2008 November archive at eternallycool.net

Archive for November, 2008

Nov

Life and Death on Viale Trastevere

By idcrome 0 Comments

Categories: On the Street and Text & the City

Shrine on Viale Trastevere

In the midst of a rainy and cold weekend in Rome, we bring you a lovely photo of a shrine to the Virgin that’s located on Viale Trastevere, just across the street from the Ministry of Public Education. The shrine, as seen in the photo, is a popular one, as attested by the hundreds of marble plaques thanking Mary for her intercession. There are always candles, too, and fresh flowers and plants, and more often than not a devotee who has stopped to say a prayer.

It’s not just the eCool team that loves this site. Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, an author who wrote beautifully about Rome (and the rest of Italy) until her recent death, admired this shrine as well. And so we bring you a passage from her book, Italian Days:

Rome is a city in which life exists in the midst of death, death in the midst of life. [On Viale Trastevere] there is a wall at which I often stop to refresh my spirits; it is a shrine to the Virgin–in the midst of clamour, salubrious naivete: a collection of pictures of those in peril saved by Mary; ex-votos, tin or silver representations of body parts for which Mary’s healing grace is asked; and testimonails to her efficacious intercession. (I am at the post office, I always think, when I sotp here, the post office where the Virgin collects her mail and simple sprays of flowers.) Each day there is a new thank-you note, a new request; it makes one quite happy to have left one’s house.

Nov

The Pope Goes Green

By idcrome 0 Comments

Categories: Myth/Legend/Religion and Everything Else

Solar Panels at the Vatican

Via AFP: The Vatican began its conversion to renewable energy system this week with the inauguration of an array of solar panels on a key building.

The 2,400 panels on the 5,000 square meter roof of the Paul VI auditorium, near St Peter’s Basilica, where popes hold general audiences, will convert sunlight into 300 megawatts of electricity a year.

This is enough for the year-round energy needs of the hall, which is also used for concerts and conferences, and several surrounding buildings, according to the Vatican.

The auditorium is one of the most modern buildings in the Vatican City and the system will save the equivalent of 80 tons of oil per year, or 225 tons of CO2.

The panels were donated by German company Solarworld, which recently hit the headlines with a plan to take over vehicle builder Opel.

Solarworld’s boss Frank Asbeck met the late pope John Paul II in 2002, and according to his own account asked for a papal blessing on his firm’s solar panels in the hope of stopping them being stolen while in transit.

Other buildings in the Roman Catholic Church’s city state will soon benefit from renewable energy sources as the Vatican expands its green ethos across its 110 acres.

It plans to have enough renewable energy sources to provide 20 percent of its needs by 2020, in line with a European Union target.

The next project will be a solar heating facility in its so-called “industrial zone”.

Pope Benedict XVI and his predecessor John Paul II both encouraged the Vatican to go progressively “green”.

Since summer 2007, the Vatican has been involved with a scheme to restore an ancient forest in Hungary, under a pact with Planktos-Klimafa, an eco-restoration company.

The reforestation scheme is aimed to make it the world’s first carbon-neutral sovereign state by offsetting its emissions through planting trees.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, states can purchase so-called emission credits to compensate for their excess greenhouse gases.

On a visit to Australia earlier this year, the pope warned his audience that humanity was squandering the earth’s resources to satisfy its insatiable appetite for material goods.

Nov

Pauline on Pay-Per-View

By idcrome 0 Comments

Categories: Photo Friday, Photography, Outside Rome, Past & Present and Art & Design

Our trusty photographer, Susan Sanders, does it again with a fabulous image of a stenciled graffiti depicting Rome’s Neoclassical pin-up Pauline Borghese. This may be our favorite Photo Friday ever!

Susan spotted this stencil on Lungotevere a Ripa and was immediately intrigued by the idea that someone is out spray-painting images of Canova’s famous statue of Napoleon’s sister, Pauline Borghese. Closer inspection revealed that this is not your average cut-and-spray reproduction, however, but that the image is a humorous invention on the Neoclassical icon.

If you look carefully at the image above, you’ll see that Pauline wears a spiked bracelet and a mask and holds a whip. This is Pauline all dressed up for an appearance on pay-per-view, as the barely legible caption below her reminds us. It reads, “All you need is to play.”

