In my country of birth, the sandwich has been elevated to an art form. You can find the most inventive combinations under the sun between two pieces of bread, and that bread is likely to be sourdough, pumpernickel or something equally tasty.
Read MoreHow is it possible that just three hours of heavy rain can flood a city?Other cities have blizzards, earthquakes, hurricanes, monsoons, tornados, tsunamis! And they trudge through, brave and battle-weary. Rome has a particularly heavy downpour and the city grinds to a halt.
Read MoreThere is one thing that can make up for the decided chill in the air, and that is the explosion of exhibitions beginning this month. First on my list of new exhibits to see was Georgia O’Keeffe, which opened on the 4th. Fondazione Rome Museo is one of my favorite places to see exhibits, due to the creativity employed not only to make the art come to life, but to frame the life of the artist as well.
Read MoreWhy is it that a joyful song can never move us the way a melancholy one can? Why is nostalgia so sweetly painful? After listening to the frenetic and high energy 'Libiam ne' lieti calici' from La Traviata, the bacchanalian drinking song that opens the opera, close your eyes and savor the sublime and poignant third act aria, 'Addio del passato'.
Read MoreJust like the story of the founding of Rome, the whispers of which could be heard long before that fateful day in 753BC, so the story of my wedding truly begins on Christmas day, 1861.Last month, I decided to post every 29th of the month about a little detail from my wedding. And I think it fitting to begin not with the wedding itself, but with the machinations of fate that helped to bring the event into being.
Read MoreHaving recently deepened my understanding of the myths of the origins of the city, I have the desire to go back and tell a bit of the back-story, pre-Romulus, as it were. Rome may have been born in 753 BC, but the whispers of what would one day come to be stretch back at least to the 12th century BC. However, my bossy, slightly-OCD side is screaming that I have to go in order, so Aeneas and Lavinia and a whole cast of personalities are going to have to wait.
Read MoreSince starting this blog, I have been dreaming of an excuse to write about another one of my passions, Hermès, which unfortunately has nothing to do with the subject of my blog. Until now! On occasion of a second Hermès boutique opening on Via Campo Marzio, there just happens to be a very short-term exhibit dedicated to the leather of Hermès at one of the most stunning exhibition spaces in the city
Read MoreI must credit my officemate with the brilliant title of my newest blog feature: "Viva VEneRDI!" From today on, every* Friday, I will post about one of my favorite works by Verdi.... or Puccini, or Bellini, or Leoncavallo, or ANY Italian opera composer, actually. For the sake of those who aren't opera/Italian history/Risorgimento freaks (unlike myself), I will explain the connection.
Read MoreDoughnut Arch StreetRight. This one requires a bit of explanation. But first, I discovered yesterday the precise terminology of something that gets me rather excited: toponymy, the study of place names. My particular strain of toponymyphilia (ok, that word I completely made up) is focused on, but not limited to, street names (as you may have already noticed).
Read MoreA strikingly familiar image caught my eye while out running errands in Trastevere this afternoon. I had to stop for a closer look.
Read MoreA brand-new exhibition at Centrale Montemartini, un unususal museum that displays ancient Roman sculpture with a backdrop of early industrial age machinery, has been planned to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the tragic events of September 11th.
Read MoreAccording to news reports, early yesterday morning, the Fontana del Moro (Fountain of the Moor), the southernmost of the three fountains in Piazza Navona, was attacked and severely damaged. Surveillance cameras nearby recorded a middle-aged man climbing into the fountain and violently smashing a stone ten times against the figures decorating one of the four maschere (masks) that grace the fountain.
Read MoreOn Being a Woman: "Why is it, when I am in Rome, I'd give an eye to be at home, But when on native earth I be, My soul is sick for Italy? And why with you, my love, my lord, Am I spectacularly bored, Yet do you up and leave me-- then I scream to have you back again?" Dorothy Parker (1893-1967)
Read MoreIn a scene from one of the greatest films ever made, (in fact it is my all time favorite film, and has been since I was twelve years old) two English gentlemen, a vicar and a young unmarried man, are walking through a field in Surrey, talking about fate. They had previously met by chance in Florence, and their paths have once again crossed, by happenstance, it seems, in the south of England.
Read MoreRome ever get you down? It's not easy to livethis city. I hear my fellow expatriates (myself included) complain often about any number of frustrating things about this crazy city, from the bureaucracy nightmares to the dishonest cab drivers and everything in between. But for so many of us, something connects us with this city, often something we can't describe.
Read MoreRecently, Travel & Leisure Magazine came up with this year's World's Best Awards. Their readers rank everything from cities to hotels, spas and airlines, by region and worldwide. This was released back in July, but as usual, I'm a little out of the loop. It's hard to keep your finger on the pulse of the world when you live in eternally laid-back Rome.
Read MoreTurns out not only did Rome's streets get their names for very particular reasons, but their piazzas do too. Today something made me think of the tiny piazza hidden somewhere between the Pantheon and Largo Argentina: Piazza della Pigna, or Pinecone Square, named for a very famous pinecone found there.
Read MoreAn article in last Thursday’s Telegraph bearing this provocatively titled article has created a bit of a buzz among my expatriate friends here in Rome. So I'm here to ask the question: Are Italian women really the unhappiest in all of Europe?
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