I cannot believe my time in Rome has come to an end. It's surreal having to think that, or even putting it down in words... These have been the absolute best five months of my life. It took a lot of adjustment, learning, hard work, and hand gestures, but I wouldn't trade this experience for the world. After a grueling few days in major study hermit mode and hand-cramping finals I was freed from academics and my summer adventuring began. I picked up mama from the airport on Wednesday night and our mother-daughter bonding began with a dinner out in Trastevere where I demanded she try the buffalo mozzarella and give risotto another try. After rushing to move out of my apartment on Thursday I had to go to work and help hang the 50/50 Selected Artworks gallery show at VISIVA which was super awesome since we got to get up close and personal with all of this amazing artwork by artists we had been following around the city finding street art all semester.

After work was the program farewell dinner where we merrily ate and drank and listened to one of our friends serenade on the guitar, reminiscing about all of the funny stories from the course of the semester, and our night concluded with a 6 hour night tour of Rome. It was the perfect way to share this incredible experience and walk through the city that had brought us all together. From climbing the Aventine and looking through the key hole and looking out over the city from the garden of oranges to walking past Circo Massimo and crowding around the Colosseum, making our way through the ancient forum and frolicking across Piazza Venezia to arrive at the Trevi fountain where we spent a few hours just hanging out, saying goodbye to our beloved Italian intern friends in front of the Pantheon which we had all to ourselves and ending at the near-deserted Piazza Navona right next to school, we covered everything by foot and with happy memories but tears in our eyes.

I resumed playing tour guide on Friday as mama and I walked around the Vatican area stopping for photos in Piazza San Pietro and grabbing some gelato at Gelateria del Teatro before busing to ancient Rome and looking over the ruins from Piazza del Campidoglio and making our way to the Colosseum. I was even able to show her the Monti neighborhood which she really liked, and we returned to Trastevere for pizza at my favorite restaurant Dar Poeta. Saturday was another day of retracing my favorite paths in the city starting out with my daily route to Largo di Torre Argentina and then routing around the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Campo de' Fiori, Via Giulia, and a stop by Bar Amore where I said my goodbyes to Fabio and the gang who make the best cappuccinos in Rome. We made our way to Via del Corso for some shopping to celebrate our trip while popping into famous churches to look at the masterpieces of Raphael and Caravaggio before heading up the Spanish Steps to Villa Borghese for a lookout over the Renaissance landscape. A few hours to kill before appropriate dinnertime called for a detour to the Trevi fountain where we threw our coins in together before heading back across the Tiber to eat suppli and grab a selection of piatti from Franchi, my favorite gastronomia, and then we headed home to enjoy our food on our balcony with the bottle of Orvieto wine I'd saved from my day trip a few weeks back. We just happened to pass by the Vatican on the way back, as Franchi is in the Prati neighborhood, and we realized we had gotten ourselves into the middle of 300,000 people gathered to attend the Pope's special childrens' greeting mass this weekend. The thousands of people filling the small streets like lava was reminiscent of the canonization event a few weeks back. At least we were able to see the area in all of its chaotic glory?

Sunday morning we headed out to go market-hopping, starting out with Campagna Amica for some yummy food samples and a panino con porchetta that we shared later before heading to Porta Portese for the massive flea market. An exhausting morning on our feet behind us, we took a quick lunch break in our room before heading back out so as not to waste our last day in Rome (still weird to think that). We started out by going to San Giovanni in Laterano to see the golden gilded ceilings and Papal Throne before walking through Basilica di San Clemente on our way to see Michelangelo's Moses in San Pietro in Vincoli. I then realized there was one more famous church that I had never seen before despite its importance and my four months here, so we trekked up to Santa Maria Maggiore where we were again overwhelmed by the beauty of the artwork filling these buildings. I wanted to enjoy my last dinner in Trastevere, the neighborhood I lived in this semester, so we made our way across Ponte Garibaldi with a spectacular view of Michelangelo's duomo before meandering through the small streets of Trastevere in search for a spot for dinner. We sat outside at a quaint little restaurant with the nicest waiters and got the most Roman dinner I could think of -- carbonara and amatriciana (delicioso!). Dinner was topped off with another trip to Gelateria del Teatro for a cup of my favorite flavor salvia e lamponi before we made our way back up the Janiculum hill to head home. I can't believe this is it... I'm heading out tomorrow morning for Siena to embark on my crazy six week adventure around Europe, leaving behind this city that I have grown to love so dearly. I have a weird feeling that I'll be back in no time, though, and considering I threw my coins into the Trevi it has to come true, right? It's all just a bit surreal to think I won't be back in this place that has become home to me over the past few months but the memories I have made here are priceless and I'm glad I got to check all of the wonderful things off of my list again over the past few days, sharing my stories from all of the places I've been and sat and experienced.

