By Giulio D'Ercole
I do envy tourists that come to #Rome for the first time. I envy them because they can fall in love for the #EternalCity, admiring its beauty as they tour around, going from #Renaissance squares and charming alleys to ancient ruins, passing through #Baroque churches displaying the best art one can imagine.
And yet, at the same time, I am sad for them, because they were not born in Rome fifty or sixty years ago, when Rome, in its wonderful kind of provincial way, was still Rome, with its true markets, with its family-run shops and restaurants, with artisans working out of their "Bottega", with Romans, that in their rough way were still gentle and welcoming.
Though, no matter what, the wonderful feeling of walking in history is always there, accessible to all, enjoyable by everybody, because at the end of the day the Eternal City is a generous, gorgeous outdoor museum.
The photo here below shows part of the ancient city of Rome, with its small squares and the remaining columns that once supported the majestic entrances to temples and buildings where religion, economy, and political life were worshipped, discussed, debated and decided.
This space, like the Roman Empire of course,, was not built in one day, but it came about little by little, or I should better say Consul after Consul and Emperor after Emperor. The #ImperialFora is, in fact, a series of monumental fora (public squares), constructed over a period of one and a half centuries, between 46 BC and 113 AD, and it was the center of the Roman Republic and of the Roman Empire.
