Our regular readers will know that we (RST) are walkers. Just give us a destination (or not) and we're off. On a weekend in June, while living on via Salaria (in the Salario neighborhood), we struck out for Rome's signature mosque (co-designed by starchitect Paolo Portoghesi), which is tucked into north Rome between Villa Ada--a huge park--and some sports facilities that line the banks of the Tevere. Here are some of things we saw on our walk.
At piazza Santiago del Cile, on fashionable viale del Parioli, this very unusual traffic circle. Unusual because the grass has actually been mowed and the bushes trimmed. That's what you get when you live in Parioli.
We took a bit of a side-trip east, up to Piazza delle Muse. There's now an attractive bar up there on the bluff above the mosque, with good views. And we saw this sign, which tells drivers of scooters and motorcycles that they have to walk their machines in this area.
Dropping down to via Ruggero, we hit a T at viale della Moschea ("mosque avenue"). Lanes have been closed because the road has so many potholes it's considered unsafe.
Bill liked this road sign--almost a work of art. Of course, drivers won't see it; it's in the trees.
That's the mosque on our left. It's #24 on our RST Top 40 list; a fascinating building. When we wrote about it in 2010, it was Europe's largest mosque. It's open to visitors only certain times and days.
The only way to get to Villa Ada from here is this road: overgrown--not made for pedestrians--and a fair amount of traffic.
About a half mile ahead, a path leading into the recreational areas of Villa Ada.
Parts of Villa Ada have paths but are otherwise rather wild. We like that.
In Villa Ada: graffiti, tree trimmings not removed.
Romans playing and picnicking in the Villa
Around the lake at the northern end of the park.
Map of the park, now illegible. I photographed this map because it comes close to what I understand and appreciate as "found art."
History and archaeology of the park, now illegible.
A warning that the fenced-in area is off limits because of big holes and cave-ins. At least you can read this.
Nice shaded area
Exercise equipment now unusable; ubiquitous yellow tape.
On our way home: a small public playground with usable equipment. But empty--they're all in Villa Ada.
Bill
No comments:
Post a Comment