Italy – ToBatheOrNotToBathe

Slides in 4 levels

Tobatheornottobathe is always looking for new and funny bathing experiences, but it is expensive in the long run to travel a lot. In order to keep costs down, we often live in private homes instead of hotels, and we sometimes rent out our own house when we are away (through HomeExchange.com). However, traveling from place to place and washing unfamiliar apartments when we leave isn’t the most relaxing way to spend the vacation. At the end of the 2024 holiday in Sicily, we therefore spent 2 nights at an ‘All Inclusive’ resort near the Palermo airport.

No water shortage when the middle class goes on a luxury holiday.

Well… it was basically nice, it really was. But you eat in a canteen, not really in a restaurant, and after a short time you realize that all the food tastes similar.

The advantage of ‘tourist traps’ is that they also provide jobs for cultural workers. After almost 3 weeks in ordinary apartments, we – actually! – experienced Sicilian folk music.

The resort was nice and clean and quiet (October) and had lots of facilities. All the staff spoke English well, to be honest we had to admit that their English was better than our Italian! Very very annoying indeed…

Toilet for elderly ladies with hats – only to be accompanied by a bartender.

But once you’re actually situated at a resort like this, you have to make the best out of it! Very unusual for the Tobatheornottobathe: We did do sunbathing, almost one hour, and afterwards: exercise in the 50 m long pool. Big surprise! The water was cold and fresh. We expected sea water, but no. A really nice place to swim.

Idun swims as a butterfly in the 50-metre pool.

After exercise, time was just right for the slides! Idun had seen a picture on fb, showing slides in 4 levels. YES! This was really fun. The slides are short but steep, so the speed gets quite high.

First you take a slide taking you to a small, lower pool.

Then you take a second slide down to the next pool.

Then the third slide down to an even lower level.

Finally, the fourth slide down to…the sea!

Brilliant!

At last down in the water, we know now that we weren’t alone! We didn’t know it then, but one camera in the hand was one while we were swimming. This guy and his buddies seemed to be used to strange creatures plopping in from outside their world.

Notice the wonderfully sun tanned leg, after an hour in the sun!

You can spend a lot of time at the toboggans, and if there are young people in the family, you can expect them to hang out here all day long. There were a lot of warning signs, of course, but this one was maybe a bit over the top?

Hmm. The point of entering the water via a slide is basically not to enter gradually into the pool?

However, Badebade did not end the day by the taboggans. After riding the slides a few times, maybe it would be nice to enter the water the normal way too? The resort area was rather steep, with poor access to the sea. To enjoy the beach life, you can join a minibus to the nearest sandy beach – not accessible from the resort area.

Well, they have installed stairs down to the sea, so there is access. This night a bit scary because of heavy wind in the sunset.

‘Huh, that was exciting, but fun!‘ Idun said. A little later: ‘I have a strange feeling. One of my feet is sore. After wearing the same sandals every day for 3 weeks, I suddenly get a chafing today! How is that even possible?‘ It was not water from a chafing wound, it was blood from an unpleasant encounter with a rock on the shore.

After an otherwise super day in the water, it’s nice to round off with mini golf. Since we were off season, we couldn’t find an open bar and decided to make the refreshments ourselves. With untravelled lemon!

Out of season, you can fix the drinks yourself.

Conclusion? It was relaxing to do an ‘All Inclusive’! But recommend it? No and no again, we certainly won’t do that. On vacation you should always stay in ordinary neighborhoods and leave your money in small, local businesses. It is much more fun and better for everyone. Basta!

The Jewish Baths

The Jewish quarter still exists in Syracuse, but the Jews are gone.

Jews have lived in Sicily since Roman times (before the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, AD 70). These were for a large part slaves. During 200 years of Arab rule, there was basically freedom of religion, persecution of Jews became severe later, after the island was Catholic again, around 1210. Over the centuries, various laws were introduced; that the Jews should have a mark (red wheel) on their clothes, that they should have nothing to do with Catholics, they should live in certain areas of the cities (ghettos), forced participation in Christmas celebrations, etc.

The Jewish Quarter of Syracuse. ‘*What happened to you? Nothing special, I haven’t lived here since 1492*.’

Sicily came under Spanish rule in 1298. After this the persecutions got worse. Grenada, as the last region in Spain, freed itself from Muslim rule in 1492. King Ferdinand II of Aragon, but above all Queen Isabella I of Castile, insisted that the spanish population should be Catholic, and only Catholic. On March 31st, 1492, they issued an edict, ‘The Alhambra Decree‘, which gave all Jews (later also Muslims) a deadline to either convert to Christianity or leave the country – by July 31^st the same year. As part of the Kingdom of Aragon, this also came to apply to Sicily. The number of Jews in Sicily was around 35,000 at the time. The only thing they were allowed to take with them was one set of changing clothes, a mattress and a set of bed linen. All other assets were confiscated, and they were not allowed to take neither gold nor other valuables out of the country.

