Venice: A Labyrinth for Romantics

Only a few cities in the world come close to matching the mystical beauty of Venice, Italy. It is an island where vehicles are prohibited on land, while boats traverse the crossword puzzle of murky green canals through the labyrinth of buildings. Buses are large boats.  Taxis are water taxis. Romantics may hire a gondola for a hand-pushed ride in those long and skinny Venetian boats, best for small parties.

 Above sea level, walking by foot is the only other choice. Here, no bicycles are found, no motorized scooters or tiny Smart cars are allowed.  Here, the island is a life away from the rest of the world.  A sort of paradise for romantics.  In the winter months, Venice is a cold and not so pleasant place.  Being located on the sea seems to chill even the warmest bones no matter how many layers of clothing. The benefit of going that time of year is the number of tourists drastically decrease.  Off season numbers are fantastic, including off season pricing for hotels and as airfare. 

 But in spring, autumn, and summer in particular, Venice may be crowded, but it has a magic to it.  The flowers are in full bloom delighting the nose and the eyes. The evening temperatures are comfortable, where nights show people wearing perfectly appropriate shorts, shirts or light dresses.  The charm of the city is discovered through evening strolls in the largest public square, Piazza di San Marco.  There, centuries ago, visitors arrived at their docks to a large palace, called the Doge Palace, and a beautiful basilica, the Basilica of San Marco.  Today, people stand in awe at the immaculately detailed and wonderfully preserved mosaic and sculpture-filled facades of the religious institution. Truly, it is a jewel not to be missed both at day time and night.

 In the very same piazza, at least one live band plays easy listening instrumental-only hits. One band prefers to showcase their accordionist. Another, more of a jazz ensemble, highlights their talent through the liquid yet playful clarinet. Every one of them has a pianist and drummer.  Behind the band is the entrance to the restaurant sponsoring the musical group.  In front of them are seventy tables for two, tempting passers-by to sit down and enjoy just a few more pieces over a refreshing Bellini  the peach and prosecco concoction originating from Venice. Falling in love with everything has never been so easy.

 At Carnevale, the annual festival right before Lent, people wear masks and have done so for hundreds of years. Because of this age-old tradition, they are sold, it seems, in every other store on the island.  From the bright and colorful to the blank, unpainted varieties, masks of every odd mold and design are uniquely Venetian.

 Murano is nearby Venice, an easy boat ride to an island of artisans.  Their handmade glass is unique and known worldwide, considered very good quality. Art-lovers are lucky.  They don’t have to go to Italy just to get the beautiful products.  They can find Murano glass nearly everywhere, as vendors understand the demand for hand-crafted excellence.

Beautiful glass, odd shaped masks, canals, labyrinths and charm. Venice is easily one of the cities that make Italy so great. Have you ever been there?  What did you like best about Venice?

The Pope's Escape Path

In case there are any plunderers wandering about Rome, you should heed these warnings: Skip the Pope.

Long ago, when times were much less safe, a strategic Pope decided it would be smart of him to have a backup plan in the event his city fell or someone wanted to kill him.  So he commissioned builders to create a secret path that would lead him from the Vatican to his private apartments in the nearby Mausoleum of Hadrian, also known as the Castel Sant'Angelo.

The important question was how should he get there?

Underground sewers? Too dirty.
Horseback? Too visible.
The options weren't, as they say, a-plenty. (This verbiage makes me sound like a cowboy from the mid-1800s.) After all, resources were limited in the mid-1200s, a wee 800 years ago.

The answer was quite simple, really: build above ground.

So his men used the existing wall that protected the city and built on top of that. They made it stretch the full 800 or so meters, about half a mile all the way to the castle.  And thus, the Passetto di Borgo was born. From what I understand, it came in handy, as it was used a handful of times to save the life of the Pope.

Now granted, I am no scholar of history and my version of how it came to be may be a little different than the exact truth.  But what I can tell you honestly is that YOU too can walk this historical, life saving passage, just like I did.

A View of the Dome of Saint Peter's Basilica from the Passetto di Borgo.

Castel Sant'Angelo opens most of the passageway only one time a year.  For a few weeks in late July / early August, and only at night, they allow visitors to access and walk a surprising amount on the Pope's escape path.  For the cost of the entrance fee, it's worth it to first tour the castle and see some of the rooms that aren't usually open to the public, such as the rarely viewed Pope's bathroom, fancier and full of more frescoes than any bathroom I have ever experienced. Then a lovely concert among the catapults.

A concert in the Castel Sant'Angelo.

And some great views from up top.

A view of Saint Peter's Basilica from the top of Castel Sant'Angelo.

Few things in Rome are as romantic as this. At night and including a concert, this attraction is one of a kind already. But adding a jaunt on the Passetto di Borgo? Well that might just steal your heart. Consider yourself plundered.

