Rome | The Daily Norm

Feb 7

Bianco Nero – Italy in a Vintage Light

As an artist who loves colour, who believes dulling down the vibrancy of paint straight from the tube is a kind of sacrilege, I am incredibly drawn to the power and atmosphere of black and white. It’s always surprised me that in the process of draining all of the colour out of an image leaving only tone and light and shadow behind, all of the emotional charge of the image is somehow more focused, almost as though the absence of colour leaves room for passion to breathe.

And it’s not just photos either. Black and white films hold an endless fascination for me, and once you’ve watched a few, you become so charmed by their subtle nuanced light that the next colour film you watch seems all too jarring and unauthentic. It’s like a calendar I recently saw in Rome of Audrey Hepburn’s famous debut Roman Holiday. On one page were beautiful black and white stills from the film we all know and love so well; on the next coloured up versions, which looked so Disney and brash by comparison. And then of course there’s Picasso’s Guernica – one of the most powerful paintings in all of the history of art – despite being painted exclusively in tones of grey.

While it’s tempting to think that the appeal of black and white photography harps back to a vintage age, when life was elegant and free from the trappings of modern life, a theory easily justified by photography heroes such as Doisneau and Brassai who so perfectly captured Paris in black and white in the inter-war years, in fact, as this post attempts to show, black and white can be just as atmospheric even when adapted to the modern age.

After weeks recollecting my recent trip to Italy, my final hurrah is a post which explores the medium of black and white photography (along with a few sepia examples thrown in to boot) with Italy and its people as a willing model. Of course it’s easy in the digital age to convert a standard colour photograph to black and white and back again, but as these shots hopefully demonstrate, the transformation is far from just the colour.

Moody, evocative, almost caught in a time vacuum, these shots have taken on a character all of their own just for being distilled in monochrome. Without the blue of the Venetian water, a ripple takes on an abstract, mysterious form; with the colour gone from their faces, random passers by in Roman squares look like actors from a golden age film; and in Naples, the shadow of an old woman in the sunlight is, in black and white, like a menacing character straight out of Victorian fiction. Now that truly is the power of black and white.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2014 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Feb 6

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Vintage Italy – advertisements from a golden age

Many may have empathised with the characters Gil and Adriana in Woody Allen’s 2011 film, Midnight in Paris, who were accused of having suffering from “golden-age nostalgia” – the condition whereby a person believes that a previous era was better than the present. In a way, the purpose of the film was to disprove this way of thinking, since Gil’s obsession with the 1920s led him to meet Adriana who was from the 1920s but who herself thought the golden age was the Belle Epoque, who in turn met the likes of Degas and Manet in the Belle Epoque who in turn thought the golden age was the renaissance…and so it goes on. Which just goes to show that “the grass is always greener” applies to the past as well as a comparison of your own life with other possibilities.

Despite this chord of warning which was espoused in Woody Allen’s film, I have to admit to suffering from a little golden-age nostalgia myself. Who could not pine after the elegance of evening dress in the 20s and before – the Downton Abbey style of dressing for dinner every evening and the top-hatted gentlemen in the Moulin Rouge? True, much of my nostalgia is probably founded in fiction – of course we all know that sanitary conditions and general quality of life was probably much lower then than we are used to now, especially for the poor. But nonetheless, the charm of past years cannot help but seep into my imagination, and fill my days with a warm sense of longing for a time of sophistication and innocence. And that charm is no more embodied than in the multi-coloured art work of vintage advertisements at the start of the great commercial age.

I love old adverts. This passion is directly inherited from my father who collects enamel advertisement signs and various advertising paraphernalia. Sadly I have to make do with reproduction postcards and posters, but the images are no less pleasurable for the reproduction. And following on from my recent series of Italy posts, I thought I would share with you a few classic examples of the vintage advertising age promoting the very cities which I have just visited: Venice, Rome and Naples.

