Prenestino

+ The family matriarch had run a hotel most successfully near this Piazza Ragusa and about 18 minutes walk from the railway station, Roma Tuscolana, and 500 metres or so from the Villa Wolkonsky where I remember swimming when it was the British Embassy as well as the ambassador's residence it is now. My host, Alex, had taken over the running of this hotel, discovering a typical history of undocumented administration that he struggles to untangle.
In the meantime, lucky workawayers like myself are offered a couple of nights free accommodation in order to visit the town. I spent a day and a half walking all around the old part, realising that I had seen most of it when we lived here, but not having enough time to really examine places of interest in depth.
+ I picked out a few things to look at, from the background layers of history to be found in every wall,
+ or converted into offices, like this headquarters of an association of architects.
+ Old buildings morph sometimes seamlessly into new ones.
+ The Ponto Rotto on the Tiber - is half a bridge better than no bridge?
+ The first King of a united Italy, Victor Emanuel II, has as his - national - monument a giant marble "Wedding Cake", sometimes called "The Giant Typewriter". Other names are: Mole del Vittoriano, Il Vittoriano, or Altare della Patria. It is said to be built in a neoclassical style with eclectic influences: or to use more technical language, its a mishmash.Read more