It is easy to forget that the touristy part of Rome is quite compact. A person can walk across it, or from top to bottom, in perhaps a half hour, if hills are avoided and tourists don’t choke the sidewalks too much. It was another wonderful day, temps in the 70s, mostly sun (an intense […]

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As mentioned previously, I have not spent any time inside the city of Rome since 1990. Two weeks then, and 10 days in 1987, while covering sports events … and I saw more than a few sights. But I never saw a Rome as overrun by tourists as I did today.

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So, Sunday morning on the northern edge of Rome’s Trastevere district. What is the handiest tourist/cultural site available at, say, 9:30 a.m.? That would be the Vatican, where we blundered into a fairly significant day in Roman Catholic history — the day a saint-making record was celebrated in Saint Peter’s Square. Later, we had the […]

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In a way, Italy began from the first announcement of the Alitalia flight crew, while still on the ground in Abu Dhabi. It is rare to hear Italian on the Arabian Peninsula, and to most Americans it is a delightful language. Round and rhythmic, almost like poetry with its cadences and energy. Wonderful to hear […]

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