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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Noto bene

    January 20, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    This hillside town was called Neas, founded by the Sicans.
    Conquered by the Syracuseans, it absorbed Hellenic customs and rites, before falling to the Romans when it became a federated city. Later its status was elevated to Latin municipium, which brought many priviledges including the right to govern itself with its own laws.
    Next the Arabs took over a renamed it Noto, (which it remains to this day,) and managed to cling on until 1090.
    In 1693, it was destroyed by the earthquake that struck the whole of south-western Sicily and rebuilt in the baroque style as we see today. (At least, we see the parts that are open at lunchtime when I passed through.)
    + The main entrance to the city is through the Arco di Trionfo. At the top you can see the sculpture of a dog, symbolising loyalty and a pelican for sacrifice. Like the rest of the town it is built using a golden yellow limestone. The stone is unique apparently for its flexibility but maybe they meant versatility (my Italian is not that good!)
    + The corso Vittorio Emanuele is the main axis through the town.
    + The Cathedral, which stands on top of a monumental staircase, was begun a few months after the earthquake but was only completed in 1770. It took more than 10 years, using both modern engineering techniques together with those of the 1700’s to craft original materials into yet another UNESCO world heritage site.
    + Every side road leads to yet another church.
    + Through the gates of the Vittorio Emanuele III theatre, across piazza XVI Maggio is the Church of San Domenico    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Flight of fancy

    January 17, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    What raises the blood pressure of the Caltagirone people is this big staircase, the Scalinata di Santa Maria del Monte, which rises from Piazza Municipio to the Chiesa di Santa Maria del Monte, at the top of the town.
    Originally there were several flights of steps separated by small squares built in 1606 to connect the old town on top of the with newer developments on the flatter base.
    These tiers were eventually unified in the 1880s to create the 142-step flight that stands today.

    The Erei mountains, on which Caltagirone perches, separate the plains of Gela and Catania and are fractured by many cracks filled with a very fine clay. Since the paleolithic era, local potters have been capitalising on this abundance aided by a plentiful nearby wood supply for firing their pots. The local ceramic technique was influenced and perfected by the Cretans, who introduced the wheel during the Greek colonization of Sicily in the 8th century BC, then by the Arabs, who introduced the glazing technique, which rendered the ceramic objects impermeable to water, in the 9th century. Under the Arab rule the town took the name of Qal ‘at al Gharùn or qal’at-al-ghiran meaning “Castle (or fortress) of vases” with reference to the processing of clay.

    So in 1956, hand-painted majolica tiles were added to the riser of the steps to celebrate the town's ceramic heritage. The motives alternate between a row of tiles with a floral or organic pattern, a row of geometric patterns and a row of figurative decorative patterns..
    In case you can't wait to see them, the best times are:
    * in May, when it becomes “flowered” in honor of the Madonna, (the Scala Infiorata in honor of the Madonna di Conadomini;
    * at the the end of July when it is illuminated by 4000 coloured oil lamps (coppi) on the occasion of the feast of the Holy Patron, Saint Giacomo;
    * during the mid-August nights when it is lit up again;
    * at Christmas the stairs are decorated with cyclamen and Christmas stars.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Logos or mythos?

    January 17, 2019 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    The Triseklion is the symbol of the Isle of Man as we all know, but Sicily has its own logo, a female version called the Trinacria.

    Apparently, 3 nymphs danced around the world gathering the best fruit, stones and soil, which they then threw into the sea to create Sicily. That is why the island has three corners.

    Alternatively, it represents a head of a Gorgon, whose hair is entwined serpents with ears of wheat, and from which three bent legs branch off with its feet pointing in the same direction. There were three sisters: Medusa (the most important one and guardian of the underworld), and the two daughters of the sea gods Forco and Ceto, Euryale and Steno. They represented perversion in its three forms: Medusa was the intellectual, Euryale the sexual and Steno the moral perversion.
    The ears of wheat, introduced by the Romans, symbolize the land abundance and fertility and the rank of “breadbasket” of the Roman Empire.
    The position of the three legs, feet pointing in the same direction, suggests a rotational motion. Hence it has been suggested that the Triscele represented the sun (or the weather god Baal) or the moon with scythes instead of legs. In Sicily, this symbol represents the three promontories of the island: Capo Peloro (Punta del Faro, Messina: North-East), Capo Passero (Siracusa: South), Capo Lilibeo (or Capo Boeo, Marsala: West). This particular reference is found in the greek word triskeles and connects to the geographic meaning: treis (three) and akra (promontory). In Latin too, triquetra (three vertices).

