, you can take the metro from the train station to the Montesanto stop, then the Montesanto funicular up the mountain.  From the funicular station it's a short walk (0.3 mile) to the museum.

The web site for the Certosa is only in Italian, unfortunately, but if you can read a little in la bella lingua, check it out here.

Rome - Baroque Masters

The Baroque period continued the evolution of Rome's art and architecture and produced three masters of its own, Bernini (sculptor and architect), Borromini (architect), and Carravaggio (painter).

Maybe I'm biased, but I think that Bernini (1598 - 1680) defined Rome and put his stamp on the city even more than Michelangelo did a century earlier.  Beginning with sculpture while still a teenager,  Bernini progressed to architecture but continued to sculpt throughout most of his long life.

Bernini's David

The Museo e Galleria Borghese in Rome is home to three of Bernini's most impressive sculptures, Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius Fleeing Troy, Pluto and Proserpina, and David.  It's hard to believe, when looking at his work, that this is actually marble.  You can see what I mean in the detail of Pluto's hand grasping Proserpina's thigh:

Detail from Pluto and Proserpina

Two other important sculptures are housed in churches in Rome, Ecstasy of St. Teresa at Santa Maria della Vittoria (made even more famous by Dan Brown's Angels & Demons) and Ecstasy of Beata Ludovica Albertoni at San Francesco a Ripa.

Ecstasy of Beata Ludovica Albertoni

Bernini is also well represented by water, most notably by the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers) in Piazza Navona.

Detail from Bernini's Fontana dei Quatro Fiumi, Piazza Navona

Bernini the architect can be seen in two vastly different structures, the small, elegant and personal feeling Sant'Andrea al Quirinale (just six blocks from our hotel in Rome) and the vast, grandiose Colonnade of St. Peter's Square.  The colonnade solved a number of architectural issues and tied together the hodgepodge of buildings that made up the Vatican Palace.  When viewed from the dome of St. Peter's, you can see the colonnade as a pair of welcoming arms, hugging pilgrims as they approach the basilica.

Sant'Andrea al Quirinale

Bernini's Colonnade, Piazza San Pietro

The work and style of Borromini, Bernini's contemporary and rival, is perhaps best represented by the tiny church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (also known as San Carlino).  Located just one block away from Bernini's Sant'Andrea al Quirinale (and only five blocks from our hotel), San Carlino is a complex marvel of light, intricate details and multiple dimensions.

Sant'Ivo della Sapienza, another Borromini creation, may be the most dramatic church in Rome.  The spiral lantern on top is immediately identifiable, there's just nothing else like it.

Caravaggio was profoundly gifted and deeply disturbed, in nearly equal measure.  Before beating it out of town just ahead of a murder charge, he pioneered a new way of using light and shadow in painting and was the first to paint biblical subjects in a naturalistic manner.  The best of example of this is the St. Matthew trilogy at San Luigi dei Francesi.  The Crucifixion of St. Peter in the Cerasi Chapel at Santa Maria del Popolo is another case in point.

Caravaggio The Calling of St. Matthew

Maybe the most amazing thing about all of this tremendous art is that most of it can be viewed at no charge.  There is a fee to enter the Borghese, but all of the churches, fountains and squares are free.

Rome - Renaissance Masters

The Renaissance was underway in Florence and Venice for a century before Rome caught up.  They made up for that slow start, however, with a massive rebuilding effort that transformed the look of the city.

The three most influential masters of the Renaissance in Rome were Raphael (painter), Bramante (architect), and the great triple threat, Michelangelo (painter, sculptor, architect).

Piazza del Campidoglio

You can see Michelangelo's architectural work at the Campidoglio, where he redesigned the piazza (including the unique geometric paving) and added new facades to the buildings facing it (today these buildings are the Capitoline Museums and the office of the Mayor of Rome).  He also designed the great staircase that leads up to the piazza, the Cordonata. 

Not far from the Campidoglio you can see one of Michelangelo's most famous sculptures, Moses, at San Pietro in Vincoli.  This church is named after its most famous relics, the chains (vincoli) that are believed to have shacked St. Peter while he was held in the Mamertine prison. 

Michelangelo's Moses

Of course, his most famous sculpture is the Pieta, located inside St. Peter's Basilica. 

