TRAVEL, PHOTOGRAPHY
The Eye-Catching Chaos of Rome’s Ruins
A fanciful stroll through the crumbling Eternal City
The first time I saw the Roman Forum, I bounded out of Hotel Giubileo, right outside the stunning Basilica Maria Maggiore, and strolled down the Esquiline Hill, breathing in short, quick bursts.
I was twenty years old and had never seen a photo or drawing of the Forum. I had no expectations. If I’d been expecting anything at all, it wouldn’t have been what I saw.
My heart jumped in shock. Rather than a small, orderly patch of stately pillars, the Forum was cluttered and eclectic in color, with lots of white and decaying grey, and reddish ground. Everywhere I looked, pieces of the empire were strewn like crumbs on a table, waiting to be swept away after a feast.
My eyes cried, “Too much, too much!”
Too much was exactly what I craved. I’d wanted something big from Rome, something beyond my imagination. In hindsight, it could only have been this — total chaos, blinding the senses, turning my world upside down.
