Along the steep Via Garibaldi, on the slopes of the Janiculum, a baroque architectural pearl, unknown to most, takes us by surprise: it is the Church of Santa Maria dei Sette Dolori, designed by Francesco Borromini in the second half of the 1600s for the Order of the Oblate Augustinian Sisters of the Child Jesus, commissioned by the Duchess Camilla Virginia Savelli, wife of Pietro Farnese.

It is an incomplete jewel, as Borromini was at the same time busy in the reconstruction of the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, employed by Pope Innocent X.
The project did not remain incomplete only due to Borromini's lack of time, but also because the funds to carry it out ran out before its completion.
However, it is such incompleteness that makes it very special, and that also enhances the beauty of the adjoining convent.

The unfinished facade and the austere style of design are inspired by the strict rules of seclusion that characterized the monastic order that was housed there, as well as the intrinsic humble and rustic spirit of that obedience.

For about fifteen years the convent has been transformed into a luxury hotel.

However, from the hotel hall you can still access the church and, having breakfast between a croissant and a cappuccino, you can still enjoy the perfectly preserved cloister.

But what happened a few days ago near the Colosseum is certainly one of the nicest episodes that the annals of the Rome-Hollywood relationship remember.
Tom Cruise, who is shooting the new episode of Mission Impossible in the streets of the capital, is notoriously a motors enthusiast and an excellent driver, so much so that he does not need doubles and stuntmen when he shoots the scenes based on chases and various stunts with car and motorcycle.
When the American actor saw the insanely cute BMW motorcycles supplied to our Traffic Police, he heard no reason: he wanted to try one at all costs, and our agents allowed him to do so.
The expression of joy, almost childish, on the famous actor's face tells much more than a thousand words.

A subway officially arrived in Rome in 1955, and to be exact on February 9 of that year.
At 10.15 that morning, the first train of what we now call "Line B" leaved Termini Station to reach EUR.
An interesting tip: on board the inaugural train, among the authorities joining the President of Republic Luigi Einaudi, there is also the Minister of Transport of the time, Bernardo Mattarella, father of our current President.

The inauguration trip to EUR is not a random choice: the underground transport network, in fact, was conceived in the 1930s precisely to connect Termini Station to the site of the Universal Exposition E42, which then could not take place due to the occurrence of the events of the Second World War.
Of course, for the same reason, the construction of the subway is also interrupted, t in order to be resumed after a decade.

Rome, in the complexity of the stratifications that have occurred for twenty-seven centuries, is a vulnerable city.
The idea of running convoys under sites such as the Colosseum or the Circus Maximus has presented very complex problems since the very beginning of the project, and of course the constant probability of unexpected and exciting archaeological discoveries.

In this context, already complex in itself, it must be considered that, from the earliest years, the network was equipped with convoys capable of easily reaching 70 mph per hour which, equipped with comfortable and soft green leather seats, stood out for their modernity, if compared to those of other contemporary subways.

After the inauguration of 1955, the development of the underground transport network continued in the following years, with various projects concerning the line that from the Prati district leads to Cinecittà, through the intersection of Termini.

In view of the 1990 Soccer World Cup, Line B was refurbished and extended up to Rebibbia.

Later in the 1990s, after the extension of line B, line A was also put into service, which was extended to the current western terminus of Battistini.

And here history takes us almost to the present day.
The dream of a fast Rome is always alive, even if the times of realization - if compared to those of other European cities - are necessarily slowed down not only by the continuous archaeological finds, but also by the bureaucratic result that each of them inevitably entails.

In fact, when a company working on the line is faced with a new archaeological discovery, the law obliges it to stop the works to allow the intervention of the committies for conservation of cultural heritage, and this inevitably ends up extending the times of realization in an indefinable way.
We are in a city that has no equal in the world, and all this is part of its destiny.

Pending the project to create lines C and D, the archaeological investigations that the project itself involves continue to reserve daily surprises.
Just think of Piazza Venezia, where for years they have been trying to create a coveted station, but where even the bowels of the earth continue to return all kinds of preciousness of the past centuries and millennia.
The same goes for Via dei Fori Imperiali.
And the critical issues don't stop at archaeological sites alone!

While the projects, in their first draft, took into consideration a passage of the line under the riverbed of the Tiber, it was recently discovered that about sixty meters below the historic Capitoline river a second underground river flows, mysterious and with abundant flows, and this forced the planners to permanently set aside the sub-river section, while studies are underway at the Roma Tre University to make this generous stream an alternative power source capable of bringing heating from natural sources to Roman homes.

Therefore, many conquests have already been made to equip this city with a transport network comparable to those of the most modern capitals, even if - objectively speaking - all the situations mentioned above lead us to think that a capillary coverage of the city could, perhaps, be seen by the grandchildren of our grandchildren.

