Old Rome, Trastevere
Trastevere, meaning across the Tiber river, is one of Rome’s older neighborhoods. It has a wonderful rich history to accompany its rich aesthetic, full of life and rambling buildings which are squeezed together, with old on top of new and there are loads of little winding streets that most tourists somehow never seem to make it down to explore.
Trastevere Sketch
Oil on Gesso Panel
13 x 10″
$650 | Available
This little set of buildings is one of my most favorite places in the entire neighborhood, it is a slice of what the neighborhood used to look like in 19th century paintings. This is a spot that I continually stalk, looking for the right moment to catch the light here, and this day I caught it just at the right moment.
Unfortunately I had already been out painting all day and all I had left was this small canvas. Not large enough to capture the entire row of buildings, but just this little piece, I was still thrilled to find the light exactly as I have been waiting to find it for some time now and set to work.
The verticals of the tall narrow buildings, one right next to the other, along with the bright blue sky and rich cast shadows was exactly the piece of Rome that I wanted to capture and continue to seek out daily.
Trastevere has historically been a colorful neighborhood, the first home to Rome’s Jewish and Syrian population before moving across the river. The roads we not paved here until the end of the 15th century and the winding narrow streets were impassable to carriages for centuries.
Today this neighborhood is packed with locals, tourists and expats alike and beloved by all. The age old tradition of the local Trasteverini taking seats from their homes out in the street to sit and chat with their neighbors on hot days or cool evenings is still alive and well. Down the smaller streets you will see the daily laundry hanging out to dry and older women chatting from their windows across the alley.
I hope to get back here again soon, this time with a larger canvas, and to capture one moment in an ever changing Trastevere.