Rome in the middle of August is usually empty of Romans but teeming with tourists. However, in this very weird summer of 2020 it looked like a ghost town, inhabited by just a few Italians armed with maps and guides, discovering their capital city in peace without being jostled by tourists and their awful 'selfie-sticks'. Like them, I wanted to enjoy the relative solitude so I jumped on a last minute offer to swap our flat in the Alps with a flat in Trastevere. Having been to Rome many times, I decided this time to focus on the 20th Century