If you tuned in yesterday, you know that we’re having a 2-day photo extravaganza this weekend. On Monday June 2, Italy celebrated the Festa della Repubblica with a huge military parade in honor of the founding of the Italian Republic after World War II.
We brought you lots of great photos of that parade yesterday–and readers let us know that they really loved the one of the marching nurse squad (we do too – click over to see it here).
Today, we have more of the same with an emphasis on the details that made the parade so very interesting. Above, camouflaged drummers pound out a rhythm as they walk down Via dei Fori Imperiali decked out in feathered hats (we’re betting they’re from Northern Italy, yes?).
A troop sporting desert camouflage grip their guns as they make their way down the parade route, their marching in time with the rhythmic procession of arches on the Trajan’s Markets. The masks pulled over their noses and mouths are a reminder that they’re trained to do their work in swirling dunes of sand.
We don’t know who these guys are, but they look sneaky, scary, stealthy and a little ninja-like and so we hope not to encounter them in a dark alley in the middle of the night.
Here Susan Sanders got a gorgeous shot of these dress uniforms–from the highly polished shoes to the double red stripes on the pants and from the silky blue tassels to the elaborate emblems on the sleeves, this is a uniform of which to be envious.
The feathered caps below are nothing to scoff at either. Those are some fine pieces of headgear: there’s not a member of the eCool team that would be happy to have one of those in their closet!
For more photos of Rome by Susan, click on over to her wonderful Rome with a View blog.
