36 nuns on a zebra crossing in Rome was my entry for The Gallery last Wednesday, a photo from our first European city break as a family in 2005, when my son was 9 years old. It wasn’t the first time I’d been to Rome: my Mum jogged my memory yesterday of a family holiday there when I was 13, traipsing behind my Dad as he strode ahead of us, pointing out all the architecture as my mother, brother and I whinged to stop for a rest every five minutes. To this day we tease my Dad relentlessly by recalling the fact that we seemed to spend the whole trip following signs to some elusive saint’s relics when we were in fact following the sign for a one-way street.
Rory was the right age for a trip to Rome. An interest in history cultivated by a diet of Horrible History books, he was bound to find something appealing about Romans, gladiators….and lots of pizza. We stayed in the Hotel Forty-Seven, a newly-opened chic hotel with a fabulous view (see photo) and a magical rooftop terrace for late night tipples. It attracted new visitors by keeping prices low for the first season. I see it’s still doing well in the Tripadvisor lists.
We kept Rory amused by avoiding queues whenever we could so we passed on some of the big sights (St Peter’s and The Vatican were too busy that half-term week) and focused on a variety of attractions to give our son a flavour of the city and its rich past but geared towards a younger tourist with a short attention span.
To gain a brief but vivid background to Rome which was palatable to our computer-game-junkie son we visited the Time Elevator. Purists would argue that we were mad to sit in a dark room being bombarded with 3-D images of Rome when history was outside for the taking, but Rory adored it and the timeline of the city was firmly lodged in his mind for the rest of the holiday.
We were all keen to see the Colosseum and it didn’t disappoint, though as parents we gave it the thumbs down for the jobsworths in the ticket booths who wouldn’t accept that our 9 year old was under 18 as we didn’t have his passport with us. Throw ’em to the lions I say. Don’t get caught out paying more than a few euros for the inevitable photo with the gladiator either. We checked the price before agreeing: some hapless souls had the photo taken first and were then asked to hand over a small fortune.
Ask Rory now what his favourite part of the holiday was and he will say, unequivocally, the Capuchin Crypt. You might be forgiven for thinking the Santa Maria della Conzezione dei Cappuccini was the founding church of the Starbucci Famiglia but you’d be mistaken. Instead, in six tiny chapels beneath the church, are the bones of 4000 friars. Monks with dubious taste yet an obvious artistic bent, used the bones over a period of 200 years to decorate the chapels with intricate patterns. Having a delight in the macabre is an essential quality for any visitor to these crypts. How charming to have the “crypt of the pelvises” and the “crypt of the leg bones”. To end the visit on a cheery note, a placard states the following:
“What you are now we used to be, what we are now you will be”.
Near our hotel was the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, home to the famous Bocca della Verita (mouth of truth). For hundreds of years people have placed their hands in the mouth, the legend being that if you told a lie your hand would be bitten off. To think, if you want a lie-detector test now you have to go on the Jeremy Kyle show.
How else can I entice you to visit this beautiful, if somewhat noisy and chaotic city? The food. Pizza, pasta, ice-cream: a child’s paradise, particularly as the waiters make such a fuss of kids and make them feel so welcome in their restaurants. Not bad for the adults either. My husband still remembers ordering a grande birra one lunchtime and being given a huge bucketful of lager. Not good at afternoon drinking, he was proper plastered as he weaved his way through the city streets afterwards. A bit of a lie-down was needed before we crossed the Tiber to the Trastevere district of the city for another historic meal, this time washed down with a nice Chianti…..
Never mind pasta and ice cream enticing the children to go there, I'm pretty keen too. Yum. Great trip, you look like you had a fabulous time.
Sounds like a great trip. My son would love it – he's really into the romans and has read Horrible Histories etc like Rory. We even let him watch Gladiator (well, my husband did) which is an 18! (he was 9 at the time) because he was studying the romans at school. You're giving him a great education and demonstrating that you can still go to interesting, cultural places as a family. We seem to have fallen into the centre parcs/Club Med trap. No more!
'Here's a truck stop instead of St Peter's' always reminds me of the Cities of Italy coach trip I took with my mum some years ago – it was actually wonderful – but there was a danger of 'Oh look another bloody fantastic bloody church' – and indeed at one point we did just stop in a car park and the guide uttered words to the effect of 'Here's another bloody fantastic bloody church. Go in if you want to but I'm staying here.' Saint Something's it was – I got coach trip Saint Deafness after a while.
We did 'do' the Sistine Chapel – 'This way. In here. Keep moving. Bugger off.' Blimey daylight! What happened?
But I did throw a coin in the Trevi (?) Fountain – even though it was covered in a large black bin liner at the time – but I think it still counts, so I should make it back someday. Watch out nuns!
PS I remember the monks crypt too – fantastic weirdness.
angelsandurchins – I've never had a bad holiday in Italy, just love the country.
Thanks for popping over!
deer baby – up until he was 9 we mainly did beachy holidays in the summer and that was it. The mini breaks have been great and he's got such a lot out of them.
Madame SG – I just love your comments – it's like having a guest post on my blog!
My husband nearly threw an annoying hawker into the Trevi fountain: not exactly three coins but would have been far more entertaining.
I did the Sistine Chapel when I was little: very nice but got a cricked neck.
Once in Venice my daughter would just sit down every time we entered a church or gallery and say 'madonna and child, madonna and child..can I sit here while you and Dad look around?'…you obviously enticed your son in the right way! sounds like a great trip.
Love Rome, but haven't been with the children. My father lived there for a year as a child just next to the Spanish Steps and has some wonderful stories.
Great post! I like that you mentioned the "mouth of truth!". Fun to hear some of the less visited, but still fun places to visit! So much to see in Rome is off the touristy path!
Thanks for visiting, Liz. Great when an old post gets noticed as I read it again and remember what a fabulous trip it was. We should go back, we only saw a tiny part of what Rome has to offer.