Rome
The complete Rome gig guide plus our pick of the latest albums & singles.
Introduction
There’s an ancient slant to this seventh edition of Time Out Rome. We’ve focused on ancient society, its classes and its rules, its great leaders and its eccentrics. What could have prompted us to hark back to classical times? Ironically, it was the city’s galloping modernity.
There was a time, not long ago at all, when there wasn’t much more to Rome than its distant past. Visitors came here just for that (and often, if truth be told, had a hard time approaching it, what with museums endlessly in restauro and wildcat strikes keeping the gates of archaeological sites firmly locked), while locals developed a quick-thinking modus vivendi, which allowed them to lead something like a normal life by skirting around their Roman ruins, byzantine bureaucracy and timeless traffic nightmares.
What a difference a decade has made.
Of course, Rome still has its problems: after all, it had a lot of ground to make up. And no one would claim that visitors flock to the Eternal City for its theatre scene, gay scene, arts scene... any scene, in fact, except the extraordinary one extending from the Pincio or Capitoline or any high point affording views over this most beautiful of cities.
But as any long-term resident will tell you, it’s a far more accessible, liveable city than ever before. It’s also a more organised city, as the efficient welcome extended to the millions who flocked here after the death of Pope John Paul II has proven.
In past editions we have tried to stress this modernity. Now, we feel, it speaks for itself. And so we’ve returned to what made Rome an attraction in the first place: the grandeur of its classical past – restored, revamped and more easily viewed than ever. Enjoy.
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6 Comments
Anyone want to buy it? =)
I assure it's pure fun!
Greetings from the most beautiful (and chaotic) city in the world... Posted on Dec 04 2006 21:21
of 1960-2 era Posted on Nov 01 2006 23:57
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