From the ridiculous (see yesterdays post about Curly Howard) to the sublime; today we are looking at color(ized) footage of the eternal city in 1940, brought to us by the YouTube artist known as NASS. As always, NASS has taken black and white footage documenting a city from the past, added color and a sound bed, slowed the frame rate down and time-machined us to a time/place we’ve never been but now feel that we had. I’ve never seen a version of Rome with this little traffic. Aside from that (and the lack of fat tourists wearing shorts and carrying backpacks) this is the Rome that we know and love, with the ancient monuments looking even more imposing and regal due to the calm and civility that surround them. (Note: even then Italians loved their silly really small cars–note a few driving around that I can’t imagine were ever exported to other countries). I can’t believe I haven’t been to Rome in twenty years–twenty! This little tour has whet my appetite though. Though I’ve never knocked over a filling station before, how hard can it be?