A Night in Rome

Mostaccioli

2008-10-30T18:02:00.003+01:00

Typical roman sweets part 2
I Mostaccioli
Usually eaten: Christmas time

Here are the famous MOSTACCIOLI

The roman “MOSTACCIOLI”, have their origin in the ancient roman empire, as usual!

They were offered during the so called in latin "Sponsali" (marriage), the bride used to offer them to people as the modern “confetti” (bon bon).

There are 2 places were we usually buy them.

One is the pastry placed in the Ghetto between Via del Portico di Ottavia and Piazza delle 5 Scole and the second is a pastry placed in Trastevere neighborhood in Via del Moro, 37 .

You are Welcome!

Pangiallo Romano

2008-10-02T11:41:00.008+02:00

Typical roman sweets part 1

Il Pangiallo Romano

Usually eaten: Christmas time

The “pangiallo”, better known as “pangiallo romano”, is a typical roman sweet, which has its origins in the ancient Rome and more precisely during the imperial age.
It was, indeed, one of those sweets that were donated to people during the celebration of winter solstice to facilitate the return of the sun. Traditionally pangiallo was obtained through the mixture of dried fruit, honey and candied citron, which was subsequently cooked and covered with a layer of egg batter. Even durino the ancient times up to the most recent, during the preparation of the “pangiallo romano” the housewife used to put dried kernels of typical summer fruit as apricots and plums instead of the most expensive almonds and hazelnuts. The typical pangiallo romano has undergone to several transformations over the centuries due to the expansion of territorial boundaries. In the modern reinterpretation of the pangiallo romano are now added, to the traditional recipe, the following products: almonds, walnuts, pine nuts, walnuts, raisins and pistachios.

When you go to the Vatican take a few minutes walk to visit this shop and buy the typical pangiallo romano: Via tacito 78

(the link show you the distance from the Vatican square to the shop)

Bacco - tabacco - e Venere

2008-10-01T12:01:00.000+02:00

A Latin proverb says: ""Venerem sine Libero et Cerere frigere"

It sounds more or less as:"Without Bacchus (God of wine) and Ceres (god of food), Venus (Godness of love) cools"

Herodotus tells that during the ancient time Greeks used to bring a little statue in a small wooden coffin at the end of their meal showing it to all guests saying: "Look, drink and enjoy because once dead,you'll be like him!"
Fortunately today none of us goes around showing certain things :-/ but the meaning is absolutely clear....

CIN CIN !!

Here is an address that might interest you ....mmmm....it could interest me too!

May be we'll meet there sooner or later!

Your first “A Night in Rome”

2008-08-23T21:04:00.002+02:00

What I would like to do on my first day in rome if I wasn’t be roman?
I think that feet are the best way to discover a city so, do you like walking? Yes?
Ok you have said it, I have heard you!
“TAKE it EASY” !!

The alarm rings at about 09:30 am
take care of you for about 45 minutes and then go out: your first day in rome starts now.

First stop: cappuccino e cornetto!!
Our preferred bar is in Piazza San Cosimato, try the cappuccino and cornetto sit outside the bar reading your roman guide; what does your guide say about the Basilica in Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere?
Yes, cause this is your second stop: Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere

Take time to visit the Basilica and its beautiful paintings, the Basilica probably was the first official worship site of Christians built in all Rome. Walking back home take a look on the small alley ways and stop to a bakery or a pizza shop to take something for lunch, we’re going to have a pic-nic so take all you may need!
Third stop: Bocca della Verità

be patience and don’t be afraid of the queue; take a picture of you with your hand in the fabulous mouth….. swear and not tell lies!!

Fourth stop: Circo Massimo

now you need time to rest, with your food bag go on the upper site of the Circo Massimo, the one from which you’ll have a great view on the palatine hill….
relax and enjoy this moment! Your walking day is not at the end….hihihi
Fifth stop: you are now so close to the Colosseo that you cannot miss this appointment….HEY! don’t forget the picture with the gladiators!

(The city council of Roma has finished the Gladiators like the one above, so don't be surprised if the ones you are going to meet are not as the model i showed you in the photo, i brought home with me the latest exemplary ....would to!!!)

Sixth and last stop: a walk along the Fori Imperiali straight to Piazza Venezia to see the so called “type writer” : the Vittoriano.

Your first wondering day in Roma is now at the end but before going to home have a pizza & supplì (so good....SLURP!) in a typical roman pizzeria “Ai Marmi” on Viale Trastevere, 53

Have a good night!

BUON APPETITO!!!!!!!

Buon Ferragosto!!!

2008-08-13T19:29:00.006+02:00

“Ferragosto”

is a popular midsummer holiday which coincides with the religious feast of the Assumption of Mary into heaven celebrated on August 15.

The most ancient origins of this event are recognized in the so called “Consualia” from the latin “Conso” god of the stored harvest. In the ancient roman times, during this day, people used to exchanged gifts with the hope of having “Bonas ferias consuales” (a sort of have a "prosperous year").
The name of the month "August" has its origin in the ancient rome back to the Emperor Caesar Augustus, this month was infact dedicated to him and the wish “Bonas ferias consuales” changed its formula in “bonas ferias augustales”, our modern "Buon Ferragosto !!".
It was the emperor's decision to combine in a single summer festivity a whole complex of festivities so called Feriae Augustii or Feriae Augustalis.
Subsequently, the Midsummer Feast taken a predominantly religious fold. On this occasion many spectacular processions were held during the night, an old image of the Savior was transported in the old city of Rome from the chapel of San Lorenzo in Laterano, today inside the sanctuary of Scala Santa, to the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. The image of Christ proclaimed "Acheropita" (not painted by human hand but, according to tradition, by angels) was taken by the Pope in person in the evening of August 14, placed on a canopy and transported all around the old city in the light of torches.

The procession was deleted around the second half of the sixteenth century (1550).

Subsequently, the Roman Ferragosto was linked to profane rituals such as racing horses, fighting bulls. There were also games, particularly uncivilised, as the "strappacolli alli paperi" (strangle the duck) which were abolished by Pope Innocent XI, in 1681.

Bonas Ferias Consuales !!

BUON FERRAGOSTO A TUTTI !!!!

Bonas Ferias Augustales !

HAVE a GOOD MIDSUMMER FEAST !!

Under a falling roman sky

2008-08-09T13:28:00.002+02:00

-ROME -

The night of wishes is arrived, the one during which we all turn our gaze up to the sky in the hope of seeing the stars fall down!!!
According to tradition would be the tears that San Lorenzo poured on the day of his torture that roaming the whole universe until they fall to earth, usually the night of August 10.
This year makes an exception, it will not be the August 10 the brighter night, but the one between tomorrow and the day after (August 11-12).

Beware, remeber yourself to be turn your gaze up to the sky again the night between August 16-17 there will be an “eclissi” of the moon, something like this......

Nuove scoperte!

2008-04-23T10:26:00.017+02:00

Rome, standing at the bus stop waiting for an invisible bus, the question is: “Why romans don’t have 5, 6 or 7 metro lines like the other capitals of the world?”

The answer is: “Because Rome hides a second ancient city under the ground level!”

(Under Venezia Square)
At Every step you take, on the ground level, remember that you are walking on a history of thousands & thousands years old!
In this post I want to show you what is hidden behind the curtain in Piazza Venezia ( excavation for the implementation of the line metro C, our 3rd line! YUPPIES!!!!!)

Archaeologists have found, one above the other, the different layers of the ancient Via Flaminia, from the ancient roman layers up to the most recent. This ancient route should have started from the current Fori Imperiali, ran around the Campidoglio and then pointed to Campo Marzio cutting, exactly in the half, the current Piazza Venezia. Opened in 223 A. C. by Caio Flaminio became one of the most important ancient Rome way but it was much used always during the Bizantine time and during the Middle Age, then restored during the Renaissance and used up to the 1800: these are the different layers that are returning back to the light under Piazza Venezia.
Look at what is coming back to light, right now………
(Furnace for the production of glass and fragments)

(Glasses of the Medioeval age)

(Metallurgical plant)

(Metallurgical fragments)

(Houses of the Medioeval ages)

(Chafing dish, IX century founded in a home)

(Typical steet of the Medioeval age)

(Medioeval furnace)

(Renaissance age)

Il Supplì

2008-03-31T07:56:00.005+02:00

SLURP!!!!

The so called “supplì” fall among the myriad of snacks, and culinary "intermezzi" of which is rich the gastronomic Roman tradition.
The “supplì”, born as a "reuse" of the left over risotto, is the result of a poor cuisine culture, reluctant to waste food, but soon it became the protagonist of the country side trips for all romans! The recipe come back to the first years of 18th century when Napoleon was in Rome; the term “supplì” infact is nothing more than the roman version of the french “surpris” (surprise), and the surprise is precisely what you can find inside, today only mozzarella (in the best cases), but in origin also “regaglie” and chicken livers. In origin in Rome there was also the seller of “supplì” which ran trought the city alleys during the evening time hanging a “scaldavivande”(chafing dish) by his arm screaming:

"Calli calli! Supplì di riso!"(hot supplis!)

Until 1950 in the centre there was also, close to Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, a "supplitaro"(suppli dealer), named Polifemo, who used to stay in his lair with a huge frying pan filled with hot oil.
Today supplì are no longer like those, but you can eat good ones at "Ai Marmi"; on the other hand, if you want to eat another roman specialty, try.....
......the “filetti di baccalà” (battered and fried cod fillets) at the "Filettaro".

Take note:
Supplì, Pizza & Co: "Ai Marmi" Viale Trastevere, 53
Filetti di Baccalà: "Dar Filettaro" Largo dei Librari, 88 (close to Campo dei Fiori)

Buon Appetito!

Fish &...Church

2008-01-16T13:40:00.000+01:00

The church of Sant'Angelo in Pescheria is one of Rome's oldest churches and still only partly excavated. It stands behind the Octavia Portico (in the Ghetto) and is one of the most interesting examples in Rome of how churches and houses were built using existing ruins of temples.