With their bold lettering, romanticised skies, bright colours and simple motifs, it is completely understandable how these posters would have been effective in luring the pre or post-war era of awakening travellers to the charms of Italia. If only adverts today could exude such innate charisma. Oh no… there I go with my golden-age nostalgia again. I think I’d better leave you with the posters. Till next time…

Jan 24

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Natale Italiano | Rome – A photographic miscellany

For a city whose every street and structure is punctuated with elaborate statues, architectural flourishes and ancient ruins, Rome is never short on providing photographers and artists alike with ripe inspiration to get their artistic juices flowing. And while passing the Christmas season in Rome meant that I was perhaps not as prolific in the photography stakes as I might otherwise have been, I still look upon this little miscellany of Rome shots which I collected together during that recent trip.

These photos do not aim to expose the most commonplace tourist spots of Rome in all of their magnificent glory, but aims instead to focus in on the smaller details which make those places great, or which might otherwise be missed by the visitor in that moment of complete overwhelming shock at the brilliance of the sights before them. For example, when you are faced with the magnificent Trevi Fountain, you tend to concentrate on the whole flowing mass of this mammoth fountain which appears collectively like a living grotto literally metamorphing from the façade of a baroque palace. However one often misses the fine details of the many sculptures which form the whole, something which these photos attempt to rectify. Likewise my photos of the pantheon concentrate not so much on the brilliant whole, but on the details of the iron door and that incredible roof.

Also amongst these shots are the small features of Rome which make the city such a joy to explore – the cobbled pavements whose monotony is crossed with sunshine and shadows; jazz bands playing upbeat tunes in the Piazza della Rotunda; yellow ochre roman ruins in and around the Forum; and the little birds whose visit to sidewalk cafes is always a pleasure to bestow.

I give you Rome – in photos.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2014 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Jan 23

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Natale Italiano | Rome – Day 3: The Mastery of Bernini

Boxing day was officially renamed “Bernini Day” on 26th December of last year, as we set about discovering the works of this genius which literally pepper the city of Rome with as much generosity as London is filled with red telephone boxes. Starting off with coffee opposite our beloved Pantheon in the Piazza della Rotunda, we only had to walk mere metres past the stunning Roman Temple to the Piazza della Minerva to see Bernini’s rather grand elephant sculpture, showing very little of the strain of the ancient Egyptian obelisk which it carries on its back. Meanwhile, a short walk to the West of the Pantheon took us to the even more spectacular Piazza Navona, where of course that incredible Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers) by Bernini lords magnificently over the centre of the not so square Square. That incredible gushing fountain, which appears to bring the gods of the rivers to life before one’s very eyes, also carries at its centre an ancient obelisk, albeit that this time the obelisk is far grander, and one of the most impressible of the 13 major obelisks featured in Rome’s most prominent piazzas (although I understand that this once hails from ancient Rome, rather than ancient Egypt).

Minerva and Navona – two sights of Bernini’s mastery with marble

All this Bernini sightseeing had given us a taste for something a little more appetising to set our sights upon, and the proximity of the bustling Campo de’ Fiore meant lunch was not far at hand. The Campo, which translates as “field of flowers” is one of my favourite spots in Rome, particularly in the warmer weather when the encircling buildings are soaked with sunshine, and in the square below, market stalls selling the freshest produce and flowers burst into life. On this Boxing (sorry, Bernini) Day, the Campo was relatively quiet, but its restaurants happily open for business – the crispy Pizza with speck and zucchini which followed our entry into one such establishment was truly a delight worthy of this food-lover’s paradise.

Back to business in the afternoon, and after a sad farewell to my partner’s dearest Mama, we took advantage of the last dying hours of Roman light to make a visit to another of Bernini’s renowned masterpieces, The Ecstasy of Santa Teresa, contained within the Cornaro chapel of the Santa Maria della Vittoria. This stunning sculpture, which appears to show the figures of St Teresa and an angel floating on clouds made of marble, depicts an episode in the life of Teresa of Avila, a mystical cloistered Discalced Carmelite nun, who described a visitation by an angel who appeared to stab her with a golden spear filling her with the pain and ecstasy of god’s love. Lit from above by a little hidden window which reflects off the gilded stucco rays behind the sculptures, this work is truly a masterpiece of Bernini’s oeuvre, and perhaps the most theatrical of all his works.

