La Scoperta del Giorno (Today's Discovery): Architrave Shadows

 La Scoperta del Giorno (Today’s Discovery)

The latest in the now-and-then RST feature, La Scoperta del Giorno (the discovery of the day or, better put in English, Today’s Discovery). The Italian word “scoperta,” and its English equivalent, “discovery,” are similarly constructed; each is based on the verb “to cover” (coprire/to cover) and each is converted into “uncover” or “discover” with a prefix (the “s” in Italian, the “dis” in English).

We came up with the idea of La Scoperta del Giorno, as well as our first “scoperta,” while having cokes outside a small bar on via La Spezia, in sight of Piazza Lodi in the San Giovanni district.

Across the street was an apartment building—actually two of them—the one on the right of roughly 1920 vintage, the one on the left postwar. Looking at the 1920 building more closely, Dianne noticed that the trim/architrave above some windows on the 2^nd floor (where Dianne’s finger is pointing) was uneven, intentionally incorporating a raised section on the left, and creating the shadow that drew our attention. (Just the sort of thing a builder could do when craft work was relatively inexpensive.)

And that, trivial as it may seem, is “La Scoperta del Giorno” for September 29, 2025.

Bill 

Garibaldi was here?! La Scoperta del Giorno

The latest in the now-and-then RST feature, La Scoperta del Giorno (the discovery of the day or, better put in English, Today’s Discovery). The Italian word “scoperta,” and its English equivalent, “discovery,” are similarly constructed; each is based on the verb “to cover” (coprire/to cover) and each is converted into “uncover” or “discover” with a prefix (the “s” in Italian, the “dis” in English).

Yesterday evening we headed up the hill to Villa Fiorelli, a small, comfortably round "pocket park" about a 10-minute walk from Piazza dei Re di Roma. We remember it from 1993, when we lived close by on via Nicastro, and last night it was humming with young children and their mothers enjoying the light at dusk. What we don't remember from decades past--and probably never saw--is a plaque commemorating the July 2, 1849 departure of Giuseppe Garibaldi and his red-shirted companions, from the very ground we were standing on and the kids were playing on, headed for Venice on their epic 30-day March on behalf of Italian independence. 

         And that's La Scoperta del Giorno for the evening of November 4, 2025. 

Bill 

See here for an RST post on Garibaldi in Rome.

La Scoperta del Giorno (Today's Discovery): Inside a Nasone

 

La Scoperta del Giorno (Today’s Discovery): Inside a Nasone

Today we’re launching a new (and not daily) RST feature: La Scoperta del Giorno (the discovery of the day or, better put in English, Today’s Discovery). The Italian word “scoperta,” and its English equivalent, “discovery,” are similarly constructed; each is based on the verb “to cover” (coprire/to cover) and each is converted into “uncover” or
“discover” with a prefix (the “s” in Italian, the “dis” in English).

The big event of September 20 was a huge pro-Palestine demonstration starting in Piazza dei Cinquecento in front of Stazione Termini, which we attended along with about 50,000 other people. But La Scoperta of that day took place about an hour after the “manifestazione” had left Termini to proceed through the city to the university. We were not part of the ongoing march, but headed home on foot, through Piazza Vittorio, where we took a break for a coffee at a sidewalk bar just outside the Piazza. There, sitting at a table, we could see dozens of those who had been at the demonstration—or were still part of the ongoing march—pouring out the gate of Piazza Vittorio and heading for a nearby nasone (one of thousands of “big nose” water fountains in Rome, most of them flowing constantly) to have a drink and fill up their water bottles.

 

The line was long, because a second nearby nasone wasn’t working. Then a man reached inside the top of the non-functioning fountain and, within no time, it was working! How did he do it?

By inspecting other nasoni, we soon learned that some but not all of them have a handle inside that turns the water on and off. 

The handles were likely installed in 2017 during a severe drought when more than 2,000 of the nasoni were “turned off.” Since the handle revelation, we have often tried, usually without success, to remove the cover to access the handle—or just to see if there was one. Here's a nasone without a handle:

Most of the covers appear to be fixed—that is, not easily removable by a passer-by. It looks like one needs a special round tool with a triangular interface to get the cover off.

Some nasoni have handles to turn the water on and off! That’s La Scoperta del Giorno for September 20, 2025.

Bill