Archeology, Capitoline Museums, Esquiline, Greek Sculpture, Rome
Tweet Last week amid a maelstrom of tours all over the city I spent a morning “off” scootering to the Ufficio Tributario of Rome: the office that deals with fines. Rome is a place where fines are a part of life’s expenses. Sometimes one needs to be...
Aqueducts, Archeology, Rome
Tweet A stone’s throw from where I live, on the other side of the railway tracks, is a road I will happily take a detour to drive along. Grubby and pavementless it makes for an awkward walk, but on a Vespa is a dream. Via del Mandrione runs along a stretch of...
Architecture, Art History, Baroque, Baroque Rome tour, Borromini, Quirinal, Rome
Tweet On my way home from yesterday afternoon’s tour of the Galleria Borghese (it’s glorious, go!), I scootered up via delle Quattro Fontane and past the Palazzo Barberini to the tight junction with via del Quirinale, to the only traffic light I always...
Art History, Augustus, Empire, Greek Sculpture, Roman sculpture, Rome
Tweet Brand recognition is nothing new; the use of image as an immediately identifiable expression of the power of the state was one perfected by the Roman emperors. Today heads of state have a standard image: identical portraits of Queen Elizabeth II look down on...
Empire, popes, Roman Forum, Rome, Vatican
Tweet Yesterday, as every Good Friday, the papal Via Crucis was held at the Colosseum. The procession begins in the amphitheatre and concludes at the temple of Venus, built by Hadrian at the pinnacle of Roman imperial power. The image of the pope amid the ruins has...
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