Life Section

The following posts and photographs are from a ten day field trip that I went on with my class to the north of Italy.  Enjoy!

Epic.  When I have the time I will really have to return to this post and describe the feeling of being in this incredible space.

I fell in love with this place and you will soon find out why.

The Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill are the densest areas of architectural remains from Roman antiquity.  It really is where the city began.  Now it is almost like a strange hole in the city fabric.  I once heard someone mention it as a kind of ‘Disney Land’, and that statement almost rings true.  The ruins have a beautiful sadness to them.  They whisper of past glories and of very specific human actions and decisions to reach certain ends.  Looking at Roman ruins reminds me that the word “progress” is extremely subjective.  After two-thousand years has much really changed?  We are an information society and have gained new technologies, but we have lost much of the art of mastery.

The Temple of Saturn at the Roman Forum

The Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine on the Palatine Hill

It is finally time to post up some pictures and experiences from my many visits to architectural sites from Roman antiquity.  I can officially say that I know more about ancient Roman emperors than I do about the past prime ministers of Canada!  The really awesome thing is that I will never forget what I have learned, because I learned it in the spaces themselves and in that way it has become ingrained in my memory.  I have seen a lot of very epic places, and so I will try my best to keep my writing to a minimum.  You will likely quickly discover which sites were my favourite!  Enjoy!