《美食祈禱和戀愛》Chapter 25 (48):徘徊在意大利街頭

There's a power struggle going on across Europe these days. A few cities are competing against each other to see who shall emerge as the great twenty-first-century European metropolis. Will it be London? Paris? Berlin? Zurich? Maybe Brussels, center of the young union? They all strive to outdo one another culturally, architecturally, politically, fiscally. But Rome, it should be said, has not bothered to join the race for status. Rome doesn't compete. Rome just watches all the fussing and striving, completely unfazed, exuding an air like: Hey—do whatever you want, but I'm still Rome. I am inspired by the regal self-assurance of this town, so grounded and rounded, so amused and monumental, knowing that she is held securely in the palm of history. I would like to be like Rome when I am an old lady.

近來整個歐洲正在進行某種權力鬥爭。幾個城市彼此競爭，看誰將成爲21世紀的歐洲最大都會。是倫敦？巴黎？柏林？蘇黎世？或是成立不久的歐盟中心布魯塞爾？每一個都力求在文化、建築、政治、財政方面勝過對方。然而對於羅馬而言，可說尚未費心加入地位之爭。羅馬不去競爭。羅馬只是冷眼旁觀這些小題大做，全然無動於衷，表現出一副“隨你們做什麼吧，我仍是羅馬”的姿態。這城市的從容自信令我感動，如此穩固而完美，如此有趣而不朽，知道自己被牢牢地握在歷史之掌中。我年老的時候也想和羅馬一樣。

I take myself on a six-hour walk through town today. This is easy to do, especially if you stop frequently to fuel up on espresso and pastries. I start at my apartment door, then wander through the cosmopolitan shopping center that is my neighborhood. (Though I wouldn't exactly call this a neighborhood, not in the traditional sense. I mean, if it is a neighborhood, then my neighbors are those just-plain-regular-folk with names like the Valentinos, the Guccis and the Armanis.) This has always been an upscale district. Rubens, Tennyson, Stendhal, Balzac, Liszt, Wagner, Thackeray, Byron, Keats—they all stayed here.

今天我在城裏走了六小時的路。這並不難，尤其如果你不時停下來喝杯濃咖啡，吃些糕點。我從公寓門口出發，而後漫步於鄰近街坊的都市商業區。（儘管我不太精確地把它叫作傳統意義上的街坊，但此處的街坊鄰居，可都是那些名叫華倫天奴、古琦、喬治•阿瑪尼的凡夫俗子。這兒始終是高級區，魯本斯（Rubens）、丁尼生（Tennyson）、司湯達、巴爾扎克、李斯特、瓦格納（Wagner）、薩克萊、拜倫、濟慈——他們都待過這裏。

I live in what they used to call "The English Ghetto," where all the posh aristocrats rested on their European grand tours. One London touring club was actually called "The Society of Dilettanti"—imagine advertising that you're a dilettante! Oh, the glorious shamelessness of it . . .

我住的地區從前叫“英國區”，即上流貴族在歐洲長 途旅行期間的休憩處。有個倫敦旅遊俱樂部竟然叫作“半瓶醋社團 ”（The Society of Dilettanti）——真想不到，拿你是半瓶醋做廣告宣傳！喔，臉皮厚得如此理直氣壯……

I walk over to the Piazza del Popolo, with its grand arch, carved by Bernini in honor of the historic visit of Queen Christina of Sweden (who was really one of history's neutron bombs. Here's how my Swedish friend Sofie describes the great queen: "She could ride, she could hunt, she was a scholar, she became a Catholic and it was a huge scandal. Some say she was a man, but at least she was probably a lesbian. She dressed in pants, she went on archaeological excavations, she collected art and she refused to leave an heir"). Next to the arch is a church where you can walk in for free and see two paintings by Caravaggio depicting the martyrdom of Saint Peter and the conversion of Saint Paul (so overcome by grace that he has fallen to the ground in holy rapture; not even his horse can believe it). Those Caravaggio paintings always make me feel weepy and overwhelmed, but I cheer myself up by moving to the other side of the church and enjoying a fresco which features the happiest, goofiest, giggliest little baby Jesus in all of Rome.

我走到人民廣場去，壯麗的拱門是貝爾尼尼（Bernini）的雕塑作品，爲了紀念瑞典女皇克莉絲汀的歷史性訪問（她確實是歷史上的一名秀異人物。我的瑞典朋友蘇菲如此描述這位偉大的女皇“她能騎馬打獵，是位學者；她改信天主教，成了一大丑聞。有人說她是男人，但至少她可能是女同志 。她穿長褲，從事遺址發掘工作，收藏藝術 ，拒絕留下繼承人。”）拱門旁邊有一所教堂，可免費進入參觀卡拉瓦喬（Caravaggio）的兩幅畫作，其描繪着聖彼得殉道以及聖保羅皈依場景（蒙受恩典的聖保羅在神聖狂喜中撲倒在地，連他的馬也無法置信）。卡拉瓦喬的畫作向來使我感動得想哭。爲了讓自己快樂起來，於是我走到教堂另一邊，去欣賞一幅壁畫，畫中是全羅馬最快樂、最傻頭傻腦、笑得最開心的小嬰孩耶穌。