Visiting great cities is always fun.  Visiting great cities with great friends is even better.  Visiting Rome is one of my favorite adventures.  But visiting Rome with great Italian friends is a rare once-in-a-lifetime treat and that is what we did late last year.

Those of you that follow this blog, should be somewhat familiar with our friends Gianfranco and Paula.  In addition to being our friends, they have acted as our tutors, chauffeurs, translators, dinner guides and Sunday-night-movies-at-Dario’s companions.  Gianfranco was the first person we met in Lecce and we shall be forever grateful for that piece of luck.  When they suggested that we go to Rome together and visit several gracious people we had met a couple of times before at Porto Cesareo, we jumped at the chance.

The Major Cast

Gianfranco and Paula on the train to Roma

Paula

Gianfranco

Yours truly with the gfirls

Holly and I

Caravaggio

One of the major reason that Paula wanted to take this trip with us was to visit as many of the Caravaggio paintings housed in Rome as possible.  I sometimes felt like we were characters in a Dan Brown novel scurrying around town in search of the next hidden painting.  One of the works is featured in the Angels and Demons movie.  I know that his paintings will not be new to many of you, but seeing them in person is breathtaking.  His use of light is something every lighting designer should study.

Italian Dinners

I am always traveling around with a camera slung over my shoulder waiting for the next opportunity to find a scene I cannot resist.  We were invited to dinner on consecutive nights to two homes of the friends we had met at Porto Cesareo.  I took a camera the first night, but it felt a little awkward.  That is a long way around to the fact that I have pictures of the first dinner, but not the second.  In hindsight, I am not sure I made the right decision.  Just know that both dinners were spectacular meals and we ate way too much at each of them.  You just cannot say no to Italians set on feeding you, and the food just keeps coming.

The table

Gianni (our chauffeur) and Holly

Rosaura and Gianni

Dessert

Just a few of the regular sites

Ponte Sant’Angelo

Can’t go to Rome and not take a picture of the Coloseum

The Pantheon – one of my favorite buildings in the world

Just before we left to return to Lecce, we had a lunch buffet at the restaurant run by Gianni’s son, Alessandro.  By the time we rolled ourselves onto our train, I thought we would never be able to eat again.