ROMA EVERY DAY

Ciao, Autumn!

2014-09-21T09:03:00.001+02:00

So the summer's packed away ~~neatly~~ in boxes, beach towels and linen shirts tucked away for a year. I have a gazillion images to edit and catalog, and suddenly Autumn comes knocking on our Rome door, finding us completely unprepared.
Tanned shoulders now carry heavy school backpacks, hands busy clearing space for new projects in the works, and harvest season is finally upon us.

Here are a few images to welcome Fall season properly, with an apology for the extended blog silence.

rosso, il colore dell'estate

2013-06-30T17:19:00.000+02:00

For more daily images, follow my feed on Instagram. My mobile photography is also on Flickr. And on Tumblr.

Have a great summer!

un caffè a piazza di spagna

2013-06-25T14:15:00.001+02:00

What's better than sipping an espresso with this backdrop?

The new Nespresso store opened at the foot of the famous Baroque stairway depicted by la Dolce Vita, and historically acclaimed romantic hangout of world-known artists and poets. I was invited to the grand opening, a red carpet event along with celebrities and wannabes.

In the course of the evening, which started at sunset, besides delicious free samples of Gran Cru and Limited Edition Nespresso coffee, also a colorful 3D video-mapping...

...and the surprise performance of violinist Saule Kilaite.

Image © RondoneR

During a private tour of the newly inaugurated boutique, fellow bloggers and I invited for live tweet and Instagram coverage, had the chance to get a sneak peak at the interiors: 150 square meters, divided among two elegant floors, joined by a high tech staircase.

The store is characterized by elegant minimalist design, where coffee capsules and boxes in colorful geometric modules, create an artistic skyline.

The impressive chandelier above the circular bar area.

The striking upstairs light-box... makes you crave a cuppa.

The Nespresso store is located in Piazza di Spagna 34 - open daily from 9:30AM to 8PM

Rome street food and photo exhibit

2013-04-14T17:08:00.001+02:00

Well, I owe my followers a sincere apology: I haven't posted on this blog in over 8 months. But I'm not entirely to blame, it's all my iPhone's fault, and mainly the Instagram photoedit App. The easy share option on that devilish thing makes photo-blogging almost obsolete.

So in a moment of mobile photo lucidity I am breaking that trend, and promise to start posting images here again. Let me tell you about some great news in the meantime.

Sunday May 5 at 6 pm if you happen to be in Rome, do swing by one of my favorite hangouts, Circolo degli Artisti, for an evening of delicious street food, books, screenings, vintage VW Beetles, picnic spreads, a concert, and my "street" photos on exhibit at the Street Food in Circolo event.

The STREET FOOD IN CIRCOLO evening will be packed with activities, flavors and music. Here is a list of participating chefs and restaurants – each contributing a signature dish or street food specialty:

Stefano Callegari – The mastermind behind Tonda, Sforno, and 00100 pizza shrines – will be cooking Trapizzini, triangular pockets of pizza bianca bread, open on one side and stuffed with classic Roman fillings like stewed tripe, braised oxtail, meatballs, and tongue with salsa verde, a garlic & parsley sauce)

Gabriele Bonci – pizza guru at Pizzarium (one of Rome's top pizza destinations), and consultant for No.Au – will grace us with squares of his droolworthy Pizza al taglio

Giancarlo Casa – the pizza chef owner of La Gatta Mangiona – will be frying all manner of supplì and croquettes

Ernesto Fico of world-known Pizzeria Donna Regina in Napoli, will be contributing typical Neapolitan fried pizzelle and "frittatine" omelettes

The Fooders – illuminated gourmet food designers and events catering chefs – will be feeding us their signature "Polpette alla amatriciana" meatballs in amatriciana sauce, folded in tasty focaccia sandwiches

Food on the Road – Rome top delivery that prides in sous-vide and low temp cooking of all-natural and certified organic ingredients, will be preparing gourmet sandwiches and panini, and an "on-the-road" carbonara

Madame Baguette – another healthy food delivery service – is working on treating us with many French specialties

Diana Beltran of Mexican restaurant La Cucaracha, will be inflaming palates with her TexMex street food

Toro y Tapas Spanish restaurant will be titillating us with delicious tapas and pintxos

Sicilianedde Sicilian deli will delight us with savory and sweet local specialties

Ombre e Cicheti – a Venetian bàcaro in Rome – will transport us to La Serenissima with their cicheti typical Venetian aperitivo snacks

No.Au will be spicing up things with their own buffalo wings

Sapori di Gaeta seller of products and specialties of Gaeta and surroundings, will be cooking up Tiella in all its declensions

Move, a natural food restaurant, will bring healthy wraps, soups and American-style desserts

Mozao is feeding us tasty Emilia Romagna typical street food: tigelle and gnocco fritto

V-Ice will refresh the crowd with their artisan gelato and granitas

Emporio delle Spezie will be inebriating us with their world of spices...and crisp vegetable tempura.

