Night at the Museum... Vatican Edition

Scenes from Vatican City and Saint Peter's Bascilica

Our last full day in Rome! We had planned to go to the Vatican museums earlier in the week when we were met with the harsh reality… Italy is like Disneyworld (Everything is better with careful planning, reservations and a fast pass). Our care-free go with the flow follow your heart travel lifestyle clashed with the need for a scheduled itinerary. Thankfully on Monday night I realized that the Vatican Museums were open late on Fridays in the summer. We could see the museum at night! No crowds, no infamous lines and a chance to actually see the Sistine chapel (Which after hearing so many horror stories I had all but written off). I booked the tickets and marked our calendar for Friday night.

A large meal on Thursday and no real plans until the evening meant we slept in Friday morning. We had a dangerous habit in Rome of staying up well past 1am local time and not getting out of bed until after 9. This meant we missed the rush of the morning crowds at all the busy attractions but it made planning meals and maximizing our tourista time more challenging. Sean had gotten pastries the day before from a cute little shop near our apartment so we had a late breakfast there. Freshly squeezed juices are all the rage in Rome and I was able to get an 8 oz glass of freshly squeezed grapefruit, lime and pear juice for 5 euro.

We spent the early afternoon packing and planning the next leg of our trip that was certain to include a very early train trip the next day. In the late afternoon we crossed the bridge to the Vatican.

Vatican City is technically another country and in some ways it feels that way. Far more commercial than the rest of Rome, several of the buildings had large advertisements for Samsung phones.  Mere steps from St. Peters Basilica was a McDonalds. We arrived after the museum closed for the afternoon and got in line to see the famous basilica. All the major attractions in Italy have lines in part because they all require patrons to pass through a metal detector. This late in the afternoon the church only had 3 open but we still made it inside in about half an hour.

The Vatican website and dozens of signs tell you that sleeveless shirts, shorts, backpacks, selfie sticks, hats and more are banned. They also remind you that this is a church and that they expect silence. Needless to say almost none of these rules are enforced. Inside the massive church the roar of the crowd is almost deafening. Meanwhile in a cordoned off section of the church, mass is going on. As Sean put it, it is more than a little uncomfortable to be in a place of worship and feel like you’re one of many people trampling upon it.

There are no pictures that can adequately portray the scope of St. Peter’s basilica. It is a massive cavernous and ornately decorated church. Larger than life carved marble sculptures of various popes line the main thoroughfare. The sounds of organ music wafting through the air seems almost like a dream until you realize parts of the church are closed to conduct mass. The church is big enough that you can close down whole sections of it without it being obvious.

Select Views from inside the Vatican Museum including the Egypt room, the map room and Sean's reaction

At 7:30 we were allowed into the Vatican museum. Most of the galleries had indoor lighting but a few of the sculpture gardens were intended to be viewed in daylight. The minimal lighting added did not adequately illuminate them but overall it was well worth it to see the museum at night. None of the galleries were crowded. We were able to walk into the Sistine Chapel and spend a full 20 minutes in the gallery viewing various parts of the ceiling from the stone benches along the perimeter.

While the Sistine Chapel was by far the highlight, Sean and I greatly enjoyed the map room. This long gallery had 40 painted maps of different sections of Italy blown up into giant pieces 10 feet by 10 feet. I also very much enjoyed the small contemporary section that included pieces from many world renowned artists such as Mondrian, Dali and Van Gogh. Interestingly many of the pieces had distinctly religious content despite that being outside the normal scope for various artists.

Select view of Contemporary Vatican Museum pieces

My only complaint about the Vatican museum (other than not getting to meet the cool pope nor Jude Law) is that they have a singular viewing direction. The galleries are sequential and there is no way to skip one or go back easily (this seems to be common of many of the art museums in Italy). Comparing this to the Louvre, MET or Prado where you can move between galleries at will and there is no set itinerary.

I would certainly recommend the Friday Night opening if available. It made for a unique and relaxing experience. While Sean and I enjoyed Rome, we both felt overall it was far too crowded and tourist driven for our tastes. We are very much looking forward to a few days in rural Southern Tuscany at an agritourismo.

Stay tuned for the next post which will include driving in Italy, Etruscan ruins, charming cities of Sovana, Sorana and Pitigliano built into the cliffs, and our experience at an agritourismo!

Glass Hostaria: Three Hours of Gastronomic Bliss

7 courses plus aperitif and petit fours

After two straight days of walking 9+ miles our legs were sore. Walking on the uneven surface of cobblestone streets is not unlike walking through sand. You use different muscles and even without changes in elevation it feels like more of a workout. With burning calves and lack of motivation we decided to take it easy our fourth day in Rome. We slept in and skipped breakfast. Knowing we had a very large dinner planned, we had a light lunch of panini at a neighborhood cafe called My Ale that specialized in craft Italian beer.

