I cannot count the number of times I have taken visitors to Rome, including my students, to the top of the Aventine Hill to look out over the city from the Orange Tree Park (not the view photographed here but not too far from it, either).
It is always a successful visit; the visitor is left awed by the view, stunned by the millennia of history this very spot has seen.
At one such visit, a student looked ponderous. He raised his hand. “Is this the Aventine like in Rome?”
I paused before answering.
Was it a trick question?
Am I missing something?
I have been out of the country for nearly 30 years, after all.
Then it dawned on me.
“Yes. One and the same”, I said. I then added, “actually, it’s the other way around. This one came first, then came the HBO version”.
nearly30yearsitalian 