(Left: the window of the house has a view on the rear colonnade of the Portico. Right: a large fragment of the temple was used for many years as a yardstick for measuring the size of the fish)

Stefano III founded the church in the 8th century; it has been rebuilt on several occasions since then. The church was also the scene of the gathering of men by Cola di Rienzo in the mid-14th century before they went off to occupy the Campidoglio and re-establish the Roman Republic.

In the 12th century the church took its current name "in Pescheria" from the curious tradition that allowed the 'Conservatori' the right to have the heads of the longest fish from the nearest fish open market!

6 January 2007

2008-01-07T08:52:00.000+01:00

"La befana vien di notte

con le scarpe tutte rotte

vien vestita alla romana

viva viva la befana!"

Since the XIII century it is one of the most popular Italian feast long awaited by children!The name derives from Epiphany (the Greek word has an original writing), changed in Beffania to remind the "Beffania's witch" who flung on the houses roof in that night. Once left the double "f" and the "i" the word turned to Befana!

The legend tell us that one day the three Magi left their country with special gifts as Gold, Incense and Myrrh, to reach little Jesus Christ because they wanted to give him their presents. They travelled through many different countries guided by a particular star (the famous Comet) and every town they passed, people run to meet them and join them in their journey.There was only one old woman who wanted to join them but changed her mind at last and stayed at home. The day after, repented and displeased she tried to reach the Magi, but they were too far from her! Therefore the old woman didn't meet the Holy Child neither that time nor ever. Since that time the old woman (called Befana!) visits every house to give the good children all the gifts she didn't give to the Holy Child: to do that she flies on an old Broom with a big canvas sack on her shoulders in the night between the 5th and the 6th January (the same night when she, in the past, remained at her home!).

To celebrate the roman Befana's day with us we have for you a "stornello romano" (a typical dialect song)......

Piazza Navona

2007-12-23T19:05:00.000+01:00

BUON NATALE & BUON 2008!!!!

Piazza Navona is arguably Rome's greatest square
The spot was originally a stadium built by Emperor Domitian in 86 AD.
Athletes competed here in honor of Jupiter and you can still visit the ruins under street level.

Christmas is the best moment to visit Piazza Navona!!

For the whole of December until the 6th January of the following year, you can purchase the whole range of Roman festive items!
Sweets, candies, chestnuts, sugared apples (la mela stregata!), the famous torrone, liquorice and much more.
The Befana arrives on the 6th January.
This is the day those children who have broken their promises or behaved naughtily receive a present of coal in a stocking, beware even if you are not a child anymore…….!!!!!!!

Look at the video and......Benvenuti al Natale di Piazza Navona!

Il Lupercale

2007-11-29T10:40:00.000+01:00

The legend is now history.

The most famous place of the myth of the history of Rome, searched for centuries, appeared. The “lupercale”, or the place where the wolf would suck the twins Romulus and Remus, has been founded close to the walls of the Augustus’ home, in a valley at the slopes of the Palatine hill, in a never explored site between the Temple of Apollo and the Church of Santa Anastasia, 16 meters below the ground.

The structure, with a shape like a nymphaeum, seems to be a cave partly natural and partly artificial, about 9 meters high and with a diameter of 7.5 meters.

The micro camera showed a decorated caisson with geometric forms (not figurative) made in mosaic tiles and polychrome marble, further enhanced by rows of white shells and by the white eagle of Augusto placet in the center of the vault.
It seems that, the Emperor Augusto, built up his dwelling in that place to attach his villa to a so highly symbolic place of the history of Rome.

All happened the 21 november 2007

Piazza Campo dei Fiori

2007-11-20T14:51:00.000+01:00

The square of "Campo dei Fiori" in Rome is famous for the episode that saw the philosopher Giordano Bruno burned on the rogo by the catholic Inquisition for the accusation of heresy on February 17th 1600 after Christ.The execution is nowadays remembered by a statue built in 1889 after Christ and placed at the centre of the "Campo dei Fiori" on the initiative of the poet Pietro Cossa and which is the work of the sculptor Ettore Ferrari.

The name of the place, which some people date back to the fact that one of the lovers of the Imperator Pompeo, Flora, would have lived in this area, is more likely to be attributed to the aspect of total abandon that the square, invaded by plants and flowers, had during the 15th century.

Nowadays "Campo dei Fiori", far away from the most famous tourist itineraries, represent one of the place where Rome shows with a greater transparency its most authentic character from the early morning with the open air market coloured by flowers.....

.....up to the deepest night with the entertaining offered by the bars, restaurants and "trattorie" of the area.

The criminology museum

2007-11-01T15:02:00.000+01:00

Here we are again….did you miss me?!!!

Here in Rome are about the 7 pm and this evening our tv is going to programme my favourite telefilm…CSI, i nourish a real passion toward this kind of telefim and generally for all that is macabre, obscure, mysterious (see my post about the friars... ) for this reason, and inspired by the telefilm that is going to be on air, i decided tonight to lead you to the criminology museum of Rome…..

This exceptional place certainly does not deal with an attractive subject for all, but it offer a fascinating reconstruction of the history of crime that is always interesting!
So, bando alle chiacchiere (i think in English it sounds like…banish the prattle :-/ ), the museum has two different floor:

-the first floor has a section dedicated to the studies of criminal antropology, scientific police, history of prison and birth of judical mental hospital.

Other sections show to visitors various implements used to obtain confessions, as well as instruments of every type of torture or capital punishment. Note the pillary or stocks, the torture chair, the whipping block, the decapitation axe and the sword of justice with which Beatrice Cenci was beheaded in 1599.

-The second floor has a pretty interesting section of finds from Italian prisons from the 1930s to 1990s, evidence of perverse and criminal behaviour, objects belonged to Salvatore Giuliano, Gaspare Pisciotta, Gennaro Cuocolo’s ring and Pupetta Maresca’s guns.

If you think that could be interesting to you visit this obscure place probably you need the address, while if you find this post terrific probably you need a new post so….in the first case take note and in the second wait for my new posts!!!
Around Via Giulia in: Via del Gonfalone
Opening times: Tues-Sat 9am to 1pm
Tuesdays and Thursdays 2.30pm-6.30pm
Entry price 2 euro

Non un caffè ma il caffè!

2007-10-17T11:30:00.000+02:00

A day spent wandering in the city can not ignore what the romans call the… pausa caffè! This is not a common and banal coffee break but a real rite that the Romans love to do, over and over again, during the day. For us, the coffee is no longer just a drink, but an art that reflects a way of life and for this reason has billions of variations… macchiato, corretto, ristretto, lungo, in tazza piccola o grande, al vetro, con la schiuma e senza.....

You have to know, before entering in a bar, that:
-Caffè macchiato: is a cup of coffee with a drop of cold milk
-Caffè corretto: is a cup of coffee with a drop of liquor (generally grappa)
-Caffè ristretto: strong coffee
-Caffè lungo: less strong
-Caffè al vetro: in a little glass cup (the experts say that the taste changes…)
-Caffè decaffeinato: without caffeine
-Caffè espresso: is the one made in the bar
-Caffè moka: is the one you made at home with our cofee machine

This is the right address, for your pausa caffè, when you are wondering near the Vatican:
Castroni via Cola di Rienzo 196 Roma Vatican

We like this place much because it not only offers a really good quality of caffee, but also has an excellent range of international and italian food products as pasta, tea, chocolates, pasta dressing….

A real pleasure... not only for the eyes!

The cannonball of the miracle

2007-10-01T10:30:00.000+02:00

Chiesa di San Bartolomeo all'Isola -Isola Tiberina-

In the chapel of the church of Saint Bartholomew upon the Isle, there is a large (14cm diameter) cannonball lodged in the wall where it struck it during the siege of Rome of June 1849. When it hit the building it was full of people , who went miraculously untouched. The cannonball, known for this reason as "of the miracle" was left in the wall as a "memento" of the event.

Miraculous Rome!

Vecchia Roma

2007-09-25T12:04:00.000+02:00

Yesterday Rome from Alinari

When you're in Rome don't miss the apointment with the photos in black & white of the ancient Rome at the art gallery of the Alinari Bros in Via Via Alibert, 16/A. Without a doubt i think this is the best way to get a present of the Eternal City!

Yesterday Rome from Alinari

The Alinari photographs are contact printed from the original glassplate negatives housed in the Historic Archive. This manual technique of reproduction is the same used during the 19th century. The prints are made in black and white or they can be sepia toned and they can be also mounted on wood. These faithful reproductions are printed on special photographic paper and manually created in order to offer a product that is of unique quality and prestige. Is also possible to buy on line but if you're in Rome spend time there.... is not a lost time!

Tempio di Vesta as it looks today

The river under the alter

2007-09-24T16:43:00.000+02:00

Some people say that Rome has not a big historical center...and i seriously ask my self "which Rome have you ever seen?! not mine sure!". Sometime i think we should have 3 life to know Rome's beauties...one in order to see what is "over" our head, one to see what is "in front" and one to see what is "under". But life is only one so, when you're wandering in this beautiful city don't forget to look over, in front and under all at once! Here is an example:
The church of Saint Clement. Over: the beautiful and restored frescos of Masolino da Panicale and the 12 th cent. mosaics of the apse.

Under: two layer of history. The older church built in the fourth century and dedicated to San Clemente, the third pope after St Peter and underneath it again, the roman buildings which are, themselves, made up of different "strati".

In front: when you look in front of you, at the alter, beware and listen....under the very ancient basilica of Saint Clement there is a small underwater river that has a little waterfall! Onetime they were both visible but in late, for reasons of prudence, they were hidden by a wall through which one can still today distinctly hear the noise of running water.

Don't forget...always over, in front and under!

I famosi "canterani" di Piazza Sant'Ignazio

2007-09-20T14:32:00.000+02:00

Today, in this posts, i would like to join two of my favourite topics: the love for my city and that one for the furnishings. I didn't believe, until few moments ago, that was possible for me join these two subject, but i was wrong!
Have you ever seen that beautiful furniture characterized by rounded and delicate shape the so called style of "Luigi XIV"? Would you have never thought to find, in the center of Rome,
a district where the building have the same shape of that furniture?! Try to imagine.... giant drawers, four plan high!! And well...Rome astonished me once again....we are in the district called "Pigna", in the square of Sant'Ignazio.

