The Nomadic Mermaid: Roma, Italia-the Eternally Captivating City

Let me just begin this by saying that upon leaving Rome this morning, I felt like I was making a huge mistake. I did not want to leave to go to Florence because I honestly could have stayed in Rome for my remaining week in Italy. The city is a living, breathing masterpiece in ruins. It is a museum full of ancient history and people who are brash, loud, and unapologetic. Going indoors is unnecessary because most of my education on Rome came from sitting by the fountain outside the Pantheon or on the Spanish Stairs overlooking the Piazza di Spagna.

Our first day, we arrived to our flat located steps away from the Colosseum and Forum Romanum. We had a home cooked dinner (pasta of course), and went out for gelato to the oldest Italian gelato company in the world. I had hazelnut and chocolate topped with cream (and I had it for the next two nights as well). The next two days were full of things to see, but then again, in Rome, it seems as though every building, piazza, and road has some sort of story. I hit all the major sites: Colosseum, Spanish Stairs, Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, St. Peter's Square and Basilica, and the Sistine Chapel. So many of the aspects of the city are beautifully preserved. My favorite moments were wrapped up on the side streets in the back alleys and in the tiny churches filled with locals and their rosaries. The every day lives of Romans is what I could sit and observe for hours or joyfully take part in for months.

The city feels timeless and ancient cooperatively and completely. It is apparent that those who built Rome built it to last for centuries and it does not feel like it has lost any of its former glory. Not only is it aesthetically well-preserved, but the people in the city itself effortlessly hold it up with their "late to everything because I was drinking my espresso and my heels are D&G" attitude. The enjoyment of life in the middle of this characteristically crowded, busy, bustling, traffic-ridden city is not telling at all of the greater story inside of the buildings and the hearts of its people.

Rome is full of unbelievable things that are often unmarked with no explanation. On our last day in town, my host family and I were wandering around near our flat and found a park close by called Piazza Vittoria Emanuele. In the park, there were locals with their dogs and their children and we stumbled upon the ruins of something we did not recognize. There were no crowds, or people photographing this particular bit of ruins, but it definitely looked like a significant structure. The big structure was actually a sophisticated water supply built by Alessandra Severo in 226 A.D.

Behind the fountain, tucked into a corner stood a structure that was not so ancient, but equally as interesting "Porta Magica" or "Magic Gate" which has stumped historians since it was uncovered. The villa was built in the 1600s by a marquis, but it was leveled in the 1800s to make way for the Piazza Vittoria. All that remains of the villa now is the Porta Magica. The Marquis Palombara dabbled in alchemy, and his alchemist friend was said to have found the formula to turn basic metals into gold. Upon his friend's mysterious disappearance, small gold flakes were left in his tracks and a formula which the Marquis did not understand. In hopes that someone would, he etched the formula in stone on the gate.

My favorite moment in Rome came to me when I arrived at the Colosseum, but it wasn't the ancient structure that caught my eye. Steps away from the colossal structure (no pun intended), a team of archeologists were uncovering what appeared to be bricks and flooring from some sort of Roman building. I sat there for at least an hour completely engrossed in the project. The realization that came to me as they slowly began to uncover more beautiful red bricks was that the ruins were still being discovered in this eternal city. They call it eternal because they say it will stand forever, but to me, it eternally captivates the world to really and truly marvel in the glory of antiquity and romance. This opportunity is completely eternal to the lives it impacts.

Luckily for me, I sealed my fate to return to the city with my coin in the Trevi Fountain. See you soon, Roma.