Rome is a stagnant city. A stagnant, man’s city. A stagnant man’s city.

There is an overplayed out trend that men often think about the Roman Empire, ironically I doubt the trend has even reached Rome because it’s anything but trendy, but the trend clicked for me upon seeing the city. Of course men are obsessed with the Roman empire because Rome and man go hand in hand. And even today it feels like Rome has still not really made room for women. It’s reflected in just about every statue there, glorifying masculinity and ‘whoreifying’ femininity.

Rome is a grand city…or once was, as seen in the ruins, which are the most breathtaking part. Imagining what the Forum and Colosseum once were is fun and fantastical for a moment, that is until you really think about what it once was…how gruesome and how much catastrophic influence it ricocheted forward. The fact that this month’s major motion picture, with everyones favorite heartthrob (Paul M), is a heroic Gladiator sequel says it all.

It was hard to get a sense of the heartbeat of the city in the present, or lack there of, maybe because there was no modern art and finding locals felt like a scavenger hunt. Most of the city feels like a spectacle for tourists. A lifeless spectacle. A romanticized spectacle. It felt like a city without bustle or capitalism outside of the tourists themselves, a city without young professionals- without anything that felt like a millennial, let alone a GenZ, was running the show, a city without new technology or iced nut milk lattes, a city just a few steps behind…So special to those who visit, yet most people who grow up there seem to leave? (according to one insider source.) It’s a foreign city to me. A city is a center of innovation and of the next generation. So what is Rome? 

Rome is an incredible ruin. I wonder if it will ever become anything more. 

And not to be a hater, but even the food could use a renovation. You can only stay atop the safety net of ‘Italian food in Italy is unmatched,’ that Florence and Milan seem to upkeep, for so long because New York Italian is on Rome’s tail.

I would still probably go back…to be fascinated by the spectacle of it.