If that's not enough to get you to Circolo degli Artisti on May 5, I don't know what will :)
If you can't make it to the event, you can always follow the evening's tweets and Instagrams by checking the hashtag #streetfoodincircolo

Art by @alicepasquini

Ciao!

luglio a roma

2012-07-30T17:17:00.001+02:00

A few re-edits and some new images of sweltering Rome

cruciani

2012-07-21T14:56:00.001+02:00

The macrame lace Cruciani bracelet has been the 'it' accessory of the season, and I learned that the stellar record sales saved the company, which was facing bankruptcy before designer Luca Caprai invented the simple cotton wrist toy.

Originally sold in the flagship Forte dei Marmi Cruciani store, the needlework mania item can now be found virtually everywhere, from clothing stores to boutiques worldwide, and is popular with everyone, even celebrities wear it on the red carpet.

Four trendy designs: Quadrifoglio is the original fortune ushering line of 7 four leaf clovers; Chiave e Lucchetto is a his/hers lock and key; Drago is a limited edition celebrating the 2012 year of the dragon; and the ever-loved Cuore hearts.

I have been a little out of luck lately, so I decided to get a lucky Cruciani bracelet. I went with fire engine red between the choice of 28 different colors. Do you like it?

vola vola

2012-07-14T19:43:00.001+02:00

A few images of our recent vacation in Texas and California

piazza farnese

2012-06-04T11:42:00.000+02:00

Don't stop in Campo de' Fiori! Escape the market and tourist chaos, and find some respite in the quieter and breathtaking Piazza Farnese, with its twin marble basin fountains, and the stunning Palazzo: one of the most important High Renaissance palaces in Rome. It currently serves as the French embassy in Italy.

First designed in 1517 for the Farnese family, the structure was altered when Alessandro Farnese became Pope in 1534, to designs by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger. Its building history involved some of the most prominent Italian architects of the 16th century, including Michelangelo, Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola, and Giacomo della Porta.

festa della mamma

2012-05-13T18:15:00.001+02:00

~ Today is mother's day in Italy ~

(thank you, my sweet child)

maggio

2012-05-06T19:12:00.003+02:00

Welcome springtime! Benvenuta primavera!
Rome at this time of year is spectacular, don't you think?
I've not been posting as often as I should, I know. It's that I'm always out with my DSLR, phone and point-and-shoot compact digital camera capturing the beauty of the Eternal City in this amazing light and perfumy air.

Go ahead and click below the photos if you'd like to purchase prints.
If you can't see the buttons below the photos, to place orders please visit the page where I sell my photos

sanpietrini

2012-04-01T20:40:00.001+02:00

This month's theme in the City Daily Photo Blog community is COBBLESTONES. Unfortunately the server is down but thanks to Eric of Paris Daily Photo, I was directed to Julie, who worked out a system: you can see more Theme Day participants HERE.

2012-03-17T10:03:00.000+01:00

primavera

2012-03-09T17:40:00.001+01:00

Yep, it's officially spring in Rome.

Mole Adriana

2012-03-05T23:18:00.002+01:00

I'm a little obsessed with this location. This particular curve in the Tiber river, the bridges that cross it, the nearby embrace provided by St Peter's colonnade, the statues, the castle.

Castel Sant'Angelo was not always a fortress, it was first and foremost a family tomb, Emperor Hadrian's. That's why this massive structure is also known as Mole Adriana.

The original Roman monument has since then been transformed in many different incarnations over the centuries: fortified outpost; Papal escape route; obscure prison; Renaissance dwelling, again penitentiary during the Risorgimento, down to the present modern day museum. The giant bronze angel on the summit of the vast circular viewing platform sheathes his sword to announce that the AD 590 Black Plague has been defeated.

