La Notte Bianca

Last night we walked down to the centro for Rome's Notte Bianca. Several European cities have begun hosting these "White Night" events that are like a city-wide open house. Museums, monuments, churches, galleries and lots of other cultural organizations stay open through the night and are usually free for admission. There are also concerts, plays, poetry readings and other performance art exhibits taking place throughout the city. One of the best parts about the event is that the center is closed to traffic and the entire zona is pedestrian only.

We had a really nice time exploring places that we hadn't yet taken the opportunity to visit. In addition to the bonus of it all being free, there was something uniquely pleasant about visiting the sights at night. On our way into the city we took a leisurely walk down the hill, stopping for a beer at a tiny bar with a great view of the city. Once down by the river we walked to the Castello de San Angelo - a major tourist attraction where we could enjoy more good views of Rome. From there we strolled along the river where some cocktail bars and a basketball expo(?!) had been set up.

Once we crossed the river we walked through the medieval streets to a museum we hadn't yet visited and explored the rooms of the old palazzo that houses ancient artifacts. There was a poetry reading in the courtyard of the palazzo and though I couldn't understand everything I noted that the word "amore" was peppered liberally throughout the prose.

After the museum we went into a church that holds both a Caravaggio and a Raffaello that we hadn't yet seen. Volunteers were offering lectures and tours throughout the city; it was so neat to see people taking in an art history lesson at midnight in a beautiful old church. After viewing the paintings we walked to a nearby library that Todd wanted to show me. It was like something out of Harry Potter - shelves of elegantly bound books lining walls at least 40 feet high. There were also several little lectures taking place in the library (all in Italian).

The streets were full of people happily wandering about in the car-free night. Once we walked up to some of the major boulevards the crowds were a bit much for us so we tucked back into the quieter alley ways and made our way home. It was a really special and unique evening.