tevere

The Tiber river in autumn.
When many thoughts crowd my head, chores pile up, and the days seem too short for the million things I need to take care of, I walk by the river and put everything back into perspective.
See how small my shadow is on the bridge?

More Weekend Reflections HERE. 
More Sunday Bridges HERE.

via dei pettinari

{unhurried}

Yesterday welcomed summer. 

So I ditched the car and took a long, relaxing passeggiata in town. I alighted the tram in Trastevere. After attending a business breakfast, I crossed the river to the Jewish "ghetto" where I met a friend for lunch. We sipped espresso in the shadow provided by Michelangelo's palazzo in Piazza Farnese, and leisurely walked all the way back to the bridge.

ponte sisto

the kissing bridge

Ponte Sisto is a footbridge in Rome's historic centro storico, spanning the river Tiber and connecting Via del Pettinari to Piazza Trilussa in Trastevere. The current Renaissance bridge was built by Pope Sixtus IV (hence the name) between 1473 and 1479 as a replacement of a prior ancient Roman bridge named Pons Aurelius.

The bridge is characteristic because of its central circular 'oculus' Latin for "eye." It connects two very fashionable night-life areas near Campo de' Fiori and Trastevere, and has become part of Italy's pop culture, recently featured in films, music videos, and ads.

I shot a film on Ponte Sisto a few summers ago, and our crew was a motley one indeed, young, reckless, stealing images with a hand held 16mm camera, no permits to shoot in that location and with an actor who had indulged in one vino too many. 

The unpredicted gift of a spectacular sunset and an unexpected couple kissing passionately in the closing frame of the romantic scene of the solitary protagonist who returns to Rome after many years, was just perfect. It's one of my favorite parts of the film.

For more images of bridges around the world,
please visit San Francisco Bay Daily Photo,
hosting the weekly Sunday Bridges series.