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| La Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti -famous Spanish Steps ( the Spanish Embassy is nearby ). On the top of the photo, la chiesa (a church) di Trinità dei Monti |
A few years ago I was living and studying in Bologna, Italy, and nearly every weekend I have spent exploring towns and cities of Italia, usually alone, but sometimes with my brothers or friends.
There was only one exception: I liked to go to Rome all by myself....alone.
I have developed a very personal relationship with the eternal city. On Saturdays, early morning, I used to take a train to Rome. With time it became a habit. The evening before the trip, I chose some of my artworks, I believed were interesting enough to show them in the Roman art galleries. Sometimes, I was lucky and sold a painting, or two. Sometimes, for over four or five months nobody paid attention to my work....
I have never stayed in the hotel alone, good Greek girls do not stay in the hotels alone. But, I resolved that problem very easily. My Italian friends in Bologna told me that the best place to stay in Rome, for a girl was....a convent. I got an address, and whenever I went to Rome, I have always slept in one place - in Casa Maria Immacolata, in a convent, in a modest hotel run by nuns, one of the best and safest place on earth to sleep. It is in the heart of Rome, just nearby Piazza del Popolo. I suspected that the sisters were angels sent to Rome to make people happy…
My encounters with Rome were profoundly emotional. Perhaps, because I was already an adult, an artist painter in making, and I needed a touch of Mediterranean sensuality and sophistication to finish my intellectual structure, I don't know. I used to live in Paris before and never had that kind of feelings, but Paris was a home away from home, I have a family there, my parents studied there, I am a product of French culture, and French is the only language I really know…
There was only one exception: I liked to go to Rome all by myself....alone.
I have developed a very personal relationship with the eternal city. On Saturdays, early morning, I used to take a train to Rome. With time it became a habit. The evening before the trip, I chose some of my artworks, I believed were interesting enough to show them in the Roman art galleries. Sometimes, I was lucky and sold a painting, or two. Sometimes, for over four or five months nobody paid attention to my work....
I have never stayed in the hotel alone, good Greek girls do not stay in the hotels alone. But, I resolved that problem very easily. My Italian friends in Bologna told me that the best place to stay in Rome, for a girl was....a convent. I got an address, and whenever I went to Rome, I have always slept in one place - in Casa Maria Immacolata, in a convent, in a modest hotel run by nuns, one of the best and safest place on earth to sleep. It is in the heart of Rome, just nearby Piazza del Popolo. I suspected that the sisters were angels sent to Rome to make people happy…
My encounters with Rome were profoundly emotional. Perhaps, because I was already an adult, an artist painter in making, and I needed a touch of Mediterranean sensuality and sophistication to finish my intellectual structure, I don't know. I used to live in Paris before and never had that kind of feelings, but Paris was a home away from home, I have a family there, my parents studied there, I am a product of French culture, and French is the only language I really know…
With Rome everything was different. I discovered it all by myself. I polished my Italian there and for the first time in my life, I started to feel I was ….an artist painter.
There is a street in Rome which became famous because of an American movie - Roman Holiday. In Ancient Rome it was nothing but famous. There was an open waste-stream in the neighborhood. The movie made Via Margutta fashionable. In our days it is a place where many art galleries are located, and even an Italian movie director, Federico Fellini, used to have his home there.
One day, on Via Margutta, I have seen a young couple, kissing, and realized how alone I was. Because, no matter how comfortable you are with yourself, if you don’t love, you really don’t exist.
From that day on, every time I was coming to Rome, I day-dreamt that I would meet the man of my life. Those dreams were always the same: the prince would be Greek, tall, dark, and handsome…and of course well educated, and fluent in Greek…preferably from Laconia….and I would meet him on Via Margutta, or Piazza del Popolo, or somewhere else…and… and... Rome did not deliver.
I felt deeply disappointed, and started to dislike the eternal city…..
There is a street in Rome which became famous because of an American movie - Roman Holiday. In Ancient Rome it was nothing but famous. There was an open waste-stream in the neighborhood. The movie made Via Margutta fashionable. In our days it is a place where many art galleries are located, and even an Italian movie director, Federico Fellini, used to have his home there.
One day, on Via Margutta, I have seen a young couple, kissing, and realized how alone I was. Because, no matter how comfortable you are with yourself, if you don’t love, you really don’t exist.
From that day on, every time I was coming to Rome, I day-dreamt that I would meet the man of my life. Those dreams were always the same: the prince would be Greek, tall, dark, and handsome…and of course well educated, and fluent in Greek…preferably from Laconia….and I would meet him on Via Margutta, or Piazza del Popolo, or somewhere else…and… and... Rome did not deliver.
I felt deeply disappointed, and started to dislike the eternal city…..
I met the man of my life in America, he was already in love with me for over a year, when I saw him for the first time, and he was all that I have dreamt about in Rome..... with the family roots in Mani, in Laconia….
The man I love is very romantic and loves Italy, so we go there quite often…
I don’t need Rome for a love scenario now…. although, I enjoy kissing on Via Margutta….
Roma, I don’t expect anything from you anymore, so...addio, e grazie per tutto il pesce*
Till next time…Arrivederci Roma!
*So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish– The the fourth book of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
