Rome is crumbling, just as it has been for centuries. But what does it say about us adopted Romans that we choose to live in a city's whose glory days are all in the past? Can Rome's magnificent past really make up for the inconveniences and frustrations of daily life in modern Rome? How long can a city live off the interest of its history? For Rome, maybe the answer is forever.
Read MoreI have a secret dream. A deep, burning desire that comes upon me strongly almost every time I walk down a busy street in Rome, and often when I'm walking down a quiet one. I want to be a vigilessa. A lady traffic-cop. Now I don't mean that I actually think that it could happen, or that I would ever go through with such a thing--even if it were possible. But every time I see someone double- or triple-parked, I long to flip out a ticket pad and write them a big fat multa, right on the spot. Or better yet, get their oversized SUV towed far, far away.
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