For our final foray into the masterpieces of this genius of marble, we went to see Bernini’s mastery, not over sculpture, but over architecture. Yes, after a final Roman dinner in the atmospheric Ristorante Babette in the Via Margutta, we headed to a place whose structure is indebted to the genius of Bernini – St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. This central seat of Catholicism revels in the theatre of religious power and position, and for any visitor walking along the Via della Conciliazione towards St Peter’s imposing façade, there can be no doubting the monumental aspect of this approach. However, surely the most imposing and dramatic feature is the huge colonnaded piazza in front of St Peter’s, a piazza which provides ample space for all the visiting faithful, and further underlines the scale and magnitude of this centre of the Catholic Church. And who was responsible for the architectural design of the palazzo with its vast double rowed colonnades? Why Bernini, of course.

Nighttime walk to Vatican City

And with that monumental encounter with one of Bernini’s final masterpieces, we ended our last full day in the magnificent city of Rome, a city which provided us with such a rich festive experience, and whose streets and squares continued to buzz, despite the passing of the Christmas season. The following day, we would pack up our bags (and my little pop up Christmas tree) once again, and head further South – to Napoli.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2014 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Jan 22

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Natale Italiano | Rome – Day 2: Roman Holiday

It seems odd to be thinking about Christmas day. While we’re only just over 3 weeks further on in the space of a year, the Christmas period seems like an age ago. And yet my memories of my recent Italy trip seem far closer – probably because during that holiday, the hope of all the joys of Spring and Summer never seemed far away; a hope which the rays of sunshine falling over Rome only helped to engender. And yet while our Christmas day was, for all of its Roman surroundings, a very different way of spending Christmas from English Christmases past, it was an utter joy from day break until nightfall, and well worth remembering on this blog.

We woke to the sun streaming through our hotel window – that in itself made this Christmas different from the norm – and for our breakfast, a soft panettone, generously gifted to us by our hotel, and a creamy nespresso, amply supplied within the luxurious confines of our bedroom. Sitting round the little pop-up Christmas tree which we had already unpacked and packed again in Venice, and which had now become the central focus of our Rome bedroom, we promptly opened the little cards and gifts which surrounded it in a flurry of Christmas excitement. Thereafter, full of the joys of the season they brought, we strolled out into the unusually quiet streets of the city to enjoy the sunshine and another coffee.

Our pop up tree and a fresh panettone…

…and the sunshine which made it feel more like summer

That second coffee, consumed before the astounding sight of the Pantheon, turned out to be a mistake – for it meant venturing the long way around towards the Colosseum to catch the tube. That would have been alright in itself, had the tube station been accepting credit cards or euro notes – but with coins required to buy a ticket, and no human ticket salesman in sight, we found ourselves faced with the Herculaneum task of walking all the way to the Stazione Termini to make collection of the most important Christmas present of the day – the arrival of my partner’s mother, train-bound from Tuscany.

Much exhausted, and sweating profusely from the effort of crossing Rome in 10 minutes, we made it to the station just in time to reunite the family in a flurry of happiness and emotional rapture. For that was the moment when the happiness of Christmas really began.

Whisking her back to the hotel and then off to the Forum, it was clear that our Christmas Day was not going to follow the usual path of sofa-stagnant stupor which is the norm for so many households across the world (and England in particular). For we had a lunch to get to (or a “banquet” as they extravagantly called it) set on the rooftop of the Hotel Fortyseven, where breathtaking views over the Vestal Virgin’s temple and the Forum beyond made this a Christmas lunch to remember. Although strangely I don’t remember all that much of the food – but that’s what comes of indulging in one spectacular feast too many across a 9 day trip to Italy.

