Sabato

From time to time you get an urge to do something energetic

Well Sabato (Saturday) was such a day.

Carolyna was up first and said "andiamo" (let's go)

So off we go. Firstly to the Appia Antica (the Appian Way). One of, if not the oldest, roads in Roma. From 400 BC

Around Appia Antica (just outside the old walls of Roma) are a number of Catacombs where early Christians were buried. They are extensive and each catecomb covers may kilometres of underground burial areas. The one we went to was St. Domitilla which is the oldest of the catacombs.

You enter through a sunken 4th century church. Pardon the pics as no photography was allowed. So these are photos of photos

The tunnels housed burial areas for many thousands of Roman christians. In most instances remains have been removed to other burial areas

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You can see the burial cavities in the walls in this pic

The bodies were placed in these wall cavities and sealed with tiles or marble depending on the degree of  wealth.

Some families had their own vaults.

This second century fresco is very impressive. It had just been restored. It depicts the last supper

The tour takes about 45 minutes with a guide. It is not possible to "go alone" as you would easily get lost in the tunnels

After "la catacomba" we caught a bus back to centro where we went to the Fondazione Roma Museo to view the Edward Hopper exhibition. Edward Hopper is a famous American painter form the early to mid 20th century. The exhibition was well worth a visit

The photo below is of Hopper

The quote is "all I wanted to do was to paint sunlight on the side of a house"

They recreated one of his works into a "real life" situation.

All dummies of course....mmm, maybe except for one

Here is an example of his most typical work

After pranzo (lunch) we went for a long walk to Piazza della Republica.

 It has a wonderful (amongst many in Roma) Basilica. Santa Maria Degli Angeli

Then of course, what does any self respecting Roman do before cena? Aperitivi of course

and where else than at the Spanish Steps

So, ci scussi

Dobbiamo andare a cena addesso

(we must go to dinner now)

Bacci a tutti

Carolyna e Alan

Madama Butterfly

Last Saturday, excitedly, we ventured out to the Teatro Dell'Opera di Roma to enjoy a performance of Puccini's Madama Butterfly. What an experience. Not only experiencing a fabulous performance of one of the most hauntingly beautiful operas but also being in an amazing opera theatre. It certainly does not have the external impact of the Sydney Opera House but it does have a big advantage internally. It is breathtaking both acoustically and visually.

We had good seats and were captivated by the ambience and performance. Here are a few pics.

Poster at the entrance to the theatre

The total elevated areas around the theatre are "boxes" composed of mostly six seats. Sounds good, but if you bought only two tickets seating in the boxes is on a first come first served basis. Three seats at the front of the box and three seats behind which have a restricted view

Ceiling dome of the teatre

The cast

Alan with his friends. No not early, after most had left

La mia Princepessa

Ciao ciao..a dopo

Bacci a tutti

Carolyna e Alan

The first king of Italy

The Vittorio Emanuele Monument in Piazza Venezia was erected to commemorate the unification of Italy and to honour the first king, Vittorio Emanuele, who was annointed in 1862

Here is a picture of it being built

Today it looks like this

The unification covered all regions although initially Venetia was held by the Austrians until 1871. The Vatican still remains outside the union.

The monument is Romes most flaboyant landmark. It was built in the late 1800's and is often described as the wedding cake or typewriter.

You must go to the top of the monument (7 Euro) to see the spectacular views over Roma

Looking down Via Corso to Piazza dei Popolo from the top of the monument

The roman forum, centre of Roman life 2000 years ago

Roman forum

Roman forum

Roman forum

Roman forum

Note St Peters top left in this photo and the Pantheon (round dome centre right). The Pantheon was a pagan temple which preceded christianity in Rome

There are numerous features both on and within the monument. Near the top of this picture you can see the female figures representing all the regions of Italy