    Or, there was a boy who could swim underwater for long periods of time and was put to the test by King Frederick II. Eventually, the boy discovered that Sicily was held up by three columns and one was about to break. The boy, Colapesce, then decided to hold the broken column on his own. Every time there is an earthquake, it is attributed to the boy being so tired from holding up the island.

    Obviously it really came from a Manxman in the employ of the Normans but who am I to spoil a good story or three.

    The flag of the Region of Sicily has incorporated the Triscele at it's centre since April 3, 1282 during the time of the Sicilian Vespers. It symbolises the unity of Sicily in expelling the Angevins / Charles I. The colour red is the color of the Municipality of Palermo and yellow the one of Corleone, at that time, the largest agricultural capital of Sicily.

    PS The Spartan warriors used to carve a white bent leg in their shields as a symbol of strength!    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    A subtle warning to all husbands!

    January 17, 2019 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    The Moors dominated Sicily around the year 1100.
    At that time, there lived in the Kalsa district of Palermo 'a beautiful girl with pink skin comparable to peach blossoms at the height of flowering and a nice pair of eyes that seemed to reflect the beautiful Gulf of Palermo '. The young girl was almost always at home.
    One day a young Moor passing by saw the gorgeous damsel taking care of the plants on her balcony. In an instant he was smitten and, filled with desire, he knew he must have her at any cost. Without a second's delay he entered the girl's house and immediately declared his love. The girl, struck by the passion with which he declared his ardour, returned his love in full; and they lived together as happy as happy can be.
    Alas, some time later, the Moor came to tell her that he must leave Sicily and return home to the East, where a wife with two sons awaited him.
    Surprised, hurt and above all furious as only a betrayed Sicilian can be, she plotted to make him stay with her.
    That night, she cooked him a nice dinner and later as soon as he fell asleep she struck off his head and made it into a flower pot. The she planted some basil in it and stuck the vase on the balcony for all to see. Thus the Moor would never be able to leave and would remain with her - forever.
    Meanwhile, the basil grew lush and aroused the envy of all the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, who, not to be outdone, made imitations of the Moor's head in terracotta.
    And to this day on Sicilian balconies you can admire the "Heads of Moro", sometimes called "Turk's heads", although now they exist in different versions, representing three of the subsequent empires which ruled over Sicily, the Byzantines, the Arabs and Normans.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Caltagirone views

    January 17, 2019 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    Another taste of town
    + The Taking of the Bell of Altavilla to Caltagirone, (Polychrome maiolica mosaic in the square of Santa Maria del Monte.)
    + The bank and the church, not quite joined at the hip
    + Ceramics everywhere
    + Little piazza with no name
    + Horse. "Good government and liberty. 1283" Haven't found the explanation yet!
    + Unexpected interior of the former Theater Garibaldi, today known as Sturzo Gallery    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Caltagirone, Sicily

    January 17, 2019 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    Caltagirone, a UNESCO world heritage site, is one of the eight towns of south-eastern Sicily known as the baroque towns of the Val di Noto, which were almost entirely destroyed and rebuilt after the earthquake of 1693 in which about 100 thousand people died.
    Its main claim to fame is for ceramic production; a millenium old tradition making the town one of the most important ceramic production centers of Sicily, renowned in the entire Mediterranean so they say.
    Nobody wants to live in the old part of town and it is gradually spilling down into the new developments. Can't say I blame them. Access to most buildings is by foot or donkey; no damp proof courses; small, dark rooms; and UNESCO inspired legislation which makes any alteration to the fabric of the houses difficult if not impossible.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler
    1

