The jet lagged new arrivals were still sleeping three hours after I got up so I went for a bit of a walk in the neighbourhood.

I saw there was a church just a block away. I thought I would visit the church maybe try a bit of sketching there. This neighbourhood is not good for seeing into the distances as there are so many houses surrounded by high walls.

The church, San Isidore, is also walled or fenced off.

So I went down the nearby stairs.

This brought me to a major street which goes to Piazza Barberini and Bernini’s Tritone Fountain.

Around the corner was a theatre where a group of children were excitedly waiting. There were groups of children heading to the theatre from other directions. Obviously some pre-Christmas event was about to happen. I headed back to the apartment.

Eventually we all made our way to Piazza Navona—by taxi to give Scott a rest after his exertions yesterday. We went into the church across from Sant’Agnes in Agone called something like Santa Maria Misericordia nel cuore de Cristi.

The air was cool but the sun was warm. We walked to the Campo de’Fiori area to get gelato from Fatamorgana. I’ve fallen behind on my gelato research. Good nocciola and cioccolato crudo which had tiny bits of unsweetened chocolate.

We wandered a bit more in the area. We had booked a guided visit to Palazzo Falconieri, which is now the Hungarian Embassy. Most of the building was not available to be viewed.

A guide took us to a few of the rooms designed by Borromini which are normally inaccessible to the public but the Embassy made some times available for public tours over three days in December. I was surprised we were able to book but maybe the opportunity was not well advertised. Our guide was surprised I had learned about the visits as it was mainly advertised to Romans by email. She asked if I was a Borromini researcher.

The rooms, particularly the ceilings, were full of multiple symbols some of which are not fully understood.

Some very interesting details with family references but also some possible pagan references. The Palazzo Falconieri was originally owned by the Farnese family, whose Palazzo Farnese is very close by.

We stopped for a pre-dinner drink in Campo de’Fiori (and to use il bagno). Sat outside to enjoy the view of the statue of Giordano Bruno who was burned at the stake for publishing that the earth was not the centre of the universe contrary to the Catholic church’s cosmology. Some argue he was sentenced to death because of his religious views more than his scientific ones but he is considered to be a martyr to science.

We had no dinner plans as I didn’t know how jet lag would be affecting Scott and Sidney. We found a restaurant not too far from the Campo de’Fiori area, Il Piccolo Vicolo.