Visiting an old quarter

Up early...breakfast in the garden and then following our map to Isola Tiberina and Trastevere.  From the hotel it's all downhill walking...wonderful in the morning, not so wonderful on the return!

We take the shady Via di Santa Sabina, stopping at the park to take in the view across the city to Saint Peter's dome.  Then, at the bottom of the hill, we take our life in our hands and cross at the pedestrian crossing - I think the crossing lights are just a suggestion here! - and wander alongside the Tiber River to the island Isola Tiberina - the world's smallest inhabited island.  We cross at Ponte Fabricio, dating to 62 BC, and on the other side of the island we leave via Ponte Cestio, dating to 46 BC.  The island is home to a hospital and church and, at the moment, is the venue for an after-dark outdoor film festival - if we were staying longer, we'd be there!

Trastevere is on the other side of the island - a residential, old quarter of the city.  We stop for a cold drink at a tiny doorway-bar, the passers-by all calling "buon giorno" to the bar owner - these are my favourite places!  We wander, following the shade - it's 34 degrees today (not complaining, just saying...) - and step into the cool darkness of the Chiese di San Francesco D'Assisi a Ripa Grande.  We learn the story of the blessed Ludovico Albertoni, who lived in Trastevere between 1473 and 1533, and became the patroness of the Roman secular Franciscan Order.

The history here is almost too great to contemplate.  The bars set up for the film festival on Isola Tiberina sit on stones that date back to days BC; we wait for the bus beside a wall that was built during Caligula's time in the AD 30s.  Religion is intertwined with everything, often both glorious and dark at the same time.  Ahh, Roma...