1936 On the Continent

Goethe, Thorwaldsen, Liszt, Wagner, Mark Twain, etc. To-day the café is a favourite rendezvous of the Roman art world. You will probably enjoy your dinner at the Neapolitan
trattoria
on the Via Cicerone, where excellent and reliable food is served. After dinner you can dance at the Soda Parlor in the Via Venetora.
    Fourth Day.
Early in the morning you can visit the Vatican Museum. At midday, the ladies wearing black dresses and veils and the men dark suits, you will attend the Papal audience. After the audience you can lunch well at one of the restaurants on the Piazza del S. Pietro. In the afternoon the programme includes the Via Appia and the Catacombs. The most convenient and comfortable method of visiting the Via Appia is by horse cab. The cab will stop where necessary, and at dusk it will take you round the old Roman graves. You simply must not miss watching the sunset from the Via Appia.
    This day will have been rather tiring and you are not likely to feel like staying up late. You may drive across to Trastavere, which is one of the most interesting and oldest quarters of Rome. Here, in the Piazza di S. Maria, you can dine at one of the
trattorias
and become acquainted with the life of the people of Rome. The district is far from “smart,” but a single dinner in Trastavere will tell you volumes about the colourful, interesting life of the common people.
    Fifth Day.
In the morning you can visit the Foro Mussolini, the magnificent sports town, and the Giardino Zoologico. Towards midday you take a combined ticket on the Piazzale Flaminia for Ostia (the ticket costs 5 lire and takes you by omnibus to the railway station, to and from Ostia by train, and back to the Piazzale Flaminia by bus), Rome’s seaside resort, which has developed very considerably in recent years. You can lunch at the seaside resort, where you can spend part of the afternoon, using the rest of the time to visit the ancient Ostia itself. Upon your return to Rome you can dine well at one of the restaurants on Mont Mario.
    In this way you can see in five days all that your friends at home will expect you to have seen. If you can stay longer you can naturally extend your programme.
Night Life in Rome
    Night life in Rome is no more amusing than in most other Italian towns. The great social events always take place privately, and unless you establish contact with Rome society through friends, acquaintances or through your Embassy, you will find Rome—apart from its natural beauty and its art treasures—rather dull. The one or two variety theatres that are open both in summer and winter are less than second-rate and resemble the places of amusement of some Balkan town rather than the smart establishments of a European capital.
    Facilities for dancing, as we have already mentioned, are provided at the Ambasciatore, at the five o’clock teas of the Excelsior, and at the Quirinale (which is the best after the Ambasciatore.) A less convenient place is the Grotto del Piggione. The “Soda Parlor” of the Via Veneto is quite a charming place, but the music is supplied—by gramophone. The cinemas everywhere show pictures synchronised in Italian: only the smart little Quirinetta exhibits foreign films in the original version.
    We can say little that is good of the Roman, and generally the Italian, theatres. On the other hand, the Rome opera, the Teatro Reale dell’ Opera, is brilliant and the performances are unexcelled anywhere else in the world. The world’s foremost singers appear in these performances, which are perfect to the smallest detail. A first night willmobilise the cream of the “upper ten thousand,” as well as the
corps diplomatique
, and you may see many well-known people both on the stage and in the auditorium. If you happen to be in Rome on the day of a
première
at the opera you ought to make every effort to attend the performance. Unfortunately, the opera season is very short. The theatre opens on Christmas Day and closes after Easter.
    The most fashionable
confisserie
in Rome is Rosati’s on the Via Vittorio Veneto, where, from spring till late autumn, the “world of fashion” foregathers every day, but particularly on Sundays, for aperitifs and teas. There are a few tea-rooms in Rome, such as the Golden Gate, which is also on the Via Vittorio Veneto, Rampoldi and Babington on the Piazza di Spagna, which are frequented by many foreigners, particularly by English and American visitors. The English and Americans also have a