Exploring the living old parts of Rome

One of the things I like the most in any European city is simply the streets. Not that you can find any sort of pattern, mind me. But I like that these streets were not built for cars. I adore how intrinsicate, narrow, wavy or even steep they can be. I love the way buildings on different sides of street seem to be leaning to kiss each other. I like to get lost on these streets, I like that not even Google Maps has got the technology to properly help me to navigate in the insides of any European old town.

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And because it is European, it has its charm. The charm of times gone, but also the charm of so many styles constructed through the years. I adore how you could almost analyse it the same way a geologist studies the stratification of the different terrain layers of a mountain, looking for clues of what was there before. Because streets and buildings might look like the lifeless parts of a city, but they tell so many stories. You just need to listen.

As I said before, Rome is an open air museum regardless its Centro Storico (Old Town). But it is in the Old Town that you can learn about the story of today. How people live today within the old walls of a century or two before.

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The Old Town of Rome is warm in its yellows and oranges, and despite cobbled streets it’s filled with vegetation. I assume it helps the streets to keep fresh during hot sunny days. But it also provides some sense of nature to it, as if giving back what was taken from Earth when building such great city.

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Definitely take your time to feel the city, exploring the Old Town. It can be far more enjoyable that waiting in queues to get into the biggest tourist attractions and definitely more rewarding.

Love

Nic

More posts on Rome:

• The Eternal City of Rome
• The Vatican Museums – A Tale of An Absolute Nightmare