    Another ferry

    January 2, 2019 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 13 °C

    After an interesting couple of hours in the ports commercial parking area, where a steady stream of cars with single people inside cruised past inquisitively but only one wound down her window to offer me take-aways or something, (my Italian is not too fluent,) I found a pleasant spot in a quiet lane beside the hospital to spend the night before catching a ferry from Villa San Giovanni Caronte to Messina. 60 Euros for an half hour crossing makes it nearly 4 times more expensive than crossing the channel!
    Crossing the terrain would be like sitting on a merry-go-round horse were it not for the many viaducts built everywhere.
    My hopes for warm temperatures were raised by the latitude, about the same as Andalucia, and by the smouldering Mount Etna which had been farting for a few days (and still is). Alas, no sooner did I arrive at my destination, Caltagirone, than it snowed heavily. Watching the cars in town sliding around in nearly 50 cm of white stuff was mildly amusing but luckily it all melted within 24 hrs.
    Incidentally, Stromboli has just erupted unexpectedly but since it is not linked to Etna, that doesn't signify much to me, though I suppose the people evacuated from their homes were not too happy.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler
    Just before the erruption
    Main road into town!

    Calabria

    January 2, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Still going South I hurry through bandit country. Well, that's what everybody told me but I had no problems with the Calabrese who were friendly, hospitable and waiting to join their relos in Melbourne. As a young guy and his sister told me, there is nothing for them in this part of Italy.
    Perhaps it is Stromboli always lurking on the horizon that casts a shadow: what's the point of doing anything if we are just going to be blown up? In fact, it is dormant, unlike Vesuvious which could go at any minute.
    But it is impossible to escape the incredible filth. Check out the dead cat.
    People blame the 'Ndràngheta, one of the largest criminal organisations in the world, for the corruption and incompetent politicians. Undoubtedly they have had a detrimental effect, skimming public contracts and buying politicians, not to mention "owning" the container port ( see all the cranes.)
    But it seems to me that the people themselves are also to blame: they could start by putting their waste in a bag instead of chucking it out of their car window.
    They also blame the Arbëreshë, an Albanian ethnolinguistic group scattered in the mountains. They descend from Tosk Albanian refugees, who fled from Albania between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries in consequence of the Ottoman invasion of the Balkans. But they have always been too isolated to cause a problem. I'll have to find them on my way to Bari in the Spring!
    I took a shot of Reggio Calabria from Sicily, and this is as close as one would want to go.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Amalfi

    December 30, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Heading South to my next job, I followed the coast road South from Rome, avoiding the hills where one is obliged to carry snow chains after Nov 11th, and expecting a beautiful and picturesque drive.
    The sea washes virtually to the feet of the snow covered mountains running parallel to the coast, with cheap concrete houses cascading down their sides like a boulder slope to the road and railway line. Thin beaches, often volcanic black, abut the train escarpment, with shattered bamboo scattered over over them in an unattractive mosaic. The odd stray dog can be found chewing on discarded plastic bottles.
    Once the Normans ran the place and their castles can be seen (but not visited in Winter,) incorporated into the towns. Many (closed) pizza restaurants and abandoned beach cafes.
    Once Amalfi was famous for it's paper exports. Now they let the waves carry their paper away to the rest of Europe.
    What can I say? In Winter; wet, cloudy, cold and closed. In Summer the narrow roads are impassable, the beaches covered in greasy bodies with a thin film of Ambre Solaire or Coppertone scumming the water dampening down the waves.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler
    1

    Just in time

    December 16, 2018 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    In the 18th century a meridian sun dial had been built in a Spanish church that, while Christian, was not in Rome. To rectify this disparity of grandeur Pope Innocence XII had the meridian line clock built here. Among other practical reasons, the location was chosen because it was the site of Diocletians baths and therefore was seen as a fitting symbol of the victory of the infallible Gregorian calendar over Roman / pagan ones.
    It is a double meridian made up of 2 gnomons, one oriented to the South and the other North. The former tells the precise time of the sun's zenith the date and the inclination of the sun's rays on that date while the latter traces the polar star's movements.
    The way the austral gnomon or solar meridian works:
    + the sun's rays shine through the small hole in the south wall onto the floor of the basilica,
    + striking a long strip of copper plated brass which runs from the transept to the presbytery precisely at 12 noon.
    Bianchini’s meridian tells when noon was throughout the year, the arrival of the solstices and equinox, as well as a being a calendar.
    + for some unexplained reason there is a large pendulum beside the sun dial. On the ball there is a map of the world and you can just see Australia.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    More Santa Maria degli Angeli

    December 16, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    A few more photos of this impressive church.
    + Chapel
    + Modern painting
    + Skylight
    + Front door
    + Back door to the rest of the ex-baths
    + An impressive organ, recently bought, has 5,400 tubes but doesn't look overwhelming. Just shows how large is the space.Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    A church I liked!