Front view of the Castel Sant'Angelo.

The Best Illusion In Rome

Remember the haunted mansion at Disney’s theme parks? In the late 80’s, I thought it was one of the greatest things while sitting in their high-backed chairs rotating every which way to delightfully frighten me passed floating candles, roaming ghosts and talking paintings. My favorite part was the illusion where the chairs arranged themselves side by side, the back of that chair in front of you no longer visible. You notice a set of 3 or 5 mirrors fixed on the wall as you steadily approach them.  Once there, you look directly in the mirror to see yourself and sitting right next to you is your new friend with his evil grin, a ghastly translucent ghoul.

In Rome, illusions like that are harder to come by.  There’s a newly opened theme park called Magicland.  Indeed, it sounds magical but unfortunately I have not made it out there to review it. Haunted houses didn’t seem to be easily found during Halloween the way they are rather abundant in the United States, so that option is out too.  What are you left with?

The miracle of natural illusions.

Nothing is more fascinating than a natural illusion.  It’s stupefying. It’s thought-inducing. It’s hard to imagine that something so real is actually real!

And I have found it for you.  Best of all, it’s one of Rome’s Free Things To Do and it answers this age-old riddle!

What gets larger as you walk away from it, and gets smaller as you walk closer to it?

When in Rome, go to the Aventine Hill to find it.  Right in between Circo Massimo (Circus Maximus) and the Tiber River, this ancient hill is populated with churches, residences, business offices and embassies. It’s a gorgeous area just to walk through for picture reasons. There’s a fantastic location I might post about which allows you to see through three different countries at the same time without special ocular equipment. And then there is the Best Illusion in Rome.

Connected to the church of S. Sabina (Santa Sabina) is a plot of land transformed into the most romantic of parks.  Orange trees dot the majority of the green space, their lines quite clear where orange pickers couldn’t reach any higher. A large white-pebble walkway covers the majority of the area with benches placed strategically for people-watching. The skyscraping umbrella pines shade most of the area, an occasional ray of sunlight bursts through making the pebble blindingly white. 

And then you get to the platform where you look over the wall’s edge.  You are high above the Tiber River. This is a unique view of the city. Directly in your vision is St. Peter’s Basilica.  It is far away, very far.  The mass of buildings and trees in between you and the famous Vatican City location make it appear tiny.  And that’s expected considering how far you are from it.

Then you leave.  You walk down the steps, walking straight down that white pebble path to the wall separating the park and the street. Before you leave, you turn around to catch one last glimpse and there it is.

St. Peter’s Basilica is the only thing you can see now, and it seems as if it magically doubled in size.

How the brain perceives images is beyond my VASGOness but I know when something is special and when it’s not.  This, my friends, is something worth seeing for yourself. The camera alone does not do it justice.

Visit the park connected to the church called S. Sabina (Santa Sabina) on the Aventine Hill for the best natural illusion Rome has to offer! 

Pimpin' Ain't Easy, Especially in Rome

On a lovely fall night in a neighborhood bordering central Rome, my wife and I waited after our choir rehearsal for the tram to pick us up and bring us back to Termini Station. The air was brisk but not too cold. The stars were shining bright, not a cloud in the sky. Love was truly in the air.

Romantic Rome at its finest.

Completely across the tram tracks and on the far side of the busy 3-lane street next to it, we saw a young lady likely to be in her 20's dancing on the corner for drivers to notice. Why was she dancing? That caught my attention first. Next, I noticed that this wasn't the right weather to be wearing a skirt and a surprisingly low-cut top. Wasn't she cold? What also made no sense is that if she is waiting for the bus, she's awfully far away from it. The bus stop closest to her was a good 30 feet away.

And then it all made sense.

A car almost drove passed her location on the busy street and in the middle of the dance, she grabbed the base of her short skirt and with a flick of the wrists, purposely showed more. My wife and I happily saw nothing due to our distance and angle, but I think it's worth noting her technique of drawing people in. Was she dancing to stay warm or was there something else to it?

Alas, I did not interview her to officially find out.

Though the street-side show was not only entertaining but rather informative about the legalities of prostitution, I went to my collection of English-speaking native Italians to find out the truth behind the age-old profession in Rome.

I was surprised that the first person I asked told me prostitution is legal here.  However, the management of said-prostitute, is illegal. That means, as the bold (and easily distasteful for most listeners out there) 1989 lyrics go from Big Daddy Kane, "Pimpin' Ain't Easy". And apparently it's not easy in Rome.

Upon asking my other friends, one was trying to explain what she thought about the intricacies of the law. She led me to believe there's jargon stated in the law that virtually eliminates prostitution as a legal action. Perhaps she's right.  But then again, it's not at all what the first person I asked told me. It's hard to tell what is actually the final legal limitation on the subject, but all I know is I have seen those ladies on the sidewalks and occasionally a car stops.  Think the driver is just asking for directions?

