When in Rome . . .

In Elizabeth von Arnim’s delightful novel, The Enchanted April, four London women find a soothing respite from the rain and cold of the British winter by taking up residence in a small Italian castle.  Feeling a bit like Mrs. Wilkins or Mrs. Arbuthnot, I too traveled to Italy this February.  My niece, is studying in Rome for the semester, and my husband and I simply could not pass up the wonderful opportunity to visit her.

On our first morning in the Eternal City, we were treated to a warm and sunny day.  Walking through the quiet streets of our hotel’s neighborhood, I was happy to have escaped the bleak, relentless winter weather at home.  As we strolled toward the Spanish Steps to meet my niece, I couldn’t believe our plane had taken off the night before in a near blizzard and now were basking in the gentle spring-like sunshine of Italy. During our five-day visit, we eagerly played tourist, crossing the city by metro and by bus to experience as many of those can’t-be-missed sights as possible.  We viewed the Colosseum and the Forum by night.  We said a prayer in the Pantheon and stood in awe in front of Michelangelo’s Pietà in St. Peter’s Basilica.  We toured the Vatican Museums and gazed up at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.  We had dinner on a restaurant terrace in the Piazza Navona and sampled “the best” gelato in Rome at the Frigidarium.  However, the highlight of the trip for me, was the morning we spent at the Keats-Shelley House. In 1820, diagnosed with tuberculosis, poet John Keats traveled to the warmer climate of Rome to convalesce.  He lived at 26 Piazza di Spagna, just at the foot of the Spanish Steps.  Sadly, he never recovered his health, and passed away there in February 1821.  Today, the house is preserved as a museum dedicated to the British Romantic Poets.  The collection features, portraits, correspondence, manuscripts and other memorabilia of literary notables like Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley and Lord Byron, as well as Keats.  We spent a fascinating morning learning about these writers and their connection to Rome. The neighborhood surrounding the Spanish Steps was a haven for writers, artists and architects during the nineteenth century.  John Keats and many others found great creative inspiration during their time in Rome.  Perhaps I should follow in their footsteps.  Right now, I am writing a series of short stories chronicling the travels of a food critic named Elizabeth Ann Martini.  She (and I) might enjoy a trip to Rome in her next story . . .