The two faces of Rome

Browsing the Internet the other day I happened upon a Flickr gallery which in turn led me to a blog which was perfectly synchronized with my own personal grumblings about my adoptive city – Migliora Roma (Improve Rome). I thought I'd post a link here and invite readers to take a look at a site which documents brilliantly the many problems citizens face – pollution, traffic, petty crime and crumbling infrastructures. Yesterday, I took a two minute walk to my local Metro stop Cipro and took a few shots of my own. Cipro station is the official Metro stop for the Vatican Museums – we're not talking about a run down, outer Rome station – this is a relatively new station, inaugurated in 1999, which for some tourists will be the first thing they see on their first day in Rome as they emerge from the underground and head for the Vatican Museums.

Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni has just won the leadership race for the newly created Italian Democratic Party but claims he can continue to juggle the two jobs – an obvious invitation for critics to accuse him of leaving less than to be desired when he had just the one job!

Meanwhile, the second edition of the Rome Film Festival - Festa del Cinema - will soon be upon us, accompanied by concerns about how much the whole deal is costing the city. Veltroni, to give him his due, has always been very good at pulling off big events and drawing celebrities for free concerts and the like. Rome is an easy draw, after all – what major star wouldn't want to play to a million people in front of the Coliseum? Moan as I may about the day to day running of Rome, however, I do find the lure of the Film Festival and the sight of Hollywood stars on a red carpet irresistible I'm afraid. I've managed to get tickets for a few film premières and will blog about them here over the next couple of weeks. Whether, Rome viewed as a whole is actually worthy of hosting a major film festival, is yet to be seen.