To see another humorous invention on Canova’s Pauline Borghese, click here.

To see more photograph of Rome by Susan Sanders, visit her website: Rome With A View. And don’t forget to treat yourself to one of the calendars designed by Susan for 2009. They feature beautiful but out-of-the-ordinary views of the Eternal City that you’ll want to admire all year long.

Pauline Borghese Stencil Graffiti

Nov

Counting the Days

By idcrome 0 Comments

Categories: Photo Friday and Photography

For those of you busy assembling and studying wish lists in preparation for the upcoming winter holidays, we’re thrilled to announce the release of the long-awaited Rome With A View Calendars! (see images from the calendars above and below)

Featuring expert photographs of the Eternal City taken by Susan Sanders, our photographer in residence here at e-Cool, the calendars provide an insider’s look into Rome that you can enjoy all year long. (You’ll be glad to hear that these aren’t your usual postcard views of the city–we’ve all owned that calendar already, right?)

Each month features a photograph of the Eterna and a quote that will help you keep the Rome fires burning all year long. And, at $19.99, you can afford to buy one for yourself and one for the Rome-antic in your life.

So, if you’ve enjoyed our Photo Fridays here on e-Cool and would like to enjoy a bit of Rome every single day, click here to buy a calendar from the iDC City Shop.

Nov

A Bit of Naples in Ft Worth

By idcrome 0 Comments

Categories: Roman Holidays and Outside Rome

Neapolitan Presepe in Ft Worth

In past holiday seasons, we’ve spent lots of time blogging about presepe or nativity scenes. No doubt we’ll be back at it when the Rome enters into the Christmas crescendo in a few weeks.

Being perfectly aware, of course, that not all of our readers will have the chance to admire shepherds, angels, kings, and babies in Piazza Navona (or on the streets of Naples from whence they hail), we offer an alternative for those of you who are Texans or who will be passing through the Lone Star State during the holidays.

This Christmas season, Ft. Worth’s Kimbell Art Museum plays host to an extraordinary loan from Naples, Italy: a magnificent, 18th-century Neapolitan Nativity scene. The presepe (the word comes from the Latin word for “crib,” praesepium) features more than 70 figures and animals that average about 15 inches tall and will be displayed in the traditional manner with a realistic, rocky setting and a crumbling Roman arch.

In Renaissance Italy, presepe figures were generally large (often life-size) and installed in churches. The tradition of presepe took exceptionally strong root in Naples during the 18th century, a period of great political stability and economic boom. The Kimbell presepe showcases a form of art that today seems almost inseparable from the celebration of Christmas—the arrangement of movable figures, animals and props to represent the scene in the stable at Bethlehem after the birth of Christ.

Supervising the installation is the leading expert on presepe, Elio Catello, whose family has collected and installed presepi since the early 19th century. He learned the art from his grandfather, Vincenzo, and his father, Roberto, and has passed it on to his daughter, Roberta, who will also accompany the presepe to the Kimbell.

Seeing a fully installed presepe is a rare treat. The Kimbell’s presepe will be on view throughout the holiday season, from November 25, 2008, to January 25, 2009. There is no charge for admission to this exhibition.

Nov

The Lapis Niger in Re-View

By idcrome 0 Comments

Categories: Archaeology

The Lapis Niger in the Roman Forum

Archaeologists and those interested in Rome’s earliest development will be excited by the recent announcement of Angelo Bottoni, superindent of archaeology in Rome, who says that the Lapis Niger in the Roman Forum will be opened to the public in 2009.

An archaic shrine–at which the oldest known Latin inscription was discovered–the Lapis Niger is a mysterious underground monument made up of an altar next to a truncated stele on which the Latin inscription is carved vertically in boustrophidon style (from left to right, then right to left, and alternating back and forth, “as an ox would plow a field.)

The underground stele and altar are capped by a black marble paving and “fenced off” with white marble slabs as if to keep the sacred spot from being walked upon by pedistrians. In fact, the inscription on the stele curses anyone who tramples or defiles the spot:

Whosoever defiles this spot, let him be forfeit to the spirits of the underworld; whosoever contaminates it with refuse, after due process of law, it shall be proper for the King to deprive him of his property. And whatsoever persons the King shall discover passing on this road, let him bid the Herald seize the reins of their draught animals, to force them to turn aside forthwith and to take the approved detour. And whosoever shall fail to take the approved detour and shall persist in traveling this road, let him after due process of law be sold at auction to the highest bidder.

