A Thoughtful Tourist

An essay about borrowing and caring for places we’ll never own

A scene from Camp de’ Fiori beneath the stare of Giordano Bruno (Getty RF image)

The Borrowed Chevy

A few days after I turned 16, a freshly issued driver’s license in my wallet, my father held out the keys to the family car, a Chevy station wagon. It was going to be my first solo drive. But before handing them over, my father held up a finger.

“Treat it,” he said, “as if it were yours.”

Of course, I didn’t.

I got into so many little fender benders as a young driver that it became a running joke in my family. Once, when I came home with a broken headlight, my mother said the car looked like it was winking. For years, whenever we’d see a dented or scraped car somewhere, someone in the family would turn to me with raised eyebrows and ask: “Eric …?”

I often think about our poor station wagon when I watch visitors “borrow” my adopted city with the same carelessness I had as a teen driver.

Roma! Roma! Roma!

When I first arrived in Rome, I lived in a neighborhood beneath the Campidoglio and looked forward to shopping in Campo de’ Fiori, the closest outdoor market to my apartment.

There, I’d sometimes run into chefs, including the one from my favorite neighborhood restaurant, shopping for the day’s produce. Beneath the stare of Catholic radical Giordano Bruno, vendors showed me how to pick the best Romanesco broccoli (look for sharp tips on the spirals) and puntarelle (the shoots should snap when bent). There was even a gritty coffee bar the Roman stallholders preferred that made me nervous to walk into the first time. But after a few visits, the barista started calling me carissimo.

Today, the Campo de’ Fiori market has turned into a stage set: perfectly arranged baskets of flowers, dried spices, truffle-flavored products, souvenirs. Last time I was there, a man selling Italy-themed aprons, grappa in bottles shaped like the Colosseum, and penis-shaped pasta was standing on a chair shouting, “Roma! Roma! Roma!” The gritty coffee bar? It now has colorful banners outside advertising takeaway coffee and Spritz cocktails.