O Solo Roma - Day Five - Piazza Navona and Trastevere (finally)

Piazza Cavour

I never did find Piazza Navona and the Bernini fountain the previous day. So I started out again today to try to find it one more time. Although it did not help me the previous day I once again studied my guide map before leaving the hotel. I realized there was a more direct and closer path to follow than my one of the previous day. So I left my hotel on Via del Gracchi and walked to Via Cicerone. This lead me directly to Piazza Cavour. I had missed this Piazza on my previous days of walking somehow. It was located right next to Castel Sant’Angelo so I do not know how I missed it. It’s a beautiful Piazza with a large bronze monument to Camillo Benso di Cavour.  

I saw a beautiful view of the River Tiber and the beautiful Pont Sant Angelo.  There is so much to just walking through Rome with or without a destination in mind.

And then finally I found Piazza Navona.   The streets I used on this day were a little more direct and made it a easier to find.    When I finally arrived I realized that I had just missed it the previous day. I had to have walked right past the side street that led to the Piazza.  The streets I used on this day were a little more direct and made it a easier to find and I realized it was a lot closer to my hotel than I had thought.

Neptune's Fountain 

I entered the Piazza from the north end.  Here I saw the first of three fountains in the square.  And much like my previous days experience at the Spanish Steps, the first fountain was closed for cleaning.  I saw an empty fountain with worker cleaning the sides of the fountain.    This is The Fountain of Neptune.  It was created in 1574 by Giacomo della Porta.  The statue of Neptune in the middle is the work of Antonio Della Bitta and was added much later in 1878.

The fountain on the south side of the Piazza is the Fontana del Moro or Fountain of the Moors.   The basin and four Tritons were sculpted by Giacomo della Porta (1575).  But right there in the middle is a Bernini.  I had been waiting for four days to see a Bernini.  Berini's statue of a Moor wrestling with a dolphin was added in 1673.  

Bernini's Moor -  Fontana del Moro

 Giacomo della Porta's Triton's

 The main attraction of Piazza Navona is the central and largest fountain, the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers). This is one of the Bernini masterpieces that I was looking forward to seeing.

Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers)

The fountain features four figures, each representing a river from a different continent - the Nile, Ganges, Danube and Rio de la Plata. The statues are at the base of a rock supporting an obelisk, originally located at the Circus of Maxentius, near the Appian Way.

The fountain was amazing.  To me Bernini is all about the details.  The facial expressions, the positions of the bodies, and the draping of the clothing all grab you attention.  Bernini's works all show motion.  They are never static.  And for me I could see the movement in my minds eye.    I just stood there for the longest time trying to take it all in.  This was one benefit of being alone on this trip.   I was able to take the time I needed to experience the moment without a thought of holding anyone else up from something they might want to do.

Sant'Agnese in Agone is the church in the center of the piazza.  Interesting enough is the fact that the church was designed by one of Bernini's main  rivals Borromini making both masters remain in competition throughout history for dominance in this square. 

It was time for a break.  After a morning  of beautiful squares and monuments I took some time to rest from the heat of the day.  I stopped at a little cafe in Piazza Novano that faced the fountains.   It was time for a bottle of water and a cool glass of white wine.

    I left Piazza Novana but stopped in a little restaurant on one of the small side streets just off the square. I had a wonderful lunch there with another glass of wine of course. I asked the waiter about directions to The Pantheon. He said it was very near and not difficult to find. Well I never did find it the previous day so I was not sure if I trusted his answer or not.

1.       I followed a sign for the Pantheon that had an arrow pointing down a small street.  With a couple of turns I luckily found myself in Piazza Sant’Eustacia.  It was just behind the next Piazza which was Piazza Rotunda where The Pantheon is located.  

The Pantheon

The Pantheon was amazing inside and out.  I returned two days later for more photos.  I'll be posting more about it on my day seven blog.

So where next?  This was turning into a long day of walking.

What is this behind me?  Did I finally find my way to Trastevere?

Small streets.

Interesting street cafes.

Invisible men?

Yes.  It must be Trastevere.   Mark will be so happy when I get back tonight and tell him I finally got to see Trastevere.

Mark had gone to Italy when he was eighteen after high school graduation.  His older sister went with him   She died very young right after Mark and I met so I never got to meet her.  They both fell in love with the Trastevere area when they were in Rome.  So it was very emotional and important to him for me to see it.  It was sad because he was not here with me the day I saw Trastevere so I took lots of pictures to text him when I got back to the room later in the evening.

My walk back to the hotel from Trastevere was very interesting.  The scenery along the river was beautiful.   I saw people sitting by the water front.

There was a tourist boat in the river.

And many bridges and churches which is what you would expect to see in Rome.

Later in the evening I had dinner in a really nice little restaurant near my hotel. And for the first time I did not have pasta or pizza for dinner.   I had one the best veal dishes I have ever tasted.

Well I found Piazza Cavona.  I saw some Bernini.   I visited The Pantheon.  And I reached Trastevere and thought of Mark's memories of his visit with his sister.   Each day of this holiday seemed to get better.  I could not wait to see what tomorrow had in store for me.

