On Rome

I came across this and thought I'd share.

From the table at which I write I can see three quarters of Rome. Before me, on the other side of the city, the dome of St. Peter's rises regally. In the evening, as it sets I glimpse the sun through the windows of St. Peter's and half an hour later this wonderful monument is silhouetted against the clearest orange-colored twilight, dominated on high in the sky by the first stars. Nothing on this earth is comparable. The soul is touched and exalts, it is filled with a quiet bliss. I do feel that, to be able to grasp these sensations, one must have loved Rome for a long time. A young man who has never experienced misfortune would not understand them." - Stendhal, Les Promenades Dans Rome, 1926