Present exchange, and a rooftop Christmas banquet

But what I do remember well, despite polishing off a super-strong bottle of Tuscan red over lunch, was our afternoon attempts not only to enjoy this Roman “Holiday” to the full, but also to recreate the magnificent 1953 film of the same name, starring Audrey Hepburn in her first major (and Oscar Winning) role alongside the debonair Gregory Peck. This turned out to be easier than I had thought. Our hotel room looked directly onto the entrance of the Via Margutta, where Peck’s character – Joe Bradley – had famously stayed at number 51. We had already spent the morning ambling past the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain, both featured in the film, and had coffee that morning in a “sidewalk café” with the same view of the Pantheon as the twosome had enjoyed in the film. And now, after lunch, we headed off to see the famous “Bocca della Verita” (aka The Mouth of Truth) just as Princess Ann and Mr Bradley had done in the film.

Stills from Roman Holiday

It was difficult to recreate precisely the charm of the film some 60 years later when so many tourists visit the ancient monument (even on Christmas Day!) that you have to queue for around 20 minutes just to place your hand in the mouth for mere seconds while your companion takes the ONE photo allowed. Still, we managed to get away with two, and found that, as well as recreating this seminal scene in the film, the queue had also been worth the wait for leading us to the stunning Orthodox Church in whose portico the mouth resides. A beautiful atmospheric place to visit on Christmas day.

…and our own venture inside the Mouth of Truth!

But talking of Christmas, it was back to our hotel where the mini Christmas tree once again provided focus as we went about an even bigger round of present exchange commenced (now that our group had increased by one), and some wonderful presents such as the perfume I have had my eye on for years – acqua di parma, luxury clothes items, and cute teddies were enthusiastically exchanged along to the accompaniment of a bottle of Mumm’s champagne artfully chilled in the tiny hotel minibar (its contents having been emptied in order to fit the bottle inside…).

After a day of ultimate indulgence, we had very little space in our tummies nor energy in our legs to eat much more nor venture far, but for atmosphere’s sake we headed to the nearby restaurant Dilla (Via Mario de Fiori 41) whose stylish interior strung with fairy lights and fantastic grocery-shaped baubles beckoned our entry. And thank goodness we succumbed to the temptation – for the unctuous, soft pork and pistachio polpette (meatballs) I had there with a luxurious creamed potato easily rated my favourite dish of our Roman Holiday, if not the entire trip across Italia.

Belated Merry Christmas to all!

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2014 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Jan 20

Natale Italiano | Rome – Day 1: Arrival by sunset

We arrived in Rome as the sun was setting behind Vatican city; the golden yellow and deepening tangerine skies casting a stunning glow behind the silhouette of St Peter’s and the domes and cupolas of ancient Rome. Our arrival to the city amongst the sun’s warm luminescence which gilded all of Rome with a hopeful uplifting lustre, was the happy ending to a transit as smooth as journeys can be – starting out by boat from the Rialto Bridge in Venice, out across a misty lagoon to the Marco Polo airport and onwards onto a swift flight down to Rome Fiumicino and a train into Stazione Termini – the happiest of starts to the second chapter of our festive Italian adventure.

Thrilled to be so swiftly and comfortably installed into the perfectly located Hotel Babuino 181, only minutes from the Spanish Steps, we left unpacking for later in our eagerness to run out onto the cobbled streets of Rome to enjoy the last rays of sun that the day was providing. After all, we had been three days in Venice with not a ray of sun to be seen, such was the density of mist which shrouded the city. But in Rome, all seemed alive under the vibrant blue skies of a winter’s afternoon sundown – hard to believe that this was Christmas Eve. For us it felt like the dying hours of a Spring day, a thought which could not escape us as we sat, but minutes later, upon the terrace of a ritzy hotel bar adjacent to the top of the Spanish steps, watching the seemingly odd combination of sunshine and vibrant mediterranean colours, with the Christmas tree which was installed onto the centre of the steps.