What was the significance of the Lapis Niger shrine? The Roman historians Tacitus and Livy suggest that the area of the Lapis Niger was associated with the cult of Romulus, the legendary founder and first King of Rome. In the late Republic, tradition held that the ‘black stone’ was the very marker for the tomb of Romulus. Competing tradition held that it was rather the tomb of Hostilius, grandfather of Rome’s third king, Tullius Hostilius.

Lapis Niger Excavations & Stele

Rediscovered in the late 19th-century in excavations undertaken by Italian archaeologist Giacomo Boni, the Lapis Niger has been off limits to visitors in the past decades, as it is beneath a concrete covering that Bottini says is decaying. Thus the soprintendenza plans to remove the old cover over the shrine and erect a hut-like structure that will allow visitors to the Forum to view the excavations.

Work is scheduled to begin in December and is part of a larger plan to improve Rome’s archaeological area as a way of celebrating the 2000th anniversary of the birth of the Roman Emperor Vespasian in 2009.

Nov

Rewind Rome

By idcrome 0 Comments

Categories: Uncategorized

Rewind Rome 1

By Nick Squires, from the Telegraph:

Vestal Virgins, bloodthirsty gladiators grappling with tigers and a portly toga-wearing guide are the highlights of a new high-tech attraction which aims to bring Ancient Rome to life.

“3D Rewind Rome” opens this today within sight of the Colosseum, the scene of fights to the death between gladiators, slaves and wild animals.

It blends video-game technology with Hollywood animation to recreate life in the temples, tribunals and market places of the ancient city in 310AD, during the reign of Emperor Maxentius.

Gladiatorial scenes, graffiti-covered walls and dusty streets crowded with 60,000 virtual characters aim to give visitors a taste of what life was like in “Caput Mundi” – the centre of the ancient world.

Rewind Rome 3

“Now all of Rome is at your feet,” says Sapientus, the chubby, balding 3D guide to a detailed virtual model of the city, developed by archaeologists, architects, historians and digital designers.

Tourists will be able to watch a rowdy Senate debate, see the plebeian goings-on of the working-class district of Suburra and get a glimpse into the hallowed sanctuary of the Vestal Virgins.

A financial crisis which sweeps the city will be all too familiar to contemporary viewers.

“Oh no! My life savings! I could have earned more by keeping my money under the mattress!” Sapientus complains.

The computer images are most startling during gladiatorial scenes in the Colosseum. At the preview, the audience wearing three-dimensional glasses leapt back when evil gladiator Bestia appeared to thrust his sword out of the screen.

The experience also includes glimpses of a gladiator locked in combat with a tiger.

The gladiators were brought to life with “motion capture” technology, using body-sensors on real people at the modern-day Scuola Gladiatori in Rome, run by a local historical society.

The historical authenticity of Rewind Rome starts with its location. “When we were excavating the site we found the remains of barracks where the gladiators would live and train before walking through underground tunnels and emerging into the Colosseum,” said Joel Myers, the British managing director of high-tech entertainment company Virtuality. “The aim is to help tourists better understand the archeological sites they see in Rome because very often they find them difficult to interpret.”

3D Rewind Rome is at 5, Via Capo d’Africa, near the Colosseum, and opens on November 20. Bookings can be made now on the website, www.3drewind.com, which is in English and Italian. Adults: 10 euros; Children: 6.50 euros

Rewind Rome 2

Nov

Caesar Recaptures Rome!

By idcrome 0 Comments

Categories: On Show and Art & Design

Bust of Julius Caesar

In 49 BC, Julius Caesar fearlessly led his army to Rome and assumed control of the strife-torn city. Now, almost 2000 years later, Caesar has taken the city by storm once again, this time as the subject of an exhibit examining his life and legacy. Titled, “Julius Caesar - Man, Feats and Myth,” the exhibit can be seen at the Cloister of Bramante, adjacent to the church of Santa Maria della Pace. Touted as the first show ever to focus solely on Caesar, “Julius Caesar - Man, Feats, and Myth” showcases some 200 objects, ranging in date from antiquity to the 20th century.

