Troubles at a Roman Market

My first few months living in Italy, I experienced culture shock.  To me, that term means trying to understand how life works in a culture I was unfamiliar with and the struggles that resulted from misunderstanding. Back in the States, when I went to the grocery store, I could touch every and any piece of fruit I wanted.  As an amateur but still critical gourmand, I am quite particular about trying to match the correct food to my culinary needs.  For example, various recipes might have called for riper fruit, like if I were making a banana bread or my own fruit roll ups.  Others, I would have preferred firmer, slightly ripe fruit, like if I were to grill peaches.

Just because I'm in another country doesn't mean I should change my demanding preferences (too much). Right?

Artichokes at Roman Markets can be bought whole, or cut when in season.

Let's go back to my first month in Italy, an age of blissful ignorance. I shopped occasionally at the outdoor market, where it is common to see vendors grab the fruit for you. I simply told them what I needed and in what quantity and they bagged it, weighed it, and sent me on my way.

Mostly, though, largely due to my extremely small comfort zone and inability to speak many Italian words at the time, I went to the large grocery store.  There, I did what I normally do when I purchase produce: feel the product, inspect it, trust in the fruits and vegetables I'm about to buy, and put back the ones I know are not worthy of my coin. After a few minutes of touching and evaluating the firmness/crispness of the apple selection one warm September day, which by the way when eaten raw, the crispier an apple, the better in my humble opinion, the produce guy comes over to me and chastised me like I'm his child. I had no idea what he said to me during his blizzard of words and I am confident he could not communicate it well in English. So after I replied, "What?", he decided to use words his dog would understand.

"No. No! NO!" he said as he pretended to touch all the fruit.

Buddy, you should have rubbed my nose in it so I really would have understood.

Here's my tip for tourists: don't test the produce! Some places have hand shaped plastic bags that go around your hand so you can put back a piece if necessary.  Use those instead.  Or use them to put one small apricot in each finger and see how many weird looks you can get from the locals.

I delicately set the apple back in the pile after being scolded. Fine, I pouted to myself, then I won't buy ANY of your stupid apples. Wishing I had  fluency in Italian, I walked away thinking about what I would have responded with.  Most of it was highly inappropriate for all you wonderful readers, but once I cooled down, it got me thinking.

How do you prove to someone that you are experienced enough to touch fruit and not bruise it? Secondly, how would you do it if you couldn't speak their language?  If you have a solution, I'd like to hear it below.

Best Places in Rome for Craft Beer

There are a lot of places in Rome to buy yourself a bottle of birra artigianale. The grocery store, the wine store (called the enoteca), a handful of those late night liquor store types called alimentari, and quite a few restaurants stock the delicious brews.  But what about great quality craft beer straight from the tap?

Really, they can be found at a great many pub and restaurant in Rome. Plenty of places keep one, maybe two on draught.  But that's not what you want, is it?  You're looking for variety.  You want the pub that has more than a handful of different types of good beer.  You pine for artisanal beer, the kind of brew that is hand crafted by small teams and brewed in Italy.

Look no further and trust in Vasgo's beer knowledge. The four must-visit Rome locations for quality craft beer, most of them Italian and with more taps than most pubs and restaurants, are as follows:

1. Open Baladin

Neighborhood: Campo Dei Fiori

http://www.openbaladinroma.it/

When I first went to Open Baladin, I had no idea I was going the one night of the year that they had Autumn Beer Festival.  Angels looked down on me that evening and they said, "Vasgo, you've had a rough day. We'd like to reward you." The place is fairly large and the taps, well, let's just say, to the craft beer connoisseur, anything over 20 taps is epic. This should put it into perspective for you: Open Baladin in Rome employs the use of 43 taps.  They serve a lot of beer from Italy, and plenty more from the rest of the world.  I've never eaten here, but I hear the food is good but a little expensive for the value.

2. Ma Che Siete Venuti A Fa

Neighborhood: Trastevere

http://football-pub.com/ (I'll never know why they chose this as their domain name)

Unfortunately, I have no photo to share of my experiences here. I first heard about this hole in the wall pub during my tour of Belgium.  I was in Brussels at one of the best beer pubs in the city, Moeder Lambic. After careful evaluation of their 20+ beers on draught, I told the bartender I was from Rome and he asked me if I'd ever been to Ma Che Siete Venuti A Fa.  Once he learned I'd never heard of it, he insisted that I go.  The two pubs sometimes work in cahoots, bringing delicious beers from their respective countries to their various local festivals. 

