dolce far niente
The land of Italy is a place of glorious ruins, yet is a place that has made such a strong foundation for itself. Spending the past three days in Rome I got to experience a new and beautiful culture that I don't quite imagine myself ever tiring of.
The Italians are beautifully endowed with a gift of being leisurely; enjoying the simplicity of sitting and enjoying the taste of espresso; or the delicacy of the perfectly aged red wine; or the complexity of a cheese so creamy and smooth it's almost butter. They truly savor.
I sat outside a cafe on my third day, one that looked out with the perfect view of the farmers market in the main square, in awe of the beauty encompassing me. In so many things, there was the beauty. The people--which is not a rumor to be reckoned with, the Italians are even more beautiful than could be described or depicted in a picture--, beauty in the vibrant colors of fruit, clothing, buildings, tapestries....beauty in the language that caressed through my ears as I sipped my espresso next to an Italian couple taking a break from their mid-day stroll, and a family of four who were enjoying a late uno merenda. Beauty in the way of a mid-afternoon cup of coffee taking me an hour to enjoy, to savor, instead of taken on the road as I rush through errands, or off to work.
As I watched the flock of people, moving in harmony to the beat of market music in the honeycomb yellow sun, as vendors aimed to corral them into more vegetables for their dinner; I learned that the saying "when in Rome" exists for just this reason--the way they live is not to be described by anything other than "Rome".
Because, when in Rome you:
Eat all the cheese, without exception. I am lactose intolerant, but I had pecorino romano and provolone dolce with breakfast, a cappuccino to follow, delightfully scooped gelato for a snack outside of the Trevi Fountain, and mozzarella and parmesan galore on my hand-made margharita pizza for dinner.No matter how many alley ways, pebbled streets, overgrown plants onto ridiculously old buildings that you pass--you will take a picture of each and every beautifully different one, each seeming more authentically Italian than the last.
Each monument sets you further back in how insanely amazing history is.
Pasta. You can eat it for any meal and it is perfectly acceptable and even more so delectable.
You can sit in awe and peace at the Trevi Fountain all day and your heart will be oh-so content, but it will still not be quite long enough. Something magical happens when you watch people gathering to throw a coin in a fountain to make a wish, there's a sense of childlike hope that makes your heart full.
Your wine glass never really quite hits empty...strange how that works.
If you like truly beautiful, authentic and, yes, sexy people, Rome breeds them in bulk--and they are ridiculously good at it.
Their gelato game is on fleek....slash, it's normal to get a triple scoop every day, right?
If you get car sick, you may want to take up walking...the streets in Italy are very small and windy and the drivers are very fast and overly confident.
Italians are a gem in the running of human kind.
Rome wasn't built in a day. Being there. Seeing all that it is. The detail in each statue, the stature of each building, column, each individually laid stone that you walk on, the augmentation that the culture has preserved. It is perfectly imperfect. Being there, you feel the mess of the ruins, but the integrity and beauty behind each engraving and you feel okay; a city that has thrived by remaining to be just how it was left, it waits in it's prevalent history, and yearns after the romance of simplicity, it echoes in you a triumphant will to embrace where you are and how you're coming to be; it's a chaotic triumph of feeling the allowance to be beautiful amidst a mess that may surround you.