The exhibit begins by recounting Caesar’s biography through the presentation of objects related to his life and achivements. Marble portrait busts of the great dictator and his contemporaries, Greek-influenced luxury objects of types common in Rome during Caesar’s life, arms and armor from the Gallic Wars, Egyptian and Egyptianizing objects testifying to his stint in Egypt and his affair with Cleopatra, and fragments from the public architecture he constructed in Rome paint a vivid picture of Caesar’s life and achievements.

Sculpture depicting Venus Genetrix

But this exhibit goes beyond biography to examine how the myth of Caesar developed in the centuries since following his assassination in 44 BC. It first examines his divinization and the cult that sprang up in the immediate years after Caesar’s death, and then moves on to document the legends about him that survived the Middle Ages and attracted fresh attention during the Renaissance, when the Roman noble, Cesare Borgia, honored his namesake by commissioning an intricately crafted sword with the motto “Aut Caesar, aut nihil” or “Caesar or nothing.”

The exhibition also shows how, in the Neoclassical era of the 18th and 19th centuries, Caesar became newly popular, winning the admiration of such military greats as Napoleon Bonaparte, who was fascinated by the achievements of his imperial forerunner. A host of paintings by such artists as Rubens and Tiepolo remind the viewer of the ways in which Caesar served as a role model in the era of European nation building.

Finally, a small theater attests to our continued fascination with Caesar. Running in a constant loop are excerpts from famous films that made Caesar a star on the silver screen in the 20th century.

Julius Caesar: Man, Feats, and Myth. On exhibit until 3 May 2009. Via della Pace. Tue - Fri 10:00 - 20:00, Sat - Sun 10:00 -21:00. 10 euro entrance fee. On Tuesdays, entrance is reduced to 7 euro.

Bust of Octavian

Nov

Trilussa Gets Tipsy

By idcrome 0 Comments

Categories: Humor, Everything Else and Text & the City

Trilussa Gets Tipsy

Early on a recent morning, we strolled through Trastevere’s Piazza Trilussa and discovered that the sculpture of the poet Trilussa had been embellished — most likely by the throng of wine- and spirit-swilling youth that fills the square on weekend nights. We laughed to see one of Rome’s most esteemed poets holding a bottle of red wine and leaning over as if to tell us about its secret properties. We can only imagine that Trilussa himself would have enjoyed the joke.

Trilussa’s real name was Carlo Alberto Salustri (Trilussa is an anagram of Salustri), and he grew famous in the 1920s and 1930s for his poems written in the Roman dialect. Not part of any literary circle, he was a writer who preferred to spend his time in the streets and taverns, taking his inspiration from the petite-bourgeoisie of Rome: the housewife, the store clerk, the servant, while also denouncing the governments and the vices of the rich.

The monument in Trastevere features a poem from his 1932 collection, Giove e le bestie (translation by Luigi Bonaffini) :

IN THE SHADOW

While I’m reading the usual newspaper,
relaxed in the shadow of a straw patio,
I see a swine and I say aloud: “Farewell, pig!”
I see a mule and I say aloud: “Farewell, donkey!”

Maybe these beasts won’t understand me
but, at least, I feel so happy
to be free to tell things straight,
fearing not to finish up in prison.

Or if you prefer to read it in the original Italian:

ALL’OMBRA

Mentre me leggo er solito giornale
spaparacchiato all’ombra d’un pajaro,
vedo un porco e je dico. Addio, majale!
vedo un ciuccio e je dico. Addio, somaro!

Forse ste bestie nun me caperanno,
ma provo armeno la soddisfazzione
de potè di’ le cose come stanno
senza paura de fini in priggione.

Nov

Godfather Spaghetti-Measuring Device

By idcrome 0 Comments

Categories: Food & Wine

Godfather Spaghetti Measuring Device

All signs suggest that the holiday season is near. So, knowing that there are many Italophiles out there searching for the perfect items to put on their wish lists, we’re making a commitment to showcase a few eternally cool products each week until Christmas.

We begin today with the Godfather Spaghetti-Measuring Device (S.M.D.) . It’s hard to imagine a pasta lover who wouldn’t want want of these! Designed by David-Louis and shaped like a knuckleduster, the Godfather S.M.D. has holes to measure child-sized portions, adult portions and dinner party portions of spaghetti.

Get yours at Charles & Marie.