On top of each side of the monument are statues representing liberty and unity. This one is unity

and finally the truth comes out.........yes we are tourists

Ciao, ciao bacci a tutti

Carolyna e Alan

The Pope's summer residence

A trip to Castelli Romana, almost 30 kilometres south east of Roma, is well worth the effort. We went there with a group from the language school. The area is dotted with hill towns of which the more famous are Castel Gandolfo, Nemi and Frascati. Being elevated (4-500 metres above sea level) it is a popularr summer holiday spot for Roman citizens.
Frascati is known for the wine to which it lends its name and Nemi for its "looking glass" lake (as well as strawberries).
We started at Castel Gandolfo, which overlooks a volcanic crater, now a lake

The town sits on a mountain top ridge

Okay, some people pics. This is the group that went

One each from Holland, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark,  and two each from England, Australia and Italy (one taking the photo)

 

The town is famous for the Pope's summer residence seen here at the tope of the main Piazza

We then went down to the lake and La Spiaggia (the beach)

Then off to cena (dinner) at a regional trattoria that was typical of the cuisine of the area. Great night with lots of frivolity, singing, wining and dining

Ciao ciao a bacci a tutti

Carolyna e Alan

Le Festa

Italians love La Festa

This is just one of the celebrations. Not sure what the celebration was for

It was last Sunday at the Spanish Steps (near our apartment)

The various groups were representing different regions in Italy and the music, singing and dancing went for almost two hours

Ciao Ciao a Baccio

Carolyna e Alano

Hidden Treasure

Well what a surprise.

During the week we went with a group of fellow students to one of the hidden treasures of ancient Rome...Ostica Antica

Ostia was the port city of Imperial Rome, situated about 25 km from Rome Central.

At its peak it housed about 50,000 citizens

Our group travelled from Rome by train.

Here we are just before going into the ancient site. We were accompanied by one of the school administrators who turned out to be an excellent guide

The city was very important to Rome receiving all the produce coming from other parts of the world or indeed Italy. It became the most important seaport in the Meditteranean. The area was occupied from the fourth century BC but really came into its own around one century BC when the walled elements of the city were constructed

It was well planned with a parallel and vertical road grid

The city was quite wealthy and stylish and was almost fully self contained. The word Ostia comes from the latin word Ostium which means river mouth. At the time it was at the mouth of the river but today with floods and river changes it sits some 3 km from the sea

The city was impeccably presented with ampitheatres

Terme (bath houses)

Note the Neptune mosaics that are in amazing condition considering they were laid some 2000 years ago

This particular bath house had a cold pool, two imtermediate temperature pools and one hot pool and they were usually utilised in this order

Also in the bath houses were change rooms, massage rooms and entertainment areas. Most homes at that time had limited facilities so bath houses were particularly popular

The citizens were well supplied with shops. The Stylish Ostians could buy their latest togas or other attire in the clothing stores or food in the many vendor outlets

Signage for the shops was by way of a mosaic on the footpath outside. This one was clearly a seafood providore

What is surprising with this fish shop is that the table, fish tank and oven are in original condition

Even bars and restaurants were prevalent. This one was well preserved with the bar and servery in tact. The bar was built some 2000 years ago and its condition today is remarkable. Even the barmaid is in good condition

The city had a number of laundries. Here is an exaple of the washing pit with adjoining drying and colour dyeing areas

Of course no self respecting Roman city would be without bakeries. Here is a bread factory grinding mill which was operated by slaves. They placed long poles in each hole and just walked around all day pushing the mill. They were blindfolded so the would not get dizzy. Makes any job today sound great

The city was impeccably presented with open courtyards, fountains and piazzas

Here are examples of some

We love this photo of a young girl drawing amongst the antiquity of Ostia

Of course every city must have somewhere to place the deceased

Pre christian days people were cremated and their remains placed in wall urns. Here is a street named in accordance with its inhabitants and the place where the urns went

Well, enough of the city. It is well worth a visit. By train just one Euro and we were surprised by the lack of people there. It was so pleasant just meandering around the ruins.

Just two final pics.

Primo the statues

Secondo a vino at the end

Well amici, ciao ciao a bacci

Carolyna e Alan