Robert Egert

Rome

The Roman Colesseum takes it name from a colossal statue of Nero that was taller than the amphitheatre itself. It was covered in gold leaf. Nero stood erect with his arm outstretched in the classic Roman greeting. I believe this is what remains.

I've always associated cypress trees with remote images of southern Europe. Their architectural form was a favorite among early painters who worked in tempera on panel. They are particularly well-suited to narrow spaces.

Imagne the child who once looked out these windows longing to play on the street. Now there are far too few children and fewer still in the center city. Just looking at th well-maintained court brings an image of aging aristocrats.

Late afternoon light imposes a spacious visual effect that is simply not true. In fact it is a loud, busy intersection.

The contemporary museum of the Trajan Market is 100% theatrics. The designers leveraged lighting and positioning of artifacts along with the wonderful design of stairs, bannisters, utilities and flooring to bring out the clear forms inherent in the original market.

It must help that the space is almost empty.

A rectangular hollow -- not a shopping arcade -- the outside is let in at the groudn level. Essentially you walk through the building continuous wiht the street and so the temperature in February is quite cold but it is protected from the wind.

Roman portraits, Roman busts in the Vatican Museum, a great dumping ground for spoils. The ancient gods and goddesses are fitted with fig leaves. There's a dearth of information on these faces.

The galeries seem endless. The wealth of the Catholic Church overwhelming. And the effect just numbing and ultimately boring. As great a testimony as any to the superiority of contemporary exhibit design.

The light is extemely bright in winter and especially near the river -- a great swath of open space in an otherwise cluttered and cramped city.

Large slanted walls to accomodate the flow of the river throughout the year. An one of the few spots with a dense cluster of trees in the center city.

I always enjoy walking in cities. It is a great pleasure that you really begin to miss once you leave the city and become dependent upon cars for just about everything and walking becomes a self-conscious activity, like a casual sport.

Luckily there are still bridges, passages and alleys that are too small for cars, and that are still used throughout the day.

In the early February morning the river was both opaque and reflective. And while the level was low, the current was fast, turbulent and cold.

At the intersection of two buildings. One perhaps from the eighteenth century. The other perhaps more recent.Clearly a wall of thin roman-style brick was partially destroyed to make way for the faux blocks

In the Jewish Ghetto, neweer buildings built into and around ancient ruins. Here an acient inscription has been incorporated into a newer apartment block.

And our apartment, smaller than small with a tiny kitchen.

Panorama from the Villa Borghese, looking north of the Piazza Del Popolo.

The Piazza Del Popolo is one of the great public spaces you find in old European cities. This one is special because unlike similar ones in Paris it is mostly free of cars which makes it a useful as well as beautiful space.

Restoration on the garden architecture in the Villa Borghese.

This is the setting for the Ara Pacis, or the Alter of Peace. The original alter was commissioned by the Roman Senate in 13 BC. This new museum was designed by architect Richard Meier and completed in 2006. It was panned by the critics but despite that I find it to be a lovely and engaging building that both stands out from yet related to the bulding around it. The site is bathed in light and the steps and fountains outside are inviting and comfortable. The interior has a brilliant simplicty and grandeur.

The museum is much smaller than one would expect from the outside: The purpose is really just to house the Ara Pacis and protect it from the elements (and pollution). Below on the lower level is non-descript (and somewhat dark) exhibition space.

Here is a very small church, Santa Barbara dei Librai, near Campo Dei Fiori. It seats no more than 20 people and sits at the end of an alley. Wikipedia lists it as having been built in 1306 but this seems impossible to me for a few reasons: It has a curved pediment, seashell motifs and a compound facade--all hallmarks of Baroque style. Perhaps the original structure dates from the 14th Century and the facade is Baroque.

From the Museum of Crypta Balbi, a clay pot from the nebulous time after the "fall" of Imperial Rome but before the emergence of a dominant Papacy in the peninsula. Here we see the skeleton of child buried in a plain vessel.

The Theater of Marcellus is the edge of the Jewish Ghetto and near the imperial forum. In the middle ages a wealthy family built their home into the structure. I am not certain if one can enter it any more, but you can see relatively modern windows on the top floor.

The space left between the modern buildings and Theater of Marcellus is usually in deep shadow, but in the early morning there is enough sunight to keep the trees healthy.

Seen from the other direction you can see some of the remains of the theater including a lone column and the side view of a facade.

Fragments of finished stone piled on the Palatine Hill.

The classic cross-in-a-rectangle design of Roman gates. I wonder if this is a truely ancient motif or a modern deisgn that we associate with the ancient city.

Motercycles and scooters parked under an overhang just across from the river.