Every time I enter the tiny pub, Ma Che Siete Venuti A Fa, I choose between six stools in the front section and a handful of tables in the back room. It's obviously not designed for large crowds.  It's ideal for beer lovers that want to order and step outside to watch the tourists pass by.  The bartenders are nice, their knowledge of the English language is usually good enough and their beer selection is great with 12+ taps. It's particularly a great spot to go because directly across the street and one store over is their competitor, my number three choice for excellent craft beer on tap, Bir & Fud. 

3. Bir & Fud

Neighborhood: Trastevere

No true website. Found at Via Benedetta, 23, Rome 00153

With about 15 taps on deck, Bir & Fud has a great selection, a small outdoor seating area in front and plenty of inside space for you and your pals to go once you've stood around at Ma Che Siete Venuti A Fa for 30 minutes.  It's been a while since I have been here, but the first time I was there, I wrote about it in better detail.  See my article Ode to Craft Brew for more information about that experience.

4. Eataly

Neighborhood: Ostiense (*Insider Tip*: You will get there fastest by walking through Ostiense train station, under the tracks to the other side.) 

http://www.roma.eataly.it/

If you know Eataly, the worldwide grocery chain offering regional Italian product, you'll know it's an amalgamation of part mall food court, part high-end grocery store and part learning center. In Rome, it's a multi-floor establishment with kitchen classes, art exhibits, restaurants, coffee bars, bakery, every department of a grocer, and the one surprising addition, an onsite microbrewery. If my memory serves right, they operate up to four batches at a time in those large stainless steel vats. In the pub section, they offer a selection of 8 craft beers on draught, at least a couple from their own brewery at any given time. Reader beware: Avoid the fried tortellini happy hour snack.  It sounds and looks good on the advertisement out front, but looks and tastes not so good in reality. Dried out, seemingly stale even after being deep fried, they are not worth the money, and unfortunately, they summarize the experience of all Eataly's fried food offerings.  Don't say I didn't warn you. 

But you're not at their pub for the food court-quality meals. You're there for the air conditioning, and the great selection of Italian craft brew.

Cheers!

Rainbow Magicland, Rome's Amusement Park

As a surprise to my Cultural Coordinator, the art historian in my life, I took my wife to a place as un-cultural as it gets: an amusement park.  I thought it would be a good change of pace.

The surprise was difficult to hide because how do you prepare someone for a day of roller coasters, stunt shows, rapid rides and men dressed up in sea horse costumes? My description was something along the lines of, "Make sure you wear sandals, but not your nice ones.  And dress up assuming you are going to be really sweaty ." That statement got the weird look that makes me instantly retract what I said.

"I mean to say, there's not a lot of tree coverage where we are going.  Dress like you are going hiking, but we aren't going hiking."

And then the series of lies begin to try and throw her off the scent.  There might be a waterfall, or a little stream, there might be a church, paintings, a museum.  I said anything I could to prepare her but still throw her off where our final destination would be.

In the end, I gave too many hints and when she joked asking if where we were going had a log flume, I lost it in laughter. She knew instantly that there was indeed a water ride.

Two, specifically. A rapids ride and a big boat plunging into water ride that creates a tidal wave. Both equally good at getting soaked on a hot summer day.

Le Rapide

Rainbow Magicland, the two year old amusement park 45 minutes by train from Rome.  The name for the park is incredibly elementary.  When I first heard of it, I instantly thought super happy kid land, particularly for little girls.  But then I went to the website and saw some of the rides they had to offer.

A big draw to spending a day here was knowing that all the rides were brand new.  Two years old for a ride is young! And that meant they likely used all the latest technologies to make smooth, fun and hopefully energetic rides out there. It also didn't hurt that they reduced the admission fee by what round-trip train tickets cost from Rome to Valmontone.

