Now when in Rome I do the ruins, like any tourist, after all if you have had a love affair with Roman history since you were seven it is obligatory.
Left to myself I can get lost at the Forum, and despite the crowds will still find something personal when standing at the Colosseum or gazing over the expanse of the Circus Maximus.
But there is that other Rome where tourists and sunlight rarely penetrate. Here in the back streets you can still come across hidden little churches, the odd pile of ancient masonry and around the corner a piazza.
It always amazes me how in these working parts of the city businesses cling to every available space, like the bar and restaurant whose tables and chairs spilled out from the small entrance or the even smaller shop which was really no more than a hole in the wall.
Location Rome
Pictures; Rome, 2010, from the collection of Andrew Simpson
Left to myself I can get lost at the Forum, and despite the crowds will still find something personal when standing at the Colosseum or gazing over the expanse of the Circus Maximus.
But there is that other Rome where tourists and sunlight rarely penetrate. Here in the back streets you can still come across hidden little churches, the odd pile of ancient masonry and around the corner a piazza.
It always amazes me how in these working parts of the city businesses cling to every available space, like the bar and restaurant whose tables and chairs spilled out from the small entrance or the even smaller shop which was really no more than a hole in the wall.
Location Rome
Pictures; Rome, 2010, from the collection of Andrew Simpson
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