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# The city announces itself at the gate
- URL: https://www.readingrome.com/the-city-announces-itself-at-the-gate/
- Published: 2026-09-01T08:00:46.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-01T08:00:56.000Z
- Author: Maria Chugrova

Before passport control, before the taxi rank, before any of it — a marble woman in a glass case, mid-drape, unbothered by the luggage carts. Fiumicino keeps its antiquities in the terminal itself, velvet stanchions and all, the way other airports keep duty-free. Rome doesn't wait for you to arrive properly. It starts before you've left the building. RR