The park itself was fun.  Sure, it's small compared to some of the monster parks like Disney, but it makes getting to all the rides faster. The place is clearly armed for expansion with a wide open, shallow lake and plenty of empty corners.  The exterior detail put into each ride and the storefronts are truly impressive.  On one ride, I thought I was entering an M.C. Escher ride. it was particularly enjoyable.

Cagliostro

Their main thrill coaster was truly spectacular and worth going on several times.  Easily my favorite ride, Shock goes fast, gives air time, does a couple fantastic twists and completes a round in 22 seconds.

This was taken from one of those rides that go up way high and then let you free fall for a couple seconds... always a fun thrill ride and great for seeing the park in all its greatness.

And the stunt show really impressed us.

I could do that if I really wanted to. Oh wait, have to own a car first.

The men wearing sea horse costumes were a bit strange, but then again, you're in a Magicland described solely as Rainbow.

What type of Magicland is it? Rainbow.

It was also my first time trying a Wurstel pizza, a surprising combination which, even more surprising, is quite common on Roman pizza menus.

That's right.  Hot dog and french fry pizza. More delicious than you think.

All in all, for a ridiculous name, this amusement park was great fun. The Maison Houdini ride deserves special honors because it literally messed with my mental orientation. Many times, I could not figure out which way I was moving, if I was moving.  So entertaining. It was worth the long wait in line.

Bombo, Shock, Maison Houdini and Cagliostro were my favorite four rides. I know you'll love them too if you ever take a trip out to Valmontone, Italy.

Rome in August

I never really knew if I would believe it but living in Rome during August has taught me a valuable lesson: normal business stops.

Just another Sunday in August in Italy... bustling crowds, as usual.

This month is what the locals call Ferie, the time of year when most businesses shut down for up to 4 weeks! When I learned of the concept, it felt more like I was hearing about Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Great Pumpkin. Could this be real?

Yes, real as ravioli. The first week of August hit and when walking through the various neighborhoods of Rome, quite a few small businesses had their doors shut with a white sheet of printer paper taped to the front. Printed on every one were the words, in Italian, "Closed for Ferie until September."

The second week, Rome truly became a ghost town.  August 15th is a national holiday called Ferragosto. Though I won't go into details as to what the holiday is all about, I can safely tell you that this is when every Italian owned business closes.  What makes sense, though, is that most families ended up using the week instead of just the day to escape Rome's heat. I have never seen the city so empty.  I have never gotten across town via bus so quickly. Benefit? Found.

The difficulty for people who are visiting, though is that they want to see the sites, and only the major, most popular ones stay open for this time period.  Heard about that small church or museum your friend told you was one of the coolest things she stumbled on? I give you a 25% chance you'll get in, even if their hours say they are open.  Too often, if they are Italian staffed, that means they won't have the staff necessary to stay open during that week.

The third week of August, I am finding the businesses still closed, but a noticeable difference, Italians are coming out of the word work, so to speak. They must be coming back from their vacations because the streets are starting to fill up again the way "Good Ole Rome" used to be.

I can only assume next week, the last week of August, will be when everyone arrives back at home.  They will be officially back, recharged and ready to do the daily grind all over again, or at least for the next 11 months.

Campari and Aperol, the IPAs of Italian liqueurs

Two very Italian beverages are seen consumed every evening between the hours of 4:00pm and 8:00pm.  They are traditionally served on the rocks, with a splash of soda, or as a Spritz, meaning Prosecco is added, Italy's celebrated sparkling white wine.

Campari Soda, always with a wedge of citrus.  In Venice, they serve it with an olive.

Why are Campari and Aperol the IPAs of Italian liqueur? Because they are oh so bitter, just like an India Pale Ale beer.  I wish it were known how many IBUs are in each aperitif (IBU is a beer brewing acronym for International Bitterness Units) because I am confident they are up there.

They are two very similar beverages.  Both are bittersweet. Both taste surprisingly like the other. Both of their recipes use the juice of the chinotto, a citrus fruit resembling an orange typically grown in the southern half of Italy and known to be bitter or sour. Though their recipes are closely held secrets, they likely use a lot of the same herbs and spices during its production. They have two main differences, though.

• Campari has 22% alcohol.
• Aperol has 11% alcohol.

