On April 6, 2009, the deadliest Italian earthquake in over 15 years struck the Abruzzo mountain region of Italy, with the town of L’Aquila at its epicenter. The toll was grim with nearly 300 people killed, more than 1,000 injured, and as many as 65,000 residents displaced. Many of those who lost their homes are still living in tent cities.

Certainly eCool readers -  just like all of us here in the Compound – want to do something to help and so we were thrilled with the news that the Ferragamo fashion house has teamed up with GlobalGiving.com to raise funds for the victims of the L’Aquila earthquake.  In addition to holding a star-studded event at the Beverly Hills Ferragamo store last night, they’ve put together a Celebrity Handbag Auction that’s taking place on eBay right now.

Ferragamo handbags generously donated and signed by Madonna, Demi Moore, Jennifer Aniston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Eva Longoria, Lucy Liu, Dita Von Teese, Lily Tomlin, and Marisa Tomei, as well as a Kenny Scharf customized handbag, donated by Debi Mazar are available for you to bid on, while supporting this most worthy cause.

The auction officially began at 7pm PST on June 2, 2009 and 100% of the proceeds will be donated to GlobalGiving’s Italy Earthquake Recovery and Relief Fund.  Click here to bid on one of these fabulous bags now.

As readers know, we’ve been celebrating Rome’s birthday all week.  We started off with a fabulous chariot race in the Circus Maximus (no doubt just like those staged by Hadrian in AD 121 to celebrate the birthday of Rome), the projection of She-Wolves on Piazza del Campidoglio, and a re-enactment of the Foundation of Rome.

Today we take one last look at the birthday bash with a photo taken by Susan Sanders in the Circus Maximus.  As  the Gruppo Storico Romano prepared for a parade through the city (an event that was ultimately dampened by rain), Legionaries stood in formation and Susan managed to snap a photograph of a tattoo sported by one of the fearless warriors.  It reads “fulmine” which means “bolt of lightning” and to our minds is a reminder that Jupiter stands firmly behind Rome in all of its military efforts.

For more photos by Susan, visit her blog: Rome With A View.

It’s been a hectic week here at the eCool Compound.  We dedicated several days to the celebration of Rome’s victory, taking in such exciting events as a chariot race in the Circus Maximus, the projection of She-Wolves on Piazza del Campidoglio, and a re-enactment of the Foundation of Rome.

Through it all, Susan Sanders was out in the city with a multitude of cameras strapped around her neck and arms, shooting scene after scene.  We’ve already been admiring her documentation of Rome’s birthday events in various posts listed above, thus it will come as little surprise to discover that this week’s Photo Friday is given over to further illustration of Rome’s fabulous 2762nd birthday.

The photo above shows the re-enactment of Rome’s foundation, in particular, the very moment when King Numitor and Romulus see 12 vultures flying over the Palatine Hill, so that it’s clear which of the twins will rule the new city.

Stay tuned.  We’re going to feature another great photo from Rome’s birthday tomorrow.  And, if you want to see even more shots, click on over to Susan Sanders’ photo blog, Rome With A View.

For several days now, the city of Rome has been celebrating its 2762nd birthday.  Festivities kicked off on Sunday the 19th with a fabulous bicycle-chariot race in the Circus Maximus and the projection of She-Wolves on the Palazzo dei Conservatori in the Piazza del Campidoglio.

Just as wonderful as those events, was a re-enactment of the foundation of Rome that took place in the Circus Maximus yesterday afternoon.  A large audience gathered to watch the dramatic performance staged by the Gruppo Storico Romano on one of Rome’s most beautiful, crisp, cool, clear spring day (montage of scenes from the performance above, audience below.

We presume that you all know the story, but just in case, here’s a visual overview of the fantastic events that led to the foundation of Rome on April 21, 753 BC.

The story begins in lovely Alba Longa, a city founded when Aeneas, a great Trojan hero and son of the goddess Venus, left the Trojan war and sailed to the Italian peninsula in the company of his son Ascanius.  Ascanius founded Alba Longa in the Castelli Romani, the hills to the south of Rome, and for generations the city (a very cosmopolitan place by the looks of the set representing it in the upper left photo above) was ruled by the descendants of Aeneas and Ascanius.

Among those descendants was a King named Numitor, who ascended the throne in eighth century BC (he’s shown with his son in the upper right photo above and with his son and his daughter, Rhea Silvia, in the lower left photo above).    Numitor’s reign was not to be a long one, however, for his power-hungry, bouffant-wearing brother Amulius (see the lower right photo above and the upper left photo below) stormed the royal palace and announced his intention to seize the throne.

With a bit of struggle (top left and right above), Amulius took control of Alba Longa. Fearful that his brother Numitor’s daughter Rhea Silvia might marry and give birth to a son who would be the rightful ruler of the city, but unwilling to put the girl to death, Amulius appointed Rhea Silvia as a Vestal Virgin, a position that provided her with great status, but also required that she remain chaste for 30 years under penalty of death.  Happy to have survived the coup that dethroned her father, Rhea Silvia took the vow of chastity willingly and gave herself over to the performance of the holy rites that helped to protect the city of Alba Longa (see bottom right photo).

