Photograph by Susan Sanders.
Archive for January, 2008
When the volcano Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, it destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, as well as a host of luxury villas overlooking the Bay of Naples. That ancient tragedy was a gift to the modern world: the pumice and ash that filled homes and displaced tens of thousands of people, also served to preserve the elaborate mural paintings that embellished residential structures.
The rediscovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum in the mid-18th century and its subsequent (and still ongoing) excavation have made it clear that ancient Romans lived in houses that were much more elaborately decorated than our own. While the walls - and sometimes the ceiling vaults - of upper-class Roman abodes featured extraordinary embellishment undertaken by the era’s most exclusive artists, even lesser houses seem to have had at one or two painted rooms at the very least.
Where and how to see these frescoes? A trip to Pompeii won’t serve you that well as many of the most elaborate frescoes were removed from the contexts in which they were discovered during early excavations. The permanent home for most of the detached frescoes is the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, but much to the frustration of many tourists, that collection of frescoes has been closed for many years due to ongoing museum rennovation.
But don’t despair! From now until 20 March, approximately 100 frescoes from the Naples Archaeological Museum have made their way to Rome and are on exhibit at the National Archaeological Museum at the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (photographs in this post show details of these remarkable paintings).
Technically, the frescoes convince any viewer that the Romans were utterly and completely concerned with the creation of images that depicted a world much like our own. The human bodies shown are anatomically correct and they move and occupy space in a manner similar to our own. As well, any number of illusionistic frescoes make it clear that the Romans understood how to show three-dimensional perspective on a two-dimensional surface, for they go to great lengths to create images that make it appear as if the wall surface has disappeared and one is looking out into a garden, a landscape, or a world of fantastic architecture.
The subjects of the paintings likewise remind us that the Roman art addressed a variety of subjects, from every day life to myth to history. In one fresco, listeners surround a female musician (see image below), while in another a still life shows the dried fruits, mushrooms, and moray eels that could be found in the pantry of a wealthy Roman kitchen. In the realm of myth, the Trojan warrior Aeneas shares a tender embrace with Queen Dido (above, right) in one image, while the baby Hercules wrestles with snakes sent by the goddess Juno to kill him in another. And, a series of stunning dining rooms from a villa that perhaps belonged to the emperor Nero remind us that such decoration is not just an exercise in aesthetics, but that images often carry social and political meaning, for in these rooms Nero seems to pronounce his concern with the development of the area around the Sarno River on the Bay of Naples.
A few more recent discoveries also are included in the exhibition. These include an entire room from a Pompeii home decorated with garden motifs as well as frescoes of deities on a red background from an ancient hotel found in 2000 during construction of a highway near the site.
Photos by Susan Sanders
Exhibition open from 09.00-19.45, Tuesday-Sunday. Closed Mondays. National Archaeological Museum at Palazzo Massimo alle Terme. Largo di Villa Peretti 1.
When one thinks of Rome, one thinks of food. And when one thinks of Roman food, one thinks of pizza and pasta slathered with rich, delicious tomato sauce and embellished with juicy slices of eggplant, tasty charred bits of roasted red pepper, and sweet crispy
But that’s summer food! Head off to a Roman market in the winter and you’ll notice that the tomatoes, the peppers, the eggplant and the zucchini seem a little anemic and that they’re sporting price tags that threaten to break the bank.
So, if those cliched standards are out, what’s one to eat in Rome in the winter? Given the mild climate in central Italy, there’s no shortage of delicious things out there and a trip to the market will produce baskets full of richly-colored cold-weather vegetables that will please both eye and stomach.
Take, for example, the photo above, taken after yesterday morning’s visit to the organic market that happens every second and last Sunday of the month on Vicolo della Moretta. There’s bunches and bunches of beautiful baby carrots, a butternut squash, kohl rabi, and some brilliantly colored radicchio that’s just begging to be sprinkled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and roasted in the oven.
Or there’s the fine examples above: a broccoli romanesco (sometimes called a minaret for its unusual shape); a bunch of cavolo nero that’s so green it’s almost black in color; and a head of green radicchio that seems to have been splattered with red paint.
What to do with all of this? There’s a world of vegetable soups and stews that keep us warm here at the eCool compound, but our absolute favorite winter dish is a pesto made of cavolo nero. The recipe comes from the River Cafe Italian Country Cookbook by Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray.
Winter Pesto of Cavolo Nero
2 1/2 lbs cavolo nero leaves
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper (we add pepperoncino too)
Remove the stems of the cavolo nero leaves, but keep the leaves whole. (Hey, we don’t even remove the stems. We just cut off the thickest part of the ends.) Blanch them in a generous amount of boiling slated water along with 2 garlic cloves for a few minutes only. Drain well. Put the blanched garlic and cavolo nero into the food processor and pulse/chop to a fairly coarse puree. In the last couple of seconds, pour into the processor about 5 tablespoons of the oil. This makes a fairly liquid, dark green (and utterly delicious) puree.
Crush the remaining 2 garlic cloves with 1 tablespoon of sea salt (and some pepperoncino). Stir into the puree along with a further 5 tablespoons of oil. Season to taste.
Use as you would a summer basil pesto, stirring into hot pasta until all the pasta is thickly coated. Add olive oil and grated parmesan as necessary or desirable.
On this Photo Saturday (again we’re a day behind), photographer Susan Sanders transports us to Rome’s high-fashion district with an image of the window display at Pure, a store where Rome’s most exclusive children pick out the perfect outfits.
Susans’s photo captures both the sophistication and the spookiness of the extraordinarily lifelike mannequins whose strange facial expressions compel one to believe that these too-much too-soon tots are possessed by fashion demons.
