Trastevere, Rome

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Rome's traditional working-class district `across the Tiber' has always stood apart from the rest of the city. It is now the gentrified turf of bourgeois Romans and expatriates. At night, restaurants, pizzerias, pubs and trendy wine bars spring to life with Romans and tourists who flock here to drink, eat, and chill out.

We did not give Trastevere nearly the attention that it deserves. We spent only 1 magical evening here toward the end of our trip. Next time I would even consider looking for lodging in Trastevere.

During our evening in Trastevere we walked the beautiful, narrow streets, purchased a painting from an artist's shop, popped into a few streetside shops, ogled at pastries sitting in a closed bakery's window (from the outside those looked like the best pastries I had seen while in Rome), enjoyed the Trastevere ambience, and ate the best and most enjoyable dinner either of us had (a restaurant named Cave Canem - see my restaurant tips) during our stay in Rome.

Trastevere is a magical place and one to be enjoyed with more than a single evening.

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“There was much to please a somewhat peculiar taste in our visit to the Farnesina. … The door-keeper, amiably obese, was better still in her acceptance of the joke with which the hand-mirror for the easier study of the roof frescos was accepted. … In showing a Rubens in one of the rooms, with the master’s usual assortment of billowy beauties, when she could say — and she ought to have known — that they had eaten too much macaroni. It was not much of a joke; but one hears so few jokes in Rome.”
— from “Italian Journeys” (1867) by William Dean Howells (1837-1920) American author and U.S. Consul in Venice during first Lincoln Administration

COUNTRY HOUSE Located on the edges of the working-class district of Trastavere, Villa Farnesina was built in 1506 for Agostino Chigi, a rich Sienese banker and treasurer to Pope Julius II. This villa, intended to be a summer pavilion, has a rear wing that opens to a garden that faces the River Tiber. In Antiquity, this was the site of the country villa of Julius Caesar; in 44 B.C. Cleopatra stayed there with their illegitimate child, Caesarion.

Agostino Chigi enjoyed showing off his great wealth. During dinner parties, as each course ended, the golden dishes were tossed in the river, which was much closer to the villa’s gardens at the time. But the cagey Chigi did not get rich by throwing away money, or gold dishes; nets were placed in the water that caught the plates, allowing the staff to recover the dishes once the guests had gone home!

In 1577 the Farnese family bought the villa. Because it was smaller than their Palazzo Farnese on the other side of the Tiber, ‘ina,’ the suffix meaning small in Italian, was added to Farnese creating its current name.

Today, owned by the Italian State, the villa houses the Accademia dei Lincei, a well-respected 17th-century academy of sciences, and the Department for Drawings and Prints.

Commissioned by Chigi, all fresco decoration in the ground floor Loggia is by Raphael or his followers and date from the villa’s construction. These frescos are sublime. The colors are bright and well preserved; the figures look very real, very human. The two main themes of Raphael’s frescoes in the Loggia depict the world of Cupid and Psyche (see photo #5), and “The Triumph of Galatea” (see photo #3). This second fresco, one of Raphael’s few completely secular paintings, shows Galatea, a nymph almost completely naked, on a shell-shaped chariot amid frolicking attendants and rolling waves. It brings to mind Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus.”

Photos are not permitted; but I was able to take three detail picture of the frescos before a guard scolded me, and told me to stop. Originally, the loggia had been opened to the elements; thankfully, for the preservation of these marvelous art works, it is now enclosed.

On the first floor there are trompe-l’œil frescoes executed by the building’s architect, Baldassare Peruzzi. There are frescoes on the walls surrounding the windows and on the opposite wall of Rome as it looked in the 16th century; if you had been gazing out the window at the time these frescos were painted you would see what is now on the walls. It is an excellent record of the city.

