Our Apartment in Rome

We live just outside the Vatican walls - on a street with impossibly narrow sidewalks called Via Aurelia.

The first time I walked on this street, I nearly experienced half a dozen heart attacks. The sidewalk is just wide enough to fit all four wheels of the stroller. It winds down a hill, where cars, buses and trucks appear without warning from just around the next curve, driving a little too fast for my comfort. To make matters worse, the city has planted light posts in the very middle of the sidewalk, thus necessitating my circumnavigating them as skilfully as possible, driving the stroller on two wheels until I've made it past these infuriating obstacles.

On our seconde day in Rome, I found another street, with very wide sidewalks, that safely takes us down the hill. There is only one small downside to this seemingly wonderful find: a four-flight set of stairs at the end of it. 

Unfortunately these stairs are the only way to get, well, anywhere. If it's between the stairs and the panic-provoking sidewalk, I choose the stairs. Especially as each step is conveniently large enough to fit all four wheels of the stroller. If I take it one step at a time, I can easily avoid a scene similar to that in the movie "The Untouchables," where a stroller makes its way, unrestrained, down a flight of stairs, making anyone watching want to scream: "The baby! Save the baby!" (though this scene was set in the middle of a gun fight, which is unlikely to happen here).

The street that leads to these stairs is the loveliest around our place. It is lined with trees, and here and there a plump gathering of rambling roses set along the edge of a stone wall fill the air with a musky scent. Iron gates offer a glimpse into courtyards graced with potted plants and laundry drying on a line. The most beautiful I've seen is one where a flight of stone steps, remisiscent of antiquity, leads up to a terrace.

One of my favorite buildings along this street is one of red and yellow brick, with green shutters and tall, narrow doors leading out to balconies with wrought iron railings.

Further down the street we are greeted by an awe-inspiring sight: behind the Vatican wall rises the cuppola of St. Peter's Basilica, shining like silver in the afternoon sun.

 Our apartment building, with white walls and dotted with balconies, stands nearly at the top of the hill, almost directly behind the Vatican. Glass doors open from the living room and one of the two bedrooms onto a balcony overlooking a courtyard. Scenes of Italy, painted on canvas or represented on colourful prints, adorn the walls inside. An old red wood cabinet with blue shelves and glass doors that lock with a vintage key is set against the wall by the kitchen. Pale blue and yellow, or royal crimson and gold curtains bestow on each bedroom either a Romantic or antique look.

Hardly a sound and rarely more than a breeze and the beautiful, rich song of a bird reaches us through our open windows. The area around our apartment is quiet and peaceful. At the very beginning of the street that leads to our building, an arched gateway looks into a small courtyard where on a pedestal stands a white marble figure of the Virgin Mary. Above the gate, carved on the arching wall, are the latin words "pax et bonum."

Peace and happiness.