For more of Susan’s photographs, visit Rome With a View, her photo blog.
24
Jan
Cracking Up?
“Is your worrying global enough?
Face the problem before it’s too late.”
Advertising Agency: Grey, Milan, Italy
Executive Creative Director: Francesco Emiliani
Art Directors: Letizia Bozzolini, Andrea Salvaneschi
Copywriters: Livia Cappelletti, Marco Carucci
Photographer: Zona 13
We don’t know who did it (and unfortunately it’s now gone), but nothing delighted us more at the eCool compound than the sticker of Gary Coleman that appeared in Rome’s Piazza San Callisto some months ago.
What was Arnold Willis doing in the Eterna? We’ve got no idea. But we fully subscribe to the “different strokes for different folks” way of thinking that brought him childhood fame. And so, we were glad to see his happy and smiling face.
22
Jan
Espresso Academy
Italian coffee is legendary. How legendary? Well, it’s commonly known that the Italian coffee tradition inspired the creation of America’s gargantuan coffee chain, Starbucks. But, despite expansion to China and beyond, Starbucks has recently announced that they’re not coming to Italy. It’s a sign, perhaps, of just how formidable is the long-established coffee culture on the boot-shaped peninsula.
If you’re a coffee lover who prefers your to take your frothy cappuccino or velvety espresso standing up at bar (rather than walking down the street), then Florence’s Espresso Academy might just be a place that you want to spend some time. The academy’s courses range in length from a few hours to two days and teach a variety of skills. You can learn the history of coffee, edify yourself about the fine points of roasting and grinding, discover how to make the perfect espresso on a stove or with a machine, and even become skilled in creating those lovely designs so often seen atop frothy cups of cappuccino.
Because the academy’s classrooms are located inside the Mokaflor roasting plant, you can observe the entire coffee cycle, from the unloading of trucks to roasting and grinding. You can witness new blends and new products being tested and look on as Moakflor’s employees evaluate new packaging and design new espresso machines and new coffee grinders.
What kinds of courses are on offer? There are six in total, the most alluring of them are as follows:
A three-hour Discovery course introduces students to the botany of coffee, its different varieties, and the methods by which it is picked and prepared for consumption. Participants in this course also learn to prepare the perfect stove top espresso and are introduced to the workings of the bar-quality espresso makers.
The “Milk Art” course is four hours in length and provides instruction in the making of cappuccino decorations such as hearts, leaves, and more. Those enrolled also get a crash-course in the making of cappuccino - from choosing the right milk to steaming it perfectly.
A four-hour Tasting course aims to improve your palate. After an introduction to the botany of coffee, participants learn to see, smell, and taste coffee, enhancing their awareness of the differences between such varietals as African Arabic, scented Latin American washed coffees, southeastern Asia Robusta, and Jamaica Blue Mountain.
And for those who like their coffee in the evening as well as in the morning, there’s a four-hour Coffee Cocktail course that introduces mixing concepts, classic coffee cocktails, and those more complicated ones that mix alcohol with milk or cream.
Via delle Torri 55, 50142 Florence
Tel. +39 055 7321718 - Fax +39 055 7321719
e-mail: info@espressoacademy.it
22
Jan
London Eye-Spy
In July of last year, Fiat celebrated its 50th anniversary by releasing a brand-new 500. Since that time, the Fiat 500 has been the darling of the car industry.
Last night, at 8pm GMT, the 500 was officially introduced to London - exactly 500 hours after the start of 2008. Its introduction was no small affair. Secured in a capsule on the London Eye, a silver 500 took a spin over the city while a light show exploded over the Thames River to the enjoyment of attendees at a glitzy A-list party.
In anticipation of the event, Fiat caused stir last November when they announced the hotly anticipated Fiat 500 would cost from just £7,900 a whopping £1,000 less than expected.
On sale this month, the dinky Fiat will be available in three trim levels: Pop, Sport and Lounge and with 1.2, 1.4-litre petrol or 1.3-litre diesel engines.
Yesterday we saw Botticelli’s Venus hawking the amenities at Renaissance Hotels & Resorts. Today the goddess of love and beauty joins up with twentieth-century sculptor Alberto Giacometti to promote Le Mad, the Wednesday culture supplement to Le Soir, the number one French-language Belgian daily newspaper.
We did the geeky aspect of these ads. A big-collared, short-sleeved, buttoned-up boy timidly bears flowers for the formidable and beautiful Venus, while an awkwardly lanky, platform-shod, turtle-necked boy approaches the girl of his dreams. It’s the perfect union of art and intellectual.
The copy reads: “Your weekly rendez-vous with culture.”
Agency: mortierbrigade, Brussels
Creative directors: Joost Berends, Philippe De Ceuster & Jens Mortier
Art Director: Antoinette Ribas
Copywriter: Arnaud Pitz
Photographer: Frieke Janssens
Graphic Designer: Barbara Vandenberghe
Yes, we’re a day behind, making this Photo Saturday instead of Photo Friday. And, given that it’s a brilliantly sunny winter day today, we thought we’d feature Susan Sander’s recent Trevi Fountain photos as they so majestically showcase the dramatic contrast between light and dark that characterizes Rome in the winter months.
In the two shots above, the stage set that is the Trevi (read more about that here) is made ever more dramatic by the angling shadows thrown by surrounding buildings. Seen this way, one realizes just how small is the space in which the Trevi stands, for it was inserted into a densely populated neighborhood when it was created.
Below, tourists rest on the rough-hewn rocks of the Trevi’s base, taking in the last glimmers of sunlight on an unusually warm winter day.
To see more of Susan’s evocative photographs of Rome, visit her website: romewithaview.com
