Rome/Barcelona Oct/Nov 2018 – Miscellaneous Thoughts on Rome

So Rome is interesting. A mix of ancient and new. Everywhere you turn, there are bits and pieces of ancient days. A bit of a wall here, an excavation there. And the pieces are all mixed up. As Sharon mentioned, Romans were the ultimate recyclers. A building was built, then hundreds of years later, taken apart so the materials could be used elsewhere. Considering that the city has been an existing, thriving community for well over 12,000 years this makes sense. I do pity the archeologists who are trying to make sense of it all, however.

The city is also dirty. Some dirt from just plain age. Some from the dry, hot summers. Some is from pollution, turning the stone and marble black over the centuries.  And some just from the sheer number of people living and passing through. I’ve actually gotten to a point where I won’t touch a handrail. The are sticky with accumulated dirt and grime.  The picture below of an arch in the Borghese Gardens is typical.  Dirty, and weeds growing on the top, with moss at the bottom.  I’m not sure how a city could keep up with everything, or even how to decide what to make a priority.  How do you determine what is art, what is artifact, and what is just rubble sticking out of the ground?

When we got the notification from the consulate about the high wind warning, and the comment about looking out for falling objects, I could understand what they meant. Rome is such a weird mix of old buildings repurposed for new uses, resulting in some odd shaped spaces, and bits and pieces of old and ancient monuments everywhere you look. We in the US are used to planned blocks, and no building is older than 200 years. Here in Rome, civilization has been in existence for thousands. What seems important now, as an antique artifact, was at one time was just junk to be shoved aside for something new. You see it everywhere in the city from how the buildings were constructed, to the old city walls that just fold into the current world.

Roman men are the best dressed I’ve ever seen. And they know it. Sharp and sophisticated, they look terrific. Men’s clothing stores with high end suits and accessories are very much in evidence. I had to chuckle coming back from Gandolfo on our train to the Terminus Station. There was a young man, early 20s, who was dressed in tight jeans, a plain slate blue mock neck and white sneakers. Simple and clearly well thought out in fit and style, he missed no opportunity to check himself in his reflection in the windows. Just the right amount of stubble, and artfully cut and mussed hair, he was always checking to make sure his bangs fell just right. He looked great and he knew it. It was a feast for the eyes. Typical for Rome. And it was a Saturday night. He probably had a date.

Rome also is a city with a strong sense of self. It has a confidence born of age, and the people of Rome reflect that. They are confident in the knowledge that their culture was once the greatest, and we still feel the effects of their engineering, art, and government systems. They know that they have paved the way for the many great cultures that have followed. Venice felt much the same to me. But where the City of Venice feels like a decaying relic, still clinging to it’s past glory, Rome and it’s people feel like they are still forging ahead, leaping for greatness yet again.

But above all, Rome is a city with a past. Paris feels old to me, and it is. But Rome is ancient. The past intrudes everywhere. From the odd streets, to the bits of aqueduct wedged between buildings, to ancient walls jutting out at odd angles where they don’t belong. I can’t stress enough the lack of planning here. Old is build upon ancient, and modern is built over both. But all poke through. And the space that it occupies is surprisingly small. I still have a tough time judging distances here. Buildings are on normal scale, and then another on grand scale, right next to each other. The city is difficult to navigate, frustrating to get where you want to go, crowded, and absolutely impossible to ignore. Rome demands your full attention.

Rome is . . . Rome. While not a city that I love, it is one that fascinates me. We covered a lot of ground in five days, and still barely scratched the surface. This is a place, given the very limited bit I have experienced, I would not want to live but I would happily come back and stay several weeks. It would take that long just to begin to understand this complex place.