Roman Finale - For Real This Time

Departing the Roman Forum on aching feet, we walked out the back exit and up a long flight of stairs. Behind the Roman Forum is a museum and large piazza. One of the interesting things about the Coliseum and Roman Forum is that they sit smack in the middle of a living city, busy streets filled with cars and all. Rounding a corner a few blocks away, we could see a church with it's side cut away to reveal the ancient columns beneath the modern plaster. A city built atop a city, and on and on it goes. We'd decided to walk across the Tiber River to the area of Trastevere. I'd heard that this was the place to feel a little more of a local scene, and it's a bit quieter and out of the traffic congestion than much of Rome. On our route there, we happened upon what looked like a miniature version of the Coliseum. Turns out, it's the Teatro di Marcello, once an open air theatre and now, apartments.  Fancy living in one of those! We took a path that circled the base of the theater, and came upon a crush of tumbled down ruins with this fun little column base among them:

How cute is this little guy!

The theater and ruins are explained in this very helpful sign: "Antique Monument and Archaeological Ruins"

Trastevere was indeed a peaceful area. Unfortunately, by the time we made it there, we all had aching feet. While we tried to enjoy the area, we really just wanted to head to dinner and get off our soles. We'd picked Dar Poeta Pizzeria since Nathan had eaten there and loved it, two guidebooks recommended it, and one podcast I listened to a few weeks ago listed it as the host's favorite pizzeria in Italy. We were lucky to get a table - actually, not lucky, just American. Sure enough, our 6pm arrival netted us a prime table, and when we left around 8pm, about 20 people milled around outside waiting. The pizza was good, I admit, BUT...we live in Naples. I'm currently holding fast to our hometown La Sorbilla as the best pizza in Italy...clearly, this cannot go unchallenged, so we'll be sure to test plenty of pizza in our time here.

Our walk home included a swing by the Pantheon, beautiful at night, and the Trevi Fountain, so we could all throw our coins in again - absolutely necessary to ensure my aunt and uncle's return to Italy.

Buon viaggio e speriamo che tornate!