While most tourists and Italians alike dream about climbing in the numerous fountains around Rome on sweltering summer nights, like Anita Ekberg did at the Trevi Fountain in the 1960 Felini film "La Dolce Vita," the truth is very few every do. There is a stiff fine for wading in.
So how did we end up so wet at the Trevi Fountain if we didn't go for a swim?Our story starts two hours earlier as we sat al fresco at the steps of a church at the Roman Forum watching the Miracle Players performing "The Unofficial History of Rome" part I
The wind picked up midway through Cesaer getting "offed" by Brutus and
and admist the dialogue of Mark Anthony not listening to the "Mouth of Truth" that his love for Cleopatra would lead to his demise, the most ominous black clouds rolled in.
We ran for it while the heavens opened. We were standing in knee high water within minutes and there was no cover to be had. I stiffed a poor street vendor 2 euro, as I only had 3 of the 5 Euro he was asking for, as I snatched the umbrella from his hands. The gods were watching and rewarded this outright theft by immediately turning the umbrella inside out and making it unusable.
We ran for it while the heavens opened. We were standing in knee high water within minutes and there was no cover to be had. I stiffed a poor street vendor 2 euro, as I only had 3 of the 5 Euro he was asking for, as I snatched the umbrella from his hands. The gods were watching and rewarded this outright theft by immediately turning the umbrella inside out and making it unusable. Such violent rainstorms do not happen in the 'eternal city.' There wasn't a bus or taxi in sight so the only solution was to walk/swim our way back to our hotel as the heavens emptied themselves. As we passed the Trevi Fountain, the rain let up, and we laughed as no one was there (besides 2 other damp dummies out in the downpour), so we had to snap a photo.
La Dolce Vita means "The Sweet Life." Despite everyones shoes getting ruined, Leah's new expensive hairdo getting undone, Gina unable to walk as her jeans now weighed an extra 100 pounds wet, and Brendan's dream dashed as we couldn't go wet into a restaurant and he was STARVING.... it was one of the moments that could be defined as "sweet." It was so quiet you could hear the gurgle of the fountain and not the ususal roar of tourist voices. The air smelled so fresh and clean. The streets were empty and glistening clean cobblestones winked back at us. "Sweet" is certainly in the eye of the beholder, and after wiping the mascara from our eyes, we could see clearly that this was one of those moments.
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