In Love with Rome

I love Rome – its ancient buildings, art, beautiful gardens and umbrella trees that poke the blue sky everywhere. Several years ago I visited Rome with a friend. Our modest hotel was comfortable and the hospitality almost fawning.  Our savvy travel agent hired  knowledgeable guides who picked us up each day and took us on “forced marches”  to sites such as The Vatican, the Coliseum, and the Roman Forum.

After our tours we would slip away and visit cafes, sip espresso while poring over guide books. We were looking for secret places in the city. It turned out the places we ended up with were not very secret, but they became our favorites. To name a few we explored : The Order of the Malta’s Keyhole, The Orange Tree of Santa Sabina Cloister, Bernini’s Elephant- Obelisk and, best of all, the Protestant Cemetery. Peer into Malta’s keyhole and you will see the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica framed by luxuriant greenery within the walled gardens. You will fall in love with that view.

The Protestant Cemetery worked its magic on me. The English poets including Shelley and Keats  are both buried there. If you spend only a few moments there, you will understand why Shelley wrote these words shortly before his own death: “It might make one in love with death to think that one should be buried in so sweet a place.”  Among the many beautifully carved statues there is one that stands out in my memory. It is “The Angel of Grief,” which seems to bend in anguish over the grave of its sculptor William Story and his wife. The cemetery is also home to many coddled cats, who lounge on the gravestones.

As I was walking along the hedge-lined paths in the  cemetery, I spotted one piece of pottery resting on the gravel. It was hand-made of clay, not perfect, and a little rough around the edges. For me, this water vessel, resting among the gravestones was a symbol of the promise of life.  Unlike Shelley, this sweetest of places made me fall in love with life.