On Sunday, our last day in Rome, we walked along the Gianicolo (Janiculum) hill on the west side of central Rome. The Passeggiata del Gianicolo, a series of roads and stairs, meanders up the hill through a series of ever-better vistas of the city.
Along the way are memorials to some of the founders and figures of the unified republic: statues of Anita and Giuseppe Garibaldi, busts of soldiers and officers who fought along with them for unification, a wall etched with the constitution of the short-lived Roman Republic of 1849, and a mausoleum to the soldiers who died trying to defend it from the invading French forces who returned the Pope to power over Rome. This is a lot of Italian history that I don’t really know. From high school world history I really only remember a little bit about Cavour and Mazzini and Garibaldi and the unification proclaimed in 1861. I’ve got some studying to do. My unusual citizenship process does not require passing a history and civics test like naturalizing to the US, but I probably ought to learn all of that anyway.
The day was warm and humid so even though the climb wasn’t very high we were tired and sweaty at the end. We decided not to visit the Botanical Garden in the afternoon since it would involve climbing the hill a second time. That’ll be top of our list for next visit because Michelle adores botanical gardens.
We had dinner at the extremely popular Roscioli Salumeria – our main course was basically a big platter of salumi and cheese as recommended by the server. Delicious.