The most ancient city in history, the Eternal City as we know it, is now a grand outdoor museum which transforms into something magical as night falls upon it. Rome's everlasting problem has always been its traffic: the constant flow of vehicles obstructs the views of the monuments not just from our eyes, but from the poetry of silence.
As the first shadows are cast, pollution, honks and engines magically disappear; public transport diminishes and buildings and piazzas empty. The city then falls into a dreamlike state, a puffy cloud of unreal aura. It is the most suggestive moment of all, nightfall, and with a series of light displays, Rome gives herself completely to the eye of the observer, offering images which never cease to amaze.
Rome's recent administrations have been able to give value to the city's nightly power. With knowledgeable technologies, archeological sites which had long been kept in an endless slumber, have woken up again under chiaroscuro effects laid upon marbles and venerable stones offering irresistible visions. The Forum, the Coliseum, the Basilica of Massenzio and Constantine's Arch offer melodic inspirations to the evening viewer, surprised by such a unique scenery, evoking such refrains as "Quanto sei bella Roma" (Rome, how beautiful you are)…
Great photographers such as Oscar Vittorio Storaro have studied Rome's refined nightly scenery with tantalizing images in which imperial statues and buildings are resurrected and catapulted into the present with artistic and accurate rays of light. As soon as the moon shines its light upon the Pantheon, or Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli ( so as to remain in the same time period), authentic slices of eternity are offered placing Rome in a timeless dimension where centuries haven't even made a dent into its immortality.
Together with Caesar's Rome, the night show spreads throughout parts of Rome belonging to Princes and Popes. The illuminated dome on St. Peter's Basilica is evenly cut like a diamond and placed into the urban horizon. Not far away from it, the mighty fort of Castel Sant'Angelo lays in a fairytale, and exalts into a sky covered by thin and fleeting lamppost flickerings.
Feelings of Rome by night… Choose any itinerary and let yourself be carried away by enchanted visions of thousands of undiscovered corners and views of a city, which perhaps due to its millenary history, seems to have found an accomplice in the stars. For example, the Tiber island dedicated to Asclepius, the Deity Doctor, highlighted by the moon's reflections on the river, is the recurrent subject in numerous love songs and poems. The Circus Maximus, surrounded by remains of Imperial villas is now even more visible under accurate lighting by expert architects. Yet the Coliseum still remains the most intense spectacle perhaps because it is still evokes memories of the city's imperial history.
Stumbling upon the city by night everyone is given the chance to uncover the gentle contrasts of this city. A city which reaches its expressive potential at night when it offers the spectator images of absolute beauty, forever to be held in memory.
