Fellini knew la citta eterna

It used to be a whole lot easier to blog from Italy. In the days before wireless Internet, that is. In those days, which date back just to 2003, I used to be able to find an Internet cafe on just about every corner. Now, though, it’s hard to find any Internet businesses at all.

And when you do find one, as we did a few days ago in Orvieto, you’re likely to encounter five people hovering over three PCs, only two of which are functional. Which is why it took my wife, uh, a half hour to get on. The American teens before here were making important Facebook updates. If that’s not being redundant, that is.

Anyway, we’re in Rome, having traveled here by train from Firenze, by way of Orvieto. And after a couple of days touring such sites as San Pietro, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and taking a walk through the Trastevere neighborhood, we’re preparing to head back home.

One note about the Trevi Fountain: This year is the 50th anniversay of Federico Fellini’s film “La Dlce Vita,” a movie that helped define a post-World War II Italy - and thus redefine the country, period - and in the process gave us a whole new vocabulary (paparazzo, for example) along with a new new language of cinema.

The most enduring image from Fellini’s film, that of Anita Ekberg wading in the Trevi Fountain, can be found on any number of refrigerator magnets, calendars or posters, all of which are for sale in the many shops situated in and around the fountain.

I passed on purchasing any. But I’ll leave you with the image in the YouTube ebed below.