Once upon a time
there were small towns
where the buildings, the people,
communicated with each other.
But this is after all Italy
where even now
one lives surrounded by the past.
Stairs used to be outside – now they are almost all inside.
Houses still touch each other
as they march along the street,
support each other.
They share a wall and were not meant
to stand alone.
Once voices leapt out from one window
to another
across the narrow lanes
imparting the facts of the day,
of no great importance, but signs of life.
Confirmation that there was someone else
behind that façade, behind that window.
Buildings were not meant to stand alone.
No small neat dwellings
each on their own plot of carefully tended lawn.
No tall condominiums where no one knows his neighbor.
All isolated in their technology.
The buildings may have touched,
leaned on each other.
An arch would throw an arm
from one building to another
passing over the street below
telling us there’s a world beyond.
It might provide access
to what lay across the way.
It might be an excuse to add another room,
a place for flower boxes.
With windows of its own,
a flight of arches might
give you a chance to spy on your neighbours.
It might transmute
Into a painted archway
with volutes and scrolls
to be lit up at night.
For this is Italy
where even now
one lives surrounded by the past.
Arches will continue
to tell of what was,
reflecting their surroundings,
and let us imagine a past
that is still very much alive.
Erika Bizzarri 
ILY Mom
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Wonderful thoughts accompanying beautiful photos, taken right in Orvieto.
Mike
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Lovely…
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Erika
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div>I’d love this tour through the arches and your words!
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Love this. And what a joy to recognize so many of the places. See you in May!
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What a marvellous evocation of Italian cities! You convey it so well, Erika.
Our historic cities in England don’t feel like this. They are not so ancient of course, but it’s less to do with age I think than with geography: I’m guessing that many of the Italian cities were confined within their defensive walls throughout the long centuries of warfare whereas ours were able to spread beyond their walls.
I love your photos too.
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Dear Erika,
What are the chances that I would be writing a letter to our mutual friend and my fellow gardening fanatic Margaret about the irresistibility of arches at the very moment that you chose to write these most lovely words about them?—
“The buildings may have touched,
leaned on each other.
An arch would throw an arm
from one building to another…”
And how many photos have I taken of you and Teah and James 3 walking ahead of me through the archway to the Rupe? I am seeing them in my mind’s eye right now and likely forever. Love always, Diane 🌹💚
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