• Campari is cherry red colored.
• Aperol is candy orange colored.

Everything else is similar about them. If you are a fan of bitter beverages, give Campari or Aperol a try.  It's a VASGO favorite.

Opening Times for Everything in Rome

We all know there's a ton to see and do in the city of Rome.  The problem is, we usually have no idea when things are open.  As the new tourist of the Eternal City will find out, things close when you least expect or want them to. That special church your friend told you about, the one with the amazing mosaic preserved perfectly from 700 years ago was on the bottom half of your must-see list.

We all have those "I'll get to it if I can" locations, but inevitably, getting to them never happens.  It's because you aren't sure if they will be open, the easiest excuse in the book, so you decide to simply sit at an expensive outdoor table in Piazza Navona watching the tourists pass through the art stands as you sip your bright red Campari and Soda, orange slice floating happily between all three ice cubes.

The drink is worth it.  So is cultural engagement.

http://www.060608.it/en is probably the best resource I have ever used for my cultural wellness in Rome (besides my art historian wife). First and foremost, it comes in ENGLISH! Coming from someone who surfs the Italian web daily, I can't begin to explain how nice it is to see a site that says it also is in English, and then actually is in English.  It's like the companies forgot they put a link on their pages offering their translation.  

060608 is almost always the first place I go for opening and closing times of Rome's historical sites, churches and museums. They also give tips on transportation, food and beverage, other services, and events and shows in the city.  Visitors of Rome will love the site.  Residents of Rome will find it to be their second best friend.  The only issue I have found is their search engine finds the links easier when you know the name  in Italian.

For example, I typed in St Peter Basilica and after 30 results, it still hasn't shown the correct link for the hours and information.

Then I typed in San Pietro Basilica. The link was the fifth one down, Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano.

Just remember: the site is helpful, but prepare for user error.

Discovering Etruscan Tombs

The past couple weekends, a chain of cities in Lazio, the region where Rome resides, held their wine festivals.  Thinking I would enjoy this, my  expert historian convinced me we would have a great time in the city called Tarquinia.  The plan was to first do the thing that most drew her interest: visit the Etruscan Tombs that have survived these past 2700 years since the people began the hillside burial practice.  After that, we would enjoy the wine festival then catch the train home (about an hour and 10 minutes out of Rome).

Notice the mounds, under those are the underground tombs.

The train station was small and instantly, we knew we were in a small city, thankful we bought the return tickets home at the same time as the ones to get there. We were lucky to catch the bus waiting all of two minutes from the moment we got off the train, which happened to arrive 52 minutes later than normal due to unknown circumstances.  If we had missed that bus, according to their schedule, we would have had to wait another 40 minutes for the next one to come around.  After all, Sundays are generally reduced transit days in Italy.  So by everything working out with the quick timing, we knew things were beginning to go our way.

Ten minutes later, we arrived at the bus stop for Tarquinia.  We walked up the main street and it felt like a town from the wild west.  All the stores were shut up, no people were in sight.  I'm surprised tumbleweed didn't blow past us. My initial thoughts were, Wow, this must be a great wine festival if the whole town closed to go to it. But then we arrived at the center of the small town where the festival was held. All the booths were vacated.  

Ghost Town

We figured we should go get some food at that point, curious when the event was going to start and after finding only two restaurants open, we got a bad feeling in our guts that things just wouldn't go our way that day. Near the place, we saw a poster for the advertised wine festival.  How lovely!  It starts at 8:00pm every night, five hours away.  Could we really wait that long when nothing was open?

As a tip for tourists, in these small cities around Rome, there are festivals often. Back in November, I wanted to attend an olive oil festival in some city outside of Rome, but I faced the same issue.  The problem was, they seem to cater to people who live in the town or have a car, because there are usually no trains or buses, or very few for that matter, which leave the city after 8:30pm.  Relying on public transportation has its limitations, and this past Sunday, we felt them. 

The answer was no, we really could not wait that long when nothing was open.  We wanted to be able to catch a train home.

The pasta lunch was just ok, although the secondo plate of the day, swordfish carpaccio, was refreshing and delicious.  After, we braved the hot weather and walked to the tombs, easy to find on foot in such a small city. At the necropolis, at least, the day got better, because it is nice to be around history so ancient.  The Etruscans, a PRE-Roman culture, mind you, are from around 700 BC.

