Rome Journal: Lungotevere Testaccio

                                                FLevy

You cross the Tiber from Trastevere to Testaccio. Passing the "Lungotevere di Testaccio" sign, you notice an uptick in the frequency of graffitti. It all comes out in the wash goes the expression. Here the laundry hangs from the windows. You take a right on Benjamino Franklin. The relatively deserted streets evolve into a teeming market where the crowds shop for fish and meat, vegetables and clothes while those who have finished sit down to eat in front of concessions selling pizza pasta and even vegan specialties. Nuts candies and fruit bedeck another stall. You've been to many markets like this in Paris, Rome, Barcelona and even Santiago. The particular neighborhoods imprinted with their distinct sensibilities distinguish these mini worlds. On the way down one of the many staircases that lead from the Via Carini in Monteverdi to the mercato in Testaccio you realize you’re walking on a face that’s been painted on steps. Across from the Testaccio market is the Mattatoio, the former abattoir which is one of Rome's most important examples of "industrial archeology" and now an exhibition space where the work of the photographer William Klein and the cinematographer, Jonas Mekas are on display.

read "Chaim Soutine: Flesh" by Francis Levy, The Screaming Pope

and watch the trailer for Erotomania