One of the biggest reasons visitors flock to Rome year after year is to bare witness to all the ancient ruins. The slices of crumbling pieces left behind from life thousands of years ago.
And I am no exception. It is one of the things I love best about Rome.
I'd like to share some of my recent favorites with you.
I love how like some Roman monuments, pieces of ruins just seem to pop up in the most unexpected places.
You never know what just might pop up around a corner in Rome.
Even beautiful poppies, seem to pop up around the loose ruins in the Fori Imperiali. Offering new life among the old.
I am always just amazed at how these structures, with the most intricate details have stood the test of time. They are weathered, but yet still standing. Still beautiful. Somehow, the worn away layers and cracks that appear over time make them more interesting. Visually appealing. Worthy.
It is somehow surreal to walk down a street, pick out a old stone sign in Latin and calculate its age from the Roman numerals. And I stand in awe with my jaw slacking every time.
Even the layers of something as simple as an old wall show through, and though not a famous ruin, you realize just how many layers there are to the ancient city, full of history.
Ancient columns in the Fori Imperiali peek through when strolling the tiny streets of Monti.
And the ground below is littered with pieces, both large and small, of the ancient city.
To stand there and wonder what each piece was, wonder who touched it, what stories each piece could tell if it talked.
That is the magic, the beauty of Rome and all its ruins.