Porter and Triple (Left) and a Pork Sandwich from My Ale

With only one item left on our 'Must see' list not already visited or planned, we headed out to the Galleria Spada at the Palazzo Spada.

Rome, unlike other major cities, does not have a single world renowned art museum where most of its collections lie. Instead much of the famous art is in churches and small museums. Until we got to the Spada we did not realize how infrequently visited this particular art collection appears to be. For much of our visit we were the only patrons. I frequently joked with Sean how romantic it was that he rented out the whole museum for me. The museum is very small. It consists of four rooms and a courtyard with a famous renaissance perspective (a mathematically derived Optical Illusion) which no doubt caught my attention in the DK eyewitness Rome book and put this otherwise obscure attraction on the 'must-see' list.

Top Left: Sean in Gallery 1 with the printed guide to each and every painting
Top Right: Famous Perspective by Borromini
Bottom Left: Raphael 'sketch' of a vaulted ceiling piece from a church.
Bottom Middle: "Allegory of Astronomy"
Bottom Right: Globe drawn in 1619

For being a small museum without any famous pieces, the collection was quite cool. The four rooms contain the same art collection that was first acquired by the two Cardinals who lived there and displayed in the same traditional picture gallery arrangement that was popular at the time. This involves very high ceilings with an overwhelming number of pieces tetrised (not a real verb) into the space so that nearly every inch of the wall is covered with a framed picture. The gallery provided printed booklets with a description of each piece. Both Sean and I have a deep appreciation for maps and found the two antique globes from the 1600s particularly fascinating.

The perspective was an optical illusion designed to make a 27 foot long corridor appear 90 feet long and a very tiny statue (less than 2 feet tall) appear life-size. The optical illusion certainly tricked us but probably not to the intended proportions. The statue to me appeared about 5 feet and the corridor appeared maybe 50. However this is likely due to the fact the intended viewing location which is elevated and behind a large glass window was off limits to the public during our visit. None the less it was still quite cool.

The meal...We arrived in Italy with 4 guide books, an ever growing list of 'must-see' activities  and our lodging booked. We didn't plan out every moment. Our only two reservations before arriving in Italy was a car rental and an 8:30pm dinner reservation for Glass Hosteria in Rome.  Needless to say we had been looking forward to this meal all week. When Thursday night rolled around we both dressed in our finest. Sean in his dark blue suit, white dress shirt and tie while I wore a newly acquired black and white striped structured A-line dress.



We walked across the bridge from our quiet established Italian neighborhood to the vibrant up and coming Trastevere district. This former working class neighborhood has undergone an urban revival into a funky young happening scene. Often in our travels we enjoy staying in these parts of cities but I think we both appreciated staying in a more central area that did not require earplugs. The footbridge lined with groups of teenagers talking, laughing and listening to the various street musicians play. The our path took us through well lit cobblestone streets packed with outdoor tables filled with patrons. The sounds of boisterous conversation echoed upward along the buildings. Glass was located at the angular point of a building jetting into a four way intersection like a broken shard.

The restaurant offers a full a la carte menu as well as three tasting menus. A contemporary vision of traditional Roman cuisine in 7 courses that changes seasonally (as well as a vegetarian version) and a more cosmopolitan menu with 9 courses that changes more frequently.

We opted for the traditional 7 course summer tasting menu with wine pairing (4 glasses: 1 white, 2 reds and a dessert wine). The wines paired well with the courses but only one was truly memorable (enough for me to jot down the type of wine). Barbaresco, it is from NW Italy Piedmont and is made with Nebbiolo. It is similar to a Barolo but aged one year less. Will certainly keep my eye out for this style as we travel North.

Aperitif:

 After placing our order and sipping ice cold pelligrino we were offered a lavishly displayed pairing of aperitifs. A delicate sphere containing a pisco sour (cocktail made with a Peruvian liqueur) and a tea sandwich with a masa bread and herbed cheese filling. The hard candy shell of the sphere ruptured in your mouth and the chilled floral liquid interior splashed across your tongue. The presentation was most impressive. [The tea sandwich tasted like Jiffy corn bread stuffed with cream cheese. -Ed.]



Course 1: Gazpacho


The meal started with a round loaf of crusty bread cut with a cross along the top to divide it into four even chunks. A small bowl of olive oil mousse sprinkled with black salt to spread over it. A creamy dense orange sherbet colored chilled soup thickened with almonds and richened with decadent foie gras was brought out in a shallow bowl. Garnished with cheese and microgreens. Each silky spoonful the perfect balance of bright acidity and rich creamy texture.

Course 2: Beef Tartare



Beef tartare is one of my favorite dishes. Since I went back to eating red meat in 2009, I have ordered this raw chilled beef dish countless times in many major cities and several countries. This was by far the best beef tartare I have ever eaten. What really set this beef tartare apart was a very soft slow poached egg with a blood orange yolk. The whites of the egg barely cooked to a creamy but quivering texture while the yolk, when broken, still ran. When I broke the yolk with my spoon (the cutlery was cleared between each course and just a single spoon offered for this dish) the thick orange center oozed like magma through the plateau of chopped raw beef. The dish was garnished with microgreens and fried breadcrumbs. There was a faint note of citrus that made me question whether the color of the yolk was due to it being injected with orange juice or whether my mind was playing tricks on me. Either way it was heaven and for me, the star dish of the meal.

