Martha Wakeman Pastels

The road one travels, roads, streets, strada, strade, the journeys we take and the paths we travel. September 2000 found our family in Rome, living in Trastevere, one of Rome’s oldest and most characteristic sections. My husband, Robert Proctor, Professor of Italian, had brought twenty Connecticut College students on a SATA(Study-Away-Teach-Away Program) to study at John Cabot University located in Trastevere. Rebecca our daughter and Andrew, our son studied at the American Overseas School in Rome. We had a small apartment in the heart of Trastevere, a block from Santa Maria in Trastevere, perhaps the site of the first Christian church. That year, morning after morning, a family ritual developed. Shortly after 7a.m. the four of us would walk down the worn stairs of our dwelling stepping out of an old wooden front door onto those ancient semi darkened cobblestone streets. We headed slowly down the meandering maze of streets toward the Ponte Sisto, a 15th century footbridge which crosses the Tiber. From the center one can view Michelangelo’s dome of St. Peters. Rebecca and Andrew were on their way to catch the school bus and Bob and I would walk along stopping for cappuccino and a newspaper before going on to our work.