There are several places in Rome where one can get above the street-level visual noise to get a good view of the city.  The first is from the top of a hill in a residential area that reminded me a bit of Bel Air in Los Angeles's West Side.  It is off this street:

At the top of the street is a church (what else) and the Grand Priory of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta ... wow, that's a mouthful. This organization is the equivalent of the Red Cross in the United States.  In any event, at this location, is a locked door with a "famous" keyhole (the old style key hole) through which the Dome at Saint Peter's can be seen.  

With a little bit of patience and a steady hand (the only photographic skill required), one can hold the camera flush with the keyhole and snap a picture.  The resulting image looks like this:

This was a "one and done" operation... there weren't any variations possible though I suppose with some time and if no one else wanted to look through the keyhole, one could setup a tripod and be more precise.  So, I started looking around and saw this woman writing with pen and paper:

Next I spotted these two locks of two couples proclaiming their love of one another.  One was inscribed 28 years ago. I can not help but wonder how they have fared over the 28 years since.  Are they alive? Did their relationship survive? There must be a story there ... 

Finished with the keyhole, we started walking down the hill.  The entrance to a little park was guarded by this fountain:

The real treasure, though, was the view from park.  I framed the Vatican with these fabulous pine trees (for which Rome is famous). The light was "flat" so I decided to give it some punch and emphasize the tree limbs and used a digital process called "Tone Mapping."  It is my favorite of this shoot.

Walking over to the wall yielded this view:

Later in the morning, we visited the giant Museum Nazionale aka "The Wedding Cake".  From the top, you get another nice overview of Rome as seen in these next two images.

And

Much later in the day (I think the same day), we did some night photography on the backside of the hill on which the Spanish stairs is built:

Night photography is like shooting through that keyhole... frame the picture; press the shutter button; and your done.  I added a little to the effort by shooting this without a tripod ... something never done before the modern technology built into the newer digital cameras. I started looking for some other "opportunities" and found this shot ... I call it "Night Shadows" and it features those great Roman Pine trees, again.

Another great day in one of the World's great cities.  I hope you enjoyed this person's view.

Bye for now,

Adam