Meatballs from the Lord

Yesterday was my last day in Rome before the trip to Florence (we'll be back for a day at the end of my vacation), and MFAH and I spent it the best way possible: seeing Rome. At least the Trastevere part of it. One friend had recommended a shoe store in that neighborhood, and two other friends had recommended the same nearby restaurant.

No luck with the shoes; although there were some really cool ones, the ones that fit weren't comfortable and the ones that looked comfortable didn't fit. Then we had approximately four hours to wait until dinner. In Italy dinner doesn't seem to begin until 8:00 or so, but some restaurants that want to cater to early-rising tourists like us will open around 7:30. We wandered around the neighborhood, looking in shops but not buying anything, stopping once in a while for a coffee or a gelato, ducking into various churches and an art museum.

One of the churches, the basilica of Santa Maria, is probably in that top ten list I'll never actually write down. The floor plan dates from the 340s AD, making it one of the oldest churches in Rome, and its collection is distinguished by a bunch of Russian Orthodox art, which in my limited experience you don't usually see in Catholic churches. I'm not wild about religious art from the Renaissance and later, but I really love the two-dimensional icons and other art from earlier periods, especially Russian icons. This one had a seventh-century painting of the Virgin Mary on wood, called the "Madonna della Clemenza." There were also apparently four saints (count 'em!) buried underneath the altar, but I only discovered that after we left.

Eventually it was time for dinner, and although the proprietor of Spirito di Vino seemed miffed at first that we wanted him to open at 7:30, he quickly started to treat us like family. He was happy that Rebecca spoke some Italian and didn't seem to talk down to her; he was kind enough to address me in English and provided an English menu. He made recommendations but didn't insist; he sent his handsome son over to help us pick some wine; the son asked us what we like to drink, gave us a long look, asked "Do you believe in me?" and then came back with a delicious local blend. The highlight of dinner was an appetizer of veal meatballs that have given this post its title, by far the best thing ate while in Rome. Well... until dessert. The pasta course was good, and although I made the mistake of trying something odd for my main course (basically Indian-spiced chicken with rice), dessert made it all up to us. Here the proprietor insisted: he had a creme brulee, but "It's not like any creme brulee you've ever had." And it wasn't—it was the best damned dessert I've ever had, and it didn't even include cheesecake. That is saying a lot.

Oh, did I mention that the restaurant was in the oldest building in Rome currently used as a commercial establishment? And that the wine cellar dated from somewhere between 100 and 200 years before the Colosseum was built? If you find yourself in Rome, make a trip to Trastevere. You might find some good shoes, but you will have the meal of your life.

Now we're in Florence after an uneventful train ride. We tried to get into the Uffizi, but there's a national strike on. We did go into the supremely-ugly-on-the-outside Duomo, which has an interior and crypt that more than make up for the wedding cake 19th-century exterior, and then we wandered through the city museum, which is among the coolest museums I've ever been in. (I'm going to have to come up with a better description than "coolest [blank] I've ever [blank], because it keeps happening on these trips.) It's a great blend of modern museum design and the actual stuff you're there to see—pieces of ancient columns are set into plaster walls at the approximate height that piece would have rested had the column not crumbled, etc. Lots of wonderful statues (Shane, you'd be in photographic heaven!), carvings, and one of Michelangelo's unfinished pietas.

We're staying with Anne, an art historian who has a palatial apartment that I'd never be able to find again after one hell of a winding cab ride. We're going to relax, and although this place will be full of academics tomorrow evening, I think it will still be a wonderful visit for the next four days, until we return to Rome for one last evening before heading back to ungodly cold and snow.