Chiesa di San Filippo Apostolo in Syracuse.

Of Sicily’s Jews, about 25,000 moved to mainland Italy or the Ottoman Empire, where they were well received, while about 9,000 converted to Christianity in order to stay. As converts, they were highly suspected, they were nicknamed crypto-Jews (partly rightly so, since some continued to practice Judaism in secret), and many fell victim to the Inquisition. However, children of converted Jews were not persecuted by the Inquisition (as long as they were not baptized), and these could in principle grow up to become Jews again (with the risk of pogroms instead).

Under the church dedicated to the apostle Philip are the remains of a ‘*Mikveh*‘ – a Jewish ritual bath from before 1492. The water is crystal clear spring water, and the temptation was indeed sincere. Could there be a tiny tiny tiny chance of a bath here? NO!

The purification ceremony is for orthodox Judaism so important that they have to construct the mikveh before the synagogue. There are many requirements for a Jewish ritual bath. The water must come to the bath by itself (from a source) and not by the use of pumps or movement made by people or via a tank. The pool must be so large that a person can be completely covered by water. Before entering the bath, you have to be clean and naked. Ritual baths must take place before all holidays including the Sabbath, and for women also after menstruation and childbirth.

Beautifully carved stairs for access to the water.

When renovating a private house in Siracusa in the 1980’s, the owner came across a vault that was a bit strange. This was opened, and after removing a few hundred loads of sand and gravel, a large mikveh was found 8 meters below ground. The water is clean and clear, and the whole room has been carved directly out of the rock with axes – a very beautiful bathroom with vaults. Awesome!

Our strict guide did not let us take pictures of the Jewish bath under the Hotel Residence alla Giudecca in Siracusa. This picture of the information poster must do. Tobtaheornottobathe saw no reason to even ask for a bath there…

Just outside the hotel, however, you find the sea, so a bath can easily be done. The access made by the municipality was also made in the simplest way – using scaffolding material!

No beauty criterias or decoration, only function. But popular!

When there is a lot of wind, it is easy to hurt yourself if you do not use the stairs. We saved this bath until one day the wind was weak, and we had a very nice swim.

A bath *outside* the Jewish baths in Siracusa is just right.

Archimedes

If there is something Siracusa is proud of, it is Archimedes. A multi-artist in the format of Leonardo da Vinci (or Trondheim’s Johan Daniel Berlin): Mathematician, physicist, engineer and inventor in what at the time (250 BC) was one of the largest and most important cities in the Mediterranean. Among the general public, he is perhaps best known for his ‘EUREKA moment‘, when he figured out how to compare the density of two bodies of different shapes. This happened when he lowered his body into his bath tub, observing that the water rose and overflowed as his body took up volume from the water. Those of us who have taken Physics at secondary school remember years with jokes like this: ‘When a body is submerged in cold water, it comes up again quickly!‘. Of course, this won’t normally apply to Tobatheornottobathe’s bodies…

Piazza Archimede in Syracuse. The fountain in the middle, however, is dedicated to the hunting nymph Arethusa.

The story about Archimedes’ naked jump out of the bath, running through the city shouting: ‘EUREKA!‘ (I’ve found it!) is not as unlikely as you might think. First of all, nudity was more common in ancient Greece (the Olympic Games took place without clothes), and also: Archimedes was widely known to be so busy solving problems that he often forgot to eat, bathe and change his clothes.

There are several different versions of the murder of Archimedes. The most common is that he was so focused on his studies that he did not notice the Roman soldiers who entered his home after Syracuse’s three years of siege. ‘Don’t touch my circles!‘ Archimedes shouted, which excited the soldiers so much that they cut him down right there. This was against the instructions. Marcus Claudius Marcellus led the Roman army and is said to have ordered the kidnapping of Archimedes – they wanted his genius for the benefit of Rome, but that did not happen.

As a mathematician, Archimedes worked on many different problems. He developed a way of writing very large numbers (before the decimal system), as he wanted to prove that the number of grains of sand in the world is not infinite (!), he developed a precursor to calculus using series, he developed a precursor to integral calculus, and last but not least: Archimedes calculated π with 10 digits accuracy.

Hmm. Tobatheornottobathe found π in a roundabout, while Archimedes found π with 10 digits accuracy.

