A ROMAN CHRISTMAS - ITS A GREAT TIME TO VISIT THE SITES

I've said before that I find Christmas difficult. It's not that I don't like it as I find many of its sentiments attractive - despite the fact that it's preceded in Britain by almost three months of the most awful aspects of modern day consumerism. I particularly hate having to endure Christmas songs being repetitively played in shops, supermarkets and on television for weeks on end and if I have to listen again to "It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas" I think I'll expire sooner rather than later. Seriously though my problem is more to do with with feelings of being divorced from it at home. We don't go to church and we have no choice these days but to pull up the drawbridge and spend it in splendid isolation - Christmas Day highlights being watching the Queen's Speech (actually I am a sucker for this) and perhaps also the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special! Both Jon and I have no close family to celebrate it with and after my Mum died three and a half years ago we have lost the will to make it special at home. To avoid melancholia taking a hold - keeping "the black dog at bay" as Winston Churchill would have put it - we have chosen to spend it in Italy these last three years - the first two of the three in Florence and the last one at our apartment in Citta della Pieve. We have come to thoroughly enjoy it there for all sorts of reasons - not least because although it's very important in Italy - it isn't the frenzied greedfest and mega shut down that its become at home. Last year, just before the main holiday, we went down to Rome by train and spend a night in a hotel near Termini station. I was staggered at what we were able to achieve in just 24 hours, so this year we decided to give it another go - for four days this time before going on to our apartment in Umbria for New Year.

We didn't do much planning before setting off other than to book the flights from Stanstead to Rome and then to choose a decent hotel in a convenient part of the city at the best possible rate. In the old days this used to be hit and miss affair - the best option being to get a recommendation from a friend. Now, it couldn't be easier with on-line detailed research available even to computer morons like me. I would strongly recommend the website "booking.com" for this - it is quite simply amazing. Choose where you want to go, (anywhere in the world) set the perameters and dates and press the button. Pictures, customer reviews (how hotels must hate these) and free cancellation/ pay later options are all usually available, the latter at a small extra charge. I must confess to using this and cancelling the first choice a few weeks later. I did this after making a new reservation close to the departure date when I found a better hotel in a great area available at a super rate. If you follow the site over a couple of weeks its fascinating to observe how rates can change, so the non-refundable option is not the best choice. So what did we settle for in Rome for our Christmas stay?

PIAZZA BARBERINI & THE LOCATION OF THE BARBERINI HOTEL

BARBERINI HOTEL

We chose a smallish 35 bedroom hotel called the Barberini just off the Piazza Barberini which is a superb location half way between Termini station and the Piazza Veneto and there is a Line A metro station just 200m from the door of the hotel. Loads of buses also pass through the Piazza which can take you almost anywhere you want to go. Stand on the front doorstep of the hotel and you look directly across to the impressive 17th century Palazzo Barberini designed by architect Carlo Maderno for the Barberini Pope Urban VIII and completed by Bernini. This building is testimony to what happened to the profits from the Papal Treasury in the 1630's! Now owned by the state it houses the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica and its magnificent art collection including works by Raphael, Tintoretto, Tiepolo, Caravaggio and Holbein. Look left from the front door, down past the piazza directly up the Via Sistina and its possible to see the obelisk which stands on a pedestal at the top of the Spanish Steps and outside Trinita dei Monti church - five to ten minutes walk away. Go east from the hotel along the street and you arrive at Boromini's small square of the four fountains the Quattro Fontane (currently under restoration) and thence on to the magnificent Sant Maria Maggiore church. All of this was part of a grand boulevard scheme planned by Pope Sixtus V. A ten minute walk south from the hotel takes one to the maze of streets which lead to the Trevi district and its famous fountain - more about that later. The four star hotel itself is a  five storey19th century building which has been drastically modified to accommodate a new layout in recent years. You enter at street level down a flight of white marble steps into a commodious reception area in what originally would have been the basement. Here there's also a small bar and a sitting area. Upstairs the double/twin rooms are quite small (there are I belived a small number of junior suites) but furnished traditionally (silk damask on the walls and tasselled window curtains - what more could one want?) with decent quality stuff and each with an excellent marble bathroom with power shower. By far the most important feature of the hotel however, and really why I chose it, is the breakfast room on the sixth floor. Its relatively small and intimate, is fully glazed on two walls and has outstanding views out over the Roman roof tops to St Peter's and the Vatican. What better way to spend Christmas morning than to join fellow guests in this wonderful space and partake of the excellent buffet breakfast and this spectacular vista!

BREAKFAST ROOM ON THE 6TH FLOOR AT THE BARBERINI HOTEL

After settling in on the afternoon of the 23rd we went out to grab an early evening meal in one of the many restaurants nearby (nothing to write home about) and then decided to soak up the Christmas atmosphere in the eternal city. We decided to walk south down the Via della Tritone so we could see the Christmas lights in Rome's fashionable shopping district. The city does Christmas lights big time (we'd seen what was on offer last year) so we knew we were in for a treat. Our first stop we decided would be the Via del Corso.

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS IN THE VIA CORSO

The Via del Corso is one of Rome's principal streets and leads from the Piazza Venezia to the Piazza del Popolo. It's lined with an array of historic buildings and monuments, such as the Triumphal Column of Marcus Aurelius and its an important shopping street too. Not surprisingly its a major venue for Rome's annual Christmas lights show - the equivalent of Oxford Street in London, but in the Italian capital the show is far more extensive and impressive. This year the whole length of the street was decorated and lit with an array of flags of the world some of which can be seen in the photograph here.


We walked down the Corso to take a look at the spectacle in the huge square at the end of the street first laid out in 1538 for Pope Paul III. This is the Piazza dell Popolo, built over a number of years with contributions form Michelangelo and Bernini to provide an impressive northern entrance to Rome. Three straight roads lead off its southern end, of which the Via dell Corso is one. The pair of twin domed churches were added in the 1600's. In the weeks before Christmas the square plays host to a charming Christmas market and this year the lights looked wonderful - an array of white shooting stars with tails.

SHOOTING STARS IN THE PIAZZA DEL POPOLO

Next it was a walk down the crowded Via del Corso to Piazza Venezia - this is the square in front of the huge white wedding cake like building at the top end of the Roman Forum built in the early 20th century and dedicated to the King of the newly united Italy - Vittorio Emanuele II.This is the site of Rome's  principal Christmas tree and its always a beauty. I saw London's effort in Trafalgar Square recently and thought how poor it was. Comparing it with this one - well what can I say? We need to do better at home next year.

HUGE CHRISTMAS TREE IN THE PIAZZA VENEZIA

By now we were beginning to feel footsore and just a little bit weary so it was now time to head off back to the Barberini for a good night's sleep and to prepare for Christmas Eve the following day The plan was to make and enjoy a good cup of tea and map out our next day itinerary; we knew by now that we had the great privilege of being able to attend mass inside St Peter's basilica - that would surely be a highlight of the whole trip!

TRAVELLER'S TIPS
Many of the sights in central Rome are walkable - nothing seems that far from anywhere else in the central area. If using public transport its a good idea to buy an integrated travel ticket which is valid on buses, trams and the metro. It costs 6 euros for 24 hours and 16.50 euros for three days. Weekly tickets are also available. There is no restriction on the number of journeys that can be made Buy them at the automatic machines at the metro stations with cash, Don't forget to validate your ticket in the slot machines on the buses and trams. Oh - and watch out for pick pockets who are notorious in Rome and very skilled. Metro platforms and trains are a magnet for them! Take care and you'll be fine.