Una Città di Sorrisi! (A City of Smiles!)

Rome Diary IV:

Il Mio Ritorno a Roma!

Wednesday February 21, 2018

Mostly Cloudy 52°F/11°C in Roma, EUR, Italia

Thunderstorms 71°F/22°C in Cedar Park, Texas

Buona giornata amici miei!

Rome is the City of Echoes, the City of Illusions and the City of Desires, observed Giotto di Bondone almost 700 years ago! I would add one more. I think of Rome as the City of Smiles! Everywhere that I wander in Rome or elsewhere, I seem to see smiling faces, especially when I 

Sofia and MikeBo, All Smiles!

attempt to speak the native tongue. When the conversation moves past the rudimentary Ciao! Buongiorno! Come stai? Or, Dov’ѐ il bagno? I have a set phrase that I’ve come up with, courtesy of Google Translator: Sono di Texas. Sto appena iniziando a parlare italiano! (I’m from Texas. I’m just beginning to speak Italian!) That seems to work a lot better than the frequent non parlo italiano.

The tour company that my son Michael works for, City Wonders, specializes in tours all around Europe for native speakers of English. That makes it a lot easier for first time travelers. When, Michael introduced me to the City Wonders crew before our tour of the Vatican, they were smiling, too. I’m not exactly a stranger to this great city. I’ve been coming to Rome since 2005 to visit Michael and Laura. But, except for 2013, when I wound up renting a studio apartment and staying nearly three months, I usually don’t stay longer than a month. But, this time I decided, at the last minute, to stay for another month. Since my smiling landlady, Amina, had already rented the apartment I had occupied for my first month, Laura booked me into a nearby apartment through Airbnb, in the same neighborhood.

My new landlord is a smiling, retired Tunisian diplomat named Mohamed, who travels between Rome, Tunisia and Canada. His Rome apartment in a high-rise building along a street named for an Italian poet, Cesare Pavese. There’s a bus stop a few yards up the street, and a little further in the direction of my old apartment, diagonally across Viale Cesare Pavese is the Centro commerciale il GranPavese, a neighborhood mall with un barbiere, un Bancomat, un tabaccheria, un bar, e un Supermercato. This stretch of the avenue also offers the services of other merchants’ shops and restaurants, including an excellent ristorante Cinese. But, if you’re doing Chinese or other Asian cuisine, you’ll have to ask for chopsticks. So, let me save you some awkward moments. Just ask your server, Vorrei le bachette…I would like chopsticks!

Amina, my smiling landlady!

Closer to Laura and Michael’s home is a large open-air market with a wide array of stalls and merchandise of all kinds, usually at bargain prices. Most people here do their food shopping daily, not only because the emphasis is on fresh food but because it is easier to walk to a neighborhood market than drive several chilometri to a shopping mall. Although EurRoma 2, a major Roman shopping center with all the bells and whistles is less than two miles from me. That’s where we saw CirCuba, the National Circus of Cuba, a few weeks. By the way, the circus is still in Rome for a few more days. If you’re in town, I heartily recommend it.

Sunday, Michael, Beppe, Darius and Seppe, the stalwarts of No Funny Stuff! were playing at a street Festa in Poggio Mirteto, not far from Laura’s folks’ home in Selci. Il Carnevalone Liberato 2018 celebrates the unification of Italy and the last days of the Papal States and the end of the Pope’s influence over secular life in Italy. The revelers here are partying during Lent and show their disdain for the Papacy at the close of the Festa by burning the Pope in effigy. I was shocked! Set FIRE to the POPE?  

The people LOVE Papa Francesco, dad, said Michael. But, during Unification, the Pope wasn’t exactly the warm and fuzzy figure he is now. In fact, the matter wasn’t settled until 1929 when the Lateran Treaty between Mussolini’s Fascist government and the Holy See was signed, establishing

Me and My New Pals!

the boundaries of Vatican City. After No Funny Stuff! had played their last set and we were long gone, an effigy of the Pope was set ablaze. Italian politics can be raucous, and, they’re not limited to Italy, as I discovered when I met two new friends, who reminded me to brush up on my Italian when I’m asked about American politics. Italians frequently ask me how I voted in the last election. I have a ready response: Sono un americano! Ma non ho votato per Donald Trump! For the inevitable follow-up, my reply is: Inoltre, non sono un sostentore di Donald Trump! I don’t think I need to translate either sentence. What’s more, that’s all I’m going to say on the subject – I’m on vacation!

This week, I’m settling into the new apartment and getting better acquainted with the neighborhood. Michael has an especially busy teaching and training schedule, and Laura is working in Milan this week. We won’t be venturing out among our ex-pat friends until Friday when Marsha Cincinnati hosts a new show with Rome’s Comedy Club! Those are laugh fests in multiple languages. Hmmm! I wonder if Devo is going to pick on me again like last time.

Marsha Cincinnati

    I try to include a smattering of good travel advice, when I write about my traipsing, but if you have a question or you’re thinking about your own Roman Holiday, send me a note and I’ll do my best to get you a quick reply.  In the meantime,

I’ll keep you posted along the way.
Ciao,
MikeBo

[Mike Botula is the author of LST 920: Charlie Botula’s Long, Slow Target! He is a retired broadcast journalist, government spokesperson and media consultant.   Mike’s book is available from Amazon or Barnes and Noble Books. You can follow his blog at: mikebotula.blogspot.com, or visit Mike Botula at www.mikebotula.com]