But they left some fantastic pieces of art, including paintings, ceramics, tools and tombs dug into the hillside. The necropolis of the Etruscans in Tarquinia starts in the hills and goes what looks a few miles down to the sea, one of the largest "cemeteries" I have ever seen.

Terra cotta roofing covers the stairways made so visitors can see the tombs underground.

To see the art and tools of the culture, Villa Giulia in northern Rome has a great Etruscan Museum. Once upon a time I blogged about the villa here, and I'd like to note the post I linked was not one of my finer writing styles after just reading it again.  But hey, experimentation can be fun. The museum part of it is very interesting to see what ancient humans used without modern advancement. But for their tombs, which are equally interesting, and for a nice train trip outside of Rome along the beach of the Tyrrhenian Sea, it's worth going to Tarquinia.  

Historians wish they could go in the rooms and not just view through glass doors.

Just don't go there on a Sunday.

Close to Olympic Greatness

The gold medal for the Olympic 10 Meter Dive goes to.... justVASGO!!!

Yesterday, I enjoyed a different night out.  Every person needs a change of scenery and cuisine and last night was the time for me. I went to an Irish pub in Rome called Scholars Lounge.  It's actually a great spot because they have superb seating for games of every sport and too many TVs to choose from.  While I enjoyed a couple pints of Murphy's Irish Red and the cities best nachos (I'm pretty sure they are the only ones in all of Rome who actually use REAL cheddar cheese and ACTUAL pickled jalapeno slices), I watched a few hours of the Olympics on Italian channels, Irish channels, British channels and one that was in Arabic, but I couldn't read which nation that was from. Like I said, LOTS of TVs.

Thank you, satellite television, for your world connections.

The coverage went from indoor volleyball to beach volleyball, table tennis to a much larger version of that game, water polo, women's soccer, gymnastics, handball and more.  Then the female high dive event came on.  Pairs performed amazing flips and twists and I fondly evaluated their difficulty as critically as any professional judge.  People nearby looked strangely at me as I confidently told no one and everyone how they were certainly going to get less points because their splashes were too large.

Photo Source

With acrobatic high dive moves stuck in my head, I headed home for the night with my expert (not an expert of Olympics). We arrived there, opened the door and I found my own 10 meter pool in my kitchen and bathroom.  A lovely discovery.

In Italy, many bathrooms use their space wisely, putting tanks way above the toilets for more room, or perhaps for better flush power. I'm not a toilet expert, unfortunately, so I can't be certain why.  Sometimes tanks are behind the tile bathroom walls with a single, small access point if a repair needs to be done. Mine is like the first example, a tank high above.  So high, in fact, that it is located in the storage cabinet above the bathroom ceiling, which extends over the kitchen area.

We immediately scrambled to find the water source, stepping through the puddle (not actually 10 meters deep) looking under the sink, toilet, bidet and of course not finding the nozzle while the room became a Better Homes and Garden approved water feature. Running outside to the laundry machine, I looked there and everywhere else and the piping I found didn't seem to be the right one. So what did we do? Grabbed all of our soaking stored goods such as luggage, extra rugs from the owners, etc, pulled them out and triple-back-flip tossed my gymnast of an expert up there. She managed to turn off the tank's water source.

The sound of drips replaced the constant filling of the tank.  Turns out when I went to the restroom right before leaving for the pub, the flush caused something to stick and it never stopped itself.

I inspected the damage. Water still dripped through light sources, the bathroom fan, sides of the walls and spots I never knew were gaps. Coats of paint bubbled out in certain areas.

The rest of the night was really the Olympic weightlifting competition, as the soaking objects, including the two random pieces of drywall (2' x 8') up there, became tremendously heavier due to absorption.  Breaking them down and being showered with chunks of the stuff wasn't the most enjoyable experience. Indeed, a different kind of shower was in order after that.  Hopefully with a couple days of drying time, we will be able to put most of the gear back above.

The good news?  The owners should be thrilled that their storage cabinets are much cleaner than when I moved here. Me? At least I worked off those calories from the beer and nachos.