Rome in High Season

Something like Civil War re-enactments, but with a great deal more violence, Rome plays host to an annual replay of the barbarian invasion every summer. Precisely when every Roman who can decamps for beach or mountains, the world’s tourists descend on the city in impossibly large numbers. The Romans, who have been making a living fleecing pilgrims for a thousand years, do not seem to object. My presence in the city was required by a small economics institute which held a conference in the Baroque library of a distinguished cardinal; the conference itself was scheduled for the end of July to suit the schedule and vacation plans of a personality from the banking world who chaired the event. Otherwise I would have stayed in the Tuscan hills with the friends I had visited earlier, where one actually needs a sweater in the evening. Rome’s steam-table weather began benignly, gathered momentum at midday and continued to pour on humidity so long that by late evening one felt like a layer of slime had accumulated over one’s skin.

Complaints aside, it still was Rome, a city in which a small church that might have been the wonder of thousand-mile-radius anywhere else barely attracts the attention of the neo-barbarian horde. When Rome settled the invading Germanic tribes during the 5th century, the economy collapsed along with the rule of law; today’s better-behaved barbarians bring economic benefits.

Accompanying me (in fact, usually dragging me panting behind) was one of my daughters whose curiosity was exceeded only by her energy.  To survive her regime of let’s-walk-everywhere-and-see-everything it was necessary to find the occasional oasis away from the roving hordes. Is it possible in Rome at high season? In fact, it’s surprisingly easy.

There are numerous second-tier museums with first-rate art that remain comfortably empty at all times, because most tourists spend a few days and see the must-see sights. Whereas the Vatican museum is best approached through an organized tour (at 25 Euros and up) that skips the impossibly long queues, the wonderful Doria-Pamphilj Palazzo in the city center has a famous Velasquez (the portrait of the Pamphilj pope Innocent X), some Caravaggios, an important Titian and hundreds of other works—and it is still owned and operated by the family, which thoughtfully provides audio guides with the (quite reasonable) price of admission. We had the little room with the Velasquez to ourselves for a quarter of an hour.

A ten-minute walk from St. Peter’s is the Palazzo Farnesino with its Raphael frescos, across the street from the Palazzo Corsini with a magnificent collection (now only partially viewable due to restoration).

Many churches contain magnificent art and represent cool, tranquil oases away from the rush. A little research can produce a walking tour with many delightful stops in beautiful settings that (among other things) do not require an admission charge, unlike the museums). The Gesu, the first Jesuit church with its trick-the-eye Baroque ceiling frescos is an obvious destination, as is the Church of Ignatius Loyola. But my favorite is the little Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, the French church near the Pantheon, with its Caravaggio tryptich on St. Matthew.

Of course, there are things one must see, for without them one never will understand European history. The Palazzo dei Conservatori at the Campidoglio tells you more about the concept of universal empire in European politics than anything you will read in a book. But that is a much longer story. For the prepared traveler, Rome offers glorious exposure to great beauty without exhausting physical and spiritual resources (nor one’s budget) even at the peak of the tourist season.