Caravaggio, Wine and Lunch in an Underground Roman Bath

A wine tasting built around Caravaggio, held below street level in a room containing the remains of a Roman bath complex, with access arranged by the operator. Be clear about what is on the walls: these are reproductions of Caravaggio's paintings, not originals. That is the premise rather than a disappointment. Reproductions can be looked at from thirty centimetres, in raking light, for as long as you like, which is precisely what you cannot do in a church where the picture hangs four metres up behind an altar rail and a coin-operated lamp. Seeing the brushwork at that distance is the point of the format. It opens with a glass of wine and an introduction to Baroque Rome, then runs as a workshop: wines poured alongside food that Romans ate in the 1600s and still eat now, with the paintings discussed as you go. The hosts are food people and historians, and no prior knowledge is assumed. It suits anyone who has spent three days walking and wants to sit down in a cool room without giving up on the art.