Rome Journal I - Apartment

It's Easter Sunday, and I'm writing this blog from our apartment in Rome, where we arrived last Monday. The weather has been chilly and rainy, which means that we haven't been walking around as often as I would have liked. Primary purpose of my visit, of course, is to work at the library of the American Academy, but with our problems settling in I've only been able to get there once so far. I hope to make much more progress on the Catullus bibliography next week. It is wonderfully convenient to have access to articles and reviews in numerous obscure Continental journals at first hand instead of ordering them through Document Delivery. In the meantime, getting used to the living conditions has not been easy. Our apartment is on the Gianicolo, with access right at the corner of Via Fabrizi and Via Garabaldi. It's a five-minute walk to the AAR if you take a shortcut up the Scala Iacobucci, and, in the other direction, it's a five-minute walk down to Piazza S. Cosimano. However, at the time I booked the place through one of those rental services, I did not know that Via Tiburzi, on which it's located, is a privately owned paved footpath leading from the upper to the lower Gianicolo via several flights of stairs. The path is gated at both ends and only residents have the gate code. Consequently the property is extremely safe, but it's also very difficult for Ron to get up the stairs to the bus stop at Via Dandalo. While the ad for the apartment did have pictures of the stairs, there wasn't any mention of how many or how steep there were. We didn't find out until we arrived, and of course the rent had already been paid. The flight leading down to Trastevere is not that bad, though, so we have been managing. And in addition to two supermarkets in the vicinity, there is also a large farmer's market in Piazza Cosimano every morning, including butchers and fish sellers. The fish, which according to the signs comes from the gulf of Gaeta, is as fresh as I've had in a long time, and the meat is excellent. We've been eating very well. While the apartment has been newly refurbished, it's actually an older one-story house wedged in between two other large apartment buildings. I suspect it was thrown together hastily and by someone who couldn't be bothered wiring it to code--if there is such a thing as electrical code in Italy. The landlord, Guido, obviously hasn't owned it for long and doesn't know that much about its infrastructure. On the first night, as we were cooking dinner (very tired after three long flights), we plugged in the microwave and blew a circuit. All the lights went out, leaving us with just two small flashlights. Guido was very helpful and came right over; he showed us the circuit box and got the lights working again. We didn't realize, however, that the short had knocked out both the heat and the hot water--not until the next morning when we woke up freezing. We thought the main problem was the heat, but we actually had to restart the hot water heater, then wait until the water warmed up before the radiators started working. In the meantime, Guido has supplied us with a brand-new microwave, and he's refunding one day's rent for our inconvenience. So everything has been worked out to our satisfaction. We did not go to St. Peter's for the new Pope's homily and Easter services. Having been to St. Peter's once or twice with Pat Johnston just for an ordinary Sunday mass, I was well aware of what a mob scene it would be yesterday and today, and we both decided we didn't need to experience that much history. Anyway, we heard parts of the homily on the Sunday news. Since Pope Francis said something in his sermon about not fearing new things, the commentators are now breathlessly sure that he's open to all sorts of fresh experimentation. I doubt it, but we'll see.