Michelangelo's Pieta

The Sistine Chapel holds Michelangelo's two most famous paintings (actually one fresco and one painting), the Creation of the World and the Fall of Man on the ceiling, and The Last Judgment over the altar.

The Last Judgment

Although many (if not most) of the great architects of the Roman Renaissance and Baroque periods had a hand in St. Peter's Basilica (including Michelangelo, who was responsible for the magnificent dome), the first and principle architect was Donato Bramante.   Although he also had a hand in the design of Santa Maria della Pace, Bramante is probably best known for, and represented by, the Tempietto (little temple) at San Pietro in Montorio.  This small circular building is generally considered to be the first true Renaissance building in Rome.

Bramante's Tempietto

Better known for his frescos, Raphael also worked as an architect in Rome, notably on the Chigi Chapel at Santa Maria del Popolo.   His frescos for the private apartments of Pope Julius II are together known as the Raphael Rooms.  The work on these four rooms took over 16 years and Raphael died before it was completed, but they remain perhaps the best expression of the religious and philosophical ideals of the Renaissance.

Raphael The Fire in the Borgo

Sant'Agata sui Due Golfi

Just five miles by car from our hotel in Sorrento, or three miles by foot (for the truly ambitious and those in good shape, because much of this walk is uphill) is the lovely little town of Sant'Agata sui Due Golfi.   With spectacular views of the gulfs of Naples and Salerno (the "due golfi"), Sant'Agata was a favorite stop on the "Grand Tour" and, even further back, was enjoyed by the Etruscans, Greeks and Romans.

There is a lovely town center and the beautiful church with its Florentine inlaid marble altar, which was moved here from the Girolamini church in Naples in 1845.

Sant'Agata's most famous restaurant is Don Alfonso 1890.  Known for its cuisine, dishes at Don Alfonso use local ingredients and herbs, many grown on their own farm nearby, and are based on three principles: Mediterranean character, absolute quality in raw materials, and modernity.  You can read more about their history, philosophy and the restaurant itself on their web site here.   They've also produced a beautiful brochure that can be downloaded here.

Don Alfonso 1890 Restaurant

More information about the town of Sant'Agata sui Due Golfi can be found here.

Pizza

With all the wonderful things to see and do in Naples, the question I am most often asked is "where do I get real Naples pizza?"

They take their pizza seriously in Naples, which is the home of the Pizza Napoletana Association, a non-profit group dedicated to promoting and producing the "true Neapolitan pizza".  Members of the association commit to making pizza using the traditional methods and ingredients.  Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana

So where to go in Naples?  It depends on what part of town you find yourself in, but here are some of the best:

Da Michele

Da Michele (Via Sersale, 13):  A few blocks from the train station, this is perhaps the most famous pizzaria in Naples.  It doesn't look like much from the outside (nor from the inside, to be honest), but the lines of people waiting for them to open each day testify to their greatness.

Di Matteo

Di Matteo (Via dei Tribunali, 94):  In the heart of the centro storico of Naples, Da Matteo has been serving pizza in Naples since 1936.  Again note the crowds outside.

Lombardi (Via Foria, 12):  Near the Archeology Museum, Lombardi is known for creative combinations and larger sized pizzas.

A true Italian pizza is always served in a "personal" size, meant for one person, unlike the large multi-slice pies we are accustomed to here at home.  They are approximately the size of a large dinner plate.

The other way to get pizza is "pizza al taglio" (cut pizza, sometimes referred to as "pizza rustica"), which is sold a slice at a time by weight and meant to be eaten standing up.  It is generally made in large, flat pans which are displayed in a case.  Once you choose your type and specify the weight you want, it is reheated and then served.

Naples - Getting in the Mood

A few books set in Naples (see Amazon.com for details):







And a couple of movies:

Amalfi Coast - Getting in the Mood

Some books set along the Amalfi Coast or in Sorrento (see Amazon.com for details):






And a few movies filmed or set in the area (see imdb.com for details):





Although mostly about Tuscany, there are some beautiful scenes shot in Positano:

Capri - Getting in the Mood

In addition to guide books and travelogues, before I travel I like to read novels set in the place I'm going to and watch movies filmed there.

A few books about Capri, or that take place there (go to Amazon.com to get the details):








And a couple of movies filmed on Capri: