Rome: Saturday 11/27

We started our Saturday with a visit to the Basilica of St. Clement.  This site is very interesting because below the present day church (which dates back to the Middle Ages), there are several much older archaeological layers below, one of which is a church dating from about the 4th century. More ancient still is the mithraeum (a pagan religious site where worshippers of the god Mithras would sacrifice bulls to the deity).  Sadly, photography was not allowed down in the archaeological site.  We saw sections of old frescoes, fragments of sculpture, and an altar dedicated to the aforementioned Mithras.  There were also some mosaics and frescoes relating to St. Cyril and St. Methodias (St. Cyril is buried here).  You can view some of the things we saw here.

I did not see a sign in the present-day basilica indicating photos weren’t allowed…because it was, as it turned out, hidden in a corner next to the confessional, which we didn’t encounter until we were almost through with the visit.  So I did get some pictures (oops):

Since the basilica is more or less in the neighborhood of the Colosseum, we wandered in the direction of same and stopped for lunch at a nearby restaurant, mostly just for the view - because why not?

As we'd already enjoyed an excellent guided tour of the Colosseum on our previous trip to Rome, we opted not to revisit it at this time.  Instead, we chose to visit a museum we’d seen advertised in the elevator of our hotel as being one where there might not be big crowds (which turned out to be correct):  the Barberini Palace, which houses the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, or National Gallery of Ancient Art.

We were really surprised that it wasn’t busier; there were many excellent works of art on display, including a copy of a lost Holbein portrait of Henry VIII which I have encountered only in books until now:

There were a few other famous paintings that caught my eye as well:

After we went through the museum, we took a brief stroll through the grounds before heading back towards the Metro station.  

Once we got back to Piazza Barberini (not far from the metro station) we decided to stop for a glass of wine and a people-watching session.  We had hardly gotten in our first sips when out of nowhere, it started pouring rain…and all hail broke loose!

Although we were under umbrellas at the table, they did little to protect us from the sudden onslaught from the sky, so we scrambled inside.  And once we got settled there…it stopped.  Sigh.

For dinner we went back to Il Lampadario, where I had a first course of gnocchi with clams, followed by shrimp cooked in cognac; both were very good, although I probably shouldn’t have had the shrimp as I think I had a (thankfully mild) allergic reaction to them later.

I’ll write a separate catch-up post to describe today’s adventures; but I will mention here that I spoke with Nicoletta today, who assured me that the landlords have addressed the mold issue and it is safe to return to our apartment.  We are sad to be leaving Roma tomorrow but hopefully we can come back for a few days again sometime soon(ish).