Rome: Tutuban on the Tiber
March 30, 2003 | 12:00am
Two thousand years ago, Rome was the master of Europe and the Mediterranean. Rome was the seat of all power and anyone who had any ambition had to go to Rome. Thus was born the saying:"All roads lead to Rome." My wife and sister had a completely novel interpretation of this saying, however, as we planned our departure from Florence for the final leg of our trip through Italy. My wife, who has the olfactory senses of a bloodhound and can sniff out a shopping center a thousand miles away, had gotten hold of material alerting her to the existence of factory outlets in the vicinity of Florence – outlets of Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Pratesi and Prada. Eyes gleaming in anticipation and mouths salivating at the prospect of snatching couture items for a song, wife and sister decreed that there was no way we were going to pass up this opportunity.
And so it came to pass that our personal road to Rome led us through all the high fashion outlets that we could squeeze in in one day. The culmination of our day was Gucci. The minute I parked the car in the parking lot, our group evaporated and reassembled two hours later with empty pockets and depleted credit cards. The result of all this shopping was that our van, which was already full at the outset of our journey, came close to bursting. The roof was creaking from the weight of four large suitcases strapped onto it while every bit of space inside the car had something stuffed in it.
Thirty years ago, I spent an entire summer in Rome in order to take courses offered by Trinity College of Hartford, Connecticut. Trinity had a small campus in Rome, which they shared with a nunnery in the Aventino. The Aventino is one of the original Seven Hills of Rome and, being wholly residential, is a quiet oasis in the chaos that is Rome. This time around, however, my pocketbook could afford more than a nunnery and I decided to stay in the Hotel Sant’ Anselmo.
"Already prized in antiquity for its quiet, Aventino Hill is a haven of tranquility from the summer heat of Rome. There are three old patrician houses there, submerged in verdant-shaded alleyways, which are hotels. The rooms are small but charming. Breakfast is simple, but served in a cool interior garden. This is one of the rare places in Rome with quiet, elegance and reasonable prices." Plus it has Filipino waiters and chambermaids and a Filipino concierge, a definite advantage for any kababayan traveler.
In order to save money, I reserved a large room which could accommodate all four of us at a rate of $210 per night, breakfast included. I called the hotel several times to make sure that the room would be comfortable enough for four people and was repeatedly assured that it was. Well, capacious was to the Italians what van was to the French – waaay tooo small! We were practically sleeping on top of each other and were forced to wait our turns to use the bathroom even if we were climbing the walls while doing so.
The tranquility of the hotel and the beauty of its gardens were definite pluses, however. So was the soprano whose singing during breakfast made everyone want to break out into dance and tiptoe through the tulips while wolfing down croissants and chocolate. My wife also appreciated the room service, the porters and the concierge, none of which were available in the inns that we had stayed in on our way to Rome.
My sister and niece, on the other hand, chose to stay in another hotel recommended by a friend who lives in Rome, the Residenza Farnese. A double room at the Residenza costs $120 a night, inclusive of breakfast and taxes. The rooms are serviceable and the lobby is slightly grim; nevertheless, the Residenza’s location makes it very attractive. It is located just a few meters from the Campo de ’ Fiori, one of Rome’s most entertaining squares and directly across from the princely palace called the Palazzo Farnese.
Rome is the apotheosis of Italian history, art and architecture. It is one of Europe’s oldest cities, having been continuously inhabited for over 2,700 years. As the center of the Roman Empire first and then of the Catholic Church, it is so crammed with treasure and art that it would take at least a year to exhaust all its possibilities.
Traces of its long history can be found all over the city. The city sits on its oldest layer, the Etruscan sewer called the Cloaca Maxima. Remnants of the Roman Empire can be found all over, with some of them hidden under churches and palazzi while others have been grafted onto buildings of later date, accounting for the haphazard look of some Roman buildings. Some, like the Pantheon and the Castel Sant’ Angelo, are amazingly still in use!
The Renaissance, which found its way to Rome on the arms of Michelangelo, Bramante, Raphael and Cellini, came just as the papacy was awakening from its long medieval slumber and was ready to construct and lavishly decorate new churches and palaces. The papacy commissioned art from the greatest artists of the day to underline its power and wealth with the most stunning examples exhibited in the Sistine Chapel and the Museums and Raphael Rooms of the Vatican.
But more than anything else, Rome is Baroque city. This ornate, dramatic style of art and architecture can be summed up as movement frozen in marble and its foremost exponents were the architects – and rivals – Borromini and Bernini. They outdid each other in designing churches, palaces, fountains, statues, piazzas and monuments. But Bernini was the artist who truly stamped his personality on Rome. He was the favored town planner, sculptor and architect of three successive popes and almost single-handedly transformed Rome into a Baroque city. Some say his most notable achievement was the colonnaded piazza, the papal tombs, altar decorations and bronze baldacchino of St. Peter’s. But to me, it is the ecstasy of St. Teresa. Her ecstacy, caused by being struck through the heart by an angel’s arrow, looks suspiciously like an orgasm.
For travelers who want a respite from incessant sightseeing and long for a taste of local color, there is the Trastevere. The inhabitants of this area "across the Tiber" consider themselves the most authentic Romans and have ensconced themselves in one of the most picturesque quarters of the city. Hidden in the labyrinthine alleys and narrow-cobbled backstreets are restaurants, bars, shops and medieval churches. In the last two weeks of July, all this local color comes to a boil during the Festa de Noantri, an open-air celebration of the good life with food and novelty stalls, street dining, fireworks and all manner of merriment.
One Sunday, we found ourselves in the Stazione Termini, Rome’s main railway station where I had to return our rental car. I decided to check out the Stazione and look for a laundromat. We didn’t find one but what we discovered instead were hundreds of kababayan congregating in the Stazione’s shopping mall, exchanging gossip, selling each other videos and CDs from home, reading komiks and People’s Journal, and just plain rubbing shoulders with other kababayans to stave off their loneliness and homesickness. By the looks of it, the Stazione Termini should be rechristened "Tutuban on the Tiber!"
I have been to Rome many times and I enjoy every visit. But Rome is frayed at the edges and is looking increasingly tired. It can be quite chaotic, especially at the height of the tourist season. Getting around is difficult and one can tell that the city government is having a hard time delivering basic services. Rome’s most pressing problem, however, is how to balance the preservation of the past against the needs of the present.
Federico Fellini best sums up this dilemma in his movie Fellini’s Roma. In one episode of the movie, Fellini dwells on the construction of Rome’s subway system, which took an eternity to complete due to the frequent discovery of antiquities. Fellini and his crew investigate one such a discovery.
A large cavity has been discovered behind a section about to be blasted to make way for the subway’s railway tracks. Determined to see what lies beyond, the director of subway construction orders a hole drilled into the cavern wall. As the drill bores through the wall, it uncovers a perfectly-preserved Roman villa with murals, statues, bas-reliefs and fountains. Everyone clambers into the hole to inspect the villa. Its pristine murals depict Romans engaged in going about their daily lives but startled by this intrusion of the present upon the past. As the crew wander into the innermost recesses of the villa, polluted air from the outside rushes into the cavity and permeates everything in the villa causing its murals, statues and bas-reliefs to cake and crumble into dust.
Although the episode is pure allegory, this is what is actually happening – albeit in slow motion – to all monuments exposed to modern pollution. It makes you wonder what will be left for succeeding generations to enjoy.
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