The Eternal City – Rome

Any and all roads, that’s how the saying goes, and it might have been true one day. To be found at the end of endless cobbles, orderly and properly arranged to connect three continents, to bind them here, and let the riches flow in but one direction, out go the legionaries, clad in leather and metal, carrying sword and shield, to win a new province for their emperor, and let the captives dig for silver or plough the fields to feed the million mouths of the eternal city. We are in Rome.

It serves as testament and witness to what can be achieved, a glorious foundation and inspiration for later kingdoms or cultures, whose languages still resemble the Latin of Old, now spread to the Americas and parts of Africa. An inheritance to be seen when strolling the capitals of the west, but all of it, originally built here, and built to last. 

The sturdy colosseum hosted bloodshed for decades, now slumbers on the pictures of international tourism. And as we all know, the list continues without limit, not a square inch without a tale to tell, merely to walk through these streets will remain an historic memory in the minds of many. Buses, nor taxis need a destination, anywhere they stop will bring you the past.

And although in political terms, most scholars agree the Roman empire vanished long ago, though leaving plentiful traces here, how about this? The empire became a church, with its head still residing here, in palaces filled with ancient books, forbidden knowledge, naked statues and painted ceilings. Surviving countless offensives and invasions, slowly spreading to all corners of the globe. 

So besides ageless marble, white as snow, we stroll past facades of once revolutionary architecture, new styles developed here, in Rome, where great minds put their practised hands together and built marvel after marvel. Colourful stones still flowed from across the Mediterranean, to be carved up and support animated paintings, expressive statues and golden domes.

Rightfully proud, Romans still throng busily about their city, loud as they need to be, to overpower modern life with their peculiar but beautifully melodic accent. To be found on every corner, preparing a wonderful carbonara, or pulling the cork from an old bottle of red wine. A warm welcome.