    December 16, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    Behind the scruffy facade on the North side of the Pazza della Republica, behind the scruffy ruined walls, lies the church that Michelangelo built by order of Pope Pius IV on top of part of the cold water baths of Diocletian in honour to all the Christian slaves who died building them.
    Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri was designed by Michelangelo in 1661 and is the only Renaissance style church in Rome.
    The interior of the church is huge but perfectly proportioned as one would expect from Michelangelo and does not give the feeling of a central railway station as one might anticipate from the bare façade. It is decorated with vast frescoes on its walls and enormous multi-coloured marble columns, but not to excess.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Bath: Royal Crescent or Diocletian?

    December 15, 2018 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 6 °C

    The Piazza della Repubblica impressed me for what is not there any more. It was formerly known as the Piazza dell'Esedra because it was laid down on the remains of an exedra (a semi-circular open room with seating) from the Diocletian era.
    Commissioned by the Emperor Diocletian in 298 AD, the baths were completed in 306 with a capacity of over 3,000 people. The whole complex took up 120,000 square meters and included a gymnasium, a library, and cold, hot and tepid public baths. Big.
    The Roman public baths remained open until 537, when the Goths cut off the aqueducts in an attempt to conquer Rome, whereupon they were taken over by bandits and courtesans until the Renaissance, when the grounds were bought by the French cardinal Jean du Bellay, who commissioned the construction of a beautiful villa and its gardens.
    So this large piazza occupies the space of the waiting room for the baths! On one side are the ruins of the baths, and the entrance to a church. On the other is a copy of the Royal Crescent in Bath, with the inevitable view of the Wedding cake in the distance.
    In the centre stands the majestic Fontana delle Naiadi, constructed between 1870 and 1888 and decorated with four lion sculptures. In 1901 the lions were replaced by the statues of four nude Naiads (water nymphs). Such blatant nudity shocked the citizens - for a while anyway.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Dan Brown was here

    December 15, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C

    This is the real Priory of the Knights of Malta, at the intersection of via di S. Sabina and via di Porta Lavernale on the Aventine hill.
    Although the property has been in their hands for centuries, the site was originally a fortified palace belonging to Alberico II, the ruler of Rome from 932-954. Next it became a benedictine monastery before passing first into the hands of the Knights Templar in the 1100s, then finally to their brothers in arms, the Knights of Malta in the 1400s. As it holds extraterritorial status, it is not technically “Italy” within the walls.
    Peeping through the keyhole of the door is obligatory. Nobody knows whether it was by design or accident, but what the butler saw is unique in the world: two nation-states and one country.
    For centred in the image at the end of a straight garden path is the dome of St Peter's cathedral in the Vatican City.
    Unfortunately everything was closed so I could only have a sticky beak.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Can't help seeing

    December 15, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    I wasn't going to, but I guess I had to take these snaps.
    + The oval Colosseum is the largest amphitheater in the world. Measuring 189m long, 156m wide and 50m high (about the height of a 12 storey building), it had 80 entrances and seated up to 50,000 spectators who attended for free, drinks and food included. Built between 72 A.D and 80 A.D under the Emperor Vespasian, the first games were held by his son Titus in 80 A.D,running for 100 days straight. They killed up to 10,000 animals including humans daily.

    + the Trevi fountain dates back to the construction of the Aqua Virgo Aqueduct in 19 B.C. It’s said that the Aqua Virgo, or Virgin Waters, is named in honor of a young Roman girl who led thirsty soldiers to the source of the spring to drink. The fountain was built at the end point of the aqueduct, at the junction of three roads. These three streets (tre vie) give the Trevi Fountain its name, the Three Street Fountain.
    The present fountain was finished in 1762 standing 85 feet tall and 65 feet wide. With water pumping out of multiple sources and the large pool in front, the fountain recycles about 2,824,800 cubic feet of water per day. It was financed by money earned from the reintroduction of the lotto. (The first winning numbers: 56, 11, 54, 18 and 6.)

