The Side-benefits of Jet-lag

Seems like all you have to do to see the outrageously wonderful Michelangelo-designed square on Capitoline Hill in Rome entirely on your own is to get there at 5:30 am.

Its intimacy and grandeur in perfect balance. And that incredible paving detail…

There’s so much to be learned about spatial design from the squares and piazzas of Rome, often not very large, but regularly entered through such narrow lanes as to feel almost explosive in their sudden expansion.  The size of the entrance aperture is as influential to your experience as the dimensions of the space.

Then sneak around the back of the square to watch the sunrise over The Forum. Here, early light on the Arch of Septimius Severus (which predates JK Rowling by about 1761 years).

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Discussion

  1. Best Rome/Italy travel tip I’ve seen in years. Hope you then fuelled up on 15 espressos like a true Italian to get you through the rest of the day.

    1. Nup. Survived on one a single shot and the inevitable rush from a sunny-day visit to the unsurpassable Villa d’Este. But I did hit a wall of the impenetrability of Carrara marble at about 9pm

  2. I find it hard to believe I first visited these places 50 years ago when I was 19. Thanks for the reminder of the Eternal City.

  3. Gorgeous pix Michael. You are making me nostalgic for a sunny May day in Rome just a few years ago!

  4. Having lived in Rome I agree …… but not a green thing in sight!

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