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| Would you like some Trinità dei Monti with your fairy lights? No, that's all right, the fairy lights are enough for me. |
Since
moving to Rome over eight years ago, I have come to realize that it is the simple
things in this splendid city that fascinate and charm me the most. Of
course I adore the Pantheon and Castel Sant’Angelo (and while I may not adore
the Colosseum or St. Peter’s Basilica, I recognize what works of incredible human
achievement they are), but those monuments are not what thrill my soul, nor
what make me sometimes think, “How could I ever leave Rome?” Instead it is the minute details, the curiosities, the simple pleasures, which are often overlooked (even though, I must admit, in Rome even the simple things are extraordinary.)
This
afternoon I took a long New Year’s Eve walk with my adorable Maritino through
some of the most picturesque neighborhoods in the city. I’m a sucker for the twinkling
lights and other decorations that make it even more magical than usual at this time of year. I’ve
never been one to make too much of a fuss over New Year’s Eve (although I have
always dreamed of going to a big fancy ball à la Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally). My first priority
has always been to be among good friends and I usually end up at a cozy house party
and maybe going out for post-midnight drink, and generally I am tucked up in bed by
1am or shortly thereafter.
But this
year, the Maritino and I decided to ring in the New Year quietly, on our own. It’s after
8pm, and we still haven’t decided if we’ll go out for an informal dinner or
stay in with a bottle of champagne and a movie. Either way, it will be simple
and quiet.
But we did
create a new tradition: a long, leisurely, afternoon walk through the sparkling
city, trodding the sanpietrini of
some of the loveliest streets and piazzas of the city, from Via dei Coronari to
Via dell’Orso, Piazza San Lorenza in Lucina, Via del Campo Marzio, Via
Borgognona and many more. And what simple yet enthralling pleasures awaited us
at every turn: ogling the priceless antiques in the store windows, stopping to
admire a never before seen (by us) curiosity, reminiscing about moments passed together in hidden corners of the city, marveling at the Borromini and da
Cortona that seem to follow us around every bend, grabbing a piping hot slice
of pizza al taglio, seeing locals and natives greeting each other with boisterous
“Buon Anno!”s and “Happy New Year!”s, catching snippets of the song of an
unusually talented street performer, and stopping for a pot of tea at Babington’s.
The city was so rich and alive. It made me grateful to be alive and to be able
to live in this extraordinary place, and to be able to keep on loving it so passionately, day after day, year after year.
Here are just a few photos from our epic five-hour walk. I would have taken more, but I was so busy feeding my pupils with the gorgeousness all around me, I simply forgot most of the time!
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| What's hiding behind that plant on Via dei Coronari? |
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| Oh, no big deal, just a fragment of an ancient sculpture, plastered right into the wall of a building. |
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| You know when you walk around the corner and run into a massive church you don't remember ever seeing before? (If this were Twitter, the hashtag would be: #onlyinRome) (In case you were wondering, it's San Salvatore in Lauro) |
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| An almond cupcake by the fire at Babington's. Delicious, but can't compare to Christina's! |
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| Tea and cake at Babington's: it costs at least as much as a full meal any decent trattoria, but it is the only place to get proper cup of tea in Rome. |
Happy New Year, my darling bloglings! Thank you for reading my humble words in 2012. I promise there will be more, hopefully many more, posts in 2013. I wish you a thrilling New Year’s Eve wherever and however you might be celebrating it. Here’s to drinking in the beauty that is all around us every moment, whether simple or extraordinary, or both!
All photos by author
