Our new neighbourhood is made up of a mixture of residential villas, old villas that have been turned into office space and the odd religious compound. Because the offices - mostly.. shudder... lawyers - predominate daytime parking is an nightmare. But in the evening the streets are almost empty - for Rome! And what nightfall reveals is the number of cars that are parked "long term!"
Apparently there is some sort of strange law here that stops the police from towing cars that have been parked in the same spot
for lengthy (six to 12 months) periods of time. Near our old apartment there were five or six cars parked on the street covered in dirt and debris, tires flat and in one case windows open that were there when we arrived and were still there when we left one year later. The same thing occurs here in our new neighbourhood and probably in all neighbourhoods around town.
This SUV - the license plates are not EU so it might belong to someone at the Embassy of Côte d'Ivoire across the street - has obviously been parked here for some time. There is at least one previous harvest of figs (sweet, green, juicy, sticky figs) dotting its surface and no doubt doing a real number on the paint job.
I love figs but I can't imagine the elbow grease needed to clean up that mess.
05 settembre - Beata Madre Teresa di Calcutta
And I am wondering what these perfectly good pair - and notice they are a matched pair - of shoes was doing on the sidewalk on Via Mazzarino at three in the afternoon? There appeared to be nothing wrong with them - the heels were fine, straps intact and they even looked to be clean and recently polished. So why were they left there? It almost looks like some one had simple stepped out of them. And it did lead to a very bad Italian pun - Suole Abbandonate! 
On Saturday I asked if anyone could identify what the heck these two things are and what you would do with them. Laurent bought them in Beijing - they sell them everywhere and the tourists - over 60s especially, hmmmm - buy them up like crazy. So what the heck are they anyway???
for lengthy (six to 12 months) periods of time. Near our old apartment there were five or six cars parked on the street covered in dirt and debris, tires flat and in one case windows open that were there when we arrived and were still there when we left one year later. The same thing occurs here in our new neighbourhood and probably in all neighbourhoods around town.
As always we requested and got a non-smoking room, then where greeted by this little desk accessory????
I'm at a total loss to figure that one out. I'll be more than happy to send a La Dolce Vita (that's the Fellini film with Anita Ekberg looking chesty and Marcello Mastroianni looking pop-eyed at Anita looking chesty) fridge magnet to anyone would can come up with a good explanation. Notice that's "good" not logical! And no this is not an attempt to get rid of stuff, I actually bought it today in a 
