UNDER THE PORTICOES

The endless porticoes provide a haven for an unbelievable array of shops, cafes, and other retail and service venues, and there is no rhyme or reason to explain some of the seemingly paradoxes one sees. On Via Farini, with so many ancient buildings, emitting an aura of age...very old age...nestled under the arches and curves one sees Armani, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and other glitzy store fronts. (I am assuming these ancient buildings are homes (condos - apartments) to some well to do folks.

The shops are everywhere, and as expected they tend to fit or reflect the neighborhood, bookstores, food shops, clothing, perfume and skin care (really big here), cafes, and just about anything you can think of. The one thing they have in common is their size, I don’t know about “back rooms”, but you can see from these photos that they present a very modest front and often there is only one room, and it is not very large.






Graffiti is abundant and shares porticoes with some of the most elegant doors.