Where Do These Lucky Romans Live & Work? - Part 1

Our first full day in Rome!  Outside the hotel doors, we walked into a sunny morning with no particular direction in mind.  We wanted to take in the city without preconceptions or agendas.  Anywhere we turned, there was gorgeousness.  I honestly believe there is a Roman law against ugly buildings.  After photographing enough picturesque streets and alleys to make my artist's head spin, I pocketed the camera and just focused on making sense of what I saw...  Where did the citizens of this phenomenal city live? ...work? ...buy groceries??

Setting aside the grand monuments and vistas of Rome (that's another blog post), here's a sampling of gorgeous building after gorgeous building.  What fascinated me was that the upper floors of these buildings were mostly residences.  Can you imagine?  Not much different from Manhattan, I suppose... except more graceful and colorful.  Look at these streets!  Imagine a third- or fourth-floor apartment in any one of these...

 

Even the alleys where they park their Vespas and SmartCars are picturesque...

 
(It's obvious why a large Ford truck or Expedition would be ridiculous over here.  Besides the high price of gas, why try to squeeze into one of these alleys in an over-sized vehicle?  Some of the cars here were barely longer than they were wide.  Very convenient, as they could fit into a parking space facing any direction.)

And here's a vignette worthy of an Italian movie - a lovely building...

But look closer (you can click on this, or any photo, to enlarge) - in the upper right, you'll see three young guys hanging out the window, just relaxing.  I watched them for several minutes... they seemed to have no agenda and be in no hurry.  Exactly what I would do, if I lived there.

 Next blog post... "Why don't our grocery stores look like this??"

Ciao,
Lisa