Like many museums in Europe, most of Rome’s most famous museums don’t allow photography. (Or, if they do, I’m sorry to say I was unable to take pictures because I was in class while visiting them!) As a result, most of the images in this installment of Art in Real Life are of famous Italian places, rather than paintings–which, to be honest, I sometimes find more immediately exciting than canvases on a wall in a museum. These structures are almost all still exactly where they were hundreds of years ago when they were first built, and their size and age is mesmerizing. Rome is one of the best places in the world to be wonderfully overwhelmed by how old everything is, to wander and lose yourself on the same cobblestones Renaissance greats did. As always, nothing can top actually being there, but hopefully these tourist-y glimpses into Rome will help you feel more like you’re in the city than an art history class’ slides or PowerPoints do.
Click on any of the pictures below to open the gallery; click next (or type “n” on your keyboard) to view the next photo.
TAHB’s Art in Real Life series: Paris | Brussels | Rome
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Rome is my favorite place on the planet. We spent a week there and walked everywhere; no need to get a cab. Every street and every building is a museum unto itself. Rome is a museum!
There’s no place like Rome! I was lucky enough to study there for 4 months with the U. of Washington. It was the best 4 months of my life. Rome infiltrates the soul like no other city I’ve been to.
I think “overwhelmed” is the word most applied by students to the city of Rome. It’s hard for professors to put themselves back in that place when they first landed in Italy or in this massive metropolis, before we figured it all out, which is what I try to do to help students grasp the many layers of Rome. The photos are great… but you sure do have to go there to experience that sense of disorientation that finally resolves itself into love.
GREAT serie of photos.
Great photos. I’ve been in Rome once, and experienced the same as you described, it’s simply overwhelming!