Something about the ~~sun flare~~ divine light hitting the beggar in this second photo gives me chills.

piazza cavour

2012-02-14T18:37:00.002+01:00

Finally! The long awaited remodeling of Piazza Cavour was unveiled 3 weeks ago, and I for one was very happy about the new look. I'd had enough of the towering cranes and fenced off construction site, bus detours and loud noise surrounding the central Prati neighborhood square. Now Romans can finally admire the massive Palazzaccio again, salute the statue of Camillo Benso di Cavour, and enjoy the nice grassy areas between the gravel paths.

ponte #100

2012-02-12T09:57:00.000+01:00

Ponte Sant'Angelo ~ Roma

I'm posting one of my favorite bridges to celebrate «Louis'» 100th Sunday Bridge Series, in which our dear bovine friend portrays the many souls of the Golden Gate Bridge from his window. Every Sunday, «Louis» invites participants from all over to world to share the bridges of their cities.
To see more images, head over to San Francisco Bay Daily Photo ans show some photo-love.

neve

2012-02-09T10:48:00.000+01:00

Rome hadn't woken up to this in 27 years, but some say this year's flakes beat the 1985 snowfall. I certainly never remember Rome seeing anything like this before.
Here are a few images of my neighborhood and Villa Borghese, taken Saturday morning. I wish I could only portray the silence and the awe.

palazzetto dello sport

2012-01-31T01:07:00.001+01:00

This photo's more about the incredible sky we were blessed with a few days ago, than the actual "palazzetto" in silhouette.
Built in 1957 and finished in time for the 17th Olympic Games of 1960, this curious steel and concrete "spaceship" arena was used for several sports, mostly basketball.

USA – Italy match held at Palazzetto dello Sport in 1960

The Palazzetto dello Sport was designed by engineer Pier Luigi Nervi, who is also responsible for the Sala Nervi in the Vatican.

foto con il telefono

2012-01-20T00:46:00.000+01:00

You've probably been wondering where I've disappeared to. Sorry. It's just that I've been playing around with my new camera phone and enjoying a fun app called Instagram that allows you to shoot medium format photos from your iPhone, add filters and effects, and then share them on the web in matter of seconds. Here are a few test shots. Which do you prefer, viewing-wise, the bigger or the medium size?

foto dell'anno 2011

2012-01-01T13:20:00.000+01:00

Buon Anno! Happy New Year!
I chose this photo as my 'Picture of the Year' because it captures the feeling and heat of Rome in my rather desolate neighborhood during summer. The air is still, while the child (my son) is in full motion.
This photo was also published on the online newspaper la Repubblica as part of a "Summer in the City" series.

Other contenders for best of the year were:
Specchio
Crepuscolo
Dolce far niente
Ponte Milvio
Signore che pranzano
Termini
Roma: epoche e stili

City Daily Photo has a theme day the first of every month. An impressive number of blogs participate in theme day. Click here to check out those that do.

cicerone_1

2011-12-26T19:08:00.002+01:00

My family is in town, visiting from the United States, and we are touring the city during the holidays. The weather is unusually warm and beautifully sunny, and it's wonderful for me to see my city through their eyes. Here is a first batch of photos taken during a fantastic tour of the Palatine Hill, Forum and Colosseum, organized by the always reliable Context Travel. I may be biased (I work for them as culinary docent, leading gourmet tours of the city) but the knowledge, breadth of information, passion and expertise shared by the scholars at Context is boundless. Our docent introduced and revealed aspects of the sites I was not familiar with. It was a truly spectacular experience visiting them with my loved ones.

luminara_2

2011-12-17T13:23:00.004+01:00

I'm a sucker for Christmas lights. For the 150th anniversary of Italy's unification, Rome put on quite a show with its Via del Corso mile-long flag. But the rest of the city is no less decked out.
Fendi always does the best Christmas decorations. This year the gold belt was added with sparkly melting icicles, and every 20 minutes or so, it snows! There are models in reindeer costume that take photos of kids with Santa and meake free buttons out of them. Posh Via Condotti is decorated with giant chandeliers, and for snowball fans, there's a huge one with a big tree inside it and blowing snow in the main entrance of the Galleria Alberto Sordi.
For more awesome images of Rom'e holiday look please head over at Moscerina's light show post.

vino

2011-12-13T01:37:00.001+01:00

More social lately, which is good. But the alcohol intake is concerning.
Last week I met friends for aperitivo at Vinaietto, and the next day I attended an offbeat wedding reception held in a warehouse of an ex-repair shop off Via Flaminia.
I need to detox and it's not even Christmas yet...

luminaria

2011-12-09T03:20:00.001+01:00

The new Christmas lights along Via del Corso were finally lit up today, I've been seeing workers hang the long strands all along the thoroughfare that stretches from Piazza Venezia to Piazza del Popolo for the past week.
On December 8th we celebrate the Immaculate Conception, and customarily take the following day off work if this happens near a weekend. We call this "il ponte," the bridge. This day also marks the beginning of the holiday season in Rome, and traditionally the time in which decorations go up.

fontana di trevi

2011-12-05T17:51:00.001+01:00

Trevi Fountain is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous in the world, also thanks to the famous nighttime scene of Fellini's Dolce Vita.

A traditional legend holds that if visitors throw a coin into the fountain, they are ensured a return to Rome. An estimated €3,000 are thrown into the fountain each day...