Street Art & Graffiti in Rome

Rome is covered in street art and graffiti; just wander down any side street and you're sure to find something that will catch your eye. This is helped by a tradition amongst teenagers of scrawling messages of the heart across Rome's walls and buildings. Additionally, many shops here decorate their store shutters with a depiction of their particular services.

Here's some street art and graffiti I've found dotted around Rome that's made want to stop and take a picture:

Piazza Bologna

Monti

Trastevere

Trastevere

Orvieto

San Lorenzo

Monti

Via di Ripetta

Via di Ripetta

Piazza Bologna

San Lorenzo

Piazza Bologna

Piazza Bologna

Piazza Bologna

Piazza Bologna

Piazza Bologna

Piazza Bologna

Cornelia

Trastevere

Tiburtina

Giardini Romani

As beautiful as the city of Rome is, sometimes you want to get away from the chaotic traffic and hundreds of tour guides that clog up the city streets, and escape to some greenery. Luckily, you don't have to go far from Rome to find a little haven of countryside. In fact, you don't have to leave the city walls at all. Rome is home to a number of gorgeous parks and public gardens, where you can escape the city entirely in minutes.

Orto Botanico (Botanical Gardens)

I'm writing about these first because they are probably the least well-known of Rome's public gardens, but are arguably one of the best. The gardens span 12 hectares on the Gianicolo Hill, and have been in Rome since 1883. The grounds are divided into smaller gardens which include a Japanese garden, a tropical greenhouse, a Mediterranean forest, a medicinal garden, and wonderful bamboo forest.

At eight euros to enter they aren't cheap, but they are definitely worth visiting. Most tourists don't know about them, so if you're lucky you may have the whole garden almost to yourself. The gardens also offer a wonderful panoramic view of the city, and couldn't be in a better location. They are situated right at the entrance to Trastevere, so are in a perfect spot to go for an aperitivo or caffe afterwards.

Giardino degli Aranci (Orange Gardens), Aventino

The Aventine hill is most famous for the 'aventine keyhole', in the piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta. Here there is an unassuming green door, which when peered through via the keyhole gives you a breathtaking view of the dome of San Pietro, perfectly framed by a row of arching trees. However, there is something else to be found up here which is not so well-known; a beautiful garden of orange trees.

I should probably say at this point that the oranges are not for picking, something that Emma and I didn't realise until we had already helped ourselves to a handful. Feeling slightly ashamed of ourselves, we escaped from the garden with  our booty, only to quickly discover that the oranges are also definitely not for eating. It was like biting straight into a lemon. They were impossible to eat without first adding copious amounts of sugar, (which we later did to make a lovely Aventine Orange Cake - see Emma's blog for more info and pictures here: https://emmalaw.wordpress.com).


Villa Borghese

The Villa Borghese is so close to my new home that it feels like part of my back garden. However it is actually a gorgeous heart-shaped public park, situated right in the heart of Rome, and accessible from both Piazza del Popolo and Piazza di Spagna, as well as many other central places.

This oasis of greenery includes a zoo, a globe theatre to rival London's, two cinemas, a horse racing track, a dog friendly area where your pets can run free, a 'quiet area' for things like tai chi and meditating (very embarrassing for me when our dog Lilla didn't quite stick to her designated area, running straight into a full on yoga session), as well as, of course, the famous Borghese Galleria. The Villa Borghese was originally the grounds of the wealthy Borghese family, and the gallery here, housed in their old residence, is home to a stunning collection of art and sculptures that deserve a post in their own right. Suffice to say that it is a must-visit for any art history aficionados, and is so exclusive and sought after by visitors to Rome that appointments must be made in advance to see it.

Children's Cinema

Bici Pincio

The Villa Borghese was the first place I visited with my host family, on the morning I woke up in Rome ready to start my new adventure here. It has become like a part of my home during my time here, and for that reason it is my number one Giardini Romani; swathes of greenery, free to come and go as you please, stunning views of the city, and home to one of the most impressive art collections in the world, what more could you want from your local park?

There are many other gardens in Rome that I haven't mentioned here, and some that I have yet to visit myself. Among others, Rome is home to Villa Ada (Villa Borghese's northern sibling), Villa Doria-Pamphili, Rome's Japanese Gardens, Circo Massimo, and probably a lot of others that I don't even know about yet. So if you ever feel the need to get away to some greenery during your stay in Rome, hopefully this will point you in the right direction.

Pasta a Mano

It's no secret that the Italians are obsessed with their food. Last week my language school took this to another level, and dedicated a whole morning's lessons to those two champions of Italian cuisine: pizza and pasta.

So it is that I can now proudly present, my very own home-made pasta recipe:

The only ingredients you need are flour, eggs, and time (at least an hour, more if you want to make fancier shapes).  

Measure out 100g of flour for every egg, (100g is enough for 1-2 people).

Put your flour in a pile on the table and make a little well in the top

Crack open your eggs into the little well. Don't worry if it spills over the edge like mine, just keep as much of it together as you can.

Mix the flour and eggs together. Start by folding the flour nearest the edge of the well on to the egg (this is the messy bit), keep going until you have a nice ball of dough that looks something like this:

Now you need to knead the dough, (this develops the gluten, which gives the pasta its strong consistency and delicious taste). If the dough starts to get a bit dry just add a few drops of water.

Once you've finished kneading, your ball of dough should have a nice smooth and springy consistency. Wrap it in cling film and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Then you need a good rolling pin and a lot of elbow grease to roll the dough as flat as you can, preferably until it's only a few millimetres thick

Once you've done this, you can decide what kind of pasta you want to make. Biscuit cutters can be put to good use here.

I loved my star shaped (stelline) pasta, but if you're pressed for time something like linguine is a quicker option. You can make it by rolling up the pasta and then slicing it, as shown by the lovely Emma below:

Once you have successfully made your pasta shapes, pop them in some boiling water with a pinch of salt and leave to cook for 2-3 minutes. Make whatever sauce you fancy (we went for tomato with funghi and parmigiano). Once the pasta is ready, mix with your sauce, tuck in and enjoy!

Buon Apetito!

Buon Natale!

The lights are up on Via del Corso, the market is in Piazza Navona, and I've spotted a lot of Santa cyclists, rollerskaters and buskers all around the city in the last few days. You can't shop anywhere without walking into mountains of panettone, we have a lovely big tree up in our house, and outside the Vatican there is even a life-size representation of the nativity scene. Christmas has come to Rome.

However, despite all of these festive changes, I have to reluctantly admit that Rome just can't do Christmas quite like London. In the UK the run up to Christmas tends to start somewhere around mid-October, which come December is so tiresome that most of us are secretly begging for the whole thing to be over with. Yet in my first run up to Christmas away from home, I am actually finding myself daydreaming of mince pies, mulled wine, frosty pavements, blinding Christmas decorations and of course the relentless sound of Christmas songs on the radio. It is the 22nd of December and I haven't even managed to find a mince pie in this city, I've barely heard a peep of Mariah Carey or The Pogues, let alone glimpsed a bit of Love Actually or Elf on the telly. Yes, despite my love for Italy I miss old-fashioned English Christmas, which is why I'm flying home tomorrow night to have a proper celebration of this wonderful season in gluttonous, OTT, freezing, festive England. 

Buon Natale a Tutti!

Ancora ti amo Roma, even if you haven't quite got the hang of Christmas