L’Italia, Il Mio Cuore - 2022

One thing I was on the look out for while walking the Trastevere district was the Stolpersteine, German for “stumbling stones”. These are brass-plated cobblestones inscribed with the name of a Holocaust victim and the details of their death. They mark the specific place where the victim lived or worked before being forced from their home and sent to extermination camps.

There are more than 200 of these mini memorial plaques in Rome and more than 30000 around Europe. They are part of a larger project by German artist Gunter Demnig who created the project in hopes that those that stumbled across them would take a moment to pause, look down in respect and reflect on those dark years.

They certainly made us once again be thankful for the lives we have. It is so far out of our imagination that things like the Holocaust could actually happen, that people could be so strong in their beliefs that they would think their actions were the right actions, that trying to wipe out a whole race of people was acceptable. So hard to comprehend and so sad to be standing in the spot where that happened.Läs mer

On our way to our next destination we passed by a very ugly looking 16th century statue. Known as Il Babuino, the baboon, it is one of six famous “talking statues”, collectively known as the Congregation of Wits.

Beginning in the 16th century, the people of Rome would leave criticisms and witticisms at these statues. The unfriendly remarks were often about the Pope and the government authorities. Various Popes tried to stop the spread of such messages by either moving the statues or having them guarded, although their efforts were in vain.

Il Babuino was originally meant to depict Silenus, a half-man, half-goat satyr from Roman mythology. However, people decided that the statue was so ugly, it actually looked more like a baboon. After so much beauty, it was surprising to see an ugly statue being preserved.Läs mer