    + The restaurant was much more attractive though.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler
    1

    Humble egocentricity in a Roman Emperor?

    December 14, 2018 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 7 °C

    The emperor Hadrian (A.D 117-138) never inscribed his name to any building but one, the temple of his father Trajan. Which is why his replacement for the burnt down Pantheon that Marcus Agrippa had built bears the legend:
    "M. AGRIPPA.L.F.COS TERTIUM.FECIT”
    “Marcus Agrippa son of Lucius, in his 3rd Consulship, made it”.
    Brick stamps on the side of the building reveal it to have been constructed between A.D 118 and 125; classified as a temple though of a competely different form to other ones in Rome.
    They built the structure on marshland on 8 solid piers supporting a series of intersecting arches.
    The dome is made from pozzolana cement – cement made by grinding together lime and a volcanic product found at Pozzuoli - constructed in tapering courses or steps that are thickest at the base (20 feet) and thinnest at the oculus (7.5 feet). .
    The density of the material decreases in height as well: from aggregates like basalt at the base, then a mixture of travertine and tufa, then tufa and brick, then all brick was used around the drum section of the dome, and finally pumice, the lightest and most porous of materials on the ceiling of the dome.
    The dome is lightened by coffering, which gives it the square scalloped look, and by the 8m wide oculus, which also allows light to enter. Finally, empty clay jugs were embedded into the dome’s upper courses.
    The dimensions of the interior height and the diameter of the dome are the same: 145 Roman feet or 43.2m making it the largest dome in the world until very recently. Mathematically and geometrically it can only be described as elegant, although Michelangelo reputedly remarked that it seemed of “angelic and not human design.”
    I could have stayed here for a long tie learning about its construction and seeing how the design fitted together so perfectly.
    OTOH I was not too sure about this piece of art in an exhibition being held there.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Transverberation or just fun

    December 14, 2018 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 7 °C

    The second item on the young receptionist's list was in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria.
    + Probably the finest statue in the world IMHO, the Transverberation of Saint Teresa was sculpted by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1652 and depicts an episode of angelic shafting as described by Teresa of Avila, a mystical cloistered Discalced Carmelite nun, in her autobiography, 'The Life of Teresa of Jesus' (1515–1582):
    "I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God. The pain is not bodily, but spiritual; though the body has its share in it. It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and God, that I pray God of His goodness to make him experience it who may think that I am lying."
    + Bernini's work struck me as the finer, but there are many more expert than I am who reckon that Michelangelo's Moses in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli, is the best.
    The 1513 statue shows Moses sitting with the Tablets of the Law under his arm, while his other hand fondles his long beard, which according to Vasari was carved with such perfection that it seems more a "work of brush than chisel". Moses is angry having found the Israelites worshiping a golden calf, and seems to be on the verge of getting up and destroying everything. An anger which is perfectly conveyed in marble by the swollen veins and tensed muscles. The horns on the head of Moses apparently result from an incorrect translation of the Exodus book which says that as Moses came down from Sinai, he had two rays on his forehead. The Jewish "karan" or "karnaim" - "rays" - may have been confused with "keren" - "horns".
    According to many critics this was one of Michelangelo’s favourite works as he considered it extremely realistic. Once the work was finished he hit it and ordered it to speak, but of course he knew that the statue only spoke to tell the sculpture what the marble contained..
    ===============
    The third statue in the Campo de Fiori is of Giordano Bruno, a 16th C Dominican friar during in the 1500s who came to believe that the universe was infinite and that there were multiple important worlds, all of which were equally overseen by an aspect of God. After a 7 year trial, on 17 Feb 1600 he was led into the Campo de’ Fiori with a spike through his tongue, and at the request of Cardinal Bellarmine, burned at the stake before his ashes were cast into the nearby river Tiber. The Vatican has failed in its attempt to have this commemorative statue removed and has refused to remove the taint of heresy from Bruno.

