Stairs

Some readers may remember that during our initial sojourn in Rome in the fall of 2010, I slipped on the stairs separating the downstairs from the bedroom, hit my head, right shoulder and knees on the tile floor below and developed the most impressive black eye ("un occhio pesto,"a beaten eye), pictures of which I gleefully posted for a couple of weeks thereafter. There had been no railing on the lower two-thirds or so of the staircase. This situation was rapidly remedied, with a railing that was much uglier than anyone would have accepted if there hadn't been such a rush to fix the situation. (I conjecture that later, at their leisure, they must have installed a better-looking one. It was metal, redolent of the hardware store it probably came from.)

This apartment has a staircase situation that is not so bad as that one.But it is made of stone and the risers and treads are not of precisely uniform dimensions. Clearly the owners are concerned about stair safety, as they have installed a plexiglas railing on the upper section of the staircase, above the point at which it doubles back, and, most importantly, a plexiglas panel above the very low (16") wall at the top of the stairs. I have wondered whether there was some horrible accident in the past that was sufficient to make these important safety measures happen despite their possibly argued violation of the antique design's integrity. Still, there is no railing on the lower flight. Instead it is possible to hold onto the railing or the edge of the steps above as one descends, and a person as tall as Steve can get down as far as the bottom two steps before being unable to hold on to the side of the stairs, but I can only get to the third step from the bottom.

This is my least favorite thing about this apartment, and because of it I don't think we would rent it again even if the timing of its availability worked out with our travels. We are very much aware of the potential danger and are very very careful when coming downstairs.