Panthing for New Roman Food

Kathy-- what a breathtaking structure!!!! Just entering it gave a feeling of such spaciousness it immediately melted away all the chaos of downtown Rome, which was right outside, as this amazing building is nestled in between a bunch of other buildings and narrow streets with only a small piazza outside to give any perspective on it. A naturally cool and likely amazing acoustical space, we were pretty mesmerized. Probably or favourite piece of architecture on the whole trip. Sacred in many ways for sure.
Rory -- Taking in the magnificence of the domed roof of the Pantheon with its oculus at the top opening to the sky, pouring sunlight in at ever-shifting angles onto the brilliant geometric facets of the volcanic-rock dome high high overhead.....sure does build an appetite. So we followed the guidebook to a great spot around the corner called The Sacred and the Profane, except in Italian.

It was once a church, with no dome and no oculus, but has been retrofitted so that we could sit and eat dinner a few metres above what was once the altar. Holy cow. (We did not have beef.) We did have a superfine Calabrian antipasti misto. Almost like a meze or a thali, with a procession of small silver dishes arriving oven-hot one after another, offering an array of southern Italian tastes and textures, some rich, some spicy, serving as a counterpoint to the solid loyal goodness of the Tuscan cuisine we had enjoyed so much for the last couple of weeks. We had eggplant cooked as if into a curry, but with mild and intriguing seasoning. Potatoes three ways, one of them resembling fries but much better. Hot pepper tomato paste dressed in olive oil. A lonely lovely fresh sardine. Crepes of some sort, filled, rolled, sliced and grilled, no clear idea of what was going on but two different types and darn tasty. Also good olives -- not as commonplace in Italy as we had expected. Sun-dried tomatoes. And a basket of hot, fresh flatbread -- a nice change from a steady diet of panini and other crusty breadstuffs. And a salad with it, mixing three very complementary elements: smoked ham, walnuts and arugula. Rucola is abundant and fresh and young in Italy, tender and spicy, and is usually translated into English not as arugula but as rocket. On this menu, however, it was presented as racket.