Suzanne Branciforte's Italian Grapevine

So this may be reason enough to make a trip to Rome.

Don’t tell me I have to explain what puntarella is…

And can you identify 4 wonderful things in this photo that just make you feel oh-so-Roman? (Answers below!)

So Rome is the happening place now in Italy… Great things are sizzling culturally (like that hasn’t been happening for the past 3000 years, you’re saying… OK, I hear you!) If you don’t believe me, and still want to know what’s hip and in in Rome today, ask the NYTimes (check out the video: it is really well done!). Actually, I was ahead of the curve on this one…

Made a stop to see an old friend…

You know Pasquino, right? The original Blogger! In ancient Rome, people would make posts right there on his statue, where you see someone even now has tacked up a message (OK, it’s laser printed, but so what? The original spirit is still there!) The usual stuff, complaints about the government, taxes… But one thing is sure: there is always satire and a sense of humor!

What about all the great juxtaposition of the old and the new?

Just saw the fabulous Montemartini Museum at Centrale Montemartini, an old power plant built at the height of the Futurist furor for technology. Check out the layout of these stunning classical statues:

What I love is how art imitates life, and life imitates art… A daily occurrence in the Eternal City.

But what never ceases to amaze me in Rome is the stunning beauty of it all.  Can one ever tire of Piazza Navona? Really?

So just like Sant’Agnese here, bathed in an ethereal Roman light, I was struck once again by the marvel and the wonder of it all…

Roma, Caput Mundi!

Answers: Ferraraelle – Rome’s answer to leggermente frizzante; Pecorino – not the cheese, silly! the wine…; a nice fried carciofo alla giudea; and… Puntarella! What else? as George Clooney would say…