Roma ha cambiato la mia vita. È la cosa più bella che è successo a me. Grazie a Roma io posso comunicare in una lingua bellissima che io non ho mai pensato potrei parlare così bene. Per due anni era il mio sogno a imparare italiano perché ho voluto di tornare in Italia e andare al mercato e prendere buone cose per mangiare in italiano, vedere i film o ascoltare la musica e capire che stanno dicendo, o anche fare una piccola conversazione con una barista bevendo un caffè. Io ho fatto tutte queste cose, e più. Roma me ha introdotto le nuove passione, persone tante brave e simpatiche, e un desiderio a tornare qui per camminare nelle queste strade che adesso io so così come le mie mani. Ora Roma non è solo una città nella mappa — è una delle mie case nel mondo. Ora io so che tutto è possibile e non ho paura di provare niente. Roma, grazie per tutto. Ti amo e non voglio mai lasciare!

The 25th of April marks the Day of Liberation in Italy, symbolic of the countrymen's freedom from Fascism and Nazism after the grueling wars in the 1940s. I was called out to San Lorenzo in the morning by my internship director because Alice (who we finally met!!) was planning to perform a street art exhibit in conjunction with a team consisting of her sister and friend Matteo who both work in television to create a documentary about the real lives and stories of the resistenza italiana, the inspiration for her work. Alice painted 5 different scenes on bedsheets to be hung from the windows of the houses and buildings of five individuals she has been interviewing and collecting personal stories from over the past few weeks to complete this project. The scenes include a truck driven by Rino, the local man who rides around with a boombox and a loudspeaker to lead the "parade" of sorts and share the stories of the people commemorated on the plaques around the neighborhood as they hang flowers above them in memory of their lives, a scene of children riding on their bicycles for Lisa who has started a program to block traffic on the main road each week for children to have a safe space to ride their bikes in this quarter of the city, a woman and a girl emerging onto the streets from a small door for the older woman who shared her experience of having her house in San Lorenzo bombed when she was a young child, a portrait of a young girl hiding behind her hands for another woman with a similar story, and a female boxer spray painted on a red sheet (like the red flag of the resistance) and hung above the palestra popolare which provides space for a local boxing gym.

We followed Rino and his loudspeakers blasting Bella Ciao among throngs of parents singing along and children on their bicycles decorated with flowers. Our day was chaotic in the sense that we weren't exactly sure what was going on at first but also, briefed only with a map and some instructions on asking for people's information, sent out to track down parents and collect release forms for the filming that was going on. As people shared their personal stories and the crowd gazed up at Alice's artwork swaying overhead, clapping to show their support and celebrate the liberation, the filming team of two (Matteo with his camera and his trusty soundman) followed Alice who provoked conversation about what 25 aprile means to the locals as Gabby and I chased after interviewees with pens and papers and broken Italian. Despite the chaos and confusion it was a very "Roman event" as both Alice and Jessica put it, and I am very glad I got to see and hear some of the history behind the movement in an area that was more (at least physically) affected by the war than the ancient city center. The weaving of Alice's artwork with the stories of the locals really brought new meaning to street art connecting a shared experience among people, and we really seemed to come full circle as on this day we passed by the San Lorenzo wall filled with Alice's murals that we saw during our very first internship meeting.

