Don Quijote’s tea

The urban guide of a modern knight-errant

Santissimi Quattro Coronati Church

From San Giovanni Square walk along Via dei Ss. Quattro Coronati and you’ll end up in front of the Basilica
of Santi Quattro Coronati, a magnificent 4th-Century church set in Rome's medieval area. Surmounted by a
stout tower, the church overlooks the Celio district with its strict medieval authoritativeness.
Yet, few people know that inside the monastery porter’s lodge, on the right side of the courtyard, there is a
well preserved ancient wheel (“ruota”), where mothers used to lay abandoned unwanted babies. The rotating
trap door of the wheel now serves as a holder for donations made by visitors who access the adjacent
medieval San Silvestro oratory.
No notice or sign is there to guide you to the oratory. The only thing to do is ring the porter’s bell. After a
short while, a nun will appear from behind a dark small window with iron gratings. Once you’ve left your
one-euro “obolus” inside the wheel –which will shut immediately-, the door of the oratory will open
automatically. Although we are now used to all kinds of forced automatisms, the whole procedure of
accessing the oratory, along with the claustral shade and the few number of visitors, casts a spell-like feeling.
Once inside the oratory, remember the nun’s warning to close the door behind you. This last step will allow
you to fully appreciate in healthy solitude the extensive cycle of Byzantine frescoes and the well preserved
decorations of the oratory.

Villa dei Quintili –Via Appia Nuova 1092

When reaching the fourth mile of Via Appia Nuova, you can make out the remains of Villa dei Quintili, the
largest among the “villas” built on a wavy-looking field on the outskirts of Rome. A labirinth of corridors,
stone basins and roofless rooms are what remains of the original building. Close to Appia Antica also lie the
remains of a nymphaeum, which is separated from the main part of the villa by a wild lawn. There is a barely
audible border between the background traffic noise -a sort of endless “basso continuo”- and the sound
habitat wrapping the villa. Perhaps, the most intense experience you live here is when you actually cross the
sound border while walking along a winding path of grass and stone. On the highest level of the plain, near a
cistern once used to gather water, it is easier to hear trills and calls made by insects, anphibians and birds –
without detecting their dialogues. Although not immediately visible, they are the actual and eloquent
dwellers of the villa.

The neighbourhood of San Saba and its plant nursery

The sleepy neighbourhood of San Saba –deriving its name from the local church- lies on “Piccolo Aventino”,
the hill overlooking the Terme di Caracalla. The central square, located on the top of the hill, is surrounded
by silent, barely adorned, buildings. The rows of houses, façades and mouldings, with the simple red bricks,
remind vaguely of a British neighbourhood. Such impression is quickly replaced by the colours and the
shapes of the gardens revealing you, without the faintest doubt, their Mediterranean nature. If you walk
towards the eastern border of the neighbourhood, heading towards Terme di Caracalla, on your left you will
run into the nursery “Vivaio le Mura”. As soon as you walk inside, you’re struck by a stout wall of bamboo
skirting the first part of the path. At the heart of the nursery lies the garden for blind people: a cornucopy of
bonsais lined up along a bamboo handrail. Before going down the path, I recommend that you close your
eyes, reach out your hands and touch the earthenware panels with their relief drawings of leaves and plants.
You will soon realise that there are few plants you can actually regognise as you get to know most of them for
the first time.
Piazza Lancellotti

Halfway between Via dei Coronari and Lungotevere Tor di Nona, this small rectangular square remains
isolated from the crowds of tourists orbiting Piazza Navona. Its beauty lies in the contrast between the
shabby look of San Simeone, an abandoned and run-down medieval church, and the aristocratic Lancellotti
Palace. A secular olive tree stands out in the middle of the square. Lonely, and inevitably sieged by armies of
cars and motorbikes. If you happen to stroll around this neighbourhood, take a rest under the fatherly olive
tree “exiliated” in the urban stone.

