Arrivederci, Roma
December 14, 2008Fellini, in declaring his love for Rome, dubbed it a “great whore of cities.” Naturally, I expected I'd find Rome exactly as captivating as Fellini did, and that I would see the strangely magical elements of the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain as Fellini did.
Some of that lusty, big city charm hit me instantly. When we first arrived in Rome, as we were on the train to Florence, I noticed a giant black fist on top of a nearby building, and I assumed it was some sort of fine art in a style reminiscent of Claes Oldenburg. As the train rolled away, I saw the fist from another angle. It is not a fist, but an advertisement for Samsung. The hand is holding a cell phone.
Of course, one can't hope to get a truly accurate impression of a city in just a few days. We didn't have time to become intimate with the city (to extend Fellini's metaphor), but as many female classmates complained, Rome is extremely phallocentric. For example, the toilets seldom have toilet seats. Beyond this, I got a sense of an anti-feminist vibe from Rome. In the windows of the lingerie shops, the mannequin legs rest with their thighs on the ground and their feet pointing in the air. For my taste, this is a harmless gag on our convention of severed legs parading through the display case. It is curious that even the legend of the founding of Rome substitutes a she-wolf for a regular human mother.
Although I was content in Rome, I found myself missing Florence. Florence is a city built around its history of art. Rome is a city built around its history of domination and control. There are remnants of Ancient Rome, the Papacy, and the Fascist period all over Rome. Even the Cinecittà (which has its own metro stop, to my surprise) doesn't break this pattern: it was built by Mussolini.
I felt the desire for control all over Rome. The Vatican is indeed beautiful, but The Pietà is behind glass to protect it from would-be attackers. Sadly, this protection is prohibitive to a meaningful appreciation of Michelangelo's masterpiece because the viewers cannot see it in its full three-dimensional sense. The barrier makes a stronger statement than the sculpture: Rome is a city that showcases its madmen, and Florence is a city that showcases its artists!
Posted by Luke Teaford at 5:44 PM 0 comments