We went to Rome, Italy as a family on Christmas Day 2022 and came home New Years Day 2023! Follow along on our day-to-day adventures of Rome!
Day 3
Dear Adventure Avenue,
This morning we woke up and had breakfast in the hotel again. I had the veggie omelet again. My dad tried the deli meats omelet. My brother did the pancakes and my mom, mere, and her friend did the buffet.
Villa Medici
Then we took a taxi to Villa Medici (well my mom and brother decided to sit this one out). This Villa is run by the French Académie (Académie française) and interestingly French is the first language on everything, then Italian, and then sometimes English. I had booked us tickets the day before (good thing because it was a pretty full tour). The French tour at 10:30 sold out in fact.
We first toured the gardens where we saw peacocks! There was also a gorgeous panoramic view of the Basilica.
They used to grow a big vegetable garden, but the peacocks eat everything – except artichokes so there were still artichokes growing.
Frescos in one of the out houses were hidden for many years before they were discovered again.
An interesting story about one of the rooms was that the frescos originally done were destroyed because the rather religious inhabitant at the time thought them to be too pornographic, so he burned them. Now in the place of where they were destroyed sits a modern piece done in butterflies that were burned onto the wood. Butterflies were the original artist’s signature that he would weave into the paintings, so it was very symbolic of the original artist of the destroyed paintings as well as the way they were destroyed. I believe Jacopo Zucchi was the original artist.
After the tour, we walked through the photography exhibit which wasn’t great. My dad especially didn’t care for it because there were no English captions. I was fine because there were French ones.
My dad and I then walked back to our hotel through Villa Borghese.
We met up with my mom and brother at the hotel where we then walked to La bruschetta for lunch which was very close. I wasn’t too hungry, so I just had a caprese salad and my mom had that as well. My dad got a pizza with mushrooms, prosciutto, and olives and my brother got a margarita pizza.
Then we headed back to the room for some rest and relaxation because of our early morning Vatican tour scheduled for day 4.
After resting my mom, brother, and I made our way to a bakery, pharmacy, and then dinner.
The bakery was right next to the pharmacy we were going to, but as it was closing time, there wasn’t much selection. We were able to get some goodies like a half-dipped chocolate palmier and a normal size palmier as well as a croissant.
La Bruschetta
We got what we needed from the pharmacy and then walked to La Bruschetta for dinner. I ordered us a bruschetta that was specially made with garlic and tomatoes. That was delicious.
For our main course, I had gnocchi in a red sauce, my brother had buttered pasta and my mom had a pizza with prosciutto. We ordered a lasagna to go for my dad. They were so nice there for lunch and dinner.
My mom also ran into the bar next store and grabbed a chocolate muffin and berry tart.
We hung out in the room before heading to bed at 8:30.
Until tomorrow,
A
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