Few hours in Rome with Leica M and Q

Rome; one of the beautiful italian cities normally needs few days to be approached and understood. I had no more days to stay but had to go there to visit in its sole Italian stop-over, the exhibition I Grandi Maestri. 100 Anni di fotografia Leica. So, Rome in few hours; is this possible?

As usual I love to travel light but this time I decided to take with me my Monochrome (CCD) with 35 Summicron ASPH and a Leica Q for color shoots. No longer lenses but two, mainly, Street configurations.

The exhibition is very interesting, starting from Leica’s origin, showing some of the oldest projects from Oskar Barnack, up to the first Full Frame digital Leica, the M9; running over the brand history, also some original technical sheets and historical documents from the Leica archive are in the show.

Of course this event is not only for Leica users but it’s full of interest for all photographers interested on how Photography changed during the last 100 years; BW images by Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Sebastião Salgado, Elliott Erwitt and Gianni Berengo Gardin, to the color by William Eggleston, Fred Herzog and Joel Meyerowitz, the Roman exhibition also honor first-class Italian artists, such as Piergiorgio Branzi, Paolo Pellegrin, Valerio Bispuri and Lorenzo Castore.

So, how could I miss this?

Spent more than two hours into the Leica world, I started to walk into Rome without a specific track but trying to cover as many areas as possible, without any planned tour or track but just looking to the weather and light conditions.

Piazza Venezia

From Piazza Venezia to Colosseum; where is the respect for the city? Are only tourists responsible for this? Empty trash container and garbage outside? Where is the problem? Any solution to this? #Respect the italian cities

Colosseum; recently restored, it shows all it’s beauty

Walking to Santa Maria maggiore direction; can you imagine that soap bubbles are still making kids happy? Suggestion for parents… not only smartphones or tablets for modern kids

to Santa Maria Maggiore through several ways and via Cavour

 Santa Maria Maggiore

Have to move faster because winter daylight is short in Italy; jumped on some public transport I approached Trastevere  that maintains its character thanks to its narrow cobbled streets lined by ancient houses. At night, natives and tourists alike flock to its many pubs and restaurants, but much of the original character of Trastevere remains.

Two modern Santa Claus on a Mercedes… lost the sled and the reindeers?

A quick jump to Pantheon; long queue to go in so postponed a view inside

Fontana di Trevi; not so crowed…

Need to drink something and rest a bit; so, what’s better than Galleria Alberto Sordi to relax and observe people to be inspired?

Had a great coffee and a wonderful cake as snack so, recharged and rested, I can cross large part downtown Rome to arrive into Campo de Fiori

This bicycle close to the sign catched my attention…

and I was right.. Old style Barber shop; not a saloon for sure!!!

I love this situation!!! This reinforce my idea about relationship between people and “humans”; it’s so important to have opportunities to chat with others… doesn’t matter if you talk about sport, political parties, women, men… the most important is to be human and leave the technology in the pocket for a moment.

And the above situation was not a single one…

Of course in Rome (not only, but in Italy, generally speaking) you can see a lot of beauties

and unusual things, art pieces like this bicycle with Andy Varhol (!!!) sign on the right wheel

or sitting places to look at the traffic

Have you ever seen a taxi for pets? Here it is!

joking, of course… Let’s go back to my run through the city. It’s late evening and I’m starving so I decided to move to Campo de Fiori to have a dinner. To arrive there I had to cross Piazza Navona

and the typical and always present roasted chestnuts seller… (there is something strange on this)

Not sure about roman origins of these guys…

And now…. Campo de Fiori; hard to stay during the day because the market (unfortunately now more addressed to tourists), better in the evening for social life in all it’s nice and fashion cafes.

globalisation is changing our lifestyle but, luckily, there still are some fixed points like Ruggeri.

One more stop to rest and have a dinner; found a great place just round the corner from Campo de Fiori. A typical roman Trattoria with outstanding menu and service.

Probably not the best place for a vegetarian or vegan approach… the sign says “the more grass (vegetables) you eat the more beast you become”

There are so many other things to see in Rome but I can’t forget one of the most famous place not only for tourists but for photographers also: Spanish Steps or Trinità dei Monti. In a study by Google in 2014, the Spanish Steps were named as the most photographed area in all of Rome. This is not surprising when you consider what a lovely backdrop they form – particularly for those taking photographs to remember their holidays in Italy by. Their design is quite unique involving a mix of curves, straight flights, terraces and vistas.

 

This reportage was realised in less than 24 hours; do you think it could be realised in a better way? if so, please contact me and give me your suggestion; comments are more than welcome!

 

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