Rome Travel Guide

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Thursday, January 25, 2018

Playful Romans: Their Decorated Vehicles


We can't be sure that decorated vehicles are more common in Rome and environs than elsewhere, but it does seem so.  Perhaps the tradition began with the Italian Futurists, whose fondness for speed and movement made the painting of fast-moving vehicles, from bicycles to airplanes, a natural.




 Futurism was serious and ideological.  In contemporary Rome, it's playfulness that rules.







 Scooter owners like to sticker their rides. 



This fan of the A.S. Roma soccer team likes stickers that attack Juve (Juventus, a Turin top league team), Rome's nemesis:  Juve Merda (Juve is shit), and Juventino Bastardo (adding the "ino" - means "Little Juventus")




 Near the Vatican, we found a car, apparently abandoned, "decorated" with the owner's philosophical message.





 If you read Italian and have the patience, you can figure out what that message is.  It seems Luigi has a website. 






 Decorated commercial vehicles are common.  Below, the first promises home grocery delivery.  The second is a panel truck from Ariccia, a town in the Alban Hills that's famous for its pork. 








And this one, which bills itself as a Europa Club Fiat 500, advertises a slots parlor while welcoming Mr. Grava.  OK.   



Rome, the streets of Trastevere, a bicycle-driven cart, fully decked out.  And abandoned. 


Finally, back to the (contemporary) art world.  Here, street artist Alice decorates a mini-trailer in the parking lot of the L'ex-Lanificio, an avant-garde art space on via di Pietralata. 




Bill

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