apache - htaccess - make public directory accessible -

yes, has been asked here lot, none of solutions provided worked me.

folder structure

/ +-- _projects |   +-- includes |   |   |-- main.class.php |   +-- scripts |   |   |-- saveitems.php |   +-- view |   |   |-- layout.php |   |-- index.php |   |-- .htaccess |      +-- _pub |   +-- img |   |   |-- webicon_facebook.png |   |   |-- webicon_twitter.png | +-- view +-- includes |-- index.php |-- .htaccess 

.htaccess file in root:

options -indexes +followsymlinks rewriteengine on  rewritebase /  rewritecond %{request_filename} !-f rewritecond %{request_filename} !-d rewriterule ^([a-z]+)\/(.+)$ index.php?page=$1&item=$2 [l,qsa] rewriterule ^([a-z]+)$ index.php?page=$1 [l,qsa] 

the mission: enable browsers access folder or file in _pub

what i've tried:

• using .htaccess file satisfy any allow all in _pub
• disabling rewriteengine inside _pub folder
• change root htaccess file include rewriterule ^_pub/$ _pub/ [l] right below rewritebase \

the curious thing when browsing _projects index file within folder accessed , website loads perfectly. when accessing _pub (without index file) 403 error host.

i'm pretty sure i'm missing in root htaccess file allow direct access folders , files in _pub, can't figure out what.

keep root .htaccess this:

options +indexes +followsymlinks rewriteengine on rewritebase /  rewritecond %{request_uri} ^/_pub/ [nc,or] rewritecond %{request_filename} -f [or] rewritecond %{request_filename} -d rewriterule ^ - [l]  rewriterule ^([a-z]+)/(.+)$ index.php?page=$1&item=$2 [l,qsa]  rewriterule ^([a-z]+)/?$ index.php?page=$1 [l,qsa]