Justin Trudeau: a star on Italian Television!

In the 10 days we have been in Italy we only turned the television on once. And who did we see? I think they love him!

Housing in Rome

    As one takes the train into Rome, you pass by thousands of anonymous looking apartment blocks. In many instances, new buildings are not significantly different than the old. What is remarkable, however, is that you don't see the highrise buildings which you find around Metro Vancouver. And you certainly don't see single-family homes close to the city centre like we do in Vancouver.
     Since my family met up with us, rather than rent 3 hotel rooms, we rented an Airbnb. As is increasingly the case in Vancouver, it wasn't someone's home; it was an investment property used exclusively as short-term rental accommodation. But it was comfortable and in an excellent location right next to Piazza Venezia.
    Like much of Rome's accommodation, you would never know what's inside from looking at the outside. On the outside, it looked old and tired.
     Across the street was a studio where old paintings and sculptures were being restored.
But on the inside, it was quite modern with a stylish winding staircase leading up to a second floor mezzanine serving two bedrooms and bathroom. The view out of our bedroom was quite different from what we're used to.
    Sadly, I did not have the opportunity to visit new housing developments on the outskirts of the city which I had planned to see. But I did explore some attractive inner-city residential neighbourhoods which included a variety of architectural styled buildings in a well-treed setting. (One of my complaints about Rome is that trees are often in short supply in many neighbourhoods.)

One of the number of entry gateways that lead into a large landscaped courtyard serving a mix of residences and businesses.

    A generic building form throughout Italy and much of Europe offers little more than a blank street-wall along the sidewalk, leading into a landscaped courtyard serving one or more buildings, as illustrated here.  In some instances, the cars are parked inside. But in many others, cars are either parked on the street, or underground, depending on the age of the building; however, scooters, motorcycles, etc are often allowed into the courtyard.
     Traveling around the city I was struck by just how many buildings maintained a maximum 6-storey scale; lower than in Paris. Obviously the building height is in part related to the fact that elevators had not been invented when most of these buildings were first constructed, but even newer buildings maintained a similar or lower scale.
     As we intensify development in Vancouver, I would like to see more effort given to a similar approach to planning. It is comfortable, and can achieve higher densities while maintaining pedestrian scale.

Much of Rome has a maximum 6 storey scale.

This new 5-storey development was infilled into an established neighbourhood. Note the exterior stairs leading to the upper floors.

The Vatican!

     Since both Trump and Trudeau thought it was worthwhile to visit the Vatican while they were recently in Rome, I thought I should too.
    My first contact with the Vatican was as a 10 year-old stamp collector in Toronto. As a Jewish boy, the Vatican and the Pope did not have the same significance for me as they did for some of my classmates. 11 years later, when I visited Rome for the first time, I didn't visit the Vatican, preferring to hang out on the Spanish steps trying to meet girls.
      However, this time we made a reservation on-line and were prepared to spend as much time as necessary visiting the complex. My first stop, not surprisingly, was the philatelic museum, which brought back memories. The rest of the time was spent battling the crowds to view the incredible art collections and frescoes.

Unfortunately, this photo does not convey the impressive parade of galleries which extend endlessly.

This corridor/gallery was crammed, literally crammed with Roman sculptures. You could spend months studying the stories about the various pieces on display.

The many frescoes are all the more impressive when you think about how they were made.

As I was leaving I came across this large model of the property. It's all quite breathtaking.

The exit stair is pretty to look at but not that comfortable to descend.

From Rome with Love

I first came to Rome in 1969. I didn't arrive by train; I arrived by truck having hitchhiked from Denmark. This time we took a train from Naples. While the Italian trains occasionally go on strike, we were fortunate, and found the train system both very comfortable and always on time.

In order to get an overview of a city we often take a hop-on-hop-off bus tour. There are a number operating in Rome. The first night we took a Panorama Line tour. It was not very good. When we joined our daughters, they did some research and concluded that the BigBus company was the best, based on on-line comments. We were much happier with it.

One of the most impressive buildings we saw on the first tour. Little did we appreciate that our Airbnb apartment was literally next door. What is this building, you ask?  I can't remember. I'll check.

A highlight of any tour of Rome is the Trevi Fountain. The first time I visited I did not take photos with my phone. I was using transparency slides and was very conscious of the cost, since often I had to chose between taking pictures and eating. No such problems this time.

This is a judicial building which according to our tour guide, is much hated by the locals for being too big. I thought it was a fascinating building. Speaking of big, I did not see one high-rise building in downtown Rome. There may be some in the suburbs, but I didn't see any in the four days I was there.

When I saw the magnificent Trevi Fountain, I rudely tweeted out that it reminded me of the Salt Piles public art near South-East False Creek. However, I later discovered that some contemporary Roman public art isn't much better. At least that's how I felt about this piece.

Rome has a river running through it. But like many waterfronts in Canada in years gone by, it has been ignored. I tried to book a river cruise and everyone was astounded. "Why would you want to do that? they asked". I understand that part of the problem is the tides and depth of water. However, I still predict that in years to come this waterfront will be improved.

I read that many people are coming to Italy rather than France or Spain because they feel there is less of a terror threat here. That being said, I was troubled by the sight of many solders around the city dressed in camouflage (now why would they do that when they're guarding buildings in an urban area?) with their fingers on the triggers of very large, machine guns.

It's hard not to get a bit excited when you see the Colosseum for the first time. Actually we were less impressed with this Colosseum this time, having seen some of the structures in the south of France.

As we toured around, we were impressed by the setting up of a large seating area near the Colosseum. They were preparing for a special presentation by the Pope. Fortunately, we were leaving town so had a good excuse for missing it.

One of the things that impressed me in Rome, and elsewhere in Italy was the preponderance of small cars parked in even smaller spaces. (How was this guy ever going to get out without damaging the Smart Cars parked at either end? I subsequently wrote a column for the Vancouver Courier on the many scooters and small scooter-like vehicles and small cars on the streets of Italy. I think it's just a matter of time before we start to see more of these vehicles on Vancouver streets.

As an architect, I never tired of looking at the variety of architectural styles found around the city.

However, I did tire of seeing the graffiti that seems to come out at night as the shutters come down on kiosks and shop windows.