Usually when I’m left up to my own devices to pick somewhere to travel to, wildlife is by far the biggest influencer. Japan? I wanted to see the snow monkeys. Orkney? I wanted to see the seabird colonies. New Zealand? I wanted to see the keas and the fur seals and the penguins and the pacific white sided dolphins and the albatross and.. well, you get the idea. Italy was different- I wanted to go somewhere to celebrate my birthday, and the pull of Rome was the history – and, let’s be honest, the gelato. This did not, however, mean that wildlife got entirely excluded from our trip. I knew that our chances of lizard-spotting were pretty high among the Roman ruins, but I hadn’t quite bargained for them to be such a fabulous shade of lime green as the Italian Wall Lizard (Podarcis sicula).
Thing is, as anyone who’s been to the Roman Forum will tell you, it’s a busy place. The first lizard we spotted was rapidly driven back into the long grass as an enormous coach group stampeded past, leaving a cloud of dust behind them. Getting to see them up close clearly wasn’t going to be a viable option in the popular bits- so we pulled out the map, found the places most distant from the star sights, and set out against the flow of people. Soon we were in the shaded glades where, though the ruins were less impressive, the herps were at their best. A little bit of patience and quiet went a long way, and we were soon able to sit and watch the little lime green dragons bask and hunt.
The forum complex is big, but I was surprised at just how different the vibe was the further we got up the Palatine hill. I wondered if these lizards have been here, darting around in the background, for the place’s 2000 year history- though the rise and falls of emperors and republics, revolutions and grand tours. A different kind of continuity from the ruined masonry, for sure. But a very nice one nonetheless.
