501. Change Comes to a Corner of Rome (Slowly).
- Author
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SPANO, SUSAN
- Subjects
- *
STREETSCAPES (Urban design) , *CULTURAL landscapes ,VIA Panisperna (Rome, Italy) - Abstract
PEOPLE sometimes wander along Via Panisperna in Rome realizing they are lost, but not fretting about it. The view is divine from there, a slice of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore sandwiched between 19th-century apartment buildings, dilapidated palazzos, the elevated Church of San Lorenzo in Panisperna and stores like Macelleria Stecchiotti, a butcher shop selling some of the best meat in Rome. The owner, Pietro Stecchiotti, a neighborhood notable nicknamed ''Pol Pot'' for his occupation and ardent Communist politics, claims to have planted the vines that drape across Via Panisperna in front of his shop, framing a quintessentially Roman streetscape. This is Monti, Rome's first ward -- or Rione I, as marble street markers installed in the 18th century say -- tucked between busy Via Cavour and Via Nazionale, east of the Forum. If not as well known to tourists as districts like Campo de' Fiori and Piazza Navona, it is arguably more Roman: a working-class neighborhood in the heart of the historic center, gentrifying around the edges. It is a place where a knife sharpener still makes monthly rounds even as young entrepreneurs are opening artsy bookstore-cafes, vintage clothing shops, organic markets and galleries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2011