First Impressions of Roma: The days of being a Tourist.

Hello everyone! First, I would like to introduce myself, my name is Kylie Corwin I am a third year Fine Arts and Development Sociology major at Cornell University. This semester I have the opportunity to study Rome, Italy with the Cornell in Rome program. I will not only be spending my days exploring and learning about the rich art and history of this beautiful city but I also have the privilege to blog about my experiences of which I hope you will enjoy. With that said I hope that all who read this will be able to live vicariously through my writing and therefore feel the beauty that Roma has to offer.

So let’s get started.

In these final weeks of August the city of Roma slowly wakes from it’s annual summer nap. The month of August in Italy is known to be a quiet one, because August 15th is Ferragosto; a National Holiday in which the people of Italy celebrate the assumption of Mary as well as go on their summer vacations (some people go on holiday for the entire month of August). For Romans this means abandoning the city and spending most of their time at the beach in beautiful coastal towns such as Ostia and Sperlonga. As a result, when I first arrived in Roma, I was surprised to find that the only source of livelihood in the city was eager tourists hustling from monument to monument.

I decided to join them.

My first evening in Rome, I spent sketching various scenes in Campo de Fiori, a beautiful square that is a market by day and transforms into a lively bar scene at night. Afterwards I took a leisurely stroll back to my apartment in which I proceeded to crawl into my bed.

The next morning I left the house with my map in one hand, my camera strap over my shoulder, and an imagination filled with images of Rome that I have only read in books or seen on television. I was out the door with a skip, hop and a jump.

My first impression of Rome was just awe. I fully embraced being a tourist by gazing at the density of beautiful art and architecture. During my first week, I filled my sim card with monumental buildings and after reviewing my photos I was surprisingly displeased. The awe I felt when I took the photographs was gone. Therefore, I gave it some thought and I no longer photographed the buildings but photographed the people around them. That is where the magic was because the beauty of Rome is not Rome. The beauty of Rome is the relationship it has with its people.