I first visited Rome with my mother in October of 1992. Soon after we checked into our hotel, we were met by cousins and taken to a birthday party. We’d gotten off a plane mere hours before and had not slept for over 24 hours. To stay awake, I drank many cups of espresso. When the party ended, sometime after midnight, our cousin asked as we walked to his car what sights we particularly wished to see in Rome. After I described our wish list, he declared that he would take us on a tour right then, as it was absolutely the best time for driving in Rome. As I recall, it was about 2 am. So the photos I’ve selected for my slideshow, courtesy of other photographers, are an attempt to capture my first experience of Rome while in a somewhat altered state of consciousness.
I returned to Rome in December of 1993, accompanied by my husband Dan. We were once again embraced by my Italian cousins, who welcomed us into their home and organized another party. The wonderful staff at our hotel then helped us to organize a party of our own so that we could say farewell to everyone before returning to the USA to celebrate Christmas with family.
For many years, we’ve wanted to return to Italy. We were scheduled to do so in May of 2020. At that time, however, the world was in the grip of a pandemic that hit Italy especially hard. So until I’m able to visit Rome again, I’ll enjoy my memories of that amazing city.