The Douglas Report: 04/2011

“Rome – the Eternal City”…… so what does that mean? It will always be here! It never changes! It has always been here!!

"Romy and Remey" - bronze in Capitoline Museum

Certainly, there have been folks about here for a few thousand years. And a lot of things do seem to stay the same here, invoking the notion that this is going to go on forever. But amongst the many cultural events here, there are little clues to changes that mark the subtle mix of tradition and vibrancy, and attract people from all around the world to keep coming.

They have come in big numbers of late. Spring has sort of come to us. Some delightful days, but interspersed with some totally forgettable weather and still not really warm. The leaves grew back on all the trees two weeks ago. For sons and daughters of the sub-tropics, this is incredible. From bleak sticks to succulent shady trees in a few days. It as if some overseer of trees put the message out one night and every deciduous plant jumped to the order. There are lots of flowers about and the wisteria is just delightful.

Tuscan hills - my car being overtaken (again!)

A bit of time has past since the last posting. A gentle complaint was forwarded last week. Our only excuse is that we have been very busy.

Hi-tech wine tasting - Brunello region

We took a weekend with a couple of friends to an agroturismo in Tuscany – the area that claims the Brunello wines – fairly famous here in Italy and regarded as sort of top shelf. So we had a very pleasant drive, some good food, and a wine tasting on the winery where we stayed. In the local town, Montalcino, we saw the most high-tech wine shop imaginable with Jetson-like machine that dispensed tastings for a fee.

Agroturismo - Montalcino

We followed this weekend up with a wine tasting organized by the Canadian Club of Rome. This featured wines from the Puglia region. These are mostly pretty expensive but probably more because it is a difficult area to grow grapes, so the yields are low.

We also leant our support to the Irish Club of Rome by attending the Celtic Ball on the Saturday closest to St Patrick’s Day. A very Italo-Irish event with a fair bit of Guinness substituting the wines. The main Irish Pub in Rome, “The Scholar’s Lounge” has also attracted us of late for the Rugby (Six Nations), the Guinness stew and the bonhomie.

Rooftop drinks before Celtic Ball

Our good New Zealand friends are preparing their departure from Rome, so a series of “send-offs” including to the French restaurant L’eau Vive – in a convent, cooked and served by nuns in national dress who hand out the words to a French and an Italian version of “Ave Maria” at nine o’clock and have a sing-along.

We caught two Australian movies at the film festival arranged by the Australian Embassy, the keynote of which was “Bran Nue Dae”, complete with on-the-spot interviews with the producer and male lead. It seemed very popular with the mainly Italian audience of film buffs.

Australian Film Festival

We have previously featured photos of brides on “the report”. They are multiplying with the coming of Easter and many come from all over the world to have a Roman experience and to have their photos taken with notable backdrops. This time we feature a seemingly unique choice of bus and take-away stand (why come all this way for that?). And an elaborate groom and lovely bride, looking very traditional perhaps, except for the fetching tattoo that surrounds the forearm – captivating it seems by the chains.

Anyway, you probably prefer to see the photos so, for your discerning palate this time, some shots encompassing a wide range of things to do in and about Rome in this wintry/springy season. I have now learnt how to put captions on the pics.