Follow me, as we descend Dante-like into the hell of Rome’s subway system. And don’t forget to leave all hope behind, o you who enter….
![_DSC6985_roma metroB conca d'ore tunnel neon_1000px](https://ciapannaphoto.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/dsc6985_roma-metrob-conca-dore-tunnel-neon_1000px.jpg?w=960&h=960)
Conca D’Oro train station is brand new. Dig those funky hot pink neons – disco music, anyone?
![_DSC6990_rome metroB train dirty graffiti_1000px](https://ciapannaphoto.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/dsc6990_rome-metrob-train-dirty-graffiti_1000px.jpg?w=960&h=960)
Eek a train! Would you let your loved ones anywhere near this thing?
![_DSC6992_rome metroB security guard window_1000px](https://ciapannaphoto.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/dsc6992_rome-metrob-security-guard-window_1000px.jpg?w=960&h=960)
But don’t worry: the security guards are really on their toes. They actually stopped hugging each other for a few seconds to tell me not to photograph inside the station… Picture taken through a grimy window.
![_DSC7001_rome metroB nun graffiti_1000px](https://ciapannaphoto.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/dsc7001_rome-metrob-nun-graffiti_1000px.jpg?w=960&h=960)
The inside of the train, is thankfully in slightly better shape than the outside. No shortage of graffiti, though.
![_DSC7006_rome metroB carwindow_1000px](https://ciapannaphoto.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/dsc7006_rome-metrob-carwindow_1000px.jpg?w=960&h=960)
Looking through opaque windows into the next car.
![_DSC7073_rome metroB commuter door_1000px](https://ciapannaphoto.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/dsc7073_rome-metrob-commuter-door_1000px.jpg?w=960&h=960)
Commuters in Rome.
![_DSC7037_rome metroB commuters window_1000px](https://ciapannaphoto.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/dsc7037_rome-metrob-commuters-window_1000px.jpg?w=960&h=960)
Frazzled faces through dirty glass.
![_DSC7044_rome metroB commuter sad_1000px](https://ciapannaphoto.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/dsc7044_rome-metrob-commuter-sad_1000px.jpg?w=960&h=960)
The sad look you get from riding in Rome’s metro.
![_DSC7069_rome metro friar tonsure_1000px](https://ciapannaphoto.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/dsc7069_rome-metro-friar-tonsure_1000px.jpg?w=960&h=960)
I hadn’t seen a tonsured friar since i was a kid, at least thirty years ago…
![_DSC7056_rome metroB asking concrete tunnel_1000px](https://ciapannaphoto.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/dsc7056_rome-metrob-asking-concrete-tunnel_1000px.jpg?w=960&h=960)
If you don’t ask, you’ll never find your way out: the signs are old, faded and sometimes missing altogether. Nice concrete wall, by the way.
![_DSC7074_rome metroB escalator magazine_1000px](https://ciapannaphoto.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/dsc7074_rome-metrob-escalator-magazine_1000px.jpg?w=960&h=960)
This one escalator ride in Rome’s San Giovanni station is so long that this gentleman had the time to read a whole article in a magazine…
I’ll spare you the details and the nasty puddles. Rome’s subway system is a disaster in the making. In ideal circumstances, it is difficult to find you way around. Just imagine trying to do it in an emergency.
Dante had Virgil to lead him around and especially out of hell, to ‘riveder le stelle’, to gaze once again upon the stars. So ends the Inferno. Best bit of prose ever written in Italian.
Alessandro Ciapanna