The buildings that look onto the incredibly beautiful square of Sant'Ignazio are the famous “canterani”, thus depreciatively named by Filippo Raguzzini because they were made in the shape of the furniture of that time (1650-1750). Despite early critics they are now much admired.

To have an apartment in one of those "canterani" is today a sign of distinction, but few people can today boast themselves for having a similar fortune!!

Tastes change, what today is ugly will become beautiful tomorrow!

Sacra Rota Romana

2007-09-20T12:40:00.000+02:00

Two posts ago talking about the "Rota Porphiretica" an "anonimo"reader gave me the idea for this post. I have to admit, i never known, until today, the reason why the Tribunal of the Holy See is called "Sacra Rota". Is a really serious fault for someone who lives in Rome from the birth! Today i have filled up this gap thanks to a blogger friend! :-)
The Tribunal of the Rota Romana was essentially named as such because the judges, called auditors, originally met in a round room to hear cases (look at the picture).

Thank you very much to all those who want to suggest me ideas to talking about!

WELCOME!

The cathedral … that is not Saint Peter’s

2007-09-19T13:40:00.000+02:00

Did you ever ask yourself who has been the first Pope of the history?
Who is the first ring of this long long chain of Popes?

The first was the Apostolo Simone

(later called Pietro, dead in the 69 a.c.).

Inside the Basilica of Saint Peter there is the pontifical throne said to be of him (said to be....!), the first Pope. It is placed in a colossal case that rests against the wall of the apse and was built by Bernini in bronze, marble, stucco work, gold and glass, and is sustained by four saints: St. Ambrose and St. Augustine at the front, and St. Anastasias and St. John Crisosthomus at the back. The composition is so masterful that it must be seen during a holiday in Rome!
Further to careful analyses conducted during restoration carried out by a special commission of experts nominated by Pope Paul VI (1963-1978) in 1968, it turned out that the pontifical seat – known as the Cathedral of Saint Peter – only dates back to the IX century! It is too "recent" to belong to Pietro!

It is probably the Carolingian throne brought to Rome by Carlo il Calvo in 875 when he was crowned in the basilica by Pope Giovanni VIII (872-882).

The "Coronation Wheel"

2007-09-18T11:42:00.000+02:00

A holiday in Rome can be the occasion to discover tucked away corners of the Eternal City. Rome is so rich in things to see, that tourists are often forced to limit themselves to visiting the more celebrated monuments.
Few are those who, having come to Rome for a holiday, notice, in the Basilica of Saint Peter, a great disk in red porphyry, set in the pavement just past the door to the aisle. This is the famous "rota porphyretica" or wheel of coronation, that comes from the old Saint Peter’s, the ancient basilica built by Constantine. It was on this stone that stood the emperors when they were crowned by the popes. On this great wheel, opportunely preserved, knelt the great Carlo Magno, king of the Franks, the eve of Christmas of the year 800 when Pope Leo III (795-816) crowned him "Roman Emperor" (so was he acclaimed by all those present), placing the Imperial Diadem upon his head.

On that same wheel numerous other emperors were also crowned, among them Lotarian I, Ludvic II, Lambert of Spoleto, Berengar, the two Ottonians, Frederick Barbarossa and Frederick II.

We apologize but we were unable to find an image of the "rota" on the web, we swear you that, as soon as possible, we’ll take a picture by ourselves and we’ll put it on the blog immediately!

La Villa Romana

2007-09-03T15:50:00.000+02:00

Many posts ago we talk about the meaning of "Domus" & "Insula" as a typical roman building and as the names for the A Night in Rome apartments, today we're going to talk about.... "Villa", yes because we're going to have another apartment and this is its name!!
Now we have 3 little "babies" to make your holiday an unforgettable esperience! ;-)

The ancient building called "Villa" was built in Rome in the III century B.C. and originally it was the country house of the roman highest social classes. The richest romans, who lived in the Domus when they were in Rome, in their country possessions could have one or both these kinds of buildings: the "Villa Rustica" or the "Villa Urbana".
The first one (Villa Rustica ) was a real country farm while the second (Villa Urbana), which rose near the city, was similar to the Domus building but much more sumptuous. It was used to give romans a quite and relaxing stay near the city.

The Villa rose with a great number of galleries supported by long rows of columns which guaranteed to romans long walks by feet ,in litter, or by horse on bad weather days.
It was equipped with "triclini" for the summertime in a wide open space, and "triclini" for the winter season, in a closet one, rooms for the diurnal rest (the so called "cubicula"), studium rooms, swimming pool to swim (the so called "piscina natatoria") and a bathroom supplied by calidarium, tepidarium and frigidarium as the large public terme. All the building was surrounded by a land, partially cultivated as a hortus and partially adorned with flowers, fountain games, plants and statues as a garden.

A Nihgt in Rome Villa is our small pearl in the center of Rome Testaccio, certainly it has not private gardens with water games and statues but anyway it has its public gardens adorned by plants, threes and games for the babies! ;-)
It also does not have either tiepidarium calidarium or frigidarium or the private swimming pool but is a really wide and bright apartment with two balcony from which you can see the dawn and the sunset, in one of the most beautiful “quartieri de roma” !! Do you want to see the typical and popular roman neighbourhood?! Try Testaccio.....what your ears are going to hear is not the spoken italian but the authentic spoken romanesco!!

We hope to have you as our guests soon!!!

Try the original "romanesco" taste, stay with us!

La fontana delle tartarughe

2007-08-27T14:20:00.000+02:00

The Tortoise Fountain was strongly wanted by the Duke Antonio Mattei (a member of an important family of the Middle Ages that had hegemony over the entire left bank of the tiber river).
The lengend tells that the Mattei Duke wanted to marry a beautiful and rich girl but her father didn’t want because as he said: "the duke was of noble origin but he was a penniless (uno squattrinato)!"

Look at the picture: the window at the right side of the main door, the small window...

As the Mattei knew it, he decided to show to his father in law what he was able to do in only one night and… realized the Tortoise Fountain in order to say "Ecco cosa e' capace di realizzare in poche ore uno 'squattrinato' Mattei" (here it is what is able to do a penniless mattei in only one night!!). Naturally the wedding was celebrated and, in order to nobody could never show at window (that one from which he saw the fountain for the first time), the mattei’s father in law decided to wall it and........

nowdays it’s still closed ….

Il Vittoriano

2007-08-23T10:54:00.000+02:00

The main topic of the monument is represented by the inscription engraved on the propilei: "PATRIAE UNITATI" "CIVIUM LIBERTATI"

(from the latin: “to the unity of the native land” “to the freedom of citizens”)

This magnificent monument was devised when Rome became the Capital of Italy in the 1871 as an attitude of gratitude to the man who makes it happen: King Vittorio Emanuele II. At that time was necessary to create a symbol that point out the passage from the Papal State (until 1870 the so called "Papa Re") to a Laic one.

Today we don’t want to spend time talking about the historical aspects of the monument (if you need look here!), we want to suggest you a nice thing to do when you are there…

take the PANORAMIC ELEVATOR!

35 seconds and you'll be on the top of the city!!

Here is what you'll see looking at your right and...

here what you'll see looking at your left!

The entrance to the monument is free but the panoramic elevator costs 7 euro. Is open all days from 10 am to 16 pm (NO on monday) and it has a forced route, look at the image below...

You'll have a great panoramic view on the city, don't miss!

Rome's Ghetto

2007-08-14T13:56:00.000+02:00

Rome's Jewish community claims to be the oldest in the world, as it is known to exist since the late 2nd century BC, when slaves were brought here from Palestine, under roman rule. During the early years and throughout the Middle Ages, the roman Jews had no problems in living side by side with the local Christian population; their main activity was trade. But hard times came during the late Renaissance, when the Church of Rome, following the Protestant schism, gave a sharp turn of the screw against the non-Christian population. The newly elected pope Paul IV decided to enclose the whole Jewish community within a very small enclosed area, and issued strict discriminatory laws.

Detail of the ghetto in a map by G.B.Falda (1676), featuring the three early gates (in red), the ones opened by Sixtus V (in blue) the Porch of Octavia (1st arrow) and the church of St.Gregory (2nd arrow on the right);a further gate was built in the 1800s on the spot marked with the 3rd arrow below

The neighborhood, known as the ghetto, comprised the few narrow streets located between piazza Giudea (no longer there) by the church of Santa Maria del Pianto, the remains of the Porch of Octavia and the river bank by the Tiber Island. Following Paul IV's bull entitled Cum nimis absurdum (literally "when too much is absurd", actually "when enough is enough"), issued in 1555, the 3,000 members of the community were forced to live within the ghetto's boundary, originally called 'the Jews' enclosure', whose total surface was about 8 acres. The dwellers were allowed to leave this neighborhood only during daytime, while from dusk till dawn the entrances to the district were closed by huge doors, watched over by guards, whose wages the same community had to pay for. Originally the gates were three, but only a few decades later, when pope Sixtus V had the ghetto slightly enlarged towards the river, their number rose to five. Neither the gates nor their doors exist any longer, but old maps still feature them quite clearly. Those who were left outside after the closing time were to face the implacable papal law court. Outside the ghetto all Jewish men had to wear a piece of yellow cloth on their hat, while women had to wear a yellow veil, or a scarf of the same colour, so to be easily recognized.
They could not own any property, the houses where they lived belonged to non-Jews, who rented them to members of the community and the only job they could live on was to sell rags.
On Saturdays, the adult members of the community had to attend the so-called compulsory preaches, sermons whose purpose was to convert them to the Christian religion; only within the ghetto's boundary, the Jews were allowed to follow their own religion.
Besides the discriminations, the ghetto's dwellers had to endure several humiliating traditions and rituals. For instance, during the celebrations for Rome's Carnival, usually held in February, a number of elderly Jews was forced to race along the central high street, while the crowd mocked them, and threw all sorts of trash; this custom was later turned into a horse race.

