ciapannaphoto

photography by alessandro ciapanna

Archive for ‘April, 2012’

BAMBOLA – rome’s doll hospital

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

squatriti is the name of a workshop in rome’s center. officially they restore artistic things, but locals refer to it as “l’ospedale delle bambole”, the doll hospital. judging by these ghastly photographs, a more apt nickname might well be the dolls’ morgue…

the main entrance to the shop is at 29 via di ripetta, but this window is on via del vantaggio, a side street. ask any passer-by, and they’ll tell you this window has not changed as far back as anyone can remember. decades, at least.

don’t worry if these pictures make you cringe: everybody cringes, when they first see these sad, broken toys peering out through years of dust

alessandro ciapanna

DOLCE DORMIRE – rest in rome

ah, rome!

the history… the food… the art… the weather… the architecture… the gelato… the fountains… the cobblestones… the (YAWN)… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

 

 

 

 

enjoying the colosseum

 

 

 

 

 

new fountain in via di ripetta

 

 

 

 

 

you read, i’ll just doze. via di ripetta

 

 

 

 

 

all together now. via di ripetta

 

 

 

 

 

soakin’ up the april sun. piazza del popolo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

broken but beautiful: rome’s ponte rotto

 

 

 

 

 

deep sleep on rome’s isola tiberina, the island on the tiber river

 

 

 

 

 

snoozing by the arco dsi costantino, rome

 

 

 

 

 

sleeping in style, piazza san silvestro, rome

 

 

 

 

 

aprile dolce dormire, we say: it is sweet to sleep in the month of april.

photographs taken in rome, in april.

HOLY ROOF – inside rome’s pantheon

even though i live in rome, i don’t go into a church unless i have a good reason to do so. unless it’s the pantheon, which never ceases to blow my mind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

rome’s pantheon was planned in pre-christian times and was actually a temple. since temples were each dedicated to a specific god, and rome was already full of wayfarers from the world over, just in case they’d missed some god, the romans created the pantheon, which was dedicated to all (from the greek “pan”) the gods (gr: “theon”). it was a nondenominational place of worship, open to all.

then christianity was made into the official religion and the temples were razed. except for the pantheon, with the logic that it was dedicated to all the gods. but all the gods are really one, so this must really be a church dedicated to the one and only true, new god. so it was renamed and thankfully spared.

around two thousand years old, the pantheon is an absolute miracle in architecture. a huge round hole in the middle of the roof allows light (and rain, why not) to make the multicolored stone walls and floors shine brightly.

note: i am a photographer and not a historian, so i wouldn’t really trust any of this info without verifiying it from a more reliable source. but the photographs are all absolutely authentic. this i’m sure of 🙂

alessandro ciapanna