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La street artist Alice Pasquini parteciperà sin dalla mattina alle iniziative dedicate alla memoria della Resistenza a San Lorenzo, girando delle riprese che andranno a far parte di un documentario. In parallelo esporrà in luoghi e con modalità insolite alcune sue opere in giro per il quartiere, per segnalare iniziative di resistenza urbana quotidiana che testimoniano lo spirito attivo e non convenzionale dei cittadini. Si partirà alle ore 10 da via dei Volsci 34, per seguire poi un percorso della memoria della Resistenza “del passato e del presente”. Il furgoncino che tutti gli anni, per iniziativa di Rino, un abitante del quartiere, si ferma a rendere omaggio alle epigrafi che ricordano l’eroismo degli abitanti di San Lorenzo, questa volta farà tappa anche presso le case dalle quali pendono le lenzuola dipinte da Alice, che celebrano la resistenza quotidiana della gente del posto (speculazione edilizia, inquinamento, sanità, diritto allo sport e all’abitazione).

"Io avevo una idea, essendo italiana e essendo donna e lavorando in strada - e pensando a quanto sia tipico il panorama dei panni stesi in certi quartieri, come rappresentanza di un ceto sociale. E quanto rappresenti l'immaginario collettivo femminile, con il suo simbolico esporre in pubblico qualcosa di cosi' intimo e permettere una comunicazione tra dirimpettai… Ho deciso che mi sarebbe piaciuto raccontare una storia dipingendo sulle lenzuola stese, come idea estetica e artistica, dopodiche': che storia raccontare?". Inizialmente quella delle donne partigiane, in occasione della Festa della Liberazione, "una parte di storia di cui non si parla molto"; ma oggi il progetto si e' ampliato, a coinvolgere attivamente il quartiere. "Qual e' d'altronde l'eredita' della Resistenza? Che vuol dire 25 aprile? Perche' in questo quartiere c'e' ancora tutto questo, perche' resiste? Perche' ha questa nomea al di la' di quanto accaduto durante la guerra? - ci domanda, offrendoci una risposta: - mi son resa conto che c'e' una eredita' della Resistenza, ma e' nelle azioni di quella gente, che in quel quartiere e' abituata a resistere". Sette disegni su sette lenzuoli appesi alle finestre di "sette donne del presente, che continuano a resistere e a lottare", ma senza dimenticare la Resistenza che fu. Se siete a Roma, venite, quest'anno San Lorenzo potrebbe essere una buona idea per una Festa della Liberazione davvero diversa, e vera.

From FESTEGGIA IL 25 APRILE CON LE OPERE ITINERANTI DI ALICE PASQUINI.

After realizing that my core class was cancelled for the day and the Palazzo Venezia library that I need to access is on reduced holiday hours for this week I just had to go out and seize the afternoon. I thought about visiting the Vatican Museum, but we have one last lecture on the Last Judgement this Thursday so I want to save my ticket until I've absorbed all of Paolo's overflowing knowledge and instead decided to take a walk through some new neighborhoods.

I had heard people talking about a cool mural in that area, so I did some quick Google searching to find a ton of pictures of a corner building on Via del Porto Fluviale and that's exactly where I headed. I crossed under a bridge where I saw some cool Diamond "Slaves of Nobody" prints up, and crossed over Ponte dell'Industria to be immediately greeted by the divide between the industrial districts of Ostiense and Testaccio. I could see some rainbow colors bobbing up and down in the distance as I hurried my pace across the sidewalk to avoid traffic, and took a straight shot down the road until colorful faces loomed out from behind the bend. The mural by Blu capitalizes on the building's windows to provide eyes for the various creatures, ranging from a head made of purple zippers to my favorite banana man (painted entirely as a stack of bananas). Even the dead space between heads was filled with random little whimsical doodles which was super cool.

I also walked past a man swimming above the pescheria and a beautiful portrait of the back of a woman's head. Ducking under some train tracks, the entire concrete structure was covered with awesome artwork including some crossed fingers, portraits of men, geometric designs, and a space scene. I almost jumped out into the street because I was casually strolling along the sidewalk and peeked over at the store window to see a huge crying baby etched in Borondo's telltale black and white on glass.