But this does not scare us and does not surprise us: in Rome everything is evaluated with the millennia unit of measurement.

On February 4, 1956, and for three days in a row, Rome too was hit by the heavy snowfall that affected Italy, starting from the north of the boot, since January 27.
The minimum temperature recorded in our country, during those days, was that of -40 ° on the Plateau Rosa.
For many days, in the capital, temperatures remained below freezing, with negative peaks of -8 °, and many of the incredible scenes that characterized those days are represented in this small gallery.
The great snowfall of 1956 in Rome was, over the years, the inspiration for countless songs, stories and short stories that are still part of the popular heritage of this city today.

The possibility of these city bathing days was provided by the characteristic barges, moored along the city course of the river, the most popular of which was, without a doubt, that of the "Ciriola", which was moored for decades under Castel Sant'Angelo.

“Er Ciriola”, aka Luigi Rodolfo Benedetti, was the owner of an electrician's shop, and he alternated this activity with that of a river with his mythical float on the Tiber.

It was called "ciriola", a Roman word for "eel", because, just like an eel, it swam casually in the rough waters of the river, and not just for its own pleasure: it received 160 medals for the 160 lives it had snatched from the Tiber, diving with cold blood and great swimming skills to save generations and generations of daredevils and would-be suicides.

Since the second half of the nineteenth century, there are simply fantastic photographic evidence of this bathing use of the Tiber.
Here are just a few ...

However, hunger can take many forms: from voracity to wolf hunger; from the excellent appetite to that peckish, to that nonsocchè that makes you, as a famous spot of the 90s said, “want something good”.

For all these situations, Rome offers a one-stop solution: Er Pizzicarolo.

It is not clear whether its name derives more from the fact that in ancient times the cured meats, not being all the preservatives available today, were well stuffed with spicy spices, therefore they "stung".
Or if its name derives from the fact that, offering tastings to its customers, what the pizzicarolo offers must be grasped with the thumb and forefinger closed in a vice, therefore with the "pinch"; or even if its name derives from the fact that this profession was born, in the mists of time, mainly by selling pizzas and cheeses.

The fact is that the "pizzicherie" of Rome are one of the truest, most authentic and typical images of this city.
Otherwise called "the pizzicagnolo", this cheerful, hospitable and ruddy popular figure has always been of great importance in small neighborhood communities.

Today, perhaps, the term “salumiere” has also taken hold in popular jargon, alongside the traditional name.

In fact, over the last few decades, the signs with the historic (and philological) name "pizzicheria", from which the verb "spizzicare" derives without a shadow of a doubt, that is, to seize morsels with the fingers delicacies (what Americans call "finger-food"), with which to make life sweeter and more livable.

Small daily "cuddles", with which, as some Roman elder would say "the man lives" ...

And to think that there is also a real artistic dimension of this ancient and beloved craftsman.

In fact, in the pre-Easter time, Roman pizzicaroli usually set up and decorate their shops as if they were temples; and how to blame them: one of the main rituals of the year is about to arrive, the Easter lunch, and their shop is the temple where the most worthy ingredients to celebrate this rite can be found.

The forms of Parmesan, superimposed on each other, become columns; hams, sausages, salami, lemons and bay leaves create exceptional mosaics on the ceilings.
Candles made from animal fats are lit; with butter and ricotta sacred statues are created, comparable to those of alabaster, in a mixture of the sacred and the profane which - in one word - is Rome itself.

Mirrors placed everywhere reflect lights, sculptures and fruit pyramids.

All this is concocted by the grocery store in person, not so much and not only for mere profit, and to advertise, but above all for devotion, and for the love of beauty, which inevitably must be married to the good.

This preparation can require even two days of work from the grocery store, of creativity and effort, to delight his customers, and to delight in them himself.

As Giuseppe Gioachino Belli narrates:

Colonne de caciotte that will be
Scento a little later, they arreggono an arch
Embroidered in sarsiccie and there they are
Many animals of a new form.
Between the cave in the limb there is a Mosè de strutto
Cor stick in the air like a cop;
At the top of a mountain of ham,
And underneath it pé will whet your hunger.
There is a Christ and a Madonna de butirro,
Drento to a beautiful cave of salami.

A delight for everyone and also for the great poets of Rome, Er Pizzicarolo inspired these verses in Trilussa in which, the poet lamenting his asphyxiated economic condition, he said:

Let's start with an indisputable fact: the sky of Rome is populated with parrots. They can be seen flying in flocks, especially in the early morning and sunset hours; they crowd the crowns of trees, most frequently near the course of the Tiber, and often - as in the photo - they rest peacefully on the windowsills and on the terraces of the roman houses.

They are of two different species: Collared Parakeet (Psittacula krameri) originating in Asia and Africa, and the Monk Parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus)from South America.

