Monkeying Around in Rome

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When (or if) you ever get sick of all those remnants of the Roman Empire and that over-rated Michelangelo and you really want to forget where you are, check yourself into the Zoo in Rome. It's also one place in Rome where you probably won't run into your neighbors from Nebraska, your roommate from the hostel, or anyone other than Roman grandpas with little kids in tow.

The entire Zoo is in a gentle state of decay, and the reptile room was vaguely "under construction" when we visited (that is to say, Not Open). A few peacocks wandering around adds to the general mêlée, and the surrealistic atmosphere is sad but pretty.

The zoo is one of those cage-and-tricks sort of places, built long before wildlife conservation had its way and started transforming zoos into mini-habitats, to which we are now accustomed. You can see the Italian attitude of animals-as-decoration (although there was a very odd film shown in a plane-like structure about the trafficking of illegally-hunted animals to and through Italy). Kind of hard to take seriously when a plaque lecturing about the endangered natural habitat of the lion is attached to a pen where an anxious and bored-looking lioness has paced a trail around the perimeter.

Sadness aside, where else are you going to see a pitful of monkeys? You thought a barrel of monkeys was a bucket of laughs, but just wait 'til you see the monkey pit! I bet you've been wondering all this time where the monkeys hang out in Rome. Now you know!

Since the Zoo is located in the Villa Borghese Gardens, also home to the Galleria Borghese which hosts some incredible Caravaggios and exquisite Bernini sculptures, you can take on the sublime and the bizarre all in one afternoon.