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The Museum of Rome in Trastevere is located in what was once the Monastery of Sant'Egidio, where discalced Carmelite nuns lived until the capture of Rome. The building was restored and, in 1976, became a museum of Roman folklore and poetry, displaying material on the Roman people and their traditions, which had previously been kept in the Museum of Rome and the Municipal Ministry of the Press.
In the year 2000 the museum was reopened to public with the name of The Museum of Rome in Trastevere. This most recent refurbishment has been adapted to current museological needs: the building has been designed to be suitable for temporary exhibitions, particularly of photography, shows, conferences and concerts.
The museum's permanent exhibition focuses on the main aspects of everyday Roman life in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, filtered through the tastes and convictions of the artists and folklorists who described it. Major themes are costume, folk dancing, festivals, both religious and secular, and crafts.
The collection includes paintings, prints, drawings and watercolours, among them the famous series of "Vanished Rome" by Ettore Roesler Franz (Rome 1845 - 1907), a crib incorporating scenes of daily Roman life in the nineteenth century, and six life-size representations of day to day life in the period, known as "Roman Scenes". The museum also contains some of the personal possessions of the great poet Trilussa (Rome 1871 - 1950), which were donated to the Municipality of Rome after his death and are in part exhibited in the video installation space called after him.

Closed Monday

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Once very much a working class area of the city, shabby and more than a little seedy, a place tourists ventured into briefly,musicians to pay homage to St Cecilia who is buried in the church of her name at one end of the quarter, or maybe to see the mosaics in the Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere, take a few "atmosphere shots" of washing flapping on lines stretched between peeling ochre-painted buildings or a Sunday morning foray into the flea market at Porte Portese - Trastevere these days has become a trendy spot, as popular with bohemian expats and young professional families as it is still the home of families who have lived here for generations.

You need to cross the Tiber to get here - what better way than to walk across the ancient bridges that connect the two banks of the river at Isola Tiberia? Ponte Fabricio on the Centro Storico side of the island is the oldest bridge in the city, Ponte Cestio isn't much younger - it was built in 46AD. Alternatively, there's the pedestrian Ponte Sisio near Campo de' Fiori, or you could catch Tram No 8 and get off at the first stop once you've crossed the river.

Trastevere's history has been one of a long slide down and a recent trend up in its desirability as a place to live. The area "across the Tiber" (the meaning of Trastevere) was taken up by noble families in early times - Julius Caesar lived here - and kept his mistress Cleopatra here too. Most of the city's Jews lived here before they were forced into the ghetto in 1555. The 19th century urban renewal of much of the city passed it by and, more than anywhere else, the area retains the look and feel of mediaeval Rome.

Very popular at night for the restaurants and bars that can be found everywhere, a walk through the quarter in the daytime reveals lovely quiet corners, greenery tumbling over russet and ochre walls, a daily life of children playing and neighbors chatting. We spent time here with an Australian friend who now calls Trastevere her home, complete with a plant-filled garden behind a high wall, local shops and local restaurants where familiar faces bring forth smiles and questions about the bambini and a delicious lunch was ordered after a long discussion with the waiter without recourse to the menu. No "sightseeing ", no shopping - though there are opportunities for both, just a few hours spent doing what Romans have always done so well - enjoying the moment.

Trastevere is a district in Rome on the west bank of the Tiber. Its name derives from the Latin word "trans Tiberim" that means beyond the Tiber.

In Trastevere there are lots of restaurants and cafes; some churches and various shops.

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Across the river and south of the Vatican, is the charming little district of Trastevere. It's definitely worth a visit, especially if you're tired of the tourist-filled attractions in downtown Rome. Trastevere has a lot of narrow, cobblestone streets, little shops and restaurants, and beautiful statues and fountains. There is also a beautiful church - Santa Maria in Trastevere. It's not very crowded and there are barely any tourists there. It's nice to spend an afternoon there to explore the neighbourhood, and have a drink in one of the bars there in the evening.

This was formerly the Folklore museum, the MdRiT is the sort of museum other cities have - i.e. it is inclined to Rome's own recent history and 19th and 20th century artists, whreas all of the other museums seem to be aimed at 2000 years ago.

Trastevere, it has been suggested, replaced Via Vittorio Veneto as the night time haunt for La Dolce Vita. The Museum is typicallu open until 20:00 of an evening and as Trastevere should also be seen in daylight, take a look at the Museo di Roma in Trastevere for content and for the many visitng exhibitions.