There has been a gradual development in the accuracy of π from ancient times (in the Bible, π is given the value 3 when describing the construction of the ritual bath when they built the temple in Jerusalem), via the value 25/8, which was used in ancient Babylon, to 22/7 , which was widely accepted among the Greeks before Archimedes. Archimedes improved the accuracy by using a circle inscribed and circumscribed by polygons with more and more sides. Not bad at all, considering the tools (number system) available at the time.

π on a random wall. Is Syracuse proud of Archimedes? Yes!

Syracuse was founded around 750 BC by immigrants from Corinth. During the 500 years until the time of Archimedes, the city grew into one of the most important cities in the Mediterranean, and the city was involved in many conflicts. In 214 BC Rome started a siege of Syracuse. The city resisted for 3 years, partly because of Archimedes. To avoid surrender the Romans, Archimedes constructed many interesting devices. The old town of Syracuse is located on an island, Ortigia, and several of the inventions had the aim of sinking hostile ships.

The Archimedes statue is located on an islet between Ortigia and ‘mainland’ Sicily. In his hand he holds a parabolic mirror, also called ‘Archimedes’ burning mirror‘. We don’t know for sure that this was a success, but Archimedes constructed parabolas that was supposed to collect the sun’s rays and send them towards arriving ships to ignite them. This was tested by researcher Ioannis Sakkas in 1973, when he set up 70 copper-coated mirrors with a radius of 1 ½ meters. The experiment took place at the Skaramagas naval base outside Athens, and a tar covered ship model caught fire within seconds (ref 1). Other tests have been done by Mythbusters, who concluded that it is possible, but not very likely, that this weapon has been used in real warfare.

Archimedes is also known for constructing the ‘Manus Ferrea‘ – The Iron Claw. He had already developed multiple hoists for lifting heavy objects (among other things he impressed King Hieron by single-handedly lifting a ship with a hoist). The iron claw could raise the enemy ship from the sea, and by repeated raising/lowering operations, everything on the ship was thrown about and the ship finally went down (tested in ref 2).

Of Archimedes’ quotes, ‘Give me a fixed point and I will move the earth!‘ is perhaps the most famous after Eureka. In reading the Disney version of Montalbano (Topalbano), we found this charming reference by Mickey:

Mickey solves mysteries together with Montalbano/Topalbano (ref 4).

But what does all this have to do with Tobatheornottobathe? We had a swim outside Castello Maniace, the castle at the end of the Ortigia island – precisely where we can imagine that the Iron Claw and the parabolic mirrors could have been used. Most of what we see of masonry here is from the Spanish period (Syracuse came under the House of Aragorn in 1298), but the castle itself has elements from Spanish, Arab, Byzantine, Norman and Greek origins. The whole story basically. The trip started with a boat trip to the caves on the eastern coast.

The captain chickened out and wouldn’t let us take a bath in the caves, just because of some waves.

But at least we got a picture of the Gorilla Rock.

After a nice (but bumpy) boat trip around Ortigia, a bath in front of Castello Maniace is just right. Not much to be seen in the water due to the waves, though. But lovely!

Castello Maniace. Almost the same view as in the last Indiana Jones movie (2024), which is actually about Archimedes.

Ref:
1. Archimedes’ Weapon, Time Magazine, 26 novembre 1973. URL consultato il 12 agosto 2007 (archiviato dall’url originale il 4 febbraio 2011).
2. 1999, BBC, Secrets of the Ancients
3. ‘Archimede di Siracusa‘, Stefano Amato, ISBN 979-12-80638-08-03
4. ‘I gialli del Commissario Topalbano‘, Francesco Artibani, Giorgio Cavazzano, Paolo Mottura, Giampaolo Soldati. ISBN 978-8828758044

Circulusbath in Siracusa

Artwork by Dino Pantano in Syracuse, inspired by a bronze figure dated around 800 BC (before the Greek colonization).

‘The largest Greek city, and the most beautiful of them all!‘ … Cicero wrote around 50 BC. Syracuse was founded by Greeks from Corinth 700 years earlier, when they displaced an Indo-European tribe, the Sicels, from the coast.

The name of the city of Syracuse means ‘surrounded by water‘, and this actually refers to the marshes in the area. However, the old town is located on an island, Ortigia, so the name fits just as well today even though there is no marshland there anymore.

Ortigia. When Zeus made Leto pregnant, Hera is said to have become so jealous that she condemned her to ‘*give birth as painfully as quails do when they lay eggs*‘. Ortigia means quail.

Syracuse has a long and uneven history. Greek dominance ended when the Romans captured the city in 212 BC after 3 years of siege. As the last Sicilian city, it became Arab in the year 878.

