While more traditional versions of the myth suggest that it was the Greeks who rolled the Trojan Horse up to the gates of Troy, DHL’s latest publicity campaign takes full credit for the timely delivery of that surprise gift package.
We love it.
Advertising Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Executive Creative Director: Till Hohmann
Art Director: Rafael Rizuto
Creative Director: Dalba Singh
Illustration: Keith Thompsom
Editor: Sascha Kuntze
Long time readers of this blog will know that photographer Susan Sanders has a long-standing interest in layers of publicity that are applied to the walls lining Rome’s streets. Last May, she brought us a wildly interesting series of photos showing just how interesting things become when ads accumulate, on atop the other, and then begin to peel off, creating collages that are a testament to Rome’s busy social and political life.
Today, Susan once again entertains this interest, as she brings us a photo of the streetscape along Via Marmorata. There, a series of political posters mounted by the Partito Democratico were delcared abusive (meaning that the correct permits were not obtained before they were put up) by means official red and yellow Roma posters that are layered on top those of the PD and read “Affissione Abusiva.”
For more photos by Susan, visit her website: Rome With a View.
We don’t know who created this, but whoever it is, we’ve got a crush on them! Some crafty classics-loving individual has created a mock Facebook page for the Aeneid. It’s wonderful and hilarious. You don’t have to use Facebook to appreciate it, but you do have to know a bit about the Aeneid and the Trojan War.
There’s a lot more to it than we’re showing here. Click this link and then click on the image to enlarge it. Enjoy! And beware of Greeks bearing gifts!
A few weeks ago, we were hanging about the Ara Pacis Museum, admiring that lovely Altar of Peace created for the Roman Emperor Augustus in the first century BC. Upon leaving, we browsed our way through the museum store and came upon a couple of Rome-inspired rings that set our hearts a’pounding.
The SPQR and She-Wolf rings are just a couple of the brilliant Rome-inspired products designed by Luca Lunghini and Monica Kobiakov, founders of Tre Tigri design, a new creative lab based in the Eternal City. Visit the Tre Tigri website to see other products, including flocked iron-on transfers that depict pasta shapes and iconic Roman street sights like the Fiat 500 and the nasoni (or little drinking fountains scattered throughout the city).
To our mind, these little plastic rings are the perfect souvenir for anyone visiting Rome, but they also make a fabulous little gift for anyone who has an undying love of the Eterna. You can pick yours up at any of the following museums and bookstores:
It’s been unseasonably cold here in Rome with temperatures dropping below freezing at night and a brisk and frigid wind blowing off the Apennine Mountains. Such conditions–while sometimes a bit hard to endure in apartments built more to protect inhabitants from summer’s hot sun than to insulate them from winter’s cold–make for drop dead gorgeous days in the Eternal City.
The wind clears the air and the sky takes on a stunning shade of azure. The crisp, clear light remains even as the sun goes down, as seen above in a photo of the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine taken by Susan Sanders this Sunday.
For more photos by Susan, visit her website: Rome With A View.
Get out your credit cards you lovers of ancient Rome and Greece! We’re thrilled, positively thrilled, to announce the discovery of a British company that’s created neckties for lovers of the ancient past.
We’re sure that you (or someone you love) is in desparate need of the SPQR / She-Wolf necktie that Modern Antiquities is selling. You can see it in blue above. The website says that it will soon be available in red as well. It’s 100% silk and costs 30 pounds.
It’s hard to imagine that anyone would choose a Greek tie over a Roman one (but we know some erratic individuals who might just do that), nonetheless, we will admit that we’re moderately charmed by Modern Antiquities black-figure tie with images from a geometric vase. It comes in a traditional tone of red ground with black figures, but you can also get it in blue.
Like the Death of Marat redux stencil that we published last week, we sighted this nice piece of spray art in Rome’s Jewish Ghetto. The face of this seated boy is haunting and the segmentation of his garments looks great against the worn paint of an old building and juxtaposed with the peeling signs and street stickers that are so much a part of Rome’s urban landscape.
Through March 8th, visitors at the Capitoline Museums may find themselves befuddled when they see a giant pair of porcelain lips pouting below a series of relief sculptures that depict Marcus Aurelius making a triumphal procession.
The incongruous pair of lips is part (the best part, we might add) of a temporary exhibit of several hundred pieces of Sèvres porcelain installed in the galleries of Rome’s oldest museum. The exhibit honors the achievements of the Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres, a porcelain factory founded in the 18th century and located in the French city of Sèvres. Once endorsed and promoted by the mistresses of Louis XV, Sèvres today manufactures only 4,000 to 5,000 pieces of porcelain every year.
Among more recent works is La Bocca (the Mouth) which bears a strange resemblance to the lip-shaped sofa designed by Salvador Dalì. Designed by Bertrand Lavier, the creation of the porcelain lips required more than 18 months of work in the studios.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Difficulties figuring out what to buy for the Rome-antic in your life on this Valentine’s Day? Boy, have we got a solution for you: a chocolate Pieta. Where did we find such a thing? There’s a story.
Some years ago, a certain member of the eCool team became entranced by a “candy lady” whose quaint, old-fashioned shop just off Viale Trastevere was stuffed with sweet delights. Said member of the eCool team stopped in regularly, developed a relationship with the “candy lady,” and drastically increased their consumption of sugar-filled treats. Imagine, then, the sadness when this sweet-toothed eCool-er discovered that the “candy lady” had packed up and left. Her shop closed suddenly. She left no forwarding address. There were feelings of loss and abandonment that had to be dealt with. There were cravings that went unsatisfied.
Now imagine the delight of the same eCool-er when she discovered many months later that the “candy lady” wasn’t gone at all, but had just moved her shop to Via degli Orti di Cesare! It was a happy day in candyland.
As it turns out, the beloved “candy lady” prides herself on carrying a large selection of molded chocolates. We made a rendevous through the place some weeks ago and picked up this dark chocolate Pieta which we gave to a dear friend. We know everyone dear in your life would love to get one of these too.
(Unfortunately, no Italian company seems yet to have come up with the idea of selling dark chocolate Pietas over the internet. So, you’ll have to trek down Via degli Orti di Cesare in Trastevere to get your own. Do it before soon, however, as supplies seem to be limited and such delicately molded chocolates are taken off the shelves as the weather warms up–a Dali-esque melting Pieta just doesn’t have the same appeal.)
After weeks and weeks of rain and gloom, yesterday and today have dawned clear, cold, and bright in Rome. That change in the weather sent Susan Sanders onto the streets with her camera, in search of images symbolic of the Valentine season.
Though polls suggest that more than half of all Italians are going to ignore Valentine’s Day this year, no one told Volpetti, the gourmet food store in Testaccio. Demonstrating a devotion to deliciousness that makes this store a favorite with Romans and tourists alike, the good people at Volpetti have stocked their window full of chevre samplers that pair perfectly with prosecco.
That kind of sophisticated foodie romance doesn’t turn you on? Don’t despair! Volpetti has a one-of-a-kind unconventional gift that’s perfect for anyone you call “baby.” The savory flavor of their cheese pacifiers are sure to please the object of your desire!
For more photos by Susan Sanders, visit her blog: Rome With A View.
