Skip to main content

Featured

Locked down but not out in Italy

Singing from the balconies! One nice thing about this crisis ... solidarity! “Guess you’re not living like a tourist anymore,” was the funny, truthful and somewhat gut-wrenching message of a friend the day the lockdown in Italy began. Today is day 6. My beloved Italia has been hit hard with the COVID19 epidemic. With the second largest elderly population in the world, the epidemic has meant a disproportionate amount of deaths in the country. So though I haven’t been worried about contracting it myself, this isn’t about me or someone like me who, if contracted it would probably have a sucky couple of weeks and then recover. It is about if someone like me contracted it and then spread it to a person with a complicated health history or an elderly person with a weakened immune system. Eerily orderly: Lines for the grocery store, each person one meter apart In a country with no concept (and no physical room really) for personal space, and in a city with reproachable hygie

Postcard from Jen in Bella Roma!



Do you need any more reasons to visit Italy?
The latest postcard to join the gallery is from Jen and was taken in bella Roma, my true love. It is not like I need any more excuses to talk about the virtues of this city, but there is always more to discover in Italia. The photo taken above is a shot from a lesser-known site in Rome, il Giardino degli Aranci or the Garden of Oranges. It sits in the Parco Savello on the Aventine hill, a plot of land now belonging to the Dominican order. The Aventine is one of the seven hills of Rome, and, as many of them do, it offers a fantastic view of the city, day or night. Just next door to this beautiful park is another site worthy of attention, Santa Sabina. One of the earliest churches in Rome, it was build in 422 AD. The cypress doors of this church are probably the church's most well-known feature, and the Crucifixion carving on it is thought to be the earliest depiction of this event. Although the oranges are apparently bitter, the view from this Giardino is breath-taking and definitely worth a visit.

Where are you? Send me a postcard! Just take a digital photo, write a 2-3 line message and send it to touristliving(at)gmail(dot)com! I'll turn your photo into a postcard and post it on my blog to share your experience of living like a tourist in your own city.  

Comments