The cathedral is located on Ortigia’s highest point, and here the Greeks built a temple for Athena 580 BC. The temple was later converted into a church, then into a mosque and back to church again. And still you can see the pillars from the temple in the walls. Fascinating!

During two hundred years of Muslim rule, the capital functions were moved to Palermo, and Syracuse was never the most important city again, although trade continued. In this period, most of the churches were converted into mosques, but otherwise it was freedom of religion. The Normans took over in 1038, and from 1298 Sicily came under Spanish control.

Most of Syracuse was totally destroyed during the big earthquake of 1693. Something nice came from the bad, though. The reconstruction in the 18th century gave the city a beautiful, baroque style.

In Syracuse (actually it was Ovid), it is told about one day when the beautiful nymph Arethusa, who was in the retinue of the hunting goddess Artemis, wanted to take a bath after the day’s work. Alpheus, the water God, immediately fell in love and wanted her for himself.

Arethusa Fountain in Syracuse. Here, Arethusa gets an eternal bath.

Arethusa was horrified and asked Artemis for help. She blew her to Ortigia and turned her into a spring. However, Alpheus did not give up, but asked his father, Oceanus, for help. The father believed in his son’s love, and opened the Ionian Sea for him so that he could cross Sicily and meet his beloved girl again. This is how Arethusa and Alpheus were united at Ortigia. How he got her even though she was afraid of him, Tobatheornottobathe has not fully figured out. Possibly, no laws of consent applied in ancient Greece?

The Arethusa spring is the eternal embrace between Arethusa and Alpheus in practice. There is a short distance between the source and the sea, so the water is somewhat salty. Wild papyrus grows here, as one of very few places outside of Egypt and Chad.

Just north of the spring there is a small, public beach. Tobatheornottobathe is always looking for places to swim, and Syracuse has plenty of them, as there is sea everywhere. This day, however, the wind was quite strong, and we considered bathing from the rocky parts of the coast as risky because of the waves. Beaches, however! The harbor guard has built a long quay here, and we thought it might be a good idea to jump from the quay and swim to the beach. That turned out to be an interesting task! We were thrown around and around, almost like swimming in a washing machine. But fun! And as the Sicilian water is warm, together with a sandy bottom, it wasn’t dangerous in any way.

Bathing in waves is just right in Syracuse. Great fun!

Gole Alcantara

In the east of Sicily, just north of Etna, there is a valley, Alcantara, where a river has been fighting for space against lava since the dawn of time (well, technically it’s about 8000 years). Tobatheornottobathe had come across a picture of a gill with beautiful basalt columns and splendid bathing opportunities. We wanted to go there!

At first glance, the Alcantara valley did not look very promising. The river, like all the Sicilian rivers we had seen until then, was completely dried out. Later it turned out that this was not a river bed, but an irrigation channel…

The lava had been flowing down from Etna in three stages, and was cooled down just fast enough for basalt columns to be formed. The basalt beams take their shape after the molecular shape of basalt, and create 5-12 sided beams, usually 6. It’s just marvellous!

The name Alcantara comes from Arabic ‘The Bridge‘, and in the middle of the valley there is a gorge which in some places is so narrow that you can jump over to the other side (don’t try, please!). The gill that the river has dug is up to 25 meters deep. Apart from the basalt, this looks quite similar to ‘Mågålaupet‘ at Oppdal in Norway. The basalt, on the other hand, is a bit reminiscent of another basalt pillar gill we have visited, namely ‘Stuðlagil‘ in Iceland.

The gorge is 6 km long, but parts of it are difficult to access.

It turned out that the water in the gill is surprisingly fresh and cold. Absolutely wonderful! There will be some wading on sand and gravel (consider swimming shoes or wet socks if you have sensitive feet).

There is water in the river, and Tobatheornottobathe felt cheerful. But what are all the people looking for in the water?

It was probably the stones in the river they were looking at, or maybe fish, we did see some. Tobatheornottobathe visited the place in October and there were a lot of visitors, but not crowded. In August/September it is probably different, but still we would strongly recommend a bath here. If you want, there are organized trips, for example paddling and canyoning. We felt satisfied with just a bath, and purchased tickets including a lift (!) down and up again.

Nice entrance, almost like it was designed by Gaudi.

The area is well developed, with hiking trails and a park on the southern side. Before the refreshing bath we recommend that you walk the entire route. Almost all the stops are linked to stories about Venus and her love life. An old legend says that the god Vulcano and the goddess Venus used to meet here, but Venus dumped Vulcano in favor of the god Mars. It became a mess! Vulcano, who had let the lava flow this way to heat the water in the river to make it comfortable for Venus, made the water cold instead. This is still the case, and according to legend, the icy water is supposed to increase (!) the virility of the men who bathe here, and the virginity of the ladies. Hmm, mysterious!