Nowdays the ghetto's gates no longer exist, but the hinges of one door (far left) are still visible in via della Reginella

Only in 1870, when the papal rule over Rome came to an end, the doors of the hideous enclosure were finally opened. The roman Jews were then let free to leave this area, and were given once again the same civil rights as the Christian citizens. A few restaurants in the neighborhood keep alive Jewish-roman cooking, a very old tradition which blends typical Jewish dishes with roman ones, such as the famous fried artichokes. The so-called "fagottari", patrons who used to carry their own food in a bundle (fagotto), thus ordering only wine, are no longer seen, as this custom has died out (since the moment that a tradition never dies totally......you can still today carry your own food and ordering wine in some wine cellars in Frascati).

Old houses in via di Sant'Ambrogio: the streetwas annexed to the ghetto around 1830

By the turn of the 20th century, not long after the ghetto had been opened, some of the original houses of the district were taken down, the streets were enlarged, and new buildings rose. But the surviving lanes of this neighborhood, a silent nook embedded in the heart of bustling Rome, have maintained their magical atmosphere, a very particular blend of history, architecture and tradition (too see photos look here).

Via del Portico d'Ottavia on one side still hasa row of ancient houses (15th-16th centuries)

Take time to visit the Ghetto & eat kosher is a really nice experience to have!

OPS...don't forget to try the most appreciated pastry called "Il Forno del Ghetto"!

La Meridiana di Augusto

2007-08-13T16:48:00.000+02:00

Approximately seven meters under the street level in Via del Campo Marzio 48, under ten centimeters of limpid water illuminated by appropriate lamps, appears a great slabs of “travertino” marble on which, in horizontal and vertical bronze lists, like parallels and meridians, are reproduced the zodiac signs of the constellations of the Ram, the Taurus, the Lion and the Vergine. Draft of a “slice” of the great solar clock (a sundial), realize from the Emperor Augusto in the 10 a.C. that extended itself in a wide zone of the Campo Marzio (included between Via della Lupa and the public square of S. Lorenzo in Lucina).

Piazza Montecitorio

The great obelisk, that you can now see in Piazza Montecitorio, served as “gnomone” (the part of the sundial which showed its shadow on the the face indicating hour, day and month).
In the past, every year during the sunset of the 23 september (in the day and at the hour of the Emperor Augusto’s birthday) the sundial projected a shadow on the “Ara Pacis”, as a homage to the Emperor of the peace. The great and magnificent “clock” worked for approximately 50 years then it was ruined by earthquakes and by the alluviums of the Tiber river which, in those circumstances, deposited wide layers of mire on the wide slabs of the clock-calendar.

Ara Pacis

Domus Romana

2007-08-10T13:00:00.000+02:00

Here we are again with the 2nd part of our yesterday post about the Domus and the Insula.

A domus was the form of house that wealthy families owned in ancient Rome (the middle classes and the poor were housed in crowded apartment blocks, known as insule, while the country houses of the rich were known as villas). The domus included multiple rooms, and an indoor courtyard: the atrium, which was the focal point of the domus, off which were cubicula (bedrooms), an altar to the household gods, a triclinium where guests could lie on couches and eat dinner whilst reclining, and a tablinum (living room or study) and celle (shops on the outside, facing the street).

Glass windows weren't readily available: glass production was in its infancy, and the cost would have been prohibitive, but this exterior blankness did give the occupiers the advantage of protecting themselves from outside noise, intruders, and the elements. Homeowners tended to view their exterior walls as public property, and they quickly became filled with political graffiti. Wealthy homeowners often rented out the two front rooms of their homes to merchants if they lived on busy streets. Thus a wealthy Roman citizen lived in a large house separated into two parts, and linked together through the tablinum or study or by a small passageway.

The house would not face the streets to protect the family from burglars. Because of this, the entrance to the house was directly on the street, providing more room for living spaces and gardens behind. The atrium was the most important part of the house, where guests and dependents (clientes) were greeted. The atrium was open in the centre, surrounded at least in part by high-ceilinged porticoes that often contained only sparse furnishings to give the effect of a large space. In the center was a square roof opening called the compluvium in which rainwater could come, draining inwards from the slanted tiled roof. Directly below the compluvium was the impluvium, a shallow rectangular pool to gather rainwater, which drained into an underground cistern. The impluvium was often lined with marble, and around which usually was a floor of small mosaic.

The back part of the house was centred around the peristyle much as the front centred on the atrium. The peristylium was a small garden often surrounded by a columned passage, the model of the medieval cloister. Surrounding the peristyle were the bathrooms, kitchen and summer triclinium. The kitchen was usually a very small room with a small masonry counter wood-burning stove. The wealthy had a slave who worked as a cook and spent nearly all his or her time in the kitchen. During a hot summer day the family ate their meals in the summer triclinium to stave off the heat. Most of the light came from the compluvium and the open peristylium. There were no clearly defined separate spaces for slaves or for women. Slaves were ubiquitous in a Roman household and slept outside their masters' doors at night; women used the atrium and other spaces to work once the men had left for the forum.

Welcome to our Domus!

Insula Romana

2007-08-09T14:30:00.000+02:00

Today i want to explain you the reason why I’ve chosen, for A Night in Rome Apartments, the name of “Domus” and “Insula”.

Do you know who has invented the modern “condominio” (the building with more plans) ?

The Romans, obviously!
They were the first civilisation to utilise flats and apartments. Let’s see how…

In Roman architecture, insulae (derived from the Latin for islands) were large apartment buildings where the lower and middle classes of Romans (la “plebe”) dwelled. They were called so because of the way they looked from a bird's eye view. It would appear these buildings were spaced out like islands (hence the name), while being surrounded by road. The urbanization of the larger Roman cities caused a great demand for housing which was within a comparable vicinity of the city center and real estate was therefore at a premium.

Insula Romana a Piazza dell'Ara Coeli (Piazza Venezia)

As such, private houses were a luxury which only the wealthy could afford. This led to a majority of the inhabitants of the inner city living in apartment and tenement housing called insulae. The floor at ground level was used for tavernas, shops and businesses with living space on the higher floors. These houses were often constructed at minimal expenses for speculative purposes and for this reanson they dindn’t have running water or sanitation. The insulae were therefore of poor construction and prone to fire and collapse, as described by Juvenal.

Because of the inherent unsafety and extra flights of stairs, the uppermost floors were the least desirable, and thus the cheapest to rent. The insulae could be up to six or seven stories high (some were even 8 or 9 stories high- these very tall buildings were being built before the height restrictions). A single insula could accommodate over 40 people in only 400 square meters (4305 sq. feet), however the entire structure usually had about 6 to 7 apartments, each had about 200 square meters (2152 sq. feet). Because of the dangers of fire and collapse, the height of the insulae were restricted by Emperor Augustus to 70 Roman feet (20.7 m), and again by Emperor Nero down to 60 Roman feet (17.75m) after the Great Fire of Rome. There may have been up to 50,000 insulae, as compared to only 2000 domus in the late 200 A.D, when the city was in decline, and the population was smaller.

We have to say...our Insula apartment is decidedly better !! ;-)

All the world in just one night...

2007-08-08T08:34:00.001+02:00

...this is the theme for the 2007 edition of "La Notte Bianca"!

Don’t miss this important cultural event for Saturday September 8th!!!

The Notte Bianca is a great event, always characterised by multidisciplinary characteristics, walking the streets of Rome will be like walking the streets of the world..

...on a journey of discovery to near and distant countries, to the sounds and the cultures of the world, with performances and artists from the five continents and Italian productions that have adopted cultural contamination as their fundamental theme. The programme (get all information here) includes performances, concerts, plays, dance shows, magic and circus arts, contemporary art installations, fireworks, even a concert of church bells, all characterised by tradition and experimentation, merging together for one night an ensemble of artistic capabilities, cultural scope, knowledge, techniques and ways of expressing art and entertainment, all very different one from the other, and that is both multifaceted and harmonious!

(Rome-Gazometro all illuminated)

You can be sure... we'll be there, won't you? ;-)

The crypt of the Capuchin friars

2007-08-06T15:53:00.000+02:00

These are the days in which i would like to write & speak english seriously!But, fortunately, google translater come to me in aid...and today i'll be able to start the week talking about something.... grisly! The crypt of the Capuchin friars.
In this crypt the Capuchin friars, so called thanks to their hood attached to thei religious habit, were buried until 1870. Is estimated that there are the rests of approximately 3.700 persons whose bones were arranged all along the walls !! Over the years this place of interment, prayer and reflection for the capuchins was transformed from a burial place into the work of art that it is today. Also the Marquis De sade visit the cryp in 1775 leaving an evocative descrition of it, as many other foreign writers made after him.
Inside the crypt can be distinguished five different rooms:
1. The crypt of Resurrection
On the rear wall, various parts of the human skeleton form a frame representing the picture of Jesus commanding Lazarus to come out alive from the tomb. The Christian belief in the Resurrection provides the key to interpreting this work of funeral art.

2. Crypt of the skulls
In the tympanum, of the central niche, an hour-glass stands out with wings made of shoulder-blades representing that the time not only passes, but it flies. On the side walls you can see two Capuchins resting in curved niches. In the corridor vault, a lantern hangs from an eight-pointed star.The vault in the passageway is enhanced by a new element: a winged skull, its wings fashioned from shoulder-blades.

3. Crypt of the pelvises
The side walls contain two Capuchins serenely reclining in an arched niche. The rear wall has three niches with Capuchins leaning forward: the two at the sides under an upturned arch, while the middle one rests beneath a large "baldacchino" made of pelvises, from which hangs a fringe of vertebrae. The central "rosette" in the vault is formed by seven shoulder-blades, with hangings made of vertebrae. On either side, the decoration ends with crosses bearing the instruments of Christ's passion: the spear and the sponge on top of a staff

4. Crypt of the leg bones and thigh bones
The side walls each have four niches occupied by a Capuchin, standing and vested in the habit. Along the rear wall, the central block is a richly imaginative composition: up above, a cross enclosed in a circle; underneath, the Franciscan coat-of-arms: Christ's bare arm crossing the clothed arm of St Francis, surmounted by a crown of vertebrae. In the ground, 18 crosses mark the graves of various friars. The central oval frame in the vault contains an arrangement of jawbones decorated with vertebrae and, on either side, two large flowers made of shoulder-blades, with hangings of vertebrae. The corridor vault has three eight-pointed stars, a massive lantern hanging from the central one.

