Arcadia Italy

Often we wander around Rome from one appointment to the next in awe of the warm December sun and bright blue skies while we curse another bus and metro strike. This sort of inner conflict affects every Roman and adopted Roman: we love the weather, the food, the coffee while we grumble at the busses, the lines at the tax bureau, the traffic.

Similarly, a newcomer to the Eternal City may expect what I have been known to call "the Italy of the American Express ad", very fashionable people on Vespas, weaving in and out of cafe' tables along the quaint, cobbled alleyways. They'll expect to be wowed by the grandiosity of the Coliseum, the sacred pomp of St Peter's Basilica and the Vatican City, floored by the sheer number of Ancient Roman ruins and the past lives they represent still today.

And all of that will happen: that Rome is alive and well. But, as the Eternal City is, indeed, Eternal, it morphs, grows, evolves, thinks, breathes and struggles. And it is all that I've mentioned above and much, much more.

The video clip above by a talented Benjamin Messina, of Zürich, explores the Street Art in Rome. Rome is rapidly becoming, among so many other great things, one of Europe's capitals for great Street Art. At our Arcadia Rome Center we have proudly held workshops in Street Art as one of the many ways to get students more attuned to what modern Rome is. Its street art (and graffiti) often figure high in any description of the city: sometimes favorably, other times less so.

Take a look, with Benjamin's full permission and warm invitation, of his interpretation of Rome's Street Art scene and decide for yourself. The stencils you see at time code 00:40 and 01:31 were done by our Spring 2015 students!