Rome disappeared
In historical views of the Tiber, in 18th to 19th-century paintings and watercolours, including those of Roesler Franz, the landscape is completely different, almost unrecognisable. Low sandy banks with small bends on which sprout mills, moving boats and a multitude of houses overlooking the water. With the construction of the embankments, the river and the city were separated. The harbours of Ripetta and Ripa Grande disappeared, and historic neighbourhoods and buildings vanished forever. But Rome has not lost its relationship with the Tiber, indeed perhaps it has saved it. According to Rosario Pavia's happy definition, like the world's most important capitals, Rome too has its 'boulevards'; the tree-lined avenues of the Lungotevere, a long promenade in the shade of plane trees, above the river or down along the quay, which crosses the city centre.
