Glory

Wisteria in the ‘hood

April 8, 2012

The abundant wisteria in the neighbourhood looks much better to the eye than to the camera. No matter. I had hoped to be able to solve a mystery for this post; why do Italians call wisteria glicine? To me, the Greek root for glycine is associated with sweetness, although the plant that springs to mind [...]

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Garden News

April 3, 2012

Everything that I wanted to come through the winter has, some of it in rare good form. The bonsai wisteria, one of seven that I grew from seed I collected in 2007, is still bonsai and flowering for all it is worth. The flower colours and other aspects differ among the seven; I wonder whether [...]

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A ride around the Roman outskirts

March 24, 2012

View Bike ride 2012-03-18 in a larger map Rome is not a cycle-friendly city. It could be, if the Romans could be persuaded to give up their beloved motor cars, of which, in 2008, there were 2.4 million to 2.5 million people. Not sure whether that is people people, or people old enough to drive. [...]

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Can Italy Change?

February 3, 2012

That’s the title of an article on the New York Review of Books blog by Tim Parks. My laconic friend Luigi’s answer was “No”. Parks comes to much the same conclusion, but in support he adds a great deal of insight and historical learning, which I am sure Luigi shares, internally. I’ve yet to read [...]

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Peregrine vs starlings over Rome

January 24, 2012

Best version of this trope I’ve ever seen. Good old John Downer, still producing amazing footage, even if some of the edits are just a bit too obvious for my taste. The entire series of Earthflight might be worth watching out for.

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New video: My Tiber

November 6, 2011

I won’t say how long it has taken me to finally finish this video; too long. And having finally finished it, I went down to the river this evening to see the starlings, but I was too late, by about 5 minutes, and the weather was too bad, by a thunderstorm.

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Mowing down the opposition

June 11, 2011

You can turn anything into a competitive endeavour, it seems, even the contemplative, mindful here-and-nowness of scything, which I have long loved. I miss my scythes (yes, plural). (And in case you were wondering whatever happened to Nettle Awareness Week, it has apparently been relaunched as Be Nice to Nettles Week and seems to be [...]

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Pizzarium: good, not great

May 7, 2011

A glorious day. A bike ride beckoned, and as ever I need a goal. People rave about Pizzarium’s pizza as if it were manna from heaven, and it’s far enough away to give me the idea that I might even deserve the slice when I got there. So off I went, detouring via Piazza San [...]

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In praise of rule benders, and Giotto

March 14, 2011

The Italian attitude to rules and regulations — that they exist only for other people — is one of the most maddening things about living here; except, of course, when it works for you. We had used the fearsome online system to book a visit to the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. What with one thing [...]

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Sharing the love

January 23, 2011

Imagine an urban street packed with shops, perhaps a school, pedestrians and traffic all living harmoniously together in an environment where everyone feels happy, safe and relaxed. Picture a street where everyone is equal, where everyone shares the same rules, whether on foot, in a car or on a bike. No need to imagine! I [...]

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Scenes from Roman Life 20

August 13, 2010

So we’re sat in the front row in front of the big white screen, glancing around at the beautiful courtyard of the palazzo that houses the administrative offices of the Provincia di Roma. We’re there to see a movie, part of the Wine and Food Film Festival. A woman comes on stage. She announces that [...]

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Find your ice cream

August 12, 2010

I forgot to mention in the account of my ice cream oddysey that as a public service I had created a Google Map of all the places on the original list. I hope it helps someone find what they are looking for. View Gelaterie in a larger map

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Ice cream road trip

August 11, 2010

A man needs a purpose to get the most out of life. My purpose last Saturday was to sample ice creams. Not any old ice creams, but those recommended by Elizabeth Minchilli a couple of months ago. My original plan was to visit all the establishments she mentioned and compare my impressions with hers. When [...]

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Ara Pacis as I’ve never seen it

April 25, 2010

Rome’s publicity often leaves a lot to be desired. So when friends invited me to the Ara Pacis on Saturday night, I had no idea there was anything special going on. As we shuffled forward in the line (one person on duty to sell tickets for a special occasion) you could see something rather special. [...]

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Happy Fornacalia everyone

February 17, 2010

I can’t actually be sure that today is the day, because the Curio Maximus hasn’t actually announced it. But today is the last day it could possibly be. So I’m celebrating in the simplest possible way, by baking bread with only three ingredients: flour, water and salt. Oh, and the squillions of things that bestir [...]

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In the dark about photographs

November 29, 2009

We took the Eurostar (40 minutes late leaving Rome; what a cheek) to Florence for a very civilized day trip. Three items were on the agenda, and we managed all three. First stop, Santa Felicità and the Capponi Chapel for a good look at the frescoes and painting by Jacopo Pontormo et al. There’s nothing [...]

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The glories of Florence

October 22, 2009

We spent a lovely weekend in Florence a few days ago, including some quality time with friends we don’t often see. But there’s nothing I can say about Florence that hasn’t been said better elsewhere, so I won’t even try. Instead, I’ll share this. In case you can’t quite make it out, it is a [...]

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It’s a growth thang

September 3, 2009

It’s been an exciting week. Monday night, the frangipani blossoms first opened, and I almost pitched myself over the parapet trying to photograph them. When the leaves first stirred I remarked that they were early and how wonderful it would be if the flowers were early too, so The Squeeze could experience them. Six weeks [...]

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Slight disappointment

June 29, 2009

I cycled down to the Castel Sant’Angelo this evening because I’d seen a poster in the local bar advertising fireworks at 9.00 pm. Today being the Feast of SS Peter and Paul and a holiday here in Rome, that seemed entirely likely. In the event, an hour later, no fireworks had happened. I’ll have to [...]

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Scenes from Roman Life 18

April 12, 2009

Easter Sunday, so off to Anzio and lunch by the beach. They’ve been promising awful weather for today and tomorrow since last Thursday, but it wasn’t actually howling a gale so we decided to take the risk, and were glad we did. Anzio is a lovely port, despite the destruction in 1944, and the walk [...]

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After the migration

April 11, 2009

I know there are readers who don’t care that what they see here is now being served by a delicious new all-singing, all-dancing, super-spiffy server — but they might give silent thanks when they (or so I am promised) receive far fewer error messages in the future. For them, then, which is probably everyone except [...]

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WIDLS He gets around

February 18, 2009

Just a quickie, as we make our way under the railway tracks between Porta Maggiore and Porta Tiburtina and one of the most beautifully preserved stretches of wall. I was pretty excited to see work by The Great Artist. Again, there’s no way I would have noticed that as a driver. I thought (on the [...]

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The accidental epigrapher

February 10, 2009

Saturday morning found me at Santa Maria in Trastevere. Having never really paid them any attention, I found the bits of old inscription decorating the portico interesting as visual objects. So I snapped a few, focusing on those that contained birds, and very sweet they were too. More or less simultaneously my friend Luigi’s quest [...]

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WIDLS The joys of walking

February 8, 2009

The best part about walking the Aurelian Walls is that one is one foot. Porta Maggiore is a scary nightmare of about 8 lanes of traffic (lanes being a completely inappropriate description, because it denotes a certain measure of order) going in four or five different directions. I had driven through Porta Maggiore many times [...]

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