However, as everyone knows, Italy is not certainly a land of parrots.
Where did they come from?
Legend tells that they have taken place in Rome, a city with a mild and comfortable climate, for a few centuries now, and that the first couples to reproduce freely have escaped from the aviary of Cardinal Scipione Borghese.

Scipione Borghese, passionate collector, wanted this aviary, precisely in Villa Borghese, to host his wonderful collection of birds.
A widespread practice in the 17th century, keeping birds was the consequence of the explorations of the animal and plant world of those years.
Only those who had large amounts of money could boast the privilege of keeping rare species of birds in the aviaries of their villa.
The cardinal had a great variety of birds, some fascinated him for their tweet, others for the colors.

Therefore, according to legend, one of the legacies that the Borghese have left in Rome still flies in the skies of the city, cheering everyone up with a crystalline, very cheerful, and very harmonious verse.

If for centuries the most famous and visited dome in the world, St. Peter's Basilica, has been correctly maintained, this is due to the legendary acrobatic skills of generations of workers who have developed considerable skills in reaching every point of the majestic architectural work .

Until 1938, the work of these skilled acrobats was also required to illuminate the entire Basilica with thousands of torches, on the occasion of the celebrations of St. Peter and St. Paul

Today, of course, these workers act supported by all the most modern security systems, but their ability remains, and thanks to it we can still admire the dome in all its beauty.

His gestures, witnesses report, was so spectacular that the Romans, in homage to the great director, had nicknamed him "the Riccardo Muti of traffic".

The famous Italian actor Alberto Sordi was inspired by him for a very famous movie.

It was known that every time Alberto Sordi used to drive through that square he opened the car window and greet him with a "Ciao Buffone!! (Hi clown!)"

In ancient Rome pasta was daily on the table of Romans.
In particular, the ancestors of today's lasagna (laganum), which the Romans (since tomato had not yet arrived in Europe) topped with meat, cheese and vegetables.
There was also the custom of making stuffed pasta, in which the ancestors of today's ravioli and tortellini can certainly be identified.

This smart boy knows it well, as in 1959, during the making of Fellini's "Dolce Vita", he had the honor of conferring the coveted title, to the famous actress Anita Ekberg.
Lucky boy, who will now be, without a doubt, a handsome seventy-year-old who has not washed his lips since that day.

In the background, another Italian jewel: the Iso Rivolta Grifo, one of the sport cars signed by the Italian industry which have made History in style and design.

Unfortunately, in 1993, in a dire straits time for our democracy, a hateful bomb attack will destroy part of San Giorgio al Velabro.

But Rome, defined not by chance "the Eternal City", has twenty-seven centuries of births and rebirths to its credit, and the Church of San Giorgio al Velabro, in three years of ingenious and painstaking work, will be rebuilt stone by stone, and again inaugurated in 1996 by the President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro.

This is Rome: the Great Beauty that will always be reborn. Even in these hard times Rome will surprise us !!

We are in 1920...
A man with a broom is doing his job in Piazza di Pietra.
Someone offers him a small tip, something to eat, some household items to bring to his family ...
Suddenly, an unexpected space-time equation opens up, and that man is launched a hundred years into the future, among the tourists of 2020, attracted by the majesty of the colonnade of the Temple of Hadrian ...
Tips, unfortunately for him, have meanwhile fallen into disuse ...

Among the old Roman customs, in the height of summer, there was the one going to the Ostiense district to buy the best watermelons.
In fact, the large general markets were located at the Ostiense, where all supplies of food and vegetables for the capital were concentrated.
Whoever came first got the best watermelons !!

In ancient Rome there was a tradition, during the first month after the wedding, therefore during the first moon (since the calendar was lunar) to give to the bride, every day, a good feed of honey.
Romans attributed outstanding nutritional properties to honey, largely related to fertility and physical beauty.
Giving the bride honey for a whole month, therefore, meant, for ancient Romans, helping her to be as fertile as possible.
If today the definition "Honeymoon" is used in the Anglo-Saxon world too, this is due to the fact that the Romans, through their conquests, took this tradition also to the Northern people.

Madama Lucrezia, 1940 ...

Madama Lucrezia, 1970 ...

Madama Lucrezia, 2020 : free, at last...

In 1850, an English photographer took from the Colosseum the Arch of Constantine, the Palatine Hill, Via di San Gregorio and the Meta Sudans (before its demolition, which took place in the 1930s at the behest of Mussolini)
Fifty-one years later, in 1901, a lady observes the same perspective from a similar point.

"I soliti ignoti" is a movie by Mario Monicelli, nominated at the Oscars 1959 as best foreign movie. In this perfect photo-editing, Vittorio Gassmann, Capannelle, Marcello Mastroianni and Tiberio Murgia emerge from another dimension and are launched, sixty years later, in the same point of the Appio Latino district, where this scene was shot ...