Beautiful bright colors and beauty in a historic cemetery on a sunny day on Capri

Capri is a world famous resort, the playground for jet setters. It’s an ancient Roman island in Southern Italy still peppered with the villas of Emperors. I’ve heard it called the Beverly Hills of Italy because of its luxury boutiques and grand dame hotels. To me, Capri is about the quiet moments, the local back streets, the flora and fauna and places like the beautiful, very off the beaten path 19th century non-catholic cemetery.

The cemetery is in a residential, slightly run down section between Capri town and the Marina Grande but it overlooks the sea and is incredibly charming. Artists, writers, Anglo Saxons, Nordics and French in love with Capri are all buried here. There are Jewish graves and non-religious tombs and plenty of Madonna statues. And in modern Capri, plenty of Catholic Italians choose this idyllic spot with a sweeping view of the Tyrrhenian Sea for their final resting places.

I walked to the cemetery on the rather harrowing, not very pedestrian “old road down to Marina Grande” and found the graveyard after a ten minute “stroll” sidestepping uncomfortably close vespas, cars and buses like a veteran Italian. When in Rome, eh?

You may want to take a taxi from the bus station in Capri Town. Ask for the Cimitero acattolico di Capri. On Capri – not the pretty, much smaller catholic cemetery on Ana Capri – though that is also lovely. This is the spot with character and history and angels.

I wandered around this lovely melancholy place on such a beautiful sunny day I couldn’t help but be moved by all the beauty, by the sea views, by the wild blue flowers, the statues, and the declarations of love for Italy, and the names, and sometimes images of the lost beloved.

I shot these lush unedited analog photographs on Portra 400 and Portra 800 fine art 35 mm films in 2013.

Saint Barbara of the Books / Rome

This small church, also known as Santa Barbara alla Regola, after the district in which it is situated, was founded, in the 11th century, in the ruins of the Theatre of Pompey. (It was in an annex in the gardens of the Theatre of Pompey that Julius Caesar was assassinated).

Saint Barbara of the Books, Rome, Italy. 186 Largo dei Librai

The church is just off Via dei Giubbonari between Campo de’Fiori and Piazza Cairoli.

Located at the edge of the Roman Ghetto, “Jewish Ghetto”, one of the most intact ancient neighborhoods of Rome, and one of the best and easiest places to grab a Mediterranean / Middle Eastern / Kosher mix of delicious lunch, enjoy dessert, strong coffee, or good wines for less, and also walk among Augustan Roman ruins and a real Mediaeval cemetery, with some of the best Middle Ages ruins in Rome. it is a tiny compact area perfect for packing a lot into a couple hours, and it is a short walk from the historic center of Rome and the Capitoline Hill and Trajan’s Column.

This is a small but absolutely stunning church. It’s definitely an off the beaten path one, too.

One minute you are walking through a charming neighborhood, the next moment you turn the corner and are stopped in your tracks by this glorious architecture. It looks surreal – a tiny church stuck between houses and a yogurt gelato shop. It’s worth a stop, a snapshot, and a walk up past the perfect olive trees into the doorway for a look around the interior.

a rainy afternoon art garden walk

A rainy afternoon walk around the Villa Borghese in Rome, Italy. On an overcast day it reminded me of Paris. I love the faded colors of the buildings and the urn-planted citrus fruit and olive trees. The gardens are leftover remnants of the Renaissance, and even of ancient Rome; namely the famed gardens of Lucullus. The park and gardens were once a private estate of the Borghese family. Fortunately now the “country” lanes of tidy gardens and statuary are open to everyone. The beauty of the grounds are immeasurable. No wonder I’ve grown to love it so much over the years. I love the colors of the stone architecture and the details of the buildings. I could hear a soft muddling of voices through an opened window.

The Villa Borghese museum is one of the loveliest and important collections of Italian Renaissance paintings in the world. It houses master works by Caravaggio, Titian, Dossi, Correggio, Veronese, Rubens, Barocci, Parmigianino, Lotto, Raphael, Bernini, Reni, Bellini, Barocci, Domenichino, Canova, and many other greats. If you find yourself in Rome make reservations a few days in advance to view the art in the beautiful Villa Borghese in two hour blocks. Give yourself time to wander around the gardens and the park. You should arrange a time with at least four hours of sunshine so you can enjoy a stroll around and leave two hours for the museum. Finish up an hour before sunset and find your way to the Pincio (Pincial Hill) for the most beautiful sunset of your life.

All photographs shot on a vintage camera with vintage analog film, 2010s.

the wild cats of Rome

The cats of Rome watching over the Theatre of Pompey. The Portra 400 and 800 35mm film really brings out the colors and tones of the beautiful cats. Through the looking glass one can imagine how far back into ancient Rome these cats ancestry lies. They roam free around the ruins all over Italy.

CineFilm walks of autumn sunset views in Rome / pincio to piazza di spagna

Walking through Rome on my last trip with my husband before we lost him I caught the glimmering light in velvet black shadow as the golden hour dropped into an evening slumber. One of the best sunset walks is through the Villa Borghese park and gardens to the Pincian Hill overlooking the Piazza del Popolo, and then take a left and admire the lowslung sun shimmering on the edge of every object and through every window of cafes, villas, apartments, churches, and shops, and at a later distance, on the ruins and cupolas sprinkled all over the horizon. Walk down towards the French Church at the top of the Piazza di Spagna, take a peek inside at its beauty, and then turn down the Spanish Steps, the white marble now washed in gold, and follow your heart into the city. This moment is eternal. I hope to feel him again in the atoms of the sunshine again one day. Our loves return to us in fleeting moments of life when we awake to their presence there the whole time.