Although Rome is known as the City of Seven Hills, there are actually very few vantage points for capturing cityscapes. Until recently, these spots included a small area at Piazzale Socrate, on the slopes of Monte Mario, offering a view of St. Peter’s and a vast stretch of the city reaching all the way to the mountains toward Abruzzo.
Many of us took our first landscape photography classes right there; however, there was one small issue: the space was private property. People—often couples looking for a romantic spot to spend some time—had been trespassing without the owners’ permission, eventually forcing them to permanently close off the area with a fence.
I took this photo just as the work to seal off the site had begun, serving as a final record of a beautiful location that was, nevertheless, not a public space. I was lucky, because the colors of that sunrise over St. Peter’s—which I had sought in vain on previous visits—offered a satisfying farewell to a place that, sadly, is no longer accessible.