A bath in Gole Alcantara is absolutely gorgeous! It wasn’t deep (in October), only wading, but that was ok, since the current was so strong that you couldn’t swim against it anyway. And the temperature? Not above 12 degrees Celsius, i.e. freezing cold according to Italian standards (impossible to swim there in winter, they say…).

Montalbatho

Over many years, we have enjoyed following Andrea Camilleri’s investigator Salvo Montalbano in the TV series of the same name. First with great effort and interpretation problems (many were without subtitles). But even with gaps in understanding, we liked the crime series so much that we watched everything we could find – with or without subtitles.

Camilleri published his first book about Montalbano in 1994, and the last one came out in 2020, the year after the author’s death. Punta Secca has created a small piazza dedicated to him: Piazzetta Andrea Camilleri.

Inspector Montalbano has a big heart for those who are struggling, and little respect for authorities and the mafia. In order to solve the cases, great cleverness and the ability to balance between the necessary investigative steps and the limitations of those in power are needed.

Hunstalbano sono. In almost every episode you can see him taking his morning coffee from exactly this terrasse. And taking a morning swim.

The first episode based on the novels (don’t put too much emphasis on the word episode here, we’re talking about one and a half hour movies…) was broadcasted in 1999 with Luca Zingaretti in the leading role. It was an instant success, and a total of 36 films of varying lengths have been released. We have seen most of them, but we still haven’t been able to get hold of all, so the search continues!

At least one woman tries to seduce Montalbano in every episode, but for the most part he keeps his distance from all beautiful women, including his fiancée Livia, who lives in Genoa, 1,400 km away. Many of the approaches take place in the house (bed), on the terrace or in the bay outside. He lives in an iconic house located in Punta Secca in the south-west of Sicily.

The Montalbano House has now (2024) become somewhat of a pilgrimage destination, and for Badebadebade a natural place to visit – since Montalbano in the TV series swims both often and long.

Idulina sono. Idun has neither Ingrid’s car nor Livia’s temperament, so it had to be a tribute to Adelina, his house maid.

In Camilleri’s books, much of the action takes place in fictional cities in and around his hometown of Agrigento, but in the TV series, many of the recordings are made in and around the cities of Ragusa and Scicli as well as Punta Secca. There are long lists of locations – everyone wants a hand into the tourist industry that has arisen in the series’ wake.

Scicli. The recordings for Montalbano’s police station were made in the town hall.

The scenes in the town hall in Scicli still exist and can be visited for a small fee. The police chief’s office on the floor above is used as a ceremony room, with the same interior as in the films.

Hunstarella struggles with the door, as usual.

Scicli. If you are thinking: Indeed, there are only a few letters that separate the town name Scicli and the island name Sicilia, then you are absolutely right. Both names arrive from the Sicelene, an Indo-European people who lived in Sicily before Greek colonization began around 700 BC. In 1693, the southwestern part of Sicily was hit by a severe earthquake, and many of the towns were completely destroyed. The reconstruction in the 18th century was done in Baroque style, and with building material of light Sicilian sandstone, these UNESCO cities are wonderful places to visit – and also widely used as film sets.

Ragusa Ibla seen from Ragusa Superiore. Follow the Montalbano signs when walking around the city center! It’s no secret that the TV series Montelusa is actually Ragusa.

What was the Montalbano bath like? We had rented the apartment on the ground floor (the first floor is a B&B and was not available to us, nor was the top floor). The house and apartment were nice, some wooden details around the windows and doors are painted white now, not brown as in the series. The access to the sea is as you see in the movies, the lower terrace actually touches the sand. So it was just a matter of strolling down to the sea. The water was a little shallow close to the house, but if you walk a few meters to the side before entering, it’s sand almost all the way. Awesome! We had been strongly warned: The sand is not as nice and golden as in the film, it is too shallow, the water is grey due to sea grass etc. With low expectations, we were happily surprised! We found the beach nice, great for swimming and the water clear.

A bath at the Montalbano beach is wonderful both morning, noon and night. For selfies, you might consider checking where the sun is first.

Living on the ground floor of the Montalbano House is what it is: Living in a pilgrimage destination. There is a steady stream of people coming close up to the terrace taking pictures, they knock on the door and try to look in, absolutely all the time. And by that we mean all the time, now you know.

An offer Knut, having “worked for The Mouse”, could not resist: Contrary to most adaptations of litterature into the Disney Universe, Mickey does not enter the role of Montalbano, he enters the Montalbano universe and helps solving the case. Camilleri himself considered this to be an honor and meaning more to him than a Nobel Prize!

