Archive | Lazio

The Roman Spring of Tennessee Williams

By Melanie on April 10, 2013 in Italy Blogging Roundtable, Rome

In the late winter/early spring of 1948, American playwright Tennessee Williams arrived in Rome in need of a change of scenery. Williams, of course, is known for his writing set in the American South, including ”A Streetcar Named Desire” (written in 1947) and “Cat On A Hot Tin Roof” (1955), both of which earned him Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. But few people know – or, perhaps, they have forgotten – that Tennessee Williams was also inspired by his short stay in the Eternal City.

“As soon as I crossed the Italian border, my health and life seemed to be magically restored. There was the sun and there were the smiling Italians,” Williams wrote in his Memoirs.

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The Seven Hills of Rome: What Are They and What Can You See?

By Melanie on March 6, 2013 in Italy Blogging Roundtable, Rome

Map via Wikipedia

The Seven Hills of Rome mark the traditional boundaries of the city. It was on these seven hills – Aventine, Caelian, Capitoline, Esquiline, Palatine, Quirinal, and Viminal – that the first settlements of Rome began and these seven hills were the ones protected within the Servian Walls. The foundations, gates, and ruins of these 4th century-BC walls can still be seen in some parts of the city. Subsequent builds of fortifications in Rome, such as the Aurelian Walls (3rd century AD) and the Leonine City (9th century AD) included other hills (Janiculum, Vatican, Pincian), but the original Seven Hills are the ones in bold above and included within the red border in the map to the right.

Now that you’ve had a short history lesson, you may be wondering what you can see today on Rome’s Seven Hills. Rather than tell you, I thought I would use the power of Google’s Street View to show you.

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Capturing the Photos and Stories of the Humans of Rome

By Melanie on September 11, 2012 in Rome

One of the biggest cliches – and truths – you will hear from travelers is how the best part of visiting a place is the people. Although tourists have been saying that for decades, it wasn’t until recently that portraits of people in the city in which they live became just as popular as images of buildings, bridges, and landscapes.

Humans of New York, Brandon Stanton’s photography project that he started in 2010 and that went viral over the past summer, has become the template that all other human/city photo tributes copy. Now there is Humans of Rome.

Woman in Front of Termini Station

"A Real-Life Fashion Show" in Rome's Centro Storico

Humans of Rome, begun by Roman photographer Marco in April 2012, captures the unique spirit of the Eternal City. Marco juxtaposes ancient and modern by capturing Romans of every color, creed, and age standing in Rome’s cobbled streets, posing next to fast Italian cars, marble fountains, thousand-year-old structures, and iconic umbrella pines.

I think many travelers forget that Rome is a dynamic city – a city of tradition, yes, but also one teeming with expats and immigrants. Marco’s Humans of Rome includes them all. I hope this beautiful, photographic love letter to one of my favorite cities in the world continues and spawns offshoots in Florence, Bologna, Naples, Milan, Torino, Venice…

Go check out Humans of Rome now to see the photos and read the stories (most in both English and Italian).

All photos by Humans of Rome