Italy and Sicily - Architecture

"Tina in the Piazza in Trastevere, Rome" (24"X18", OIl on Canvas, $700)

This painting comes from my third trip to Rome, in 2007. There's a famous piazza and fountain in the middle of Trastevere (which is a neighborhood in Rome, just across the Tiber river from the Vatican) and this is a depiction of both. It's also a depiction of my fiancee, Tina, herself an Italiana from Sicily. She and I have lived in the North End together for the last eight years or so. She's also the one who first took me to Italy, introducing me to the subject matter that's become one of my great inspirations.

Trastevere is truly old-world in its appearance and attitude. Apparently, all of Rome was like this little walled enclave before the Second World War, but this neighborhood is all that's left of 'the old Rome'. It truly feels a world apart from the big city of Rome. It's very quiet and has none of the modern buildings or bright night life that Rome is famous for. It does, however, have the same great food and coffee that makes the rest of Rome so wonderful to be in. The prices are a little better, though, and the waiting lines for a seat aren't there either. We had some great pizza with some powerful Italian beer, and then some robust Caffe Lattes to counteract the beer.

I like eating food prepared by people who really love to make it well, so that even of it's just a run-of-the-mill meal it will be better than average because they don't have to try as hard to make it good - they're used to it. And they wouldn't eat it themselves if it weren't at least up to their standard of 'average'. Does that sound a little tortured?

I've heard that Trastevere can be dangerous at night, since the neighborhood gangs feel they have something to prove. I wouldn't want to be confronted by a neighborhood gang in any part of Rome, for that matter. I've never been called out or felt threatened in any part of Rome or Italy-at-large, but I also never took my eyes off my luggage or kept my wallet in my back pocket, either. It's a big city! C'mon - smarten-up!

In this picture, Tina is taking in the clock tower and the row of Renaissance-era buildings that flank it. A delivery man in the background is leaning his handcart back by using his left foot as a backstop alongside a row of milk crates and plastic packing crates. He'll be heading into the restaurant in the bottom of the building with the rooftop penthouse. The fountain behind Tina features large marble scallop shells around the perimeter and some strange water creatures at its center. I'll do more paintings of Trastevere that show other angles of the piazza and some more of the beautiful architecture.