Last entry was about my ‘home’ city → Only in DC
I’ve had a fascination with Italy for a while. I have a fascination with a lot of things it seems, but this post is about Rome, about Italy.
There’s also a personal history because my family lived there after they moved from DC, and also my nephew is half-Italian. Also random personal factoid: Rome was also where I first experienced an organized bar crawl— I had never done one until my mid-20s!
I like Rome, with it’s fresh authentic pizza, their pizza doesn’t have tomato sauce, it’s square and it’s thin crust and often has potatoes.
There’s a variety of things to do in Italy: From he urban fashion center in Milan, to skiiing in the Alps, to the nostalgic hills and vineyards of Tuscany, to the cliff anchored beaches of Amalfi, to the island of Sicily, to the novelty of Venice, to the pristine Florence.
From my two visits to the country, I grew very attached to some random things and also the way of life. Red Orange Juice. Villas. The incredibly laid back and slow paced manner of people there. Even while working people seem like they’re on holiday. Pebble roads. The piazzas. The piazzas at night especially.
The architecture in Rome on a few fronts, first of all it’s history. Will anything that’s being built today last 2,000 years? It’s not just il Colosseo that has history, though it’s the most famous. There is the Roman Forum, and also there are random ruins all over. Oh, and also some of the wall of ancient Rome still exists! There is also Ostia Antica an ancient harbor city of Rome, it’s actually older than Rome itself, and it’s ruins exist today. The full ruins, meaning the entire actual town. Like you walk through the streets, go the market square, see houses, main streets, etc. Like a lesser known Pompeii. A second aspect of the architecture is just how majestic it is. Buildings that stand proud and tall, screaming power and status. Lastly on the architecture there is the divine. Think Michael Angelo. Sistine chapel. Il Vaticano.
It’s interesting with Italy as about 18 months before my parents learned they’ll be moving, I’d started self-teaching the language. I’m on a life long journey to learn the language — it was even my grad school foreign language — and I plan to achieve (near) fluency at some point. It’s like I was preparing for it! The power of dreams and desire paired with intent. Before that family move was known, I was already reading acquainting myself with things to do there and about the countries history and putting up visual representations of things related to Italy in visual binders. The fridge had via antica, the italian flag, amalfi coast, etc.
More visits there in the future. Beautiful country, and I’m blessed to have had the opportunity to visit twice so far.
Graffiti of the Day — Italian flag
