Coming to Rome in December was Torfinnur Jákupsson's first visit to Italy. He has enjoyed his time at Circolo Scnadinavo greatly, and finds Trastevere to be a very cosy place to live in. During his stay he has visited several movie locations in the city, and the feeling when you see the place where Federico Fellini's films have been shot, is undescribable.
During these months he has been busy writing two short films that will premiere already next month at the Berlin film festival! The roof top has proven to be a good place to write and the weather has been great. Jákupsson claims the weather has almost been like summer in the Faroe Islands! Now he heads to Denmark to finish a serie he has been working on and divides his time almost 50/50 between the studio in Denmark and his home on the Faroe Islands.
Jákupsson spent Christmas in Rome with some of the other December artists. On Christmas Eve he went to the Vatican to take part in a mass and New Years Eve was spent with the other artists, a nice dinner and watching the Circo Massimo fireworks on the rooftop. Apparently you can see people firing emergency flairs as firework on the Faroe Islands, luckily no such flairs were seen in Rome this New Years Eve!
Jákupsson really enjoys Italian food and has had a lot of pizza and pasta during his stay, cacio e pepe being one of his favourites. For good coffee he goes to café Settimiano in the proximity of Circolo Scandinavo. Campo de Fiori, Fontana di Trevi and all the other impressive landmarks he has seen have also left a mark on him. There s so much to see here and Jákupsson is very happy he was able to stay longer than one month in this city with the stunning sunny but chilly weather.
At times getting through to the locals hasn't always been so easy but in the end everything has always worked out. Jákupsson finds Rome interesting in the way that it has two sides of it, the stunning with massive old buildings, and the dodgy side that is not very polished. Another thing that has bothered him is the aggressive sellers trying to force you to buy something. During his time in Rome he has developed immunity against them.
If you ever find yourself travelin to the Faroe Islands, Torfinnur recommends you to try the local (often fermented) food like lamb and fish, preferrably home cooked! Best time to visit should be in the summer in July-August, but the Gulf stream can also make sure that the nice weather will take place in May or September instead. During the 6 months of darkness in the winter you can also see the northern lights. Here you can also participate in several interesting festivals.
Text and photo by Oona Haapamäki