5. Crypt of the three skeletons

The two small skeletons against the rear wall are holding in one hand a skull with wings made from shoulder-blades. Impressed into the center of the vault there is a delicate skeleton enclosed within an aureole, the symbol of life coming to birth. In its right hand it holds a scythe, symbol of death which cuts down everyone, like grass in a field, while its left hand holds the scales, symbolizing the good and evil deeds weighed by God when he judges the human soul. The corridor vault is very rich and varied: four small five-pointed stars surround the other eight-pointed star from which the lamp hangs. On the wall opposite the door you see the striking design of the clock, its single face indicating the continuity of life, in time and in eternity.

"All praise be yours, my Lord,for Sister Death,from whose embrace no mortal can escape.Woe to those who die in mortal sin!Happy those She finds doingyour most holy will:by you, Most High, they will be crowned".

(St Francis of Assisi).

A complete Guidebook is available from the friar on duty.

Via Vittorio Veneto, 27
Opening hours:9-12 a.m.; 3-6 p.m.

Closed Thursdays

The most ancient bell and the smallest bell tower

2007-08-03T17:11:00.000+02:00

This blog adventure started to help tourists in discovering the city's unknown beauties, small pearls lost in the Eternal city, made invisible by traffic jam, chaos and people coming & going. That's why we want to add a new tag called "A Night in Rome neighborhood" to show you the neighborhood of our apartments and help our guests in imaging how beautiful is Trastevere...

One of the unknown secrets of Trastevere has a really small size...

Where: in the ancient hamlet of Trastevere, in Piazza in Piscinula (in front of the Tiberina island). Turn your back side to the Tiber river and look just in front of you on the left side of the square, what you see is the church of Saint Benedict in Piscinula.

The church, whose name “in piscinula” comes from the presence of some thermal swimming pools rose on the public square during the roman age, rises on the rests of the Aniciorum Domus, the ancient dwelling of the Anicii’s family, to whom belonged Saint Benedict, father of “monachesimo”.

According to the tradition, Saint Benedict lived here during his stay in Rome in order to undertake the studies that, as all of us know, were interrupted by his decision to withdraw itself to Subiaco to lead life as a hermit.
What is sure is that the church, which shows ancient paintings of 1300, rose between the end of 1000 and the beginning of 1100, but nowdays it shows a different facade because it was changed in 1800 (look the first and the last image). The most interesting feature of the church are the bell tower and its bell. Both realized in pure “Romanico” style they are the smallest and the most ancient in all Rome, so lot that, set between the roofs, they seem nearly like toys !!!
The bell has a diameter of just 45 centimeters (like a pc’s keyboard!) and is also very ancient, much more than the bell tower itself ! Infact the date engraved on the bell tells: Anno Domini Millesimo Sexagesimo IX (1069).

This is, probably, the only one bell escaped from the pillage of the 1085 when the great part of the city bells desappeared. Probably the small dimension of the bell saved it from the greed of the plunderers, attracted by the bigger ones and by their powerful sound!!

If you want to take a look on the church it is opened only on Sunday morning and during the religious festivity.

La festa dei Noantri

2007-07-18T14:15:00.000+02:00

The “Madonna del Carmelo”, in Rome, has assumed, in the years, several peculiar connotations becoming, around 1920, the festivity of “de noantri” (noantri, in roman dialect, means “we other” referring to people who live in Trastevere district regarding those who live, instead, on the opposite side of Tiber river!!). A legend tells that some fishermen, fishing on the Tiber river towards the half of July of a no-well known year, collected, from the river, a case which in the inside hidden one precious statue of the Madonna.

The fishermen, delighted by the beauty of the Vergine, hurried to transfer it in the sant'Agata church where still today she is. From that day, about on the third Sunday of july the Madonna goes on procession from San’Agata church through all the alleyways of Trastevere in order to reach saint Crisogno church, where she stays for eight days at the end of which she comes back to sant'Agata.

The procession was anciently organized by the company of the "vascellari", the potters, but today it’s a task of the “confratelli della Arciconfraternita del Ss. Sacramento e Santa Maria del Carmine”, who, with their white traditional frock, carry the statue throughout Trastevere.

This celebration, a time characterized by the presence of the "vascellari" with their jug overflow of wine, is today characterized by the pagan festivity called festivity of “noantri”.

During these days all people of Trastevere stand to this public party in a climate of common joy with open taverns, manifestations, wondering theatres and open markets. For a week Trastevere become like a small village with all tourists surprised by the caos and confusion and often unware on what is the Christian recurrence.... remember always: FESTA DEI NOANTRI la festa dei Trasteverini!!

Have much fun!

When Mastro Titta crossed the bridge...

2007-07-17T10:36:00.000+02:00

Public executions in the 19th century -Rome-

"Viengheno: attenti: la funzione è llesta..."
(Here they come: pay attention: the ceremony is short...)

These are the opening words of one of several sonnets by the famous dialect poet G. G. Belli inspired by executions that took place in Rome.When the city was ruled by the papal authority, the so-called 'Pope King', up to 1870, public executions were one of the common people's favourite happenings, attended by crowds, who found this unholy practice not only amusing, but even took their sons to witness the event for educational purposes, on the very moment the blade fell down, they used to give the kid a slap, as a tangible reminder of what one day might have been their own fate if they had got into trouble with justice!From 1796 to 1864 the protagonist of these frequent executions in Rome was: Giovanni Battista Bugatti, whose nickname Mastro Titta, became legendary and a synonym for 'executioner': during his 70-year long activity, he performed 516 executions, or justices, as they used to be called.

Although he professed one of the most outrageous activities, Mastro Titta carried out his duty with a certain detachment, a traditional roman attitude towards ill fate. He is even known to have sometimes offered the condemned a last pinch of snuff (see the photo above), almost as to say don't blame me for being here today, or cheer up: it won't take long, I'll do a neat job!!Mastro Titta lived on an official job: he was an 'umbrella-painter', an activity for which he ran a shop next to his house in Borgo district, on the western side of the river Tiber, next to the Vatican, where via degli Ombrellari (umbrella-makers street) still exists today. Due to his other more occasional 'work', for the sake of his own safety, he was not allowed to enter the city's central districts (i.e. on the opposite side of the Tiber), except officially, for the well-known reason and so on every crucial day he wore his scarlet cloak and 'cross the bridge', this meant that somebody was going to lose his head very soon….
Public executions used to be held on fixed spots, one of these was the small square at one end of the bridge in front of Sant'Angelo Castle, whose charming view was still not enough to deaden the cruel show it used to host.
Another place was piazza del Popolo. Still today, a plaque set in 1909 by a democratic association remembers two patriots sentenced here in 1825, their capital punishment being ordered by the pope, without evidence. The story of the two patriots also inspired movie director Luigi Magni for the making of one of his best known titles, The Conspirators (original title: Nell'anno del Signore, 1969).
Another typical feature of the gloomy cerimony was the procession of friars who accompanied the condemned up to the scaffold, wearing a black cowl with a pointed hood.They belonged to the Confraternita della Misericordia, "Brotherhood of Mercy", a centuries-old congregation founded in Florence. Their see in Rome was by the church of San Giovanni Decollato ("St.John Beheaded", i.e. St.John the Baptist), located in a narrow street by via dei Cerchi, another spot where executions took place in the 1700s and 1800s.

The congregation was in charge of delivering religious consolation to the condemned; after the execution, the same friars also carried away the corpses to the church's cloister, where they buried them.By an ancient privilege, granted by pope Paul III in 1540, each year the Brotherhood of Mercy had the right of freeing one convict sentenced to death: the choice was carried out by gathering information about the several prisoners, about their crimes and their trials, by asking the victims' families for forgiveness (the convict could not be freed without their permission), and by finally holding a ballot among the members, to choose which prisoner was more worthy of being saved, and when to hold the ceremony. On the given day, a procession of friars would march up to the jail, where the chosen prisonery would be officially handed over to them. The congregation would have then found the man an honest job or, in the case of a stranger, would have given him some money to travel back home.

(Symbol of the congregation, a head on a plate)

Memories of the aforesaid rituals and ceremonies are now kept in the congregation's Historic Chamber, by St.John's church, open to the public once a year, on June 24, the saint's own day.
What is left of Mastro Titta, instead, besides his legendary fame, is the scarlet cloak that the executioner used to wear on official occasions, when he was allowed to 'cross the bridge'; it is now on display in Rome's Criminology Museum.

Il porcino della Minerva

2007-07-16T11:25:00.000+02:00

Romans adore playing with words and give picturesque name to the monuments...
For example, look at the image below….

Look at the animal who is carrying the obelisk, may you seen something like a piggy?!
No, absolutely no.

The big nose make us sure…is an elephant, without a dubt!!
Well, the question is: if the image represent an elephant, why ever do romans call the monument “Il porcino della Minerva”(the Minerva's piggy)?
Beware: “porcino” cames from the roman dialect and means a piggy; today, for phonetic reasons, we usually call it “pulcino” that means a chicken (in roman dialect Pulcino is pronounced Purcino, i.e. very similar to the nickname). A piggy, a chicken but…where is the elephant?!
Absolutely misleading! ;-)
The monument stands in piazza della Minerva, just behind the Pantheon, right in front of St.Mary Over Minerva, a Dominican church whose name comes from the fact that it was built over the ruins of a temple dedicated to Minerva, roman goddess of knowledge.