Villa Borghese

We had received a tip at the hotel reception about a lake in Rome, where you can rent rowing boats. Perhaps there were bathing facilities there? The tip was Villa Borghese and the associated 80-acre garden. We took metro A to Piazziale Flaminio, from where you get up close to Piazza del Popolo (The People’s Square). This is a very nice piazza. Indeed, there were even a lot of Lionesses at Fontana del Nettuno!

Four lionesses and a goat at Piazza Popolo.

When you ascend from Piazza Popolo to the Pincio hill, you get a fantastic view from Terrazza del Pincio, including the Vatican.

View of Piazza Popolo. St. Peter’s Church in the background. Photo: Une Hunstad Løwø

The Mansion, Villa Borghese Pinciana from 1616, today houses a museum, but was originally built for garden parties. The building was designed by Flaminio Ponzio on the order of Cardinal Scipione Caffarelli Borghese. The large garden is filled with works of art, including an insane amount of busts. Idun noted with excitement that several ancient mathematicians were represented (among others Pythagoras), but turned grumpy as it turned out that in this whole crowd of heads, all were male. We searched and searched and finally we found a female statue. Headless! It was more fun to check out the water clock from 1873.

The hydrochronometer was designed by Gian Battista Embriaco for the World Exhibition in Paris in 1867, where it won both prizes and applause. It was difficult for us to see where the water actually comes up, which made the sight even better. At an entrance to the rural part of the garden we found the Fontana del Fiocco (Leaf Fountain). The temperature in the air was 35 degrees celcius, and Idun had an urgent desire for a fountain bath. ‘There are almost no people here!‘ But Knut didn’t think it was worth risking a fine of 450 Euro, so we did the statue game instead. Esculapius has been removed for restoration, so space was ready for the reservist Idun.

This water was incredibly fresh and clear and tempting, but to no use (the fountain is defined as a drinking water fountain). Correction: There were two turtles in the fountain, and they certainly enjoyed the water, so the water was indeed useful.

Further into the park we finally caught sight of the lake. This was bad stuff! There are approximately 40 springs and fountains in the park, and the water quality varies slightly, from dry to overgrown to green (from cynaobacteria?) to crystal clear.

But where were the boats? The Fontana Rotonda di Villa Borghese is large, but still not a lake, so we just had to continue strolling. Giardino del Lago is a really beautiful park with large, tall trees of many kinds. With a little clean-up, as well as the benefits of a ban on single-use plastic, it can be even nicer… Rome was very dry in July, but under the trees there was green grass every now and then, and there were people who enjoyed life in the shade. Finally we found the lake. Beautiful! Green! On an artificial peninsula there is a temple dedicated to the God of medicine: ‘Tempio di Esculapio’, which was completed in 1792.

Lago di Giardino del Lago di Villa Borghese. (evt Fontana di Esculapio)

Idun was really excited. ‘Then we can rent a boat, row up to the small waterfall and tumble in. If we make it look like an accident, they can’t demand 450 Euros from us?‘ Knut was very skeptical. ‘It will be a big mess and very expensive. And is it really that tempting?‘ We took a closer look. There were birds everywhere. Swans, ducks, even a turkey. What about the bird shit? And that green colour… Bathing with cyanobacteria is very unhealthy. No, indeed, the bath in Lago Giardiano del Villa Borghese with a big disappointment turned to a ‘not’.

What do you do then? There is a café just north of the lake, ‘Satyrus Temporary Bar’, but we would not recommend it. Things are rather slow and the prices on the bill do not match the prices on the menu. Instead, go back towards Terrazza del Pianco and then in the direction of the Spanish Steps (Piazza di Spagna). We found a combined café and restaurant Ciampini at the south end of the park, half outside and half inside. Fresh and nice air, good food. With bird bath. We brought the goat Heidrun, who had a trip to the bathroom. But stuffing your feet in there? In the middle of the restaurant? No, we couldn’t do that.

Heidrun found four friends in Restaurant Ciampini.

Outside, however!

Knut had a foot bath in the Fontana di Trinità dei Monti at Villa Borghese.

After a visit to Villa Borghese, a film from Rome might be an idea. One possibility is Franciolini’s film ‘Villa Borghese’ from 1953, or “Roman Holiday” with Kathrine Hepburn, also from 1953.

Terme Taurine / La Ficoncella

Once upon a time, a long time ago, not too far from the sea, northwest of Rome, a Taurus (a God in the form of a bull) strolled in the hills. One day he scratched his hooves on the field. This caused the ground to open and hot, sulphurous water to flow up to the surface. This is how the bathing adventure at Civitavecchia began, according to Rutilio Namaziano.

