Understanding Rome's Newsletter

October's Monthly Postcard from Rome

When I was twenty-one years old, at the tail-end of the last millennium, the dissertation I wrote for my degree in Architectural History at Edinburgh…

Oct 8 • 

Agnes Crawford

35

6

September 2025

Some of my favourite views of Rome

10: via della Madonna dei Monti

Sep 30 • 

Agnes Crawford

33

5

A Wander through Ostia Antica, part 2

From the Theatre to the Forum

Sep 20 • 

Agnes Crawford

20

2

The Devil's Chair, or the tomb of (perhaps) Hadrian's freedman

As I have mentioned elsewhere I very much like combining errands with a spot of antiquity.

Sep 17 • 

Agnes Crawford

20

3

September's Postcard from Rome

In this second week of September cloudy skies and storms are trying, not entirely successfully, to sweep away the heat of summer leaving the air heavy…

Sep 10 • 

Agnes Crawford

26

6

A Podcast about Rome: Episode 27. The Sarcophagus of Sextus Varius Marcellus, and the Roses of Heliogabalus

Cruel, extravagant, sexually omnivorous, and gender fluid: the brief reign of the emperor Elagabalus has given rise to many a colourful tale.

Sep 2 • 

Agnes Crawford

10

18:11

August 2025

A Wander through Ostia Antica, part 1

From the via Ostiense to the Theatre

Aug 26 • 

Agnes Crawford

40

8

Admin and Aqueducts; or Tor Sapienza, pensavo peggio

I’m a big fan of turning tiresome admin into a jaunt, and in Rome it’s really not hard: amazing things lurk in the unlikeliest places.

Aug 17 • 

Agnes Crawford

29

6

Vespa Tunes XXV: Un Estate Italiana, Gianna Nannini & Edoardo Bennato, 1989

A visit this week to the super Burri Collection in the former tobacco drying sheds outside his home town of Città di Castello reminded me of the first…

Aug 10 • 

Agnes Crawford

29

3

August's Postcard from (not quite) Rome

I love the slightly sticky languid torpor of August in Italy.

Aug 7 • 

Agnes Crawford

46

4

July 2025

Roma Città Aperta, and the Mausoleum of the Fosse Ardeatine

Last month I saw Rossellini’s extraordinary film Roma Città Aperta on the big screen in Piazza San Cosimato on the occasion of its eightieth…

Jul 31 • 

Agnes Crawford

21

4

Vespa Tunes XXIV: Nostalgia Canaglia, Romina Power & Al Bano, 1986

Twenty-five years ago I moved into a flat-share on via della Pelliccia in Trastevere.

Jul 26 • 

Agnes Crawford

41

6