In 1665, a small obelisk inscribed with hieroglyphs was discovered in a garden belonging to the Dominican monastery. For this reason pope Alexander VII decided to have it raised in front of the same church. To choose a base for the obelisk, a number of designs were presented to the papal commission. One of them was by a Dominican priest, Father Domenico Paglia, who was also an architect. According to his project, the obelisk would have rested over six small hills (the same hills featured in the crest of the Chigi family, whom Alexander VII belonged to), with a dog on each corner; the dog is the symbol of Dominican priests, the name cames from latin Domini canes, i.e. "the Lord's dogs", to remark their fidelity.But the pope rejected this design, as he wanted the statue to be a symbol of the Holy Knowledge, to recall the original dedication of this site. The famous artist Bernini was asked to devise a different solution. He presented several drawings, among which one featuring an elephant

The pope chose this one, as an allegorical representation of fortitude: "...a strong mind is needed to support a solid knowledge", reads the inscription on one side of the base.
In the sculptor's original plan the obelisk would have fully rested on the elephant's legs, without a stand below the animal. But Father Paglia, who was rather envious for having his project been rejected, argued that according to traditional canons, by which no weight should rest vertically above an empty space, as it would not be steady nor long-lasting, a cube should have been inserted under the elephant's belly
Bernini strongly opposed this alteration but the pope decided to have the cube added to the statue all the same.The sculptor also tried to disguise the rough cube by adding a saddle-cloth to the elephant's back but, despite his attempt, the change still gave the statue a rather heavy look. For this reason, which makes the elephant resembling a pig, the people of Rome nicknamed the monument Porcino della Minerva ("Minerva's Piggy")!
However Bernini took revenge upon his rival: in the final version of the statue, carved in 1667 he drew the elephant pointing towards the Dominican monastery with his rear end, the tail slightly shifted to the left, in the attitude of saluting Father Paglia and the other Dominican friars in a rather... obscene way!

Città di Noto (Sicily)

2007-07-13T12:04:00.000+02:00

Coming back from my sicilian holidays i want today show you a beautiful pearl of the Mediterranean sea......

-The city of NOTO-

Noto town hall
Noto is a living book. Every corner, even the hidest, speaks about history, people, colours, shows you capitals, baroque friezes, churches and noble palaces. There are cities and countries who recall the purity and the harmony of art. Noto, is one of them; with its architectural and cultural beauties the visitors has the feeling to be in a temple of living stones.

Panoramic view of the city
The city, honoured recently by UNESCO with the title of "cultural patrimony of humanity", represents the emblem of wealth and luxury in the Baroque age in Sicily. Palaces are maiden of yellowish stone, their colour changes during the day like only the sun can do, is an unexpected treasure, scattered in the territory, containing stories of ancient civilizations.

Chiesa madre San Nicolò after the fall 13 of march 1996

The church of San Nicolò it has been opened again on june 2007 after a long restoration lasted more than 10 years, after the fall happened in the 1996. Infact, if you see the photo above the church it hasn't get the roof. Fortunately the fall didn't regard the front of the church that, probably thank to a miracle, didn't break down! The front and the dome (that part which didn't collapse) are certainly the best part of the church while the inside aisle, even if re-constructed exactly as it was before the fall, is not exceptional considering that all ancient paintings they have been destroyed.

Church of San Domenico

If you decide to spent one day in this beautiful little city (how to get look here) the opportunities not to miss are: a visit to the centre of the city (look here for itineraries) enjoying its history and its popular traditions, a plunge into the blue sea, parades and village festivals. Among these don't forget the beautiful Flower Festival the last week of may! After 22 years this Festival has become a real tradition and custom so lot that the Flower Festival of Noto is, by now, a fixed event, rich in appointments, shows, assemblies and costume parades! When in Sicily don't forget to try the yummy "granita siciliana" and "brioches col gelato"! ;-)

Be amazed by the art, the culture, the traditions, the sea and the sun of one of the most beautiful city of Sicily.

I'm sorry but many links are in italian i could no find them in english, sorry!

Il colosseo

2007-07-12T11:37:00.000+02:00

“St’arcate rotte c’oggi li pittori

Viengheno a ddiseggnà cco li pennelli,

Tra ll’arberetti, le crosce, li fiori,

Le farfalle e li canti de l’uscelli…”
(from “Riflessione immorale sur Culiseo” di G. G. Belli Poeta romanesco 4 settembre 1835)

Colosseo and the Anfiteatrum Flavium...could they be the same?

Did you ever ask yourself why, starting from a no-well known time in the story, people started to call it Colosseo?

The "Anphitheatrum Flavium" was built by the Emperor Vespasiano in the 72 d.c. According to the most known legend the name Colosseo came from the enormous statue, called the “Colosso di Nerone” (more than 35 meters high!), built near the Anphitheatrum Flavium and representing the Emperor Nerone. Nowdays there is a modern base made in "tufo" at the entrance of the metro line A Colosseo reminding us the original position of the ancient Colosso. This picture would be an ideal re-construction of the Colosso di Nerone (if you want to have the exact chronology of the Colosseo click here).

This is what the story transmitted us....but a no less credited legend transmitted us by Armannino Giudice tell about the Colosseo as a temple lived by demons! According to the legend the clergyman of this temple at the end of every ceremony addressed to the adepts with the question "Colis eum?" (do you adore him? referring to the devil); the name Colosseo would derive from it (colis eum = colosseo). Probably this legend has its ground of trouth if later Pope Clemente affixed a big wooden made cross on it and after him Pope Benedetto XIV decided to exorcised it and consacre the monument to the memory of Jesus and his passion.

This story lasted over a long time, so lot that also Benvenuto Cellini speaks about it in one of his novel regarding his best friend Agnolino Gaddi. He was so terrified by the demoniac manifestations showed in the Colosseo that..."fece una strombazzata de coregge con tanta abundanzia de merde, la quale fece piu della zaffetica... (zaffetica is a sulphur mixture used by exorcist to drive away demons)" and devils run away asphyxiated!

The legends apart the first time that the writing name of "Colosseo" appeared was on an inscription of the venerable Beda in the VII century:

Quamdiu stabat Colyseus Stabit et Roma;
Quamdo cadet Colyseus Cadet et Roma;
Quamdo cadet Roma Cadet et mundus.

Li mondezzari del 1700

2007-06-20T09:49:00.000+02:00

Today i want to say goodbye to all of you because i'm going on holiday and this is my last post..until i'll be back! A Night in Rome blog close for just 2 weeks!

Beware...today's topic is really really dirty!! Enjoy and when you are in Rome pay attention on where you are walking! ;-)

A really thorny problem in Rome, during 1700, was the elimination of the urban garbage. Until the 1800 was a common habit, both for the poorest families and for the servitude of the richest ones, to melt the daily domestic garbage leaving itself all along the way, in the square and at the street crossings. Only when the garbage piles became a really big cumulus (a “mondezzaro” according to the lexicon of that age & how is written on the marble plate above!) a little cart reached in order to carry it away, sometimes after weeks!! This situation easily get worse not only due to the fact that the street were cleaned up from the equine excrements only once a week (by the prisoners who, for this reason, were periodically lead in chain to the city) but also to the fact that the so called “ammazzacani”,(ancient version of the modern dogcatcher) to resolve the problem of the wondering dogs and cats attracted by the garbage, used to pull them down using poisoned scraps and leaving the dead animals along the city alleyways! Many were the consequences of this dramatic situation especially from the hygienic & sanitary point of view; first of all, the bad smell that exhaled from the big cumulus of garbage especially during the hottest seasons…
Also in 1700, a century not famous for its hygienic measures, all these situations had really to turn out troublesome for who lived in the palaces near such “garbage collections”!

Trying to get the situation better, at the end of 1600 appeared, at first on the walls of some important churches (Sant'Agostino, Saint Carl al Corso, Saint Theodore, and many others), some inscriptions which prohibited to accumulate refusals foreseeing pecuniary and corporal penalties for the transgressors. Such a deterrent probably had the hoped effects, because by the half of 1700, especially at street crossing, under the noble palaces, began to being emanates the “editti” to let people know how to behave with garbage. In these “editti” was made prohibition to throw garbage near the palaces making the “mondezzaro”. Such “editti” were emanated by the President of the Roads (a high administrative charge that presided to the order of the city ways) who delegated the Master of the Roads the task to control that the provision was respected.

The content of all these plates was substantially the same but it was not important because at that time just few people were able to read!

Therefore, between 1717 and 1771, on the walls of the historical center appeared a great number of marble plates bringing the prophetic admonishment: do not soil here!

The plates also exposed the penalty previewed in case of remissness to the prohibition: pecuniary punishment, personal capture, corporal pains or excommunication (if you had left garbage near a church!!). Entities and modalities were at the discretion of the President of the Roads. The aim of these multiple endorsements was to hit both the sending and the material executor of the crime: the executor (usually a servant) was usually subject to the corporal pains, while the other (the master) would have had to pay a high fine (“alla pena pecuniaria sia tenuto il padre per li figli e li padroni per li servitori” the father pays for the sons and the master for the servant).
Moreover, in order to convince the population to delate the anonymous filthy persons, some “editti” contained the norm that a part of the fine would have been given to the prosecutor, whose name obviously would have remained secret.
The prohibition remained more over a long time until the fall of Papal State (1870); the rigor that the civic administrators put in applying the beautiful endorsements inspired Belli for one of his most famous “ironici sonetti”:

« Per questi editti di sasso, divenuto più nero della scrittura che vi fu incisa, può ancora accadere che qualche fantesca maledica chi non le insegnò l'alfabeto »
Today you can still find in Trastevere, scattered here and there, the modern version (written on a piece of paper) of the ancient marble plates which invite to :

“please don’t leave garbage here, the apposite baskets are really near!”

(Here is a list of all the marble plates you can find in Rome, there is also one in Piazza della Gensola near our apartments!)

La Gricia

2007-06-18T12:42:00.001+02:00

Have you ever met an Italian who didn't speak about food & wine?

I don't think so. May be never! Romans love food, for us is a real pleasure to seat, eat and drink a glass of good wine.

Remember...who reserves time for a meal is someone who likes life pleasures!

Before giving you councils on where eating out in Rome (avoiding disaster if you don't know the right places!) we want to show you how to cook, by yourself, a typical roman dish: spaghetti alla gricia! After you have made it you'll be able to comparate them with the one cooked in a restaurant...you could be very surprised and discover, why not, that you are better than a roman cook! :-)

Let's start our cooking lesson n.1 SPAGHETTI alla GRICIA:

Gricia is a simple dish of pasta dressed with two products largely common in the countryside around Rome: Guanciale, a type of bacon made out of the cheek of the pork, and Pecorino a very tasty sheep cheese. Ingredients: 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil - 4 oz (115 gr) guanciale diced (or substitute with unsmoked bacon) - crushed red pepper1 lb - pasta ( 450 gr spaghetti) - salt1/4 cup (50 gr) - pecorino romano cheese, freshly grated.

