The square is named for Lauro de Bosis, the poet who in 1931 flew over Rome dropping 400,000 anti-Fascist leaflets. A fine name for a place built as a Fascist academy of physical education, now home to the Italian Olympic Committee, hence the rings. Berlin's 1936
Monte dei Paschi began in 1472 as a charity pawn shop: you left a coat, got a loan, paid a little interest, and if the coat was sold for more than you owed, you got the difference. Commercial lenders charged 40% or more. In 2026 it is fighting off a
Paradiso sul Mare was built in 1924 to be Anzio's casino. It never opened as one. It became a film set instead: Fellini used it as the Grand Hotel in Amarcord, and The Talented Mr. Ripley turned it into a jazz festival in Sanremo. A casino that never
Rome has absorbed Greeks, Goths, Napoleon and tourists, so a few parakeets were never going to be a problem. Two are landing on this magnolia, and more are hidden in it. Bright green, and still nearly impossible to photograph, unlike the pigeons, who pose for anyone. They're believed
The front of the Pantheon says Marcus Agrippa built it. He did, in 27 BC, but it burned down twice, and what stands there now is Hadrian's. Hadrian kept Agrippa's name and left his own off. Nobody knows why. Modesty, or the best long con in
In the late 1560s a cardinal at Tivoli decided to build Rome in his garden, only smaller. The Rometta, “little Rome,” has the she-wolf with the twins, the goddess Roma on guard, and a small ship with an obelisk for a mast, standing in for Tiber Island. No traffic,
Wash day in Trastevere. A leopard-print legging, a tracksuit and a row of T-shirts hang between two windows. Plenty of Italians own a dryer and still use the window. The sun is free, and everyone on the street gets to see whose gym kit it is. RR
Avocados in Italy belong to Sicily, Puglia, Sardinia and a few groves in southern Lazio. Rome was not invited. This one grew on a tree here anyway, pit included, and I'm choosing to read it as Rome asking for a Sicilian climate. RR
Via Piccolomini is an ordinary street, about 300 meters long, near Villa Doria Pamphilj. St. Peter's dome does something odd from it. Walk toward it and it moves away. Step back and it grows. The dome was finished in 1590 and still likes a prank. RR
Della Palma says it has 150 flavors. I can only vouch for the chocolate section, which takes up half the counter: Nutella, Rocher, orange, strawberry, and a Dubai chocolate, because the internet got in here too. Choosing takes longer than eating. RR
Leila has wheels, a pink nameplate and two escorts. Nobody is in a hurry; the dog sets the pace. Rome treats its dogs the way it treats its children: waved through, fussed over, and handed the whole street. Hers is the only vehicle on this road with its name on
The Swiss Guard arrived in 1506: 150 mercenaries hired by Pope Julius II because Swiss soldiers were considered among the best in Europe. The striped uniform is often credited to Michelangelo, but that's a myth. It dates to the early 1900s, in the colors of the Della Rovere