Last weekend Costanza and I ran away to Rome for a few days, to visit relatives and see the sights. We saw half a dozen of Costanza’s aunts and cousins, and visited the Colosseum, the old Forum, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, St Peter’s Square, the Cistine Chapel, and something which may (or may not) have been Caesar’s tomb. Five days isn’t enough to do the place justice; you really need several weeks. I was vastly amused, however, to see that all the public works – street lamps, rubbish bins and so on – are still emblazoned with “SPQR”. Perhaps the most intriguing thing, though, is that buildings from modern to several thousand years old are interspersed freely, in some cases built into each other, with edifices of one age using those of an earlier time as foundations, or even supporting walls.
Here’s a picture of us at la Bocca della Verita, the “Mouth of Truth”. The legend is that what you say must be the truth, or it won’t let your hand go. I told it I was lying…
La Bocca Della Verita
