Copyright © Louise Bostock 2007-2013. Please give credit where credit is due.

Thursday 17 February 2011

Strada romana

Four degrees at 8am. Damp with the occasional drizzle of rain, and clouds straggling through the trees.



The 'Roman road', buried in the woodlands near Carmine Superiore. A truly ancient path, laid by the hands of Roman workers? Or a later construction? It doesn't really matter, I know I tread where many, many travellers have trodden before. I pass through the whisps of their ghostly stories, carrying my own, living tale with me. As I set my foot where so many and so diverse must have set theirs, I try to imagine the rich tapestry of their lives intertwined over the centuries. The illiterate peasants, the grim-faced pilgrims, the determined merchants, the lost travelling souls, the criminals dragged here to the gallows. And did San Gottardo really walk this way? Perhaps also San Carlo Borromeo on a pastoral visit,  or the piratical Mazzardi brothers, fleeing their nemesis...

I think if only I can walk softly enough, all these ghosts will resolve themselves out of the mist and I will overhear their stories, their Canterbury tales, whispering in my ear, the words made gentle by time, shivering like leaves falling.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful as always! Can't wait for your book to come out?!

LindyLouMac said...

You do have a way with words Louise, when is the book due out?

chrysalis said...

Really atmospheric photo - can just smell the damp, leaf mould atmosphere.

patrizia said...

A proposito di strade romane, noi oggi pom a spasso tra i fori romani x andare a vedere la mostra di van gogh! Quant'e' bella Roma! E pure vincent non e' stato da meno!

Karin said...

It's a hauntingly beautiful place - I wouldn't want to walk there alone! That mist would feel lovely on the face though! And to think of all those who have gone before....

Francesca said...

I use the Aurelia everyday, and am so grateful for those roads! Beautiful and evocative photo.

Thursday 17 February 2011

Strada romana

Four degrees at 8am. Damp with the occasional drizzle of rain, and clouds straggling through the trees.



The 'Roman road', buried in the woodlands near Carmine Superiore. A truly ancient path, laid by the hands of Roman workers? Or a later construction? It doesn't really matter, I know I tread where many, many travellers have trodden before. I pass through the whisps of their ghostly stories, carrying my own, living tale with me. As I set my foot where so many and so diverse must have set theirs, I try to imagine the rich tapestry of their lives intertwined over the centuries. The illiterate peasants, the grim-faced pilgrims, the determined merchants, the lost travelling souls, the criminals dragged here to the gallows. And did San Gottardo really walk this way? Perhaps also San Carlo Borromeo on a pastoral visit,  or the piratical Mazzardi brothers, fleeing their nemesis...

I think if only I can walk softly enough, all these ghosts will resolve themselves out of the mist and I will overhear their stories, their Canterbury tales, whispering in my ear, the words made gentle by time, shivering like leaves falling.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful as always! Can't wait for your book to come out?!

LindyLouMac said...

You do have a way with words Louise, when is the book due out?

chrysalis said...

Really atmospheric photo - can just smell the damp, leaf mould atmosphere.

patrizia said...

A proposito di strade romane, noi oggi pom a spasso tra i fori romani x andare a vedere la mostra di van gogh! Quant'e' bella Roma! E pure vincent non e' stato da meno!

Karin said...

It's a hauntingly beautiful place - I wouldn't want to walk there alone! That mist would feel lovely on the face though! And to think of all those who have gone before....

Francesca said...

I use the Aurelia everyday, and am so grateful for those roads! Beautiful and evocative photo.