It was drizzling when we woke up, so we took our time getting ready for our second to the last day in Italy.

Piazzaa Navona was our first stop.  There was a Christmas market there this weekend, but by Monday morning all that was left were carnival games and a fancy carousel.  I was glad that it was basically empty; it is such a beautiful space.  We stayed for a good while engaging with the fountains and imagining how impactful this art must have been to pre-media society.

We continued walking and exploring, finding squares and monuments that were new to us like Piazza Montecitorio, with an obelisk and an impressive government building, and Piazza Colonna with it’s  marble carved, victory column of Marcus Aurelius from 193 AD.  Our destination was the small retail ceramic shop, De Sanctis, where I bought a Deruta Christmas ornament. It is in Piazza Pietra which is also home to Hadrian’s Temple, where the World Energy Conference was meeting:

We walked by Piazza Veneziawhich, which now has a huge Christmas tree, heading back in the direction of Trastevere.

All this time and no coffee. So we finally stopped into a bar and gathered our flagging energy.

We loved our lunch yesterday at Trapizzino so much we just had to go back.  This time we tried different things.  Ken got the meatball and I got one with a very flavorful beef “stew” called zighini with North African roots.  And we shared a broccoli trapizzino too.  All this with one glass of tasty red wine for under €20.  I fully understand why they are busy all the time.  

I am so enjoying the Trastevere street art:

Our place is so near the fabulous Fatamorgana gelato, it seemed the perfect time to get some.  I absolutely loved the flavor I got, paired with Venezuelan chocolate. Here’s the tag for my gelato:

It started raining a bit, so we just sat in there to enjoy our ice cream; the rain stopped after about 5 minutes and we went home.

Long naps were in order and taken.

In the evening we went out to get dinner supplies. The fresh pasta lady was open so we got some of her rustic fettucine and got a bottle of Aglianico down the street.  We were set.  I made the pasta with chopped left over prosciutto and red sauce and we had salad.  

We are both in “wind down” mode, feeling the melancholy efffects of our last days.