In a frying pan, pour the olive oil, and add the bacon and generous red pepper. Fry over medium heat until the bacon is browned.

Cook the pasta in abundant salt water following manufacturer’s instructions. Taste for readiness from time to time, until is "al dente" (firm but not too soft or overcooked)
Drain and transfer pasta to a bowl. Top the pasta with the bacon and the freshly grated cheese.
Toss vigorously. Serve hot at once

This is how the dish should be look like.....BUON APPETITO!

If you think that your dish doesn't look good ... better eat out!! Better to remind that in Rome people usually eat out starting at the earliest at 8-830 p.m and restaurants close around 1130-12 p.m, especially on weekends. Here are some good restaurants addresses: to eat pizza Ai Marmi, to eat typical roman specialties Dal Cordaro, for the romantic atmosphere and good quality food try Spirito Divino.

BUON APPETITO A TUTTI!!!!

La Lupa del Campidoglio

2007-06-14T13:12:00.000+02:00

Before starting these pages on "Curious Rome" i could not image that Rome could have so many hidden & original aspects! That's ok! I'll have topics for the next 2 or 3 months & you'll always have something to read!!

I've always had the curiosity to know more about the living wolf of Campidoglio. Sometime Rome's beauties disappear in a City full of traffic, people & caos. Our start & end point today is Via del Teatro Marcello, near the Campidoglio. Look at the right of the Campidoglio perron, behind the bus stop, hidden by grass bushes there is a big cage that looks like an aviary...oh yes i have to admit for many years i've thought that there were birds, instead....

of the living “Lupa del Campidoglio”!! The story of a living "meat & bones" wolfe put in a cage at the slopes of the Campidoglio hill began at the end of 1800. It was the 28 august 1872 when the Communal Council of Rome, with its decision n° 52630, decided to put “..in the gardens of the Campidoglio hill, in an appropriate cage, a living wolfe as a symbol of Rome, the Communal Council previews for his maintenance the expense of lire 23.50 monthly” . When Rome became the Capital of the united nation Italia in 1870, decided to assert and celebrate her public and new laic image using the master symbol typical of the Imperial Rome: the wolfe, to remind that one who, according to the legend, noursed Romolo (founder of Rome) and Remo. Romans liked very much the idea to show a wolf as the symbol of the City, so lot that the wild animal became quickly the first symbol of the City and many were the romans who stopped in front of the cage looking at the animal. Years passed by slowly and the wolfe, always sobstituted by new exemplaries, still hold in the small cage obtained inside the cove on the slopes of the hill. His way to walk, going on and back, was so typical that became a "way to say" when someone is phrenetic: " me pari 'a lupa der campidojo!" (you look like the Campidoglio wolfe!). Only in 1975, the Communal Council of Rome, decided to stop this sad exhibition which not only didn’t celebrate the glory of the city but, on the contrary, forced a wild animal who lives in wide spaces, to live in a small an humid cage just to exposure!

We have to say that the bad tradition to show animals on the Campidoglio hill didn't start with the wolfe, many ancient reports of 1400 tell, infact, the story of a magnificent lion caught in the far lands of Africa and hold in a cage on the Campidoglio hill, until the time he was pulled down for having killed a passing. He was then immediately sobstituted by a new one in marble...beautiful & less aggressive!!

Dear roman wolfe...

Just to have fun!

2007-06-13T08:29:00.000+02:00

Sorry guy but today i really need a time break!! ;-)

When i decided to start this "English-Rome" blog adventure i could not image that it would have been so laborious!! Remind always.... usually i don't speak english in my daily life! And admit it....today my brain is burning!! So, thinking about today's post i have choosen a "light" topic to relax ;-)

Today i want to introduce you.....my super-fantastic cousin and his bionic ability!

Do you know what is parkour?

Parkour (sometimes abbreviated to PK) is a physical activity, of French origin, that shows the art of displacement. The aim is to move from point A to point B, overcoming obstacles in the surronding enviroment, as efficiently and quickly as possible using principally the abilities of the human body (people doing PK are called "traceuses"). It is an art that resembles self-defense in the martial arts. According to the founder David Belle, the spirit of parkour is guided in part by the notions of "escape" and "reach," that is, the idea of using quick thinking with dexterity to get out of difficult situations.

Much more than Superman & Spiderman...here is my cousin FLOWGUN (Fabio)!!

Have your first meeting point with PK looking this video & if you like it here is the second... a little home made movie "no doping parkour" (my cousin is the black bionic machine obviously!).

"... don't say PK but live Pk let it becomes your philosophy to do everything in your life!"

La Porta Alchemica

2007-06-12T11:24:00.000+02:00

Here is another unknown & dark side of Rome, it was the 1680...

...when the door, now called "The Alchemical Door", was strongly desidered and built by the Marquis Massimiliano Palombara. He built the Magical Door in its residence, Villa Palombara, situated in the country side of Rome on the Esquilino hill nearly to the today called Piazza Vittorio, where today it has been placed. The interest of the Marquis for the alchemy was probably due to his frequentation, since 1656, of the roman Court of Queen Cristina of Sweden. The Queen was strongly fascinated by alchemy & science, she owned an advanced laboratory, managed by the alchemist Antonio Flag, in Palazzo Riario (today Palazzo Corsini center of the Lincei National Academy on the Gianicolo hill) that later became an Academy attended by all famous personages, erudites and esoteric doctors of that time as Francisco Giuseppe Borri, Giovanni Cassini, Francesco Maria Santinelli.

The Legend......

According to the legend, transmitted to us in 1802 thanks to the Abbot and erudite Francesco Girolamo Cancellieri, the story began when a travelling pilgrim identified with the alchemist Francesco Giustiniani Bono dwelled in the gardens of the Villa for a night searching for a mysterious grass able to produce gold. The following day he disappeared through the door leaving behind himself some gold straws, the result of one good ended "alchemica trasmutazione", and many other documents with mysterious enigmas and magical symbols hiding the secret of the "pietra filosofale" (do you remind about Harry Potter?! ;-)).

The Marquis decided to write down, on the five doors of Villa Palombara (today we can only see the Alchemical one), all the contents of the manuscript & all symbols & enigmas in hope that someone would be able to decipher them and transform things in gold. Perhaps the enigmatic paper could refer, for historical and geographic agreements, to the mysterious manuscript "Voynich" a part of the collection belonged to King Rodolfo II of Boemia.

This is what we can see today in Piazza Vittorio....

Symbols....

All symbols, affected on the Alchemical Door, come from the illustrations of alchemy and esoteric books, infact the design on the fronton (the two overlapping triangles) appears exactly equal on the frontespiece of the allegorical book "Aureum Seculum Redivivum" by Henricus Madatanus. The other Alchemical symbols, cram along the door (on the right and on the left), follow the sequence of planets, associated to the correspondents metals: Saturno-lead; Giove-pond;Marte-iron;Venere-branch;Luna-silver;Mercurio-mercury. Perhaps such a sequence comes resumption from the text "Commentatio de Pharmaco Catholico"published in the "Chymica Vannus" of the 1666. To every planet is associated a watertight maxim, to read from the bottom up to right in order to come down from above on the left, according the direction indicated from the hebrew maxim "Ruach Elohim".

The door must therefore be read like the monument that marks the historical passage of the upsetting symbols of Christianity towards the new spiritual model that was being developed in the 1600's.

Hope to have given you a pleasant passage through the Alchemical Door! :-)

A look through a lock

2007-06-08T09:40:00.001+02:00

There are many kind of locks but only looking through this one you'll have a breathless sight!

Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta, over the Aventino hill, will give you the most original vision you ever had.

Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta

Looking through the hole, on the main door of the Palazzo dei Cavalieri di Malta, this is what you'll see....
This beautiful square not only shows an amazing sight over Saint Peter's dome (try it in the evening time!).....
...but at the same time hides one of the most fascinating legend of the city. By the legend the Aventino hill should be a single, vast and sacred ship for the Templar Order ready to sail towards the "Terra Santa" (the Holy Land). Infact, if you take time to visit the gardens, the square and the building, you'll find a lot of curious symbols, words, images and figures that remind us about the Sacred Order. The southern side of the hill, the one which goes down toward the Tiber River, has a typical V shape like a ship bow, the entrance to the Villa should be the main entrance to the sailing boat, all gardens labyrinth simbolize the ship cables and the strange symbols, engraved on the "obelischi", should be secret messages to whom who know the esoteric writing.

In this magic place nothing is like it seems....

The roman great "Big Ben"

2007-06-06T10:26:00.000+02:00

Every day at the same time since 1846

It was the 1st of december 1846 when Pope Pio IX introduced the custom of announcing mid-day throughout the city in a rather curious way: every day at 12 o'clock a cannon shot was fired from the top of Sant'Angelo Castle striking the official time until 1903!
It was more than necessary to avoid confusion of the bells ringing at different times. In 1903 the location of the gun shooting ceremony moved to Monte Mario and one year later to the top of Janiculum, the highest spot in rome.

The daily gun-shot was stopped during the II nd World War but in 1959, on April the 21st (the day traditionally believed to be "Rome's birthday"), the ceremony was resumed. Since then, it has never been stopped again:still today, in the age of precision quartz watches, the firing of the Janiculum's gun is a popular daily event for roman people. The blast is so loud that it can be clearly heard throughtout the center of Rome, despite nowdays the heavy traffic may sometimes cover it! Many romans still check their watches to the sound of the peculiar "time alarm" from the Janiculum.

A personal gift from the city of Rome for you!