Purification with water before performing religious acts finds its roots all the way back to ancient Egypt. Health baths in mineral rich water were recognized in ancient Greece, so the Roman ‘thermae’ (baths) are based on very old traditions. The first Termes were based on geothermal energy. The baths were accessible to both rich and poor, and were important meeting places.

Over time, advanced facilities were built with good sanitary conditions, and separate pools for hot and cold baths. And they were beautiful! The walls and ceiling were covered in marble and mosaic, there were wonderful archways and lots of height under the roof.

There used to be hot water in the main pool – the Calidarium.

The construction of Terme Taurine started around 80 BC, under the dictator Sulla. It was extended and rebuilt several times, and had a library as well as warm, intermediate and cold pools.

The Frigidarium = cold bath. Somewhat bigger than the typical barrels used today.

Gradually, the Romans developed more and more advanced heating techniques, and during the Imperial period, baths were also built inside the cities, independent of hot springs. They even had saunas!

After a visit to Terme Taurine, it is just perfect to try out Terme anno 2022. Our taxi driver could tell us that in his childhood (he was in his fifties), there was still hot water in Terme Taurine. It was a fun activity in the winter to go up the hill and have a hot bath in the old, mosaic decorated pools. Today, the geology has changed, but hot water is still to be found in the new bathing facility ‘La Ficoncella’, 3 km away. We just had to go there and try it!

La Ficoncella is named after a large fig tree that no longer exists. The facility is not large, but there are several smaller pools and also separate pools for those who cannot swim. There are no (!) changing rooms here, but four showers without doors. The water temperature is around fifty degrees Celsius, dripping directly into the shower rooms through 3-4 holes in the supply pipe. Showering is required (fortunately) before entering the pools, but in contrast to Icelandic tradition, your shower in La Ficoncella is supposed to be done without (!) the use of soap.

Simple shower arrangement in La Ficoncella.

Then it was just a matter of jumping into it. Right? No, this simply wasn’t that easy. We were in La Ficoncella in July. It was 30°C in the air. And then you are supposed to voluntarily enter a pool, 42°C? That’s crazy! Like some say it is to take a bath in a norwegian fjord when the air temperature is below freezing.

Every centimeter you sink into the water, you feel your body shouting: ‘Don’t do it! It’s too hot!‘ But then you do it anyway, and it’s just fine. And then? Believe it or not, afterwards you cool off and feel absolutely great. Try it!

Knut is testing the warmest water. Easy peasy.

La Ficoncella is an unpretentious place. When we were there, we felt like being a part of the younger generation, but there were a few exceptions, and our daughters were not the only youths. This is a very nice place! People make contact as soon as they see newcomers. You will get a lot of advice and support including pleasant chatting. A bath in La Ficoncella in the middle of summer is absolutely something!

A bath in La Ficoncella in the middle of summer is absolutely right!

Civitavecchia

‘The old town’ lives up to its name, because people have lived here for a long time. The city is placed over an earlier Etruscan settlement. It was Emperor Trajan who started constructing the first harbor, at the beginning of the second century AD.

Emperor Trajan says ‘*Welcome!*’ to the ferry tourists from his roundabout.

The city was earlier called Centum Cellae, which possibly comes from the hundreds of rooms in the emperor’s villa. The city became part of the Pope’s property in the year 728. A hundred years later, the city was attacked by the Saracens, and the settlement was moved to a safer place. According to tradition, the city was named ‘Civitas Vetus’ when the inhabitants shortly after moved back to the old city. In 1696, the city became a free port under Pope Innocent XII, and Rome’s most important port city.

The reconstructed city wall and Michelangelo’s fortress in the background. The boats docked here before the WWII.

In earlier times, the city was a shipping port for the mineral alum. Today, tourism is the main source of income, in addition to a large energy factory and the ferry port, with departures to Sardinia, Sicily and various cruise destinations. The city was bombed to pieces during the WWII, but has been nicely rebuilt, including much of the old brickwork. The beaches at Civitavecchia are many and long, the water fresh and clear, so it is really nice to swim here. But please do remember to bring your swimming shoes! There are pebbles and not sand on the beach. But otherwise excellent. And romantic too!

Romantic atmosphere at the beach in Civitavecchia.

We had a cozy picnic under the palm trees by the beach, and this can be safely recommended.

But: If the children want a little more action, there is a completely different option in Civitavecchia: The Aquafelix water park. Don’t be confused by the slightly depressing entrance – this is a very good bathing place.

Decomposing city by the entrance to Aquafelix.