Dying hours of Roman sunshine

People watching on the sun-drenched Spanish steps

After indulging in the ultimate exercise of people watching in this, the classiest of Roman quarters, with a glass of prosecco in hand and a camera in the other, we headed down into the bustling streets of a Rome but hours before the feast of Christmas. In the chic shopping streets off the Via del Corso, the excitement of Christmas Eve as families and friends scuttered energetically from shop to shop was tangible, and in the nearby Piazza del Popolo, crowds hung around the grand obelisk at its centre, full of the spirit of the holiday season. For us, having a few hours spare before a dinner reservation, we headed across the square to Santa Maria del Popolo to accomplish something which I had intended to carry out when I was last in the city in 2010 but had been thwarted by renovations – to see the two stunning works by Caravaggio which can be found in a small side chapel in this otherwise innocuous church.

Like most of Caravaggio’s works, these two: the Conversion of St Paul and the Crucifixion of St Peter are utterly stunning works; Caravaggio’s exercise of chiaroscuro as dramatic as ever, while the skillful foreshortening of St Paul falling out towards us and St Peter shown foreshortened on the cross allowing audiences to become utterly absorbed in the paintings – that is at least when we could see them – for this being Rome, we had to insert a coin in a light box in order to have the otherwise shadowed works lit for all of a minute (and us being us, we had no coins on us – meaning that we had to wait for some other earnest Caravaggio fan to come along and supply lighting on our behalf…).

Caravaggio’s Popolo masterpieces

Natale Italiano | Photography Focus – Christmas Lights of Italy

If I could point to one event in my life which changed my entire outlook, totally revolutionised my innermost creative soul and ultimate appreciation for art and aesthetics, and instigated my love for travel and gastronomy, it was my art history trip around Italy in my gap year of 2001/2. Travelling from Venice, to Verona, Florence to Siena, and finally Rome and Naples, my eyes were opened to an art historical universe the surface of which I had previously only scratched. But despite the very obvious attractions of those travels, one element I really loved was the fact that it introduced me to Italy in the period immediately before Christmas. In doing so, it transported me to a world whose Christmas celebrations lacked the commercial exploitation of the UK or the US, and which retain a certain charm and unique family-aspect which I just adored. While not religious myself, there was something about the fusion of those stunning candlelit churches packed with some of the world’s most famous renaissance art together with the essence of the true Christmas story which struck me as being ultimately and authentically festive, and whenever I now consider Christmas, I often look back on my time in Italy with the greatest fondness.

So when the opportunity arose this year to spend Christmas in Italy, part visiting my partner’s Tuscany-based family, and part travelling to a few of the country’s most attractive cities, I jumped. And what will now follow on The Daily Norm are a plethora of Italia posts which will explore my incredible Christmas travels across Venice, Rome and Naples. With much to explore, and yet the Christmas period fast running out, I thought I would start this set of posts with the most Christmassy of them all (lest that by the time I otherwise reach it in the ordinary chronology of things, it may already be mid-January and the thought of Christmas would be as welcome to my readers as an out-of date chocolate bar) – the Christmas lights of Italy!

Yes, there was never going to be a chance that the super sophisticated cities of Italy would do Christmas without introducing a fetching spray of lights to buildings and monuments, bringing a whole new veil of elegance to their already astonishing city facades. But tacky Santa’s and red-nosed reindeers these are not. When Italy does lights, it gives us elegant shopping streets strung with uniform and co-ordinated white lights, whose subtle sparkle reflects gloriously in the glossy facades of designer stores and boutique hotels. When Italy does trees, it brings us large Christmas trees tastefully lit and situated before some of the most recognisable monuments around the world – St Mark’s basilica in Venice, the Spanish Steps in Rome, St Peter’s in the Vatican. And when Italydoes novelty decorations, its offerings remain inexorably sophisticated, like the illuminated oversized baubles in streets and piazzas in Naples, whose glorious halo of coloured light could be seen for miles. As this photographic post hopefully shows, this is Christmas done with style.

: Rome’s Spanish Steps

: Festive Cupcakes!

