Most everything was closed on Monday, December 26th, so Bill and I decided to take a walking tour of the streets at night. Night is about to fall next to La Feltrinelli bookstore above.
The most spectacular display of lights was found on the Via del Corso where a giant ribbon of lights ran the entire length of the street from the Via Nazionale to the Piazza del Popolo--that's a mile of lights (I just measured it on Google Earth)! By the way, the colors represent the Italian flag.
The reason for this terrific light display is that the Italians celebrated their 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy in 2011.
The people of Rome loved the lights so much, I heard that they asked the municipal government to leave them up past Epiphany (January 6th) which is the traditional end of the holiday season.
I observed something new this trip about Italians and the Christmas season--everybody comes down to the city center to walk about--and I mean EVERYBODY!
The picture of me in the middle of the Via del Corso is nothing like the crowds we found at the Pantheon and Piazza Navona on Epiphany. New Year's Day and Christmas were also teeming with pedestrians.
The next picture was taken on the charming little vicolo behind the UA Rome Center. I just loved the way the street lights meandered down the narrow vicolo.
The next group of pictures includes views of side streets off of the Via del Corso.
Where Americans tend to decorate with green and red bulbs, Italians seem to use mostly white ones with accents of blue.
I thought the use of lights in the next picture was particularly delicate.
Below is a picture of Fendi's main store, located where the Via del Corso intersects with the Via Condotti. The Via Condotti is where you will find all of the designer stores, Ferragamo, Gucci, etc. My friend, Kikka, worked at Fendi as an intern architect (and she gave me a Fendi purse for Christmas), so I am happy to say that Fendi had the best light display next to the Italian tricolor. (I would have said that even if Kikka had never worked there!)
This next shot is looking down the Via Condotti towards the Spanish Steps which you can just make out in the distance.
Some close-up views of the Mercedes-Benz light displays along the Via Condotti.
Here we are at the end of our little journey with the Spanish Steps ahead of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment