Two Faces of Rome

By Eli Hockett, who studied abroad in Rome, Italy in Spring 2025

Rome is both a capital city of just under 3 million people as well as a tourist destination which hosts around 35 million people over the course of the year. The city often feels as if it has been torn in half, its character, lifestyle, and urban fabric drawn in two directions by the—often conflicting—interests of the tourism industry and the Romans who remain year round. When living in Rome for an extended period of time you find yourself moving between these two worlds, often caught between them. In a city like Rome, there is no place which is fully outside of the tourist orbit, nor any place wholly separated from the city’s local life.

While we often look at the Rome of today as something extraordinary, as a product of modern aviation and the tourism industry, it is important to contextualize this moment within the much larger history of Roman tourism. Rome has historically been an important site for pilgrimage, the Vatican has been bringing clergy in and out of the city since the church was established, in 1300 A.D. the first Jubilee flooded the city with pilgrims, even in antiquity Rome was a site for tourism within the empire. This relationship—between the interests of locals and the interests of tourist, pilgrim, and travelers—have long affected the city and each era has mediated this relationship differently. In my photos I have tried to show both of these Romes, both the Italian capital and the global destination.