rainy night in Roma

Tonight, as I write this, the third annual Notte Bianca is going on in Rome. They borrowed the concept from Paris, I believe: the idea is that everything in the city is open, in the words of Lionel Ritchie, all night long. Museums, shops, restaurants, archaeological sites, theaters: everything. There are all kinds of cultural-type stuff going on, and some less highbrow entertainment, too; most events are open from 9 PM to 7 AM or so. They don't screw around with the late night thing here!

The problem is that Rome seems to have had some bad luck with this sort of thing. On the first notte bianca, there was a blackout that hit all of Italy. People were stuck on the Metro, crowds were left in the dark- exactly the sort of thing for which the Italians invented the word fiasco. Tonight, the power is still on [he writes. on his computer. reinforcing the obvious.] But it's pouring rain, making it more of a notte grigia than anything else.

I'd intended to go check out the Markets of Trajan, which are closed for restoration, but which were supposed to be open tonight as a sort of preview. These are a structure built up on the hill behind Trajan's forum, and while there's some controversy about exactly what they were supposed to be, the leading theory is that they were basically a mall. Spencer Gifts over there, Orange Julius in the food court, and lots of second-century mallrats skipping school and hanging out with their togas hiked up... Anyway, it's a pretty cool site, since it's extensive, well-preserved, in Rome, and not a temple.

But as I was heading over there, the thunderstorm struck. I got completely soaked (and you know what I learned? If you're tall, and surrounded by shorter people with umbrellas, their umbrellas will funnel all the rain right on to your chest. It's... unpleasant.) And to make matters worse, I couldn't figure out where the entrance to the markets was. So it was kind of a bust; but you know, I can just head to Franklin Mills when I get back to Philadelphia, right? Sigh.

What made up for it was walking over to the Pantheon afterwards. The Pantheon is the best place in the city to wait out a rainstorm: you can watch the rain pour through the oculus and splash all over the marble floor, bringing out the colors of the stone and making it all shiny. (I took some pictures; if they turn out well, I'll post them in a day or two.) That made it it worthwhile: the wet clothes, squishy shoes and all. Even if I missed the mall...