ROMA…AMOR. Obviously, Rome is a city to fall madly in love with, one that makes us terribly happy. A city nested in our imagination, in our memories, which never suffers from repeated visits. A city of cinema, whether on the big screen or in our lives. Escadrille wanted to pay homage to this incredible city, highlighting what Rome is for us, like a love letter.

A city as if in a large-scale cinema…

Audrey Hepburn’s spontaneous laughter as she discovers Rome perched on a speeding Vespa that she can hardly control (Roman Holiday); Anita Ekberg wandering the deserted streets at night with a kitten she has just found, marvelling at the sound of bells filling the silence (La Dolce Vita); Toni Servillo lying in a hammock on the sumptuous terrace of his flat overlooking the Colosseum, with a drink in his hand, and looking wildly elegant (La Grande Bellezza); Nanni Moretti on his Vespa (again!), filmed as he rides through the streets of Rome with Leonard Cohen’s “I Am Your Man” as an obvious musical illustration to sublimate the city (Caro Diario). All these images, these sounds, have engraved the images of the most cinematographic city in the world, scenes for us to dream, because let’s face it, whether we identify with Audrey, Gregory, Anita or Marcelo, we would have loved to have had this role!

Rome, never-ending wonders

Always lively, sometimes irritating, with its big-city problems, which we nevertheless embrace with tenderness, like a slightly turbulent child. But that’s because her lifestyle is absolutely unique, a mixture of casualness, unpretentious bourgeois elegance, false modesty, and above all, incredible generosity. Here beauty is offered everywhere, it is not hidden, and better still, it does not have the spirit of a boring museum, it is part of daily life. As a result, we are constantly amazed, and even if the weight of history is immense, it is never heavy.

And let’s face it, living in a city with the sole objective of strolling and going where ever our steps might take us, is an incredible luxury and the best way to get to get to know Rome. So exciting, with its narrow streets, its cobblestones (the famous sanpietrini), the domes of the churches, the palaces and their hidden gardens, and its colours above all, the marble, the stones, the red, yellow and beige ochres, the wear and tear of time, the decrepit walls, and the end of the day when the city seems to be ablaze under its sumptuous colours.

Rome, we will comeback again and again to share your dolce vita for a moment, and to dream of the life we could have if we had you every day.

Our Rome, a personal notebook…

If Rome was only one garden, it would be those of the Villa Celimontana, and its open-air concerts on summer evenings

If Rome was only one restaurant, it would be Zia in Trastevere for its brillant revisiting of Italian gastronomy classics.

If Rome was only one market: Campo de’ Fiori of course, even if it is the most touristy

If Rome was only one street: Via Giulia, lined with palaces, majestic, but with so much charm, almost like being in the countryside

If Rome was only one café : Vyta, because it is in Piazza Farnese, in front of the Palazzo Farnese, which deserves all the superlatives

If Rome was only one square : the small Piazza di Pietra, with the Temple of Adrian on one side, the beautiful ochre facades with their climbing plants on the other, all Rome in one place.

If Rome was only one dish: Carciofi alla Romana, enjoyed in the ghetto

If Rome was only one drink : a barley coffee (caffé d’Orzo), the true taste of Italy

If Rome was only one area : Trastevere, a concentration of beauty and life

If Rome was only one hotel: the Hassler Roma hotel, at the top of the Trinità dei Monti steps, where Audrey Hepburn lived for many years, a great lover of Rome.

If Rome was only one bench on which to kiss: we would pick one in the romantic Giardino degli Aranci on the Aventine Hill, which overlooks the city in all its splendour