We think this ad for Fernet Branca, an Italian amaro or “bitter” made of herbs and spices, that is usually served as a digestif after a meal but may also be served with coffee and espresso or mixed into coffee and espresso drinks.

The text atop the bottle reads, “This could have been an ad for sexy lingerie, but we bought the space first.”  Below the bottle, in smaller type, it says, “Life is Bitter.”

Here at the compound, we love amari or bitters, but recognize that they’re an acquired taste.  In an article in the Atlantic Monthly, Wayne Curtis described the process of learning to enjoy these quintessentially Italian drinks:

Your first sip of Fernet Branca, an Italian liqueur, will be akin to waking up in a foreign country and finding a crowd of people arguing in agitated, thorny voices outside your hotel window. It’s an event that’s at once alarming and slightly thrilling, and leaves you wanting to know more.

You can read the rest of his article here, in which he details a visit to the Fernet Branca factory and describes the drink as “the taste of a time that’s long since passed us by.”  Time is not passing by Fernet Branca’s ad executives, however, who seem to be keeping up with the times just fine.

Advertising Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Copenhagen, Denmark
Copywriter: Mikkel Elung-Jensen
Art Director: Claus Collstrup

We wish we’d seen these ad last week, but being still a bit in the Halloween spirit here at the Compound (and being generally charmed by the ads of Esselunga, an Italian supermarket chain, the advertising of which we’ve highlighted before) we thought we’d go ahead and drop these onto your screen despite the fact that Aglioween has already passed us by.

Esselunga’s ad designers showed a tendency to dress food up in funny costumes in 2008, the year that these sweet ‘n savories were released.  Aglioween – an ad in which heads of garlic or aglio have donned witches hats – is just hilarious.  And we love the American Gothic look of the aglio e olio or garlic and oil version below as well.

In June of 2008, our favorite street artists, Sten, Lex & Lucamaleonte did up Via Nuoro with some Dante images that still make us smile.   Though we haven’t ventured there lately ourselves, the infallible Wooster Collective posted more work by the same artists at Via Nuoro today and we had to share it immediately.

Wingless cherubs or putti seem to be tumbling out of the wall in this latest urban embellishment and it absolutely makes us swoon.

Over and over, we hear visitors to Rome complaining that there’s just nothing to buy in the Eterna that you can’t find elsewhere in the world as well.  We’re mostly in agreement: increasing globalization means that the Italian standards, whether Barilla pasta, Fendi bags, or balsamic vinegar, are almost as widely available in the US, Canada, Japan, or Sweden as they are in Italy themselves.

So what to bring family and friends from Rome?  You can make pilgrimages to tiny alimentari and to farms in out-of-the-way places hoping to find some divine food product produced only regionally and not distributed by way of cargo ships and 747s (such a task is not so difficult as it sounds).  But, should you be looking for something else – an object that’s funny and playful and as likely to appeal to a kid as to a grown-up foodie – then we think we’ve found a fabulous solution!

There’s a little store on the last block of Via dei Serpenti, just before the street intersects with Via Cavour, where you can pick up a couple of bobble-headed gladiators and a bobbing Roman Emperor that will make almost anyone giggle.  Various inhabitants of the eCool Compound have reason to walk by the store regularly and these swaying and nodding figures crack us up every time.   We ourselves haven’t purchased yet, but we warned that we’re going to start hoarding these babies soon.  Even better is the fact that they’re on sale: 1 goes for 15 euro while you can get 2 for 25 euro.

If we had the space and the funds to install a pool at the Compound, we’d certainly hire Piscine Castiglione to design and install it for us.  We became aware of this company some years ago when we stumbled upon their ultra-alluring ad campaign depicting a couch-pool that made our hearts pound.

Now they’re back at it with a nice piece of ad work by cayenne, an agency in Milan.  One sees little putti or angels of the kind that embellish every baroque church in Italy floating in a chlorinated heaven and holding a sign that says, “Are you sure Paradise is up there?”

Via Ads of the World.

Advertising Agency: cayenne, Milan, Italy
Creative Directors: Giandomenico Puglisi, Stefano Tumiatti
Art Director: Livio Gerosa
Copywriter: Caterina Calabrò
Photographer: Daniele Poli
Published: September 2009

Rome is burning!  When it comes to stylish modern evocations of the Great Fire of 64, we thought things were looking good yesterday when we stumbled upon those classical column candles made by Goody Gram!  Today, however, we’ve stumbled upon the best Rome fire re-creation that we’ve ever seen.

This fabulous firescreen (perfect for the Compound’s fireplace) was designed by BBM and we saw it first on Core 77.  It’s made of asercut cor-ten steel plate and is  screen is produced in the image of the present-day skyline of Rome.

