Roman Quarantine – Day 51

Roman Quarantine – Day 51

Tweet I’m very much looking forward to taking a very long walk on Monday. The slight lifting in the lockdown on 4th May means that we will be allowed to take solo exercise for the first time beyond the vaguely-termed “proximity” of our homes. So my first walk will be...
The Glorious Improbability of via Giolitti

The Glorious Improbability of via Giolitti

Tweet Some weeks ago I stumbled upon a tweet from Paul Cooper whose account is full of intriguing ruminations on the nature of ruins, a subject of which I am very fond. He tweeted an image of this nineteenth century painting of the building usually referred to as the...
The Baker’s Tomb at Porta Maggiore

The Baker’s Tomb at Porta Maggiore

Tweet In front of the Porta Maggiore, of which I wrote in my last post, is the tomb of an Augustan era bread magnate. Built about 30 BCE, on the cusp of Republic and Empire, it predates the aqueduct (of which the Porta Maggiore is part) by eighty years. The master...
Porta Maggiore: a tangle of ancient and modern

Porta Maggiore: a tangle of ancient and modern

Tweet A couple of posts ago I finally got round to mentioning the largest ancient Roman monument in the city: the Aurelian Wall, which manages somehow to be simultaneously both ever present and elusive. The closest point of the Wall to my apartment is one of its most...