Rome 2016

Best of Rome (245)Iory’s photo from the lantern crowning St. Peter’s dome looking across the Tevere with Castell San Angelo on the left bank and then out towards the distant Appennino Umbro-Marchigiano Mountains

 

Christmas greetings to one and all,

Leo and I have enjoyed two glorious trips to Rome in 2015. Our first visit was for the second two weeks of February when we, the two happy husbands, celebrated 38 years of conjugal bliss.  We had such a cool and groovy time, not to mention profoundly moving and aesthetically delightful, that we decided, this past November, to turn right around and  trundled on back to the Eternal City. Once there, we dug a little deeper into the rich loam of civilization that is laid so thickly on the banks of the twisting Tevere. On our second sojourn in Rome we tarried for a luxurious three weeks. So after five weeks of hobnobbing with the likes of Michelangelo, Bernini, Raphael, and our new friend Eugene Rizzo –more of that little devil presently, I feel that I have begun to scratch the surface of those fecund accumulations of magnificence and grandeur. Basically we had an Ooo-La-La experience second to none!

Best of Rome (76)

I gotta ask you when you go to a place where guys like this are hanging off practically every ceiling, what’s not to love?

Best of Rome (111)Mr. Leo in the Piazza della Republica looking a cute as a button

Best of Rome (23)Getting an audience with the Pope turns out not to be as difficult as I had imagined especially if you don’t expect him to weigh in on any pithy issues. My time with Clemente IX was marked by companionable silence.

Both visits to Rome we stayed at Casa Cleme www.casacleme.com which is in the neighborhood of the Basilica of St. John  the Lateran. C C is a two bedroom, two bath flat with elegant salon, foyer and eat-in kitchen furnished with beautiful antiques, a suite of Louis XV olive wood furniture is a highlight of the decor. CC is in a residential neighborhood where local markets, cafes, restaurants etc. make for a convenient stay and at $850.00 a week the price is right! Take a peek at Luciana’s website, it navigates smoothly and tells you all you need to know. Then smash the piggy bank, or at least shake the little darling until she gives up her treasure and sign up for a sojourn at Casa Cleme – Doorway to Rome!!

As some of you are aware I have been struggling (all too long) with the most propitious method to publish my photos of Rome. Some of my concerns have been to present you with the clearest and most vibrant images that I can muster up. My camera, Cannon EOS Rebel T3i allows me to capture images in all lights with remarkable precision and vibrant color, and I labor long to add the artistic ingredient. So the short of a long story is that with the assistance of Emily Sheffer, a talented young photographer and recent graduate of Massachusetts College of Art, I have created a new web site where I can share the cornucopia of my photographic output with you.

IMG_3310Getting carried away by Bernini

Also as some of you are aware that to keep Iory down to a reasonable amount of plenty is an ongoing struggle. However, with Emily’s wise counsel we have come up with a format that I think you will enjoy. It consists of breaking down the hundreds of pictures (don’t say I didn’t warn you) to reasonable chunks of around 20 to 40 photos per page. When you click the link below it will take you to an illustrated index where I would suggest you start with the page entitled, “The Vatican.” Not only is this stop the dominant influence of the Eternal City for the last 2000 years but the joint is the most spectacular example of Baroque Splendor guaranteed to knock your sox off, and as it is recommended to approach holy places with bare feet – think of Moses and the burning bush- this reaction is entirely appropriate. Also “Vatican” is the only bunch of pictures I have been able to label and add captions to so far. It is all a work in progress.

Castel San Angelo (78)

Bernini Angel on the  Castell San Angelo bridge over the Tevere

I find myself primed by the super efficiency of modern technology to be increasingly jealous of my time and hyper aware of the clock ticking, especially as it relates to me on line. So in the interest of honest disclosure I will tell you, up front, that when you click on one of the pages in the index it will take one to two minutes (literally and only) for the file to upload. If that is too much to ask I would suggest you may reply, “Oh Iory, I got your blog and wow it’s really impressive.” And leave it at that. For the rest of the fans of Glamour, dig in and enjoy! When you open a page it will take you to the “gallery” with postage stamp size pictures that you can scroll down, get the idea and move on. Or you can click on a photo and it will come up larger.

Now back to Eugene, our new best friend in Rome. He is a retired movie publicist with a resume stretching back decades and jammed with cinematic accomplishments that shout loudly of Glamour so he is absolutely in the right place on The Glamour Galore Blog. Gene is an affable and generous host running his own B & B in his sophisticated Roman flat filled with art and books. Your room with private bath has an enchanting view of Michelangelo’s Vatican Dome from your own private balcony and lemme tell ya that ain’t hay. The price is right and Gene is the quintessential expat having spent the better part of his adult life in Europe, he knows the ropes and will share them with you. http://ftp.homebythedome.altervista.org/

This collection of my Rome photographs is my Christmas gift to one and all, and as they used to say in the Height-Ashbury, “Far out man, can ya dig it?” I was never sure why the collective bunch was gender exclusive but now everyone, man, woman and child is referred to as, “Guy” soo… “Iory shut it and let the folks see the pictures!” – Apparently Lilly Linda La Strange has the last word.

Big hugs, Luv ya, Iory

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