The professionals I'm speaking of aren't everywhere so those concerned about this knowledge visiting with children won't need to shield any immature eyes. The times I've seen them, it's at least 10:00pm.  And they aren't so scantily clad that it makes you feel like you are walking through Amsterdam's Red Light District, where little is left to the imagination. They are on heavily traveled streets OUTSIDE of touristy Rome, making it a hard-pressed activity for a tourist to see one.

So no worries. Just thought you'd like to know. It's a part of Italian culture and it's what makes the country's identity unique.

Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

How do you know it's fall in Italy?

The roasted chestnut vendors are in full effect!

Every December I grew up hearing those oh so important words in Nat King Cole's, The Christmas Song.  The first sentence in the song, "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire," always left an image in my head.

Like I said, hearing that first sentence of the song left an image in my head.  But I never really gave much thought to them as a culinary delight because in the U.S. there really aren't many roasted chestnut vendors on the street corners where I've lived each Christmas.  Even though I had never seen them in person, I was left with this impression that roasted chestnuts mean cool weather.  They mean happy times.  They mean Christmas is near.  

If you've never had a roasted chestnut, try it.  They are slightly sweet, slightly smoky, nutty, warm and have a texture that reminds me of sweet potatoes.  Kind of gritty, kind of mash-y.  

They are perfect for a stroll with a loved one through an Italian piazza on a cold evening.  Arm in arm, bundled in coats and scarves and still keeping close, feeding on each other's warmth.  There's something magical about walking through a piazza artistically lit up at night by its fountains and restaurants.  The sounds of water splashing on 400-year-old marble, high heels on the cobblestone, waiters politely trying to draw you into their restaurant by saying "Buona Sera," good evening.  They all play their part.  Then enter roasty, toasty chestnuts into the equation.  Well that, my friends, THAT is what we in the writing biz call romance.  And it is completely, totally VASGO-worthy.

This was all found at Piazza Navona.  A must-see to any person visiting Rome, especially in the evening.  

Now take a look at the guy below.  He's got an intelligent business plan.  This photo is of his roasted chestnut stand in October.  Just before the cool fall weather really hit, he used the small drum, and used fewer chestnuts, fewer materials, etc. because his demand wasn't that high.  Notice the vendor is wearing short sleeves?  That is your proof the next two photos were taken in October.  Early October.  I think he was the only vendor in Piazza Navona during that time of year.

I went to him a few weekends ago. I walked up to his stand, looked over the chestnuts to see if they passed the visual inspection.  They did.  So I asked, how much are they? "Quanto costano?"

His answer: "5 Euro."

All the romance left my brain and VASGO's alter ego from the past, Corporate America Sales Guy, made a brief appearance.

My answer: "Troppo caro!"  Too expensive!  I did the one move every sales person has at his/her disposal to get the other party to counter with a lower price.  It also pressures people to make their decision faster.  

The Patent-Pending Walkaway Move. It can be done in many forms.  Verbally is most common.  A great example is "I didn't really want them anyway.  Especially not at that price."  Physically beginning to walk away is particularly effective.  But not too fast.  You need to let them know they can still get you... but only for a discount. Combinations of the two are highly effective.

Since I had a language barrier, I didn't go with just the verbal routine.  Physical interaction would have to do the talking.  Let the show begin!

My face said I was pensive. Should I spend that much???  Then it went into concern.  My hands followed that by waving no thanks.  Again, I repeated the important words troppo caro, too expensive, a couple of times and then slowly inched my way away from the stand. 

One foot stepped away and I heard, "4 Euro."

Another foot stepped away and I heard, "3 Euro."

And that's when I felt like I would be getting a fair enough deal.  I turned my head back to him.  "Tre Euro?" I replied. 

"3 Euro," he confirmed.  

Not exactly the most romantic thing in my book, but saving 2 Euro might mean I can do a different romantic thing with my expert another day.  Like eating more chestnuts.

The last weekend in November, things changed a bit.  

A Christmas market opened up.  Crowds filled the piazza. There were many more vendors there and at many nearby intersections.  They each used much larger drums to roast the chestnuts over coals.  The colder weather brought on so much more demand for their roasty, toasty product.  That higher demand also made it much more difficult to bargain.  I watched one person ask how much it cost and the vendor said 5 Euro.  The guy started to walk away and I expected the vendor to go through my experience, but he just let him walk away.  I guess the vendor knew he had the upper hand.

Even for 5 Euro at their peak demand, I believe it is still worth it to experience Romantic Rome the way I did. It's a cheap thing to do in Rome and will create memories you'll never forget!