What might the tourist see and hear when walking from Trastevere across the Trilussa Bridge to Feroci, the butcher-traiteur just behind the Pantheon?
For one, he might come across an elderly lady with a husky voice, talking to a negozio, a shop owner, chatting and saluting - and find her talking to another negozio up the street, doing the same, as he walks back. She must be doing her Saturday greeting tour, pulling her trolly, perhaps on the way to the Campo dei Fiori market; a village scene among all the tourists filling up the alleyways to and fro from Campo dei Fiori, whose market is currently offering 'puntarella', a chicoree-type legume, which looks a little like escarolle salad - very tasty, a specialty available only for a brief season and quite expensive (€15 a kilo). Of course, you can spend a lot more at Feroci, which offers the most succulent stuffed zucchini, beef filet and mushroom carpaccio, mozzarella-filled fiori di zuccha wrapped in thin white bacon - no artichoke carpaccio today!At 26 degrees Celcius, the tourist is slightly confused weather-wise. Could this still be summer in October? Friday night, everybody and his uncle had been hanging 'round the Trilussa Square as if at the height of the summer season; Roman youth mixing with the tourists. On Saturday, the municipal cleaners waterspray the stairs leading from the bridge to the Tevere, to remove the piss of all those people, who did not bother to find another kind of toilet.
After a bout of shopping, a caffe is called for, as always, at St. Eustachio's, where the cashier, one of the bosses ? - explained that their fine own-brand chocolate bars are made in France. Globalisation and branding infiltrate the best of coffee places even in Rome.
Just before reaching the hotel again, a charming and quiet oasis of an ex-nunnery just above Trastevere, a motorino driver cuts a corner right in front of me. He was transporting 3 boxes of fruit or vegetables on his motorino, one of them between his legs - what a sight! Antiquated somehow, but also efficient. At the hotel, the interior garden invites the guest to have a peaceful cigarette, whilst a lizard whizzes along the stone encasements of a flower bed. Roma, ti amo.
Time to go. The airport was as busy as ever, Alitalia is still flying. I sat down near the departure gate, where another Lufthansa flight was closing. The gate staff were calling out for the remaining passengers for Frankfurt, moving into the terminal, calling out for Frankfurt passengers by clapping their hands, as a bunch of Italians, dressed in blue sports suits featuring the Italian flag on their backs rushed to make it to the gate. No angry tones to be heard though, no bossing around, no; the gate staff were ultimately forgiving, understanding. Would they have behaved the same way with foreign passengers? Probabilmente.
