over 100 years

That's what il Corriere della Sera (the main italian newspaper) says, anyway. It's been over 100 years since the Tevere flooded this much. One Roman woman exclaimed yesterday that she'd lived in Roma for over 60 years and had never seen anything like it! So there you go. Today they had cranes and rescue boats in the river, and unsurprisingly, gli italiani were gawking like I've never seen people gawk before. Hilarious. LOOK HOW HIGH IT IS!!! This is crazy.
This city holds such a charm- it's so disorganized and old and layered. It's chaotic and people make their own rules, but at the same time they defer to anyone wearing a uniform (be it a caribiniero or a maid) and care very much about tradition and decorum. No one would dare step out of the house in anything less than their very best clothes, and their world is about appreciating beauty-- art, ancient remains of their golden ages of the Republic and the Empire, really excellent boots, girls in their 20s, the dark brown foam that sits atop un caffé at their favorite bar (mine is Sant'Eustachio) and the pleasure that is sitting at dinner for 4-5 hours starting at 8pm with friends. Romans are 100% crazy and out of their minds, but there is something about the city, the people that inhabit it. The fact that it's a city that doesn't take itself too seriously. They would never identify themselves as italiani- they are romani, just as the people of the north are milanesi, di Milano, or fiorentini, di Firenze. So on that note of total sap/me pretending to be a travel writer, I give you a picture of the Flavian Amphitheater [Colosseo, Colosseum], because I haven't given you nearly enough yet..