Once inside the facility, our daughters immediately threw themselves into the dance. Yes, you read that right: The dance! At Aquafelix there was ‘Dance along’ in the water lead by an energetic DJ. Just great!

Aquafelix is beautifully built and maintained, with paved paths between the facilities. They have built a number of exciting slides, one of which goes through a dark tunnel. For Idun, who is not very enthusiastic about slides, a tour in the current ringpool was more tempting – on a tube. The only concern is therefore this, from Idun: There is no suitable training pool in this water park. But they do have a small fountain, which made up for the disappointment. Finally, Idun could have a fountain bath in Italy!

A fountainbath in Aquafelix is just right.

After the bath, time is just perfect for dinner. We suggest you to head for Piazza Aurelia Saffi. There you can find several cafès, restaurants and pubs, and a beautiful view of the medieval walls. Buon appetito!

Piazza Saffi – Lively sitting (pedestrian) street in Civitavecchia.

Lago di Albano

After an intense search for our kind of bathing places in central Rome, we just had to capitulate. There are none, NONE! Of course there are spas and swimming pools, but no lakes, rivers or old thermes. Big disappointment. Big!

Technically there is a river, The Tiber, in the heart of Rome. It just wasn’t very tempting

The temptations did exist, in the form of Rome’s many large and beautiful fountains with crystal clear water. Don’t do it! It is strictly prohibited, and suddenly you have got a 450 Euro fine. So we didn’t swim in the Fontana di Trevi (Fountain of the Three Roads). It is simply too expensive. And certainly you will get a troublesome and bad day with a lot of yelling.

The Trevi Fountain: Just don’t bathe! This bath is a DON’T.

On the other hand, it’s not very far to go from the center of Rome to have a nice swim. What about a volcanic lake? 20 km southeast of Rome there is a 36,000-year-old volcano, and inside it two collapsed magma chambers, which today appear as the lakes Nemi and Albano.

Ingrid, Knut and Giulio in front of Lago di Albano. View from Castel Gandolfo.

The name Albano has been much discussed and comes either from ‘alp’ = ‘high’ or from ‘alba’ which means white (the hills around the lakes consist of, among other things, light grey tuff). The volcano still emits gases, and in 1999 29 cows died of CO2 poisoning. In some places in the area, it is therefore not recommended to have bedrooms on the ground floor.

Lake Albano. Castel Gandolfo to the back right.

Rich people have spent their summer holidays by Lago di Albano for thousands of years. For example, Emperor Titus built a villa by Lake Albano around 100 AD. The summer here is peaceful and the air is fresh and relatively cool. On a hill above the lake lies the town of Castel Gandolfo, which has just below 9,000 inhabitants. The palace ‘Palazzo Apostolico di Castel Gandolfo’ has been the property of the Vatican since 1596, and was for many years the Pope’s summer residence. This was to the great delight of the inhabitants, as it attracted many visitors to the town. However, today’s Pope, Francis, has stated that traveling to the countryside in the summer is something the rich people do, and he is not (!) rich. So now there is put an end to this tradition, and the Castilians despair: ‘It is possible that you are not rich, but the fact that you do not come here in the summer any more, makes us poor!‘. To ease the situation, the palace has been converted into a museum, and tourists are arriving here again. But life in Castel Gandolfo is not as it used to be.

Palazzo Apostolico di Castel Gandolfo. Not very crowded at Piazza della Libertà.

Lago di Albano experienced very varying water levels in ancient times, partly due to the CO2 production, which is known to have led to flooding at least once, as the gas lifted the water. Therefore, around 395 BC, a drain was carved out at one end – through the Albano Hill. The tunnel is 1,600 meter long, 1.2 meter wide and 2 meter high, and this is how the flooding problem was solved once and for all.

Knut’s cousin Ingrid has lived near Lake Albano for over 30 years, and she told us that the water level has been dropping steadily all these years. The ruins in the picture above were previously under water. This was the old harbour, and close by were several Roman villas.

And the bath? How was it? Great! Easy to get into the water, there is fine, grey sand on the beach, and the water is clear and fresh. Here you can both have a bath and do some swimming exercise. During the Summer Olympics in 1960, all the competitions for rowing and paddling were performed in Lake Albano. ‘The Albano Buoy System’ set a standard for lane marking which is still in use, and the buoys can be seen at the eastern end of the lake.

A swimming trip to Lago di Albano is just fine! And after? If possible – take the train back to Rome and go to a concert in Circo Massimo! We saw ‘Måneskin’ together with 70,000 others a few days before, and it was a great experience. After our Albano bath on the other hand, there was a family dinner at Knut’s cousin’s. Very good for us, but not possible for everyone of course.