During coursed meals in France the length between each course is long, an intermission so to speak where the whole restaurant gets up and goes out for a smoke. We had found ourselves alone in many restaurants in Paris between the second and third course. We were prepared for the same experience in Rome only to find that in Italy the only break between courses is bread. The moment the empty plate from the second course was whisked away a basket with 5 types of bread was ushered out. The space between courses filled with what else but more food. We found this true across Rome and Southern Tuscany that the time between courses is short almost non-existent and anything longer than a few minutes is filled with bread.

Course 3: Veal Tongue Pastrami


Many years ago for my birthday Sean wanted to make me Osso Buco (An Italian preparation of veal shank braised low and slow) because it was a fancy meal and veal is not a common meat in the United States, he called an expensive local artisan butcher shop in Seattle. The exchange involved a mortified butcher shop employee exclaiming indignantly that they don’t sell veal and then promptly hanging up. Veal like so many other delicacies comes with a side of guilt. It was during this course that I realized why exactly there are so many churches in Italy. After this meal I was going to need to find a priest and confess.

Guilt aside, the third course was a creative and playful take on a Jewish classic. This deconstructed sandwich included yet another type of bread (soft and chewy) served alongside thin slices of cured white veal. Delicate texture, a subtle sweetness from the veal and the distinct spice blend typical of pastrami made the meat a true delight. What is a pastrami sandwich without mustard? The thin slices of meat topped with a mustard ice cream providing a cold refreshing creamy element that nodded to the traditional sandwich. Pickled vegetables provided acidity and coated the greens that topped the dish in an almost light vinaigrette.


Course 4: Lamb Chops


The meat course was a rack of lamb with three chops seasoned with an herbaceous mix of spices most notably sumac. It was served on a wide stone plate atop a brightly colored gastrique with assorted root vegetables. It is mushroom season now in Italy and tender morsel added an earthy umami bite to the mix. The lamb was perfectly cooked medium rare and probably one of the most flavorful bites of roasted meat I have had in a long time.

Course 5: Ravioli

 
 Each region of Italy has its own pasta dishes (specific shapes and sauces). The traditional Roman pasta is a carbonara which is with egg, hard cheese and pancetta. This was a truly clever dish. Essentially the stuffed pasta was an inside out carbonara. The pasta was stuffed with a light tomato sauce and salty cheese. Then brushed on the outside with an eggy mixture and topped with crispy fried guanciale (similar to pancetta but made with the jowl meat). It was another show stopper dish.

Course 6: Sweet Breads

 
 Towards the end of the pasta course I found myself trying to figure out what came next. I knew there was one dish between pasta and dessert but could not for the life of me remember what it was. Perhaps I had counted the courses wrong. The plate came out with three small morsels that the waiter explained in English was sweet breads with foie gras, pistachio and sour cherries. Sean and I both looked at each other. Clearly we had read that on the tasting menu and just blocked out that it was on there. Neither of us had ever had sweet breads and we knew it was some organ meat but which one… Desperate research subsequent to the meal has narrowed it down to either the thymus gland or the pancreas of veal but I can’t be sure which one. Either way we were not won over by this organ. The texture is overly chewy and the flavor was completely masked by the pairing of foie gras which dominated the palate, pistachio and the liquor soaked sour cherry.

Course 7: Bailey’s Gelato in condensed cream


Dessert was a large bowl of thick sweet condensed cream where a sphere of Bailey’s flavored gelato floated. The dish was a bit one note, sweet. Dolce, as the Italians put it and heavy. There was espresso in gel form and I assume it was intended to be a take on an after dinner cocktail. It paired well with the madeira dessert wine. It was tasty but certainly not awe inspiring. Not surprising as having exquisite dessert often requires having a pastry chef on hand.

Petit Fours

 
 Dessert was followed up by a selection of petit fours. A sphere of chocolate with a creamy ganache rolled in pistachios, grape jelly, miniature profiteroles (cream puffs) and little macaroon style cookies.

All in all the meal was spectacular! Towards the end of the night a middle-aged woman in a white chef’s jacket with magenta pink hair strolled in. She made her way around the tables talking to various guests and eventually stopped to chat with us. It was very exciting to get to meet the chef. I knew the chef was a woman (which is already really cool and impressive not only to have a restaurant worthy of a Michelin star but also to achieve such a high honor in a male dominated field like fine dining) but it was really nice to have that personal interaction. We praised the menu and talked about the food scene in Seattle. We have been to several Michelin star restaurants over the last few years but this was the first time we got to meet the chef in person. It really added to the experience and made it a night to remember.