An Autumn Weekend in Rome

It has been a relatively interesting weekend in Rome with work and fun combined in just measure. The weather has been absolutely beautiful. Fall is with us and its warm, magic light caressing all and everything. The sky is once again a brilliant cobalt blue without a cloud in sight and the temperature is extremely comfortable.

Saturday morning I did all of my “busy things” like doing the week’s shopping in the Campo nearby, a couple of loads of wash and I even picked up a large magenta cyclamen plant to replace my dying geranium in the balcony window.

The last couple of years have been very difficult for geraniums. It seems that they have been infested with some kind of root disease which eventually turns the trunks black and they wither away in a slow and agonizing death. I couldn’t watch it die any more and today was the day to end its misery.

The afternoon and early evening was devoted to drawing and painting. I often work from live models and Matteo was free so we had a session together. Even though I am not painting bodies at the moment, I find it refreshing to return to them for practice and inspiration now and again. Am really preparing from my new Greek series of oils, “Talking Mountains”.

Today, Sunday, was a pure fun day. Frieda’s birthday is Feb.1st, but we celebrated it today. As a gift, Vittoria and I had invited her out to dinner of her choice, and to make a long story short, we finally got around to it today. Mission accomplished. She decided that she first wanted to wander around the ruins at Ostia Antica and then have a relaxing lunch on the terrace of a nearby restaurant, Il Monumento. Famed for its superb cuisine.

Ostia is located at the mouth of the Tiber and was founded around 620 B.C. Its reason to be was basically the salt gleaned from nearby salt flats which was precious as a preserver of meat in ancient times. Later, as Rome began expanding Ostia was conquered, and a fort was built there. Ostia, often called Rome’s first colony, served as a naval base, protecting Rome from any invasion by river. By 150 A.D. when Rome controlled the Mediterranean, Ostia’s importance became commercial rather than military.

The city remained a key administrative and warehousing center, busy with the big business of keeping over a million Romans fed and in sandals. With the fall of Rome, the port was abandoned. Over time the harbor silted up and the Tiber retreated a ways away. The mud that eventually buried Ostia actually protected it from the ravages of time and stone-scavenging medieval peasants.

In recent years archeologists have been doing a lot of excavations there and much of the ancient city is accessible to the public. Ostia Antica is Rome’s Pompeii and only about 25 minutes from downtown Rome heading westerly in the direction of the sea.

It was the perfect day to wander its ancient streets, many sheltered by enormous umbrella pines. It was exciting walking into the theatre, the numerous baths, warehouses, temples, forums and private and public dwellings. Unfortunately the museum was closed. It has a great collection of sculpture found in the ruins.

Around one we decided that it was time for “food and drink” and headed for Il Monumento. We began with a first course of pasta and then moved on to an enormous platter of freshly fried calamari. The early afternoon light, gently filtering through the leaves of the nearby trees, set the mood and helped to make our luncheon outing something very special. Happy Birthday Frieda!

This coming week will be a relatively short one. Tomorrow the students do not have school while the faculty are off for our annual day retreat at a nearby monastery. Tuesday is a national holiday, All Saint’s Day, and life resumes its normality again on Wednesday.