: The Via del Corso, Rome, seen from Popolo

: Christmas parasite on a historic building

: Lights in Venice’s Saint Mark’s Square

: Naples crowded with Christmas shoppers

: The Piazza Plebiscito, Naples

: Rome’s high end shopping streets lit to perfection

: I loved this film reel tree in Rome

: Rainbow lights down the Via del Corso, Rome

: A building literally draped in Christmas

: Lit baubles before the Church of St Francesco di Paola, Naples

: St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican

: Venice’s Lion emblem on the Rialto Bridge

: Balloons in the Piazza Navona, Rome

: Venice’s famous glass put to a festive use

: “Cloudy” prosecco before a lit Venetian Piazza

: The Vatican nativity

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2013 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Jul 16

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The Daily Sketch ITALIA – Norms at the Vatican

Just a hop across Rome’s River Tiber, along the Ponte Sant’ Angelo, is a entirely different city. An entirely different country in fact – Vatican City, home of the Pope, head of the Catholic Church. The Vatican is undoubtedly stunning. The immense Basilica of St Peter, and Bernini’s elaborately colonnaded St. Peter’s Square awes with all of the intended spectacle which is only appropriate for the centre of one of the world’s most prominent religions. The Vatican is home to some of the greatest art collections ever known to man – the Belvedere Torso, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling, and Raphael’s vast School of Athens, as well as the peculiar site of the Vatican’s own troop of security, the puffy-costumed, beret-wearing Swiss Guards. But something our tourist Norms could never have hoped to witness, on their brief visit, was a parade of Pope Norm and the full school of eminent Cardinal Norms themselves. Spectacle never got bigger than this.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Jul 15

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Sunday Supplement ITALIA – Cityscape IV: Rome

It’s ITALIA Season on the Daily Norm, and after a week of Norms’ adventures down the boot of Italy, and a showcase of my photos of the glorious country, it’s time to feature another of my paintings. I haven’t devoted nearly as much canvas space to Italy as I have to Spain or Paris for example. And now I come to think about it, that really should change. There is frankly so much beauty to inspire me that I could paint Italy for the rest of my life. Perhaps that’s why I have never really begun.

However one work which I did paint in homage to Italy was a simple reflection of Rome’s Forum Romano, against a rich orange and pink sunset. You can just about see St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican in the background. The painting formed part of my “Cityscape” series which I painted back in 2007 when I was trying to teach myself how to master oil paints, having been painting for so many years in acrylics. Despite being only “studies”, the resulting collection was so popular that I transformed part of it into limited edition prints back in 2008.

Anyway, without further ado I give you Rome, in sultry silhouette.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Jul 14

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The Daily Sketch ITALIA – Norms in Rome

Travelling southwards, down the Mediterranean coast of Tuscany and taking a sharp inland turn from Civitavecchia, the Norms have finally found themselves in the renowned capital city of Italy, the one and only Roma. And what a city it is. Crammed full of antiquity, artistic and cultural heritage from centuries of history played out within its seven famous hills. From the great Roman Empire which once ruled the western world, and the remnants of which still litter the city unapologetically, to the great Religious heritage flowing from the foundation of the Catholic Church in the nearby Vatican City, and the catholic fervour and religious architectural splendour which has no doubt resulted. With its chic café culture near the Spanish Steps, the romantic brilliance of the Trevi Fountain, and the grandeur of the “wedding cake” Altare della Patria building, Rome is a city offering everything.

For the Norms, the centre of their visit (being that Gladiator is by far their favourite film) has to be Rome’s most famous symbol, the Coliseum, the spectacular amphitheatre straight out of Ancient Rome. Not so directly linked to Rome, but inspired, nonetheless by that great age, are the tourist-touting “centurion” dressed Norms who collect outside the great arena, posing for photos for a few extra coins in their purse. This less than soldierly activity has nonetheless attracted the attention of these tourist Norms who have their photo taken with one said Centurion with the great Coliseum providing the perfect Roman backdrop, alongside a sculpture of the founders of the great city, Romulus and Remus (Norms) suckling upon their mother wolf as tradition demands. You’ve gotta love it.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.