I not only looked around at street art but also visited Basilica di San Clemente (in accordance with my see at least one famous thing a day quota which I hadn't reached yet today), which is a real life timewarp zone because there are three buildings stacked on top of each other. Going down into the archaeological sites from the beautifully mosaic-tiled ground level church built in the middle ages I entered into the 4th century basilica with portions of its original fresco work remaining, and further descended into the Mithraeum and a labyrinth of damp cave-like rooms formed out of brick from what is thought to be the republican era (between 509-57 BC) that may have fallen victim to the Great Fire of 64. Seeing as yesterday was Rome's 2767th birthday, I guess this was my way of celebrating its history and coming in direct contact with the remnants of peoples' lives from thousands of years ago (Pazzo!). Unfortunately no photos were allowed, but dark brick probably wouldn't have made very cool pictures anyway. It was an experience that had to be felt! I also took a super detour home by stopping by San Pietro in Vincoli (Church of St. Peter in Chains) where I feasted my eyes upon Michelangelo's Moses that adorns the Tomb of Julius II because we learned about it in art class a few weeks ago and our Italian professor mentioned it again today. The human figure is beautifully crafted and the softness of the skin and smoothness of the veins, as well as the tumbling curls of his beard make it impossible to imagine that Moses was crafted out of an enormous block of solid marble. Looking around the church, it made me think about how decorating public space has always been a top priority, especially for Romans. Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder, and while there is classic beauty like fine art and sculpture, street art can also be beautiful like the mural of rainbow creatures on the side of a building in the middle of a bustling city. Rome has always been a canvas for people from Michelangelo to Blu and Borondo... The city just continues to inspire for generations!

 Anywho, back to the mishmash of photos, on my way down Via Cavour out from San Pietro I found this crumbly man curiously looking out from the side of a postal box, courtesy of C215, and also hopped off the tram a little early to go seek out Hogre's stencil in Trastevere (because I have decided that Hogre is probably my favorite Roman street artist) before buying my groceries to feed me for the week. While class isn't in session, there's still so much to learn in and about Rome -- I'm glad I finally checked some more things off my Rome bucket list, as I've just realized that we have 6 more days of real class left before finals and saying goodbye to our semester abroad.

From the enormous scale of Constantine's face and foot to the minute details of fingertips in 3rd century AD reliefs and perfectly chiseled marble teeth, the Capitoline Museums house an impressive collection of beautiful ancient Roman artwork and sculpture. I knew this was one of the places I had to visit because the piazza was designed by Michelangelo and some of Rome's only remaining bronze sculptures (that miraculously survived threats of being transformed into war ammunition) including the She-wolf with Romulus and Remus, Rome's symbol, are on display. Going from rooms filled with marble tombstones carved with Latin scriptures to ornate banquet halls now filled with marble statues followed by a series of rooms filled entirely by marble busts, it's amazing to think that all of this was excavated from the depths of the ground and preserved for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Imagine just digging in hopes of constructing a new building and discovering a perfectly preserved head underneath the rubble... That's crazy to think about but that's the beauty of Rome! Some of my favorite pieces included the bust of the woman with the striped stone creating a pattern on her shawl, and the small statue of the girl holding a bird (her raised hand is so delicate but looks plush and extremely human childlike). The exclusive Capitoline view over the Roman Forum was also not too bad (can we just talk about those picturesque clouds in the distance, though?). Not to mention the enormous Marcus Aurelius inside that was about five times the size of the pretty large one standing in as the nose in the middle of Michelangelo's face-inspired piazza. Though the museum didn't have the same wow-factor as the Capuchin Crypt (I think I've passed the original shock phase and moved on to the total and complete fascination phase, so it being one of the most incredible things I have seen these sculptures of unknown figures are a little less jaw-dropping, though very wonderful pieces of art they are!), I am glad to be able to check another thing off of my Rome bucket list.