Most people see ruins. This wasn’t always ruins.
They didn’t just admire ancient Rome.
They dismantled it.
Marble pulled from the Forum.
Bronze stripped from temples.
Roman Forum columns cut down and carried off.
Under heat. Dust in the air.
Iron biting into stone.
The builders of a new Rome found it at home.
To build a new city.
St. Peter’s. Palaces. Churches.
Rome wasn’t lost.
It was taken apart.
And built again.
Most people walk past this. You don’t have to.
I write about what history leaves behind.