Monti, a tiny quartiere tucked away beside the Colosseum, might be small in size, but it has a lot packed in between its walls. Its history is varied and colourful; hardly surprising for the area which grew up alongside the Roman Forum, the political heart of the Roman empire. The original red-light district, in Roman […]
Hundreds, if not thousands of photographs are taken everyday from the top of the Pincian Hill. Il Pincio as it’s known in Italian, overlooks Piazza del Popolo and offers one of the best views across the Rome skyline. This elegant space was designed by Roman architect Giuseppe Valadier to link the hill with the piazza […]
Italians are known the world over for their sophisticated and apparently effortless style. Not everyone here accessorizes designer garb with an espresso and a cigarette, but this Italian cliché has more than a grain of truth in it. Looking good matters here, and achieving la bella figura goes deeper than just the clothes you wear. […]
With such an abundance of tourist attractions situated in the historical center, it’s easy to see why large numbers of travellers spend most of their time there. Whilst the grandeur of the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain or the Forum is not to be missed, there’s certainly more to Rome than just checking off the big […]
Just a side step from the main shopping strip, Via del Corso, lays Via Margutta. A quiet street with a color palette of earthy terracotta brown, amber and orange. Trailing ivy and wisteria plants climb across the stone buildings and give the road a secret garden feel. The rushed pace of the city center, which […]
It feels like we are back in Chicago. This is my first thought upon entering La Vi. Reclaimed wood, rustic metal touches, and industrial style lighting are mixed with more modern touches, such as velvet-upholstered chairs. It’s the same look that characterizes much of Chicago’s up and coming west side where the trend of fashioning old […]
In the window of Taki, a Japanese restaurant just off Piazza Cavour in Prati, I notice the familiar signs seen in sushi joints around the world. As impressed as I am at the techniques involved in making fake plastic models of food, these trite displays don’t usually fill me with confidence about the quality of […]
Until just a few months ago, on the corner of Via Ostiense and Via Pellegrino Matteucci stood a very sad and tired stationary shop. Eventually, the signs in the window offering cheap photocopying were replaced by closing down notices and the doors shut for the final time. Later, building supplies and other signs of life […]
Rome, or better Italy, is famous for its incredible food, from pasta to pizza (just to name a couple of stereotypical foods we are most known for). Although around the world it may seem as if we only know how to do those two dishes, our cuisine is, in fact, quite vast. Desserts, for […]
Anita Ekberg stands 10 meters tall along the banks of the river Tiber. In this interpretation of the iconic scene from La Dolce Vita, she isn’t cavorting in the Trevi Fountain but standing in a bathtub. Further down the river, Daphne spurns the advances of Apollo, metamorphosing into a laurel tree as her only […]