A Walk in Rome 2025

John and I allowed ourselves one week in Rome this year, to get over our jet lag, on our way to Naples and Venice.

Sculpture in and around Piazza Navona has been expertly cleaned for the 2025 Roman Catholic Jubilee. This 1575 fountain in front of the Pantheon came up nicely.

In Piazza Navona these visitors sat and gazed at a huge 'Billboard God' looking down at the Fountain of the Moor. The facade of the building behind is in restoration.

At this toy shop in the piazza we loved the huge polar bear and the Pinocchio statue greeting visitors.

Near the government buildings on Via Guistiana a Carabiniere discussed a point with a guard in a cubicle.

The Piazza of San Lorenzo della Lucina is always an oasis of calm in the busy city centre.

I always find workshops interesting. I loved this bustling motorbike garage.

John caught a greeting beween Roman street musicians.

We have also discovered Roman sidestreet shortcuts. This elegant local leads the way.

A visitor in red posed next to a mural in green.

A Catholic priest paused by the Tiber to take it all in.

These monks in Largo Argentina pass us in what looks like their work clothes. They were in a hurry.

This feral cat in Largo Argentina was not in a hurry. The ruins can now be visited, but the cats still rule.

We left Largo Argentina at the golden hour and walked down Corso Vittorio Emanuele II toward the monumental Church of the Gesù.

As we walked home in the dusk we came upon a garbage truck on fire. On the side of the truck the words: Il Futuro Sostenibile/The Sustainable Future.

After the fire the ice. John and I stop for a last gelato.

Close to our apartment now, we passed the temple to Hadrian which had for years been the Rome stock exchange. What a town!

William Kimber turns 80 in Rome

Rome was in its usual tizzy.

Bill and I climbed the Spanish Steps to get to the Chromotherapia exhibition at the Villa Medici.

The show had a grid of Martin Parr's marvellously discomfiting food photos.

These Alex Trager photographs of falling air hostesses gave me a genuine frisson, especially as I had just flown.

On our way to lunch we found paintings by Carlo Levi at the Small Moderna. We know Levi from the film Francesco Rossi made from his memoir Christ Stopped at Eboli. 

Next door at Gagosian Rome we found Avedon's Italian photographs. Bill asked me to photograph him in from of these Marilyn Munros to send to our buddy Harriet Mulder.

And so to Bill's 80th birthday lunch at Bill's fave restaurant Gino al Parlamento. We started with vignarola, a salad available only in early spring.

Cook artichokes, peas and fava beans with guanciale. Add romaine lettuce at the finish.

After a long siesta we went out for an evening stroll and landed at our favourite bar in Rome,

for a bottle of a local, unfiltered, version of prosecco.

We also tried their cheese tray.

And fell upon it. We'll have this again.

Under the eye of the staff we toast Bill's 80th birthday 

"Picasso the Stranger" in Rome 2025

John and I have enjoyed many Picasso exhibitions over the years. Picasso lo Straniero (the Stranger) at Palazzo Cipolla in Rome this spring was one of the most delightful.

The 18 year old Picasso painted this Group of Catalans in Montmartre in 1900.

Picasso was 15 when he painted this Pond in El Retiro.

Lovely and quiet: Pomegranate, glass and pipe, 1912.

Picasso did the costumes for Satie's ballet Parade in 1917. The exhibition showed a video of this horse costume in action. It was amazingly expressive. Every turn of the head registered a new emotion.

One of Picasso's masterful portraits: Andre Level, 1918. 

Another astonishing line drawing: Artist's studio in Rue Boetie, 1920. Masterful.

John is a big fan of Picasso's paintings of this period: Woman throwing a stone, 1931. So mysterious and fun.

Even when he doodles, Picasso can't be beat. Nude and studies of heads, 1931.

The Farmer, 1938, with admirers.

Boat of the Nereids and a wounded Faun, 1937

Magical study toward Blind Minotaur led through the night by a little girl with a pigeon, 1934.

The Green-Gallant, 1943. Do you know the parkette at the west end of the Île de la Cité. The wall and statue in the distance belong to the Pont Neuf.

Study for "The Man with the Sheep," 1943. Something scary about this one.

Vase with Dancing Girls, 1950. I want it!

Faun's Head, 1955. Picasso was a bit of a faun, eh?

The Bathers; The young Man, The Diver, The Fountain Man, 1956. Three of Picasso's wildly inventive sculptures. And so to lunch!

Roman Knockers 2024

 The Romans liked their architecture big and their palaces contained courtyards

with doors large enough to allow a horse and rider

or a coach to enter.

The doors often sported enormous door knockers.

With time the knockers became 

more decorative.

Animals appeared

with the knocker handles in their mouths.

Human faces appeared

and human hands.

I like this reference to Egypt.

John and I are partial to this popular wild man motif.

We also love these fantasy animals

especially these frightening creatues biting the bar.

This wild man seems a bit tipsy.

These erotic nymphs swirling beneath a Baroque shell make me want to knock on the door.