Artist Rachele Del Nevo

On Friday we came across Rachele Del Nevo, an artist who draws on cardboard from recycled cartons. Her drawings have a Roman flavour and she uses the designs/printing on the cardboard to influence her work.  Some are thought provoking. I really love her drawings  and we've bought a few. I'd love a wall full of them.

Rachele takes her work with her on her bike. She has a blog :
http://drawingbike.wordpress.com

Rachele De Nevo and a recently sold drawing of the Fontana di Trevi -if only it could have fitted in one of our suitcases :(

 Make sure that you check out her blog which has some examples of her work. If you are in Rome you can see Rachele with her bike and some of her current work at the Tazza d'Oro end of Piazza della Rotonda - home of the Pantheon. As well as larger pieces, she has some smaller ones which are perfect for gifts for friends as souvenirs of Rome. Much better than the mountain of plastic souvenirs in shops all around the Pantheon.

Ciao da Roma

 We have beautiful autumn days in Rome which are absolutely perfect for wandering around - sunny days and crisp cool/cold nights. We have done a bit of shopping and lots of walking.
Yesterday we walked up to Gianicolo and took lots of photos,

 Glimpses of the city through the trees

 Views across the centro storico of Rome

 St Peter's Basillica

 We also went to see the Tempietto di Bramante which I've wanted to see for ages.  The Tempietto is in the courtyard between the Chiesa di San Pietro in Montorio  and the Spanish embassy.  The chiesa was supposedly built on the site where Saint Peter was crucified but unfortunately it was closed, luckily the Tempietto was open.

Bramante's tempietto is considered to be one of the great buildings of the world

 On the way back down from Gianicolo Rob had the best arancini that he has ever had from a tiny Sicillian shop in Via Garibaldi in Trastevere. We'll be going back so I'll post the address then.  It is about a 4km walk from our hotel, but it is worth it :)

We had to stop in to Santa Maria in Trastevere whilst we were close by.  I love this church.

There was a strike/ union rally for call centre workers in Piazza del Popolo last night.  The various divisions of police with their anti-riot gear and massive vans  nearly outnumbered the protesters. From what I understood, regional call center workers are likely to lose their jobs and it seems as though there will be a centralization and outsourcing of services. There were representatives from Sardegna, Milano, Calabria, Sicilia and other places not mentioned by the MC.  The manifestazione was called La Notte Bianca and it looked as though it was going to be a 24 hour demonstration.

There were some good bands playing and we stayed for a while but left after an hour or so when it looked like the speeches were going to be lasting for ages.

Piazza Del Fico, Rome

 A left leaning water fountain

 Gaffer tape fixes everything :)

The concierge at the hotel told us about a great little restaurant in Piazza del Fico near Piazza Navona called Da Francesco. They specialise in Roman food it was very good - we went twice :)

 Piazza del Fico with two groups of men playing chess

 The guys were very intent on their game and there were encouraging spectators

Scuderie del Quirinale: views of the rooftops of Rome

There is a fantastic exhibition about Augustus,  the founder of the Roman Empire, at the Scuderie del Quirinale which marks  2000 years since his death.   Taking photos was prohibited, which was a good because there were a lot of people and it meant that everyone just concentrated on looking at the exhibition rather than trying to get the best shot.
The walls along the stairway out of the Scuderie were glass and there were great views across the rooftops of Rome.

Striscia la Notizia take 2

Once again we came across a Striscia crew while we were walking back to our apartment.  I shamelessly posed for a photo with Giampaolo Fabrizio, another regular on Striscia

Walking, shopping and eating, sometimes all at once

Yesterday Sarah bought a cute pair of shoes from Altariva making Paul the only one to have not bought any from there, although he has hit the Geox shop a few times.  We all met up at Campo Marzo and got a few things there.

Sarah and Paul went off to Antico Enoteca in Via Della Croce for lunch. We have all had a few meals there - it is a relaxing environment, good food and they make a good Spritz Aperol :)

Rob bravely went to Poste Italiane and got some large boxes and bolletini to post stuff home.  It was relatively painless -hope that it is the same when we actually post the boxes today.

Rob, Jules and I went to Roscioli in Campo de' Fiori for a pizza top up -always so good there.  We then walked down to the river and along towards Isola Tiberina.  

I like this light in Via Della Maddalena

Rob and Jules wandering around near the Pantheon

This guy is a brilliant performance artist who can stay still for an amazingly long time while looking like he is speeding off to somewhere

The Tevere was in flood after all of the heavy rain and the pedestrian paths alongside the river where Jules was photographing a few days ago were under water as were the bottom steps of the stairs leading down to the river.  

 The low lying parts of Isola Tiberina were also under water.  The river was flowing really quickly and there were muddy whirlpools everywhere, we watched planks and other debris rapidly passing by. 

After never having seen Nutria before we saw several yesterday.  Some were being dragged along by the current and were unable to swim their way to shore. A large one had managed to make it to a stairway and was cleaning himself when we saw him.

Next we went to see the Bocca della Verita and the Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosemedin 

The mosaics are spectacular

Relics of one of the several Saint Valentines -this one isn't the one of Valentine's day fame, he was a martyr who ended up with his skull in a gold and glass box.

Wall constructed on Roman foundations with debris from the Teatro di Marcello site

Teatro Marcellus