So did I take any photos with my selfie stick on this day?   Of course I did!

O Solo A Roma - Day Four - Misplacing the Elusive Piazza Novana

Basilica Di Sant Andrea Della Valle 

I've mentioned before I am not a great person with maps.  They can mislead me very easily.  I much prefer to just follow along behind someone while they use the map to navigate.  Then I can find some humor when the map misleads and frustrates them instead of me.   All I needed was a simple tourist map with  the tourist destinations singled out and enlarged so they are easy to locate.   Or I could have asked the attendant at the hotel for some guidance each morning.  But instead I had a very complex street map with lots of small print and tiny streets.  And each day I was determined to use this map all on my own and conquer my problems with  maps.  And each day I struggled.   

Searching for Bernini was my big plan for visiting Rome.  So far I had spent three days and not found any works of Bernini.   My plan for day four was to locate Piazza Novana and see the famous Bernini Fountain in the square and then cut over to see the Pantheon which would be very close.  With the help of my guide the night before I  studied the map.  I saw that I could walk from my hotel to Castel Sant'Angelo.   I knew this neighborhood so this should not be a problem.  From there I planned to cross the bridge behind the castle and walk over to Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.   It appeared this would  take me directly past Piazza Novana.  But I was wrong!  I saw some interesting churches and a few statues.  

 I saw a memorial to Marco Minghetti.

Marco Minghetti Memorial

I had no idea who Marco Minghetti was but the monument was interesting.  It would give me some research to one once I got home from the holiday.

I saw a man who looked tired and had taken off his shoe to rest  his foot.  I was going to ask if he also was trying to find Piazza Novana but then decided against it.   Why let someone else know I could not follow my map.

I continued to walk down Corso Vittorio Emanuele II I and saw Basilica Sant'Andrea della Valle.  It was not on any tourist maps.  It was not in my guide book.   It had no art by Bernini.  But it was beautiful inside and had some art work that made me question what I was seeing.

Basilica Di Sant Andrea Della Valle 

Statue of Child of Prague inside Basilica Di Sant Andrea Della Valle

Just to prove to anyone reading this.  I am not Catholic.  I have learned a lot about the Catholic church from Mark who is Catholic.  But I was alone.  He was not here to keep me  from making uneducated guesses about things I was seeing.  I saw an amazing painting.   At first I thought is was   the crucifixion was of Christ which amazed me because it was so unusual. It depicted a very large man instead of the Christ we usually see. It made me think a lot and question myself about the images we see of Christ and what he must have really looked like. I was amazed by this depiction. Later that evening when I returned to my hotel I researched to see who the artist was on this amazing portrait only to find out that it was not Jesus but St. Andrew. I still felt I had received an important spiritual message anyway and still felt my mental image of Christ left a lot to question.  And then I realized this was the Basilica Di Sant Andrea Della Valle so of course the portrait was of St. Andrew. 

Depiction of Saint Andrew inside the Basilica

1.       I stopped for some lunch and did some people watching.  I saw an older man wearing dress clothes and some expensive leather shoes with  no sox having an intimate lunch with an attractive young girl.  There is a story to be written about this photo some day.  

After lunch  I kept walking thinking Piazza Novana  had to be just down the next block. But I never found it and ended up back at Vittorio Emanuele II Monument where I had already been the previous day.   

I had planned on seeing the Colosseum on the next day.  But as long as I was already at the  Vittorio Emanuele Monument there was no reason not to walk behind it and explore the Colosseum now instead of waiting for another day.  Besides I would have to search for Piazza Novana tomorrow instead of seeing the Colosseum.  

I have seen hundreds of photos of the Colosseum but no photo does it justice.  Nothing prepares you for it's majesty.  

1.       I had walked a lot.  I never did find Piazza Novana.  So by the time I got back  to my room I was very tired.   I stopped at the grocery store near my hotel and bought myself a couple bottles of water, a Coca Cola and a large bottle of Peroni.  Luckily I had left a bottle opener in my travel bag from my last trip. So I popped the top of the Peroni and broke out the guide book trying to figure out just how I has missed the elusive Piazza Novana.     

I decided to walk down to St. Peter's Square for some night photos of the Cathedral. My hotel was very near The Vatican.   I asked the hotel clerk for a suggestion of a good restaurant near the church.  The hotel desk clerk recommended Ristorante Almafi which was just down the street for dinner. It was a perfect choice. 

I had a delicious bottle of Vermentino which is one of my favorite wines.  The brushcetta was probably the freshest I have ever eaten.   And I my daily dose of pasta for dinner.

When I finally returned to my hotel for the evening I was very tired.  It had been an eventful day.  And I had no regrets.  It was still a perfectly fascinating day, just not the day I had anticipated.  I took some time to text with Mark before sleeping to tell him about my day.  He laughed at my problems with the map and said he was sure he would have found Piazza Novana.  And then came the question.  Did you get to  Trastevere today?   No.  Once again I did not go there.  But I promised I would try tomorrow.