National Museum of Music Instruments - Santa Croce in Gerusalemme 9/A

Slightly hidden from Piazza Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, the museum is just a few meters away from San
Giovanni, an area of outstanding historical and archeological relevance. The museum contains up to 840
instruments, arranged in 18 rooms on the first floor, according to mixed criteria, both chronological and
typological (that is mechanical, extra-European, military, popular instruments and so on). It’s impossible
not to mention the museum's section devoted to the restoration of musical instruments, with a series of
videos focused on the process of restoration alongside practical examples and talks by professionals on the
subject. The museum is worth visiting for the impressive richness and variety of its collection, but you’ll have
to turn a blind eye to the inaccuracy of descriptions (certain Italian expressions were already outdated during
Dante’s time!) and to the rather old-fashioned exhibition standards. Like any respected museum, you should
visit it in the early afternoon, choose “just” a few rooms and come back another time. As you can imagine,
going through 840 musical instruments is not a joke.

The city of Utopia – Via Valeriano 3/F (+39 06 59 64 83 11)

With the first breezes of spring, healthy impulses to ramble suddenly take off. If some of you, eager knights-
errant, are not yet ready to get out of the city walls (because of laziness or whatever may hold you back), a
trip to the Garbatella neighbourhood might as well fit the bill. At the end of Via Leonardo da Vinci, among
ordinary buildings, there is a small hill of wild grass. The city of Utopia is right on the top: a country house of
raw bricks, scattered graffiti, bushes and climbing plants. Although it doesn’t exactly look like a medieval
village surrounded by walls, the place has its undeniable charm. “And what am I supposed to do there?” you
will ask me. Well, you can do many things in there. The city of Utopia is a social laboratory which manages
several projects of local development -both cultural and environmental-, international volunteering and
seminars in a wide range of fields such as cooking, languages and a lot more. So, what are you waiting for?

Offidani book shop – Viale Mazzini 83

The Italian writer Marco Lodoli was the first to talk about it in his book Isole – Guida vagabonda di Roma.
Offidani is a tiny book shop, 10 square meters roughly in the setting of Viale Mazzini. This place looks even
narrower because of the massive amount of books piled up everywhere. In it you can find whatever you want:
either used or new books, nowhere-to-be-found editions, dusty rare volumes or, simply, the book you’ve been
looking for without success. At the first sign of uncertainty, Mr Offidani, a witty little man, will be ready to
guide you around his treasure. One thing is certain: there is a lot to discover and you might not realise how
quickly time goes by.

Write Torpignattara read Kashmir

The shabby and tarry-looking tram going down Via Casilina has its own poetry; maybe because its colour
blends in with the one of the neighbourhoods it cuts through while “acheing” at every stop. Once you get off
at Torpignattara, you’re immediately struck by the juxtaposition of names and symbols, different worlds
coexisting within a few bunch of crossroads. Worlds one over the other, not blending with each other.
Torpignattara neighbourhood is a messy compound of buildings and small houses framed by satellite dishes.
Its northern border is marked by the thick arches of the Acquedotto Alessandrino (one of the Roman
aqueducts), but the real heart of the neighbourhood is the junction between Via Casilina and Via di
Torpignattara. Like in a footage, several images stream in front of you without any consistency: a niche
holding the statue of the usual Virgin Mary, a scratch altar crowned with washed-out holy pictures, football
graffitis, the “Karma bar” billboard, the African hairdresser’s, the “Jin” Italian-Chinese restaurant, small
Indian shops selling brans and spices and groups of men wearing panjabis as they gather outside.
It is highly recommended to idle for a while around these streets before going to Kashmir restaurant in Via
Carlo della Rocca (a parallel street of via di Torpignattara), where you’ll be kindly welcomed by Mr. Aziz.
Unlike many ordinary Indian restaurants in Western cities, the Kashmir restaurant introduces you to
Kashmir cooking along with traditional Indian dishes. After many years in Italy, the chef has learned how to
balance spices and flavours in a very creative way. The place is small and cosy: choosing your dish won’t be
difficult –as it often happens in many so-called ethnic restaurants. Mr. Aziz, the maitre of the restaurant, will
happily guide you through the menu.

Kashmir - tandoori & mughlai - Tel. 06 44 06 859

by Valentina Palmieri

Tè di Don Chisciotte is a registered trademark

Copyright 2008  Valentina Palmieri