Example of the use of the arch structure, filled in, for added strength; as we saw at the Pantheon a few days before.
I love these glimpses we get of what street scenes in Ancient Times may have appeared, in part.
We are reminded constantly that we cannot go back in time, we cannot know what it was like, see what they saw; but surely the sky and landscape surrounding the towns and villages were similar, the atmosphere.
Who worked, sat, slept, lived or died in these spaces?
A few months ago, I read a book ("Surprised by Joy" by C. S. Lewis ); my understanding was pitifully inadequate (I am leaving my post as written to show how shallow I can be, sometimes. Not always, but sometimes.
The visit to Italy has helped me understand what Lewis meant by his "Joy"-- a wonderful, unattainable longing. As a younger person, his "sublime unattainable" was for "all things Norse": cold sea air, Vikings, Norse legends, etc.
Anyway, wandering the foundations and dust and bricks of their Ancient Port Town--(a logistical center, like their version of an Amazon, FedEx, Walmart-Hub!)--makes them feel closer? And very far away all at the same time.
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