The Destruction of Italy

My lips parted in horror as the magnificent dome of the St. Peter's Basilica crashed to the ground with a deafening bang that seemed to silence the screaming people around me.

The breath caught in my chest and came out in rags as I stared at the scene before me, my face a perfect mask of grief and trepidation. I saw it. My lovely St. Peter's, tumbling to the ground and breaking into a million tiny pieces of dust and rubble. I saw it, as if someone had pressed the slow-motion button, saw every brick come undone from the walls as the gargantuan building connected with Mother Earth.

Flames licked up the walls of the Pantheon. Black, heinous smoke rose up from the occulus, else known as the Demon's Hole. Indeed, the smoke coming out was like the curled fingers of a monstrous thing, its talons clawing upwards at the sky. Beautiful, Greek columns supporting the Pantheon collapsed, bringing down with it the massive, grand building.

Umpteen priceless paintings burned in fiery, dancing flames. Gone were the works of my talented painters, who painted with passion and ardent solely for the love of art. It was the end ofMichaelangelo and da Vinci and Botticelli. Gone were the existing proof of the heyday of the Italian Renaissance. I could feel the marble statues as they came crashing down; feel pain as if I was one of them, feel agony as though I was the one buried beneath rubbles, limbs and torso scattered in the dust.

Fire, consuming all of Vatican City, all of Rome and eventually all of my beloved Italy. Italy, my secret lover. Precious, beautiful Italy, illuminated by her own flaming body. Ancient buildings, my personal sanctuary, gone in the wink of an eye. Gone was my Italy, love of my life, light of my soul.

It was History, repeating herself over again. Only this time, it wasn't just a city; it wasn't just Pompeii, it was all of Italy. It was every last piece, every last fibre of my soul.

I woke with a start, tears flowing down my cheeks and forming silvery tracks in the moonlight shining through my window.

A dream, just a dream...