    + Modern art which perhaps someone can explain to me.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Browning pieces

    December 13, 2018 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    I asked the hotel receptionist what three things not on the main tourist route she would recommend seeing, and the first thing she said was to see the mosaics in the Basilica of Saint Praxedes, (Santa Prassede,) so off I went to find it.
    Along the way I passed a nice green park with plastic bags covering the grass. Nothing to remark on except that the municipal groundsman was carefully going over the area on a ride-on mower, leaving plastic confetti everywhere.
    Eventually, on a narrow lane adjacent to Santa Maria Maggiore, I found the unsigned entrance on the side of the church that was commissioned by Pope Hadrian I c. 780 to house the bones of St Praxedes and St Pudentiana; and built on top of the remains of a 5th-century structure.
    + The famous mosaics, Byzantine, years 817-824, cover the funerary Chapel of Saint Zeno that Pope Paschal built for his mother, Theodora.
    + The main altarpiece is a canvas of St Praxedes Gathering the Blood of the Martyrs (c. 1730-35) by Domenico Muratori.
    + Allegedly, this segment of the pillar upon which Jesus was flogged and tortured before his crucifixion in Jerusalem was retrieved from the Holy Land in the early 4thC by the 80 year old mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine I. She also found a surprising number of other authentic artifacts, such as pieces of the True Cross, which no doubt Con found useful when establishing his new state religion.
    PS Remember Robert Browning?
    https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43746/th…
    This is the church that evidently inspired him. If you understand the poem, keep it to yourself.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler
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    21

    Roming around

    December 13, 2018 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    + Recently, Americans have had a problem with their politicians being economical with the truth, particularly regarding their closeness to Russians. Since ancient times the problem was solved here with the aid of this statue, known as "La Bocca della Verita". Dating back to around the 1st century CE, the original purpose of the Mouth of Truth is unknown: it may have been a ceremonial well cover, fountain decoration or even a manhole cover. The face itself has been said to represent your favorite pagan whichever it is. What has been known since medieval times is that if you stick your hand in its mouth and tell a fib, it will be bitten off.
    + Another politician who liked the sound of his own voice was Benito Mussolini. He enjoyed yelling at the crowd from this balcony above the Piazza Venezia, delivering some of his famous speeches including the declaration of the Italian Empire in 1936, and a declaration of war on France and Britain in 1940. The Piazza is named for the ornate palace, Palazzo Venezia, that dominates one side of the square. Mussolini’s office was located in the Sala del Mappamondo in the palace throughout the 1930s, and the balcony off the room overlooked the square just below.
    + This segues effortlessly to the Cloaca Maxima, one of the oldest relics in Rome, now used as a campsite for the homeless. Constructed during the reign of Tarquinius Priscus (6 BCE,) to empty the marshlands and carry stormwater from the central Forum section of the city, this is the point where it drains into the river Tiber. 300 years later the open drain was covered and waste from latrines and public baths were directed through the system. Apparently Agrippa later cleaned them out and enlarged them to take the flow from 11 aqueducts.
    “Sometimes water from the Tiber flows backwards and makes its way up the sewers. Then the powerful flood-waters clash head-on in the confined space, but the unyielding structure holds firm.” [Pliny the Elder]
    + Lifting our focus now, this Art Nouveau courtyard was built in the late 19th century for the influential Sciarra family. It was meant to be a shopping mall, which, had it come to fruition, would perhaps be one of the most beautiful shopping centers in Rome. You can find it, though most tourists dont, just round the corner from the Trevi Fountain and the Via del Corso. Each of the central facades is covered by colourful frescoes of women and men surrounded by elegant, curling floral designs. The women are the main focus, as the artwork, which was painted by Giuseppe Cellini, is intended to celebrate women in the various phases of life.
    Eat your heart out Frank Lowy (Westfields).
    + I've no idea whose triumphant arch, not 200m from the Bocca on the via Velabro,this is. But now it belongs to the rhino.
    + And similarly this elephant transfixed by an obelisk must have meant something to someone.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Eternal city