Now, of course we know there was no Colosseum, Column of Trajan, St. Peter’s Basilica, or Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine – all represented on the firescreen – when Nero burned down the place (or was accused of doing so) in AD 64.   If we can figure out how to buy one of these babies, that’s not going to keep us from playing with matches and fiddling while Rome burns, right in the comfort of our own Compound.

For you Anglophiles, they’ve created a London version too.

Oh!  Are we ever digging these classical column candles!  Gotta order some now so we can do our own Great Fire of 64 thing here in the Compound.

These are made by Goody Grams and sold by MollaSpace.  We’re told that “Even after usage, the candle will only burn 1/3 of the top, creating an original piece as wax will melt over to drip down the column base.”

Come on baby, light our fire! Scheduled to ship in late November, these will make the perfect holiday gift for the Neronian in your life.

A huge storm swept through Rome on Monday bringing high winds and very cool temperatures.  The winds uprooted trees along the streets of the city, but they also brought down a huge gilded statue of the Virgin Mary that stood atop Monte Mario, behind the Stadio Olimpico.

The statue, which stood atop a church in the Istituto Don Orione, was originally erected in 1953.  The Virgin suffered significant damage in the fall, losing an arm, but authorities say that she’ll be restored and re-erected as soon as possible.

We love these photos, taken by Giacomo Gabrielli – Toiati and published in Il Messaggero for their emphasis on the enormous scale of the sculpture.

Faithful readers of eCool will know that here in the Compound we did almost everything made by Worldwide Fred, from their Jesus! Look at the Time! Watch to their Roman Numerals Birthday Candles to their Holy Toast Bread Stamp, they simply crack us up.

In the interest of humor (and knowing that some of you are eager to get a head start on the Christmas shopping) we’ve decided to showcase another of their products today.  Called Spongioli, these ravioli-style pop-up sponges are packaged as if they’re pockets of gourmet pasta filled with cheesy goodness! What better tool to wipe the pesto or ragu from your counter tops?

You can order your Spongioli here.  And if you want to know what sauce to mop up with this particular type of spongy pasta, you’re probably going to get a copy of Oretta Zanini De Vita’s brand-new and magisterial Encyclopedia of Pasta, described by Rachel Donadio in the New York Times as “a social history disguised as a food book.”

Buon appetito!  And stay tuned for more gift-giving suggestions as the holidays grow near.  We’ll help you find the perfect gift for every Rome-antic in your life.

We know that there are those among our readers who are not Facebook fans of eCool and therefore don’t see the many updates we post there about things happening in and around Rome.   Thus, in order that all eCoolers have equal access to all that’s hip and happening in Rome, today we’re publishing a list of links that will probably be of interest to Rome-antics.

We’re also taking this opportunity to show you a photo recently taken by Susan Sanders at the Pantheon, where the plaster covering an ancient brick wall is absolutely filled with scratched-on signatures.  The writing’s on the wall.

So, here we go with some interesting links:

• In 2002, artist Olaf Bruening installed some scary skeletons in the gorgeous gardens at the Villa Medici.  We wish we’d seen the show, but since we missed it, we want to share these photos.

• Lots of art news out there lately.  Martin Kemp, Emeritus Professor of the History of Art at Oxford University, used a “multispectral” camera to find the fingerprint and palm print of Leonardo da Vinci in a portrait on vellum.  He’s matched it to one on the St Jerome in the Vatican in an attempt to verify that the image is by Leonardo.  Kemp also believes it represents Bianca Sforza, daughter of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan.  Both the Guardian and Antiquities Trade Gazette are covering this today.

• Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus is on exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago until January 31st.

• If you’re headed to Venice, you’ll want to download the songs on the Gypsy’s Guide Venice playlist.

• More on Caravaggio:  The Adoration of the Magi is being restored and groups of 10-15 people are allowed to watch the restorers at work in Rome’s lower chamber of parliament until January 2010.  For more info and to make the required reservations, visit this site.

• The New York Times covered the scientific process and gadgetry being used to search for a lost Leonardo in Florence.

• National Geographic declared that the Amalfi Coast is one of the 50 greatest drives in the world.  Who’s surprised by that?

• A British team excavated at Porto, an ancient port near the mouth of the Tiber River, found an amphitheater.  The BBC covered the find too.

• The Farnese Collection at the Naples Archaeological Museum reopened at long last.  Boy are we happy!  Can’t get to Naples fast enough!

• Roman sculpture was found in the Blue Grotto at Capri suggesting it was elaborately decorated when Tiberius used it for a swimming pool!

• Not to be outdone by the Vatican Museums, three city-run museums are also opening in the evening on Saturdays during October. The Capitoline Museums are open on 12 and 26 September and 17 October from 20.00 to 23.00, the Ara Pacis is open on 3 and 24 October from 19.00 to 22.00 and the Centrale Montemartini on Via Ostiense is open on 10 and 31 October from 19.00 to 22.00.  More info on Wanted in Rome.

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