The voice of Pasquino

2007-05-28T10:01:00.001+02:00

"Pasquino” is the first talking statue of Rome, it became a symbol of the city between the XVI and XIX century. Pasquin (Italian Pasquino) was the name ordinary Romans gave to a battered ancient statue (of the hellenistic age III century A.C. probably an ancient warrior) dug up in the course of paving the Parione district and erected at the corner of Piazza di Pasquino and Palazzo Braschi, on the west side of Piazza Navona in 1501, by Cardinal Oliviero Carafa, who inadvertently gave the statue its first voice, by originating an annual ceremony, the first in 1501, for Saint Mark's Day, April 25.

The marble torso was draped in a toga and epigrams in Latin, in verse or in prose (called pasquinade), were attached to it. The statue spoke out about the people's dissatisfaction, he denounced injustice, and he assaulted misgovernment by members of the Church. The decorous event quickly got out of hand when it became the custom, for those who wanted to criticize the Pope or individuals in his government (for a pasquinade is first and foremost a personal attack), to write satirical poems in broad Roman dialect and attach them to the base of the statue or, more often, to the neck. One of the most known “pasquinade” to Pope Urbano VIII is:

Quod non fecerunt barbari fecerunt Barberini

("What the barbarians did not do, the Barberinis did")

Before long, other statues appeared on the scene, forming a kind of public salon or academy, the "Congress of the Wits" (Congresso degli Arguti), with Pasquino always the leader, and the sculptures that Romans called Marforio, il Facchino, and Babuino (the "Baboon"), Abate Luigi and Madama Lucrezia as his outspoken colleagues.

Le "Madonnelle" romane

2007-05-24T15:23:00.000+02:00

Wandering along the narrow alleyways of Rome take a look over your head and you will see...

Madonna della Lampada (Isola Tiberina)

During the Roman age people started to built, all along the roads, little sanctuaries to the divinity (named “edicole sacre” now called in roman dialect “Madonnelle”) , to protect and help travellers in their way. As Christianity became more diffused thanks to the official acknowledgment, the divinity images were replaced by sacred pictures representing Maria. At first they were placed all along the city walls to protect the city, after they were placed on the building façade at the street crossings. Usually they were not a solemn or monumental rafiguration, but were essentially an expression of the collective religiosity. During the Medioevo and Rinascimento these pictures of Maria were painted directly on the walls and now the sign of time are strictly visible. View an example on this painted image of Maria located in Rome in Via della Luce.

Madonna col Bambino in Via della Luce

Between the 1600 and the 1800 the sacred edicole knew a period of large diffusion, also thanks to many miraculous events happened starting from 9 july 1796 when the picture representing the “Mater Misericordie”, pictured on the wall in a little alleyway near via di San Marcello, moved her eyes.

Madonna Assunta in Via della Scala

These sacred edicole had also an important public function because the votive lights used to keep the sanctuary illuminated where the only way to light the street and guide travellers in their way. An example of these sacred edicole is in Via della Gensola near our apartments, if you want to have a directory of all the sacred edicole in Rome look here (in the box "find locality" write ROME).

Madonna col Bambino in Via dell'Arco di San Callisto

S.P.Q.R.

2007-05-22T08:37:00.000+02:00

Yesterday while i was walking down a street in Rome, i heard a group of italian tourists talking about the meaning of:

They didn't remember the exact meaning so i think is better to remind...

S.P.Q.R. is an initialism (acronimo) from a Latin phrase, Senatus Populusque Quiritium Romanorum (later Senatus Popolusque Romanus "The Senate and the people of Rome"), referring to the government of the ancient Roman Republic, and used as an official signature of the government. It appears on coins, at the end of documents made public by inscription in stone or metal, in dedications of monuments and public works, and was emblazoned on the standards of the Roman legions. The phrase appears many hundreds of times in Roman political, legal and historical literature.

In modern usage, S.P.Q.R. appears in many of the city's civic buildings and on the:

Garbage basket old style

Coat of arms of the City of Rome

Manhole covers (chiusini)

Fountain (nasone)

Garbage basket new style

Try to find out other modern usages...

Good hunting and good luck!

Let me know!

All Rome in your hand!

2007-05-18T11:04:00.000+02:00

Rome view from Gianicolo

How is possible to have a so big city all in your hand?

Sometimes people doesn't have enought time to visit the Eternal City, how to say...so many things to see and so little time! We have found a really useful web-page that shows how to visit Rome in 48 or 96 hours! Ready to run? ;-)

This is an invitation to explore Rome and to build an image of it as complete as possible that can be confronted with the city of our imagination in an exciting and evocative journey.

Here are some tips on how to spend your time here, just if you are in decrease of ideas :-)

Rome in pills

-48 hours route: Do you have just two days to visit Rome? No problem for the first day route look here and for the second day here

-96 hours route: Do you have time? May be... four days? Ok, first day route here, the second here, the third here and the fourth here!

If you have more than four days don't mind, we know ho to "fill up" your holiday!

No time to relax!

** It's a joke don't take me seriously! ;-) **

City view by the river!

2007-05-17T14:45:00.000+02:00

Another beautiful way to see the city of Rome is certainly by the river

Tiber River

Here is a historical view of the Tiber & Tiberina Island, to see photos and "acquarelli" from the disappeared Rome look here, while if you want to know how is the Tiberina Island now...you have to come, because our apartments are just in front of it!

How to see Rome from the river?

Obviously thanks to i battelli sul Tevere! From the moment that many Companies organize tour on the river, prices are sometimes different. Here are just two comapanies: tiber-river and battelli sul tevere (the official web-site). It could be the the right idea to relax and visit the Ostia ancient diggings and why not... to take tanning!! ;-)

If you prefer to discover the city by the river but on foot, here are all information for a one day route along the river and here all information for a walking tours around the most famous sites of Rome with guide! I forgot.... there is onother way to visit the Eternal City for those who want to sweat ;-) do it on your bike or on your motoscooter (like in the movie "vacanze romane") ! There are many routes, some of them along the river (i prefer!) and others along the road between pedestrians and car, not always good for health... :-/

Don't matter how you decide to discover Rome... on foot, by bike, by the river, on a chariot... enjoy and have much fun!

City view from a chariot!

2007-05-17T12:08:00.000+02:00

Since the moment that every day post suggest me an idea for the next.....here is the new one!

This blog, now, is like what we usually call in Italy the Sant Antony chain (la catena di san'Antonio per capirci!). Every post is chained to the previous and then to next...going on!

But i swear, to you all, it will arrive the day in which i'll stop the chain and i'll find ideas elsewhere! ;-)

But now, please, give me time to understand how this infernal blog machine works!

Here is our new topic: Hey tourists, what do you have to do today?

I wanto to suggest.....

...what about a walk on the typical roman chariot?

Find all information here!!

It could be a good and more than original idea to take a ride in the historical center on your ancient chariot, isn't it?! Even not during the crowded time of the day, because is not pleasant to stay in a traffic jam even if you are in a typical roman traffic jam! After all traffic jam is always a traffic jam doesn't really matter where you are!

So, don't wait anymore...jump on your chariot and have a good time!

Italian lesson n. 1

2007-05-17T11:01:00.000+02:00

Do you remind Antonello Venditti? ok...

Looking at yesterday's post i decided to start, today, my first italian lesson! Obviously as well as i can by the moment, is better to remind, that i'm italian and my english, i know, is probably the most "nonsense english" in the world! ;-)

Let's start from the title: Roma Capoccia

I think we don't have any prblem with the concept of "Rome", isn't it?!

Ok, but what does it means capoccia?!

In roman dialect it could have two different meanings:

-head, that one over your neck yes!

-or chief, that is the right one!And so Roma Capoccia means Roma Chief!!

Going on, the rest is easier...

How beautiful are you Rome, when the evening comes and when the moon reflects itself in the fountain, and lovers go away...

How beautiful are you Rome when is raining down...

How beautiful are you Rome, when is the sunset time and the orange of the setting sun still brights over the seven hills, and windows are like so many eyes that seem to say: how beautiful you are!

Today it seems to me like time has stopped here..

I see the Colosseo majesty and the holiness of San Peter's dome and i feel more alive and kind, no i'll never leave you Rome!Chief of the all over infamous world!

A chariot goes on with two stangers and an old-clothes dealer ask for some rags, birds are like nightningale...

I was born here, Rome, i've discovered you this morning, Rome.

This song nowadays is considered like a new himn to the beauty of Rome.

Welcome to you all!

2007-05-16T14:12:00.000+02:00

WELCOME to my new BLOG!

Your open window on the Eternal City!!

ROMA CAPOCCIA

(Song by Antonello Venditti)

I thought that it could be wonderful for you to see & listen to the city of Rome!

This is infact the most representative (obviously for me!) song of Rome and romans

here are the lyrics...

Quanto sei bella Roma quand'e' sera quando la luna se specchia dentro ar fontanone e le coppiette se ne vanno via,quanto sei bella Roma quando piove.
Quanto sei bella Roma quand'e' er tramonto quanno l'arancio rosseggia ancora sui sette colli e le finestre so' tanti occhi,che te sembrano dì: quanto sei bella.

Oggi me sembra che er tempo se sia fermato qui,vedo la maestà der Colosseo vedo la santità der cupolone,e so' piu' vivo e so' più bbono no nun te lasso maiRoma capoccia der mondo infame, na carrozzella va co du stranieri un robivecchi te chiede un po'de stracci li passeracci so'usignoli;io ce so'nato Roma,io t'ho scoperta stamattina.

See you to the next post...

Benvenuti sul mio blog!

2007-05-11T12:38:00.001+02:00

Iniziare questo blog è difficile quanto rispondere a quelle domande imbarazzanti del tipo “..cosa vuoi fare da grande?”
Non ho mai saputo cosa volessi fare da grande, neanche ora che…sono grande!! :-/
Ho visto, a mie spese, che se nella vita sei troppo organizzato la vita non ti ripaga quasi mai con la stessa benevola meticolosità che ci hai messo tu nell’organizzarla! D’altra parte la vita è come una scatola di cioccolatini…non sai mai quello che ti capita!
Come dire…ducunt fata volentem…nolentem trahunt!
E noi di certo siamo VOLENTEM!
La cosa migliore quindi è che le parole vengano fuori cosi.. un po’ a caso…. a volte caotiche (e lo saranno spesso!) a volte chiare e pacate (non lo saranno quasi mai!).