Beautiful Day In Ancient Rome

Our first day in Rome was a doozy.  We set out early and crazily visited six of the major must-see sites of the Old City.  The day started out beautiful with a short walk up to the large outdoor market Campo de Fiori (meaning in English: Field of Flowers). The market square was given its name during the Middle Ages when the area was actually a meadow.  We picked up some fresh fruit and snacks and headed to the Roman Forum.

                                                                 Campo de Fiori Market

                                      Michael trying to remember his "Italian" to buy us fresh fruit!

                                                          The Market is open Everyday

                                                             Cafe in the Market Square


The Roman Forum is where many of the oldest and most important structures of the ancient city are located.  It was for centuries the center of the Roman public life.  It is such a fascinating place to see with ruins all around you where some are still standing and the ones that have fallen have been left where they fell.
After admiring the Forum we started the trek over to the Victor Emmanuel Monument and Statue.  It is an enormous white marble monument that was built as a tribute to the First King of a United Italy, Vittorio Emmanuel II.  The sun is high in the sky now and really starting to beat down.  Actually,  it is not only beating down on us but coming from all directions as it is reflecting from all the stone and marble all over Rome.  It is time to buy a hat!

                       Remains of the Porticus Octaviae, around the corner from our apartment.

                                                         Theatre of Marcus Marcellus

                                   

                                                                   Roman Forum

                                                                     Roman Forum

                                                                    Roman Forum

                                                               

                                                         2000 yr old Roman Antiquity

                                                            Victor Emmanuel Monument

                                            Colosseum view from the V. E. Monument

                                                                Walking to the Colosseum

                                                           Roman Style Flatbread Snack

                                                          Busy Hot Day at the Colosseum

                                                            Beautiful Fresh Fruit Stand

                                              Passing a busy Piazza on our way to the Pantheon

                                                                   Roman Pantheon

We made it up to the Piazza della Rotonda to marvel at the ancient Roman Pantheon.  It is the best-preserved building of all ancient Rome and has been in continuous use since the 7th Century.  The Pantheons dome, after 2,000 years, is still the worlds largest unreinforced concrete dome.  Amazing.

             We passed by the Trevi Fountain but it is closed and under reinforcement construction.

                                                        The Top of the Spanish Steps!

                                                                           Spanish Steps

                                                          Time for an Aperol Spritz!

                         Crossing the bridge from Trastevere back to our apartment and dinner.

                                                            Our sad attempt at a selfie!

                                                                        My Own Pizza!

                                                                  Aperitif in our apartment

                                        Our Beautiful Dawn to Dusk Day in Ancient Rome.

Le Marche to Rome

We started our day off Italian Style! Cappuccino and a pastry.  The Italians never ever order a cappuccino after 11:00 am, at the latest.  They believe all that hot milk is very bad for your digestion of a large lunch or dinner meal. And I mean they eat long and large! Extremely lovely but lot's.  Good thing the wedding was before our trip to Italy and not on our way home! I would have had to buy a bigger dress. When in Rome...

After breakfast we headed to the beach town San Benedetto del Tronto in  Le Marche, on the Adriatic Sea.  It is a busy coastline with lots of beach towns and lovely hill towns up above.  It was nice to be there in May before the summer crowds.  I just couldn't imagine fighting all the traffic on the skinny roads.
Our stomach's were starting to rumble if you can believe it so we pulled into a great beach front restaurant to try the area's specialties.  What a treat! It was full of hungry Italians laughing, eating and digesting there large lunch meal with a traditional digestivo, anisette.  We started with large steamed shrimp, a local treat of meat stuffed fried giant green olives then had a platter of clam pasta and finished off with a shot of espresso.  Perfecto!!!

After lunch we headed inland a bit to the amazing town of Ascoli Piceno.  It has to be one of my favorite stays.  We were at a charming hotel in the center of old town.  It has one of the prettiest piazza's in Italy.  It has lively shops, cafe's and cathedrals all around the large square.  It was hard to get a clear photo of the piazza the weekend we were there because it was the antique market's weekend but how fun is that!

                          The beach in front of restaurant in San Benedetto del Tronto, Le Marche

                                                                   Shrimp Appitizer

                                                                Linguine con le Vongole

                                                                 Having a Great Lunch!

                                                                       Ascoli Piceno

When we arrived to the town of Ascoli Piceno the car race Mille Miglia (1000 miles), an old fashioned endurance race was going through. It is fancy Grand Touring sports cars re-enacting a race in Italy from the 1920's-1957.  Only cars from the original race built no later than 1957 enter.

                                                     Ascoli Piceno Piazza set up for car race

                                                           Love these tiny little old Fiat's!

                                                           Beautiful Cafe in Ascoli Piazza

                                                                  Having an Aperitivo

                                                        Campari Spritzers and Anti Pasta

                                                       Antique Market setting up in Piazza

                                                                       Antique Market

                                                            Insalata di Baccelli E Pecorino

Spring young fava beans are prized in Southern Italy and eaten raw with bits of pecorino cheese, olive oil and sea salt for a delicious salad.  We had to try it so we picked up the ingredients at the market and added a little prosciutto for fun.

                                             A Beautiful Poppy Field on the Road to Rome

                                                        Grand Mountains and Olive Trees  

We were driving through the Grand Sasso Mountain Range in Abruzzo headed for Rome.  Just spectacular!

                                                                   Entrance to the Park

                                                                     Crazy Mountain Road

                                                           Abruzzo Mountains and Valleys

                                                               Colosseum in Rome!

We made it back to Rome! Michael wanted to drive around the Colosseum before we returned the car for our stay in the city.  It was a crazy drive but we found it!

                        Nice lively Street View from our Apartment in the Old Jewish Quarter

                     

Just happened to be a Gelateria right outside our door! Happy Michael.....