Sunday 17th February 2019 – Rome

Blue sky welcomed me as I stepped out of the Metro at Conca d’Oro and shortly after I was picked up by International House, super fan and very wonderful host, Adriano Romano. First stop, obviously, was coffee, which had to be accompanied by a not very slimming but utterly delicious, Cornetti Nutella.

I am not sure there are words to really describe the loveliness of Rome, it is the constant surprise around each corner, the food and the colours. Harry loved Rome too and enjoyed spending time with his very great friend James Yu, the ambassador from Free China to Italy. Luckily for Harry whenever he went to Rome, he stayed with Mr Yu and he put his limousine and chauffeur at Harry’s disposal.

Harry must have been here on March 11th (slightly after me due to his 2 weeks in Bangkok) as he celebrated his 83rd Birthday here with a big party thrown by the Ambassador. Harry and I share the 11th of March as our Birthdays. I will be having mine in New York at the end of my trip and I will be being 50!

My Rome event was an American Breakfast as a trip down memory lane of breakfast in the dining hall. I was joined by I-House alumni Adriano Romano, Claudia Pelican and Prof. Gemma Corradi Fiumara and by my first Goodenough College alum Pierluigi Barbarisi. We were also joined by Pierluigi’s friend Ana Maria Fageat a fellow London law student.

Of course the conversation focused around coffee with the challenge of finding a decent expresso in London or New York back in the day!

We also talked about how Rome has potential as a location for an International House and I shared the story of the Roman I-House that never was.

Just after the war an I-House alum, who was professor of economics at the University of Rome, along with a number of others decided that the Palazzo Salivate had potential as an International House Rome.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_Salviati_(Rome)

They were hoping for it to be funded by the American Economic Commission who were pouring money into post war reconstruction projects. They were planning 100 rooms and whilst Harry felt that the Palazzo was little ‘overdone’ for an I-House, he was excited by the plans. Everything was drawn up and seemed in place to do the necessary work to turn it into a House, when Harry had to leave to go back to the US. However it seems that there was then some serious procrastination amongst the group in Rome and they missed getting the funding they were looking for as Congress stopped contributing to such projects.

Not one to give up it seems that Harry continued to hold out hope that the building would still be secured and converted as per the original plans and so he persuaded the American Ambassador, Mrs. Claire Booth Luce to throw a tea party for him with prominent Italians, in the hopes that one of them might put up the funds. Sadly although he says they had a nice party, no funds were forthcoming. The Ambassador was much frustrated by the lack of willingness from the rich Italians, but Harry was more sanguine, saying that ‘if the interest is there, the need is there, it has to be fulfilled’ and that he was willing to ‘keep on’. He was ever the optimist. Perhaps the time is now right…

Story Snippets….

Roman Sisters – Prof. Gemma Corradi Fiumara – In the 1960s Gemma wanted to go and study in the US but her parents were reluctant to be persuaded. So they said that she could on the condition that both her and her sister went together and that they won scholarships to pay for their studies. So they did. Gemma went to study Philosophy as an Undergrad and Sofia to study her Masters in Comparative Law in New York and both lived at I-House. As a result of their experience they have both gone on to do amazing things with Gemma writing a number of notable academic books, the most recent being Psychic Suffering; from Pain to Growth. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1782202692/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0 Her very latest book is a historical novel The Pilgrim Kings: A Story of the Magi. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pilgrim-Kings-Story-Karnac-Library/dp/1782205586/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1550426501&sr=8-1&keywords=the+pilgrim+kings+a+story+of+the+magi

Sofia went on to found the Erasmus project of student exchanges in Europe. https://www.sofiacorradi.eu Sadly Sofia was not well enough to join us for the brunch, but talking to Gemma it was clear that both her and her sister never took no for an answer and found a way through to achieve their aims whether getting agreement between two countries for their students to travel between them or getting a book published.

The Infamous Pesto Party – Adriano Romano – When Adri was in the House he was often to be found cooking in one of the flats with a kitchen. One day he decided to give a simple Italian cookery lesson and teach some 15 friends to make Pesto. He assembled the ingredients, basil, pine nuts, olive oil and Argentinian Parmesan (apparently Italian was hard to come by and too expensive for student budgets) and a blender and they produced the pesto and cooked pasta for it to go on. The resulting dinner was considered so delicious that it seems that the recipe spread quickly through the House that evening and soon pesto was being enjoyed on all floors. Adri enjoyed his party and the next day was returning to Italy. When he arrived he found that he had a telephone message from a key member of the I-House staff that he must call her immediately. When he did he was reprimanded for his culinary lessons, as it had resulted in no one eating in the dining hall that evening, which in turn resulted in a loss of wages for the catering staff. Adri was obviously apologetic but it did not stop him continuing to share his Italian cooking with I-House friends during his remaining time there.

2nd Generation at Goodenough – Pierluigi Barbarisi – Pierluigi was recommended to stay at Goodenough College in London, a member of the International Houses World Wide group http://ihouseworldwide.org, by his Uncle who had lived there in the 1970s. Pierluigi told us about the garden, swimming pool and tennis court that they enjoyed in its very central London location. Like the I-House NYC, Goodenough residents are drawn from over 70 countries are post graduate students and can be from any institution in London giving them a wonderful international grounding and life long friends.

Making Movies – As Claudia Pellicano studied Journalism and Acting when in NYC, the conversation moved to the fact that I-House and the surrounds were used for filming whilst Adri and Claudia were at the House. Claudia remembered that an episode of Gossip Girls was filmed in the House and Adri that Law and Order was filmed in the surrounding streets. Sadly neither of them got to star in either production.

Where we ate:

American Breakfast at – http://www.meccanismoroma.it

Coffee with Claudio – “I dolci di nonna vincenza” a pastry shop located in Via dell’arco del monte 98

Lunch with Mario De Rosa – Antica Trattoria Pallotta http://ristorantepizzeriapallotta.com/en/home-english-2/