    December 13, 2018 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    + The family matriarch had run a hotel most successfully near this Piazza Ragusa and about 18 minutes walk from the railway station, Roma Tuscolana, and 500 metres or so from the Villa Wolkonsky where I remember swimming when it was the British Embassy as well as the ambassador's residence it is now. My host, Alex, had taken over the running of this hotel, discovering a typical history of undocumented administration that he struggles to untangle.
    In the meantime, lucky workawayers like myself are offered a couple of nights free accommodation in order to visit the town. I spent a day and a half walking all around the old part, realising that I had seen most of it when we lived here, but not having enough time to really examine places of interest in depth.
    + I picked out a few things to look at, from the background layers of history to be found in every wall,
    + or converted into offices, like this headquarters of an association of architects.
    + Old buildings morph sometimes seamlessly into new ones.
    + The Ponto Rotto on the Tiber - is half a bridge better than no bridge?
    + The first King of a united Italy, Victor Emanuel II, has as his - national - monument a giant marble "Wedding Cake", sometimes called "The Giant Typewriter". Other names are: Mole del Vittoriano, Il Vittoriano, or Altare della Patria. It is said to be built in a neoclassical style with eclectic influences: or to use more technical language, its a mishmash.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    One (quarter) day at a time

    December 4, 2018 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    Above the only remaining gate into the town, I spotted this relic: a mediaevil 6 hour clock based on Roman 2ndC BCE timekeeping.
    The DAY runs from 06:00 to 18:00 divided into
    Terce 09:00 until
    Sext 12:00 until
    None 15:00 until
    Vespers at 18:00 when NIGHT started.
    During the night Roman guards would stand watch, (being vigilant from which we get VIGILS.)
    First from 19:00 to 21:00
    Second from 21:00 to 24:00
    Third from midnight to 03:00
    Fourth 03:00 to 06:00    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler
    1

    3 things to know about local activities

    December 4, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Sign on a house or barn suggests something.
    They make olive oil.
    They burn witches in front of the church.

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Casperia

    December 4, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Outing to a local fortified hill town, Casperia. It has managed to retain its medieval architecture with cobblestoned streets and century old small houses that line the lanes of the town. The walls are 2000 years old and like a spiderweb the street form concentric rings around the summit, with steps connecting them.
    Unfortunately a recent earthquake has made some of the buildings, notably the church, unstable and therefore closed to the public.
    Its pedestrian only access - no cars allowed - but the locals have found their own solution.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Restaurant

    December 3, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Took some time off for lunch at one of the first Roman centres in the territory of the Sabina.
    Forum Novum was a small Roman town in the Sabine Hills, 50 km north of Rome. In the middle ages it became a village called Vescovio, which was tiny but had a very important church. The British School at Rome has researched the area around the Tiber between 1000 BC and AD 1300, investigating how human settlement of the area changed over time.
    There are only low walls left and many assumptions so I didn't photograph it!
    The church of Santa Maria, was a cathedral until 1495, when the diocesan headquarters was moved to Magliano Sabina. The church was destroyed in the ninth century by the Saracens, then rebuilt and restored several times. A dig found the remains of a building that may have been the original church, dating back to the fifth century AD. Most of the remains are 12C, including the bell tower.
    Its main claim to fame now is that it was a favourite retreat for Pope John XXIII who came many times both privately and officially.
    The grubs not bad either.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    In the pink

    December 1, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    Autumn colours
    View from the sitting room
    750 cc Pink Panda is 30 years old and still going strong though she needs a bit of stick going uphill. I had fun redoing the electrics to get her started up. Reminded me of my old Morris.
    House and car are colour coordinated.
    Hard to believe that this patch of ground, 100 m below the house beside the stream carrying the run-off from the valley, was a field of wheat only 30 years ago. I met here the local farmer who has lived on the side of this valley all his 80 years and gave me a potted history of the area. It has gone from traditional Italian country living, every square metre terraced and cultivated, pigs and cows in every home etc etc to being an hour commute by train to Rome. Lack of children was one reason: industrial farming another. The milk coop was forced out of existence by the price the big boys wanted to pay for milk; 35c per litre which is less than the cost of feeding the cow. Familiar story. Now there are only olive trees left.    Read more

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