maggio

Welcome springtime! Benvenuta primavera!
Rome at this time of year is spectacular, don't you think?
I've not been posting as often as I should, I know. It's that I'm always out with my DSLR, phone and point-and-shoot compact digital camera capturing the beauty of the Eternal City in this amazing light and perfumy air.


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cicerone_1

My family is in town, visiting from the United States, and we are touring the city during the holidays. The weather is unusually warm and beautifully sunny, and it's wonderful for me to see my city through their eyes. Here is a first batch of photos taken during a fantastic tour of the Palatine Hill, Forum and Colosseum, organized by the always reliable Context Travel. I may be biased (I work for them as culinary docent, leading gourmet tours of the city) but the knowledge, breadth of information, passion and expertise shared by the scholars at Context is boundless. Our docent introduced and revealed aspects of the sites I was not familiar with. It was a truly spectacular experience visiting them with my loved ones.

fori imperiali

It's one long stretch of cobblestones (and a few potholes) betwen the Colosseum and Piazza Venezia.
Whe I shot this, it was a "Domenica senza traffico" meaning that on this particular Sunday several central roadways were blocked off for pedestrian access only. Beautiful!

turisti

Rome is still flooded with tourists. Despite the heat, school calendar, and worldwide economic crisis, people still travel to the Eternal City, and flock to the Colosseum.
I'm obsessed with the Flavian Amphitheater these days, I'm drawn to it and can't avoid shooting it from all angles. I promise to stop. Really.

colosseo

The Colosseum–whose formal monument name is Flavian Amphitheatre–is one of Rome's most visited and recognizable landmarks. From the recently restored third tier, now open to the public, visitors enjoy an extraordinary view over the inner space of the structure, and of the surrounding archeological site. The other vast space made available to visitors after the recent restoration is the underground level. The descent into the hypogeum takes us to the area beneath the arena floor where the wild beasts caught in the remotest corners of the Empire were kept, and where the gladiators about to face them prepared for the fight.

Are you planning on visiting the Colosseum? Here's some very useful information

For guided visits with knowledgable, interesting docents, I suggest Context Travel