Though Rhea Silvia was the most pious and devoted and priestesses, the gods took her fate into their hands.  In fulfillment of a vow made long before to Aeneas, in which Venus had promised that he would found a race of men that would rule the world, the war god Mars made his way down to earth and paid a nocturnal visit to the holy Vestal, leaving her pregnant with twins (see above, top left and right).

Rhea Silvia was forced to tell her uncle, King Amulius, that she had broken her vow of chastity.  Having already done a great deal of harm to his family, he agreed to allow Rhea Silvia to carry the babies and give birth in secret, with the caveat that after the babies were born, they would be exposed to the elements so that no one would ever know of their existence.

Thus, when Rhea Silvia gave birth to twin boys, the babies were taken by the king who put them in a basket and set his slaves to dump them in the nearby Tiber River.  However, the slaves did not follow orders exactly.  Upon arriving at the Tiber and discovering it to be flooded, they simply put the basket down in the first puddle they saw, presuming that the babies would not survive in the wild. They could not have been more wrong!  From the nearby Palatine Hill,  a She-Wolf came down to the Tiber River to get a drink.  Seeing the babies lying on the riverside, and having recently given birth to a litter of pups herself, she carried the babies back to her hillside cave and cared for them as their own.  (A quick note on the Gruppo Storico production: they didn’t have a She-Wolf!  How can you re-enact the foundation of Rome without a She-Wolf?!)  Eventually the newborns were found by a shepherd Faustulus, who brought them home to his wife.  The two named them Romulus and Remus and raised them as their own (see above, bottom right photo).

When they had grown into young men, Faustulus and his wife told Romulus and Remus the true story of their origins.  They quickly came to realize that they were royalty from Alba Longa and re-instated their father as king after killing their uncle Amulius.  Then, they took it upon themselves to found a city on the site where their lives had been miraculous saved by the She-Wolf.

Standing near the Tiber, however, and discussing who would lead their new city, the twins began to quarrel.  Romlulus wanted to found his city on the Palatine Hill (see the top left photo above), while Remus much preferred the Aventine.  Unable to settle the dispute between themselves, their father Numitor advised the young men to let the gods make the decision.  Thus, they stood and looked to the sky, hoping for a sign from the heavens. Almost immediately, Remus saw six vultures fly over the Aventine Hill and it seemed that this might be the gods’ way of marking him as the winner.  Shortly thereafter, however, twelve vultures flew over the Palatine and Romulus was declared to be the victor (see top right photo, above).

Invoking a traditional Roman city-founding ritual, Romlulus harnassed two oxen to a plow and began to plow a furough that would mark an involable and sacred boundary around his new city (see above, bottom left).  As Romulus performed this ritual, Remus continued to decry his victory (see above, bottom right photo).

The argument continued until Remus defiled the sacred boundary created by Romulus (see above, bottom left), jumping over the furrow and thereby provoking his twin brother to kill him with his own hands and leaving Romulus as the sole ruler of the brand new city (see above, bottom right).

So many celebratory activites honoring Rome’s 2762nd birthday since our last post on the subject!  We’ll have lots more details and images tomorrow, but tonight we leave you with the image of a She-Wolf projected by American artist Kristen Jones on the Palazzo dei Conservatori on the Capitoline Hill.

From ANSA:  The glories of Ancient Rome are to get a total makeover over the next two years, officials said this week.

The famed architectural sights will then be illuminated by a new lighting system, they said. Sites set for ”a complete clean-up” include the Colosseum, the Palatine Hill, the Roman and Imperial Forums and Nero’s Golden House, said Heritage Undersecretary Francesco Giro.

Long-awaited projects such as an underpass linking the forums and a new walkway up to the Palatine are part of the scheme which aims to restore Rome’s ancient splendour by the spring of 2011.

Unsightly scaffolding, rusty fences and open digs will be cleared away ‘’so that the central archaeological area regains all its sumptuous beauty,” Giro said.

The ”crowning touch,” he said, would be an ”integrated” illumination system for the entire area.

Giro said the culture ministry hoped to have the lights in place for the 2,764th anniversary of Rome’s traditional founding date, April 21 753 BC.

One last Birthday of Rome post from the eCool Compound!

Some readers have been asking how we know the foundation date of Rome – a good question!  Rome’s birthday was given to us by the first-century BC historian Marcus Terentius Varro who wrote that it was on 21 April 753 BC when Romulus founded the city.  Thus, as of today, the Eternal City is 2761 years + 2 days old.

This year, celebration of Rome’s birthday began on Saturday 19 April with the re-enactment of an ancient ritual.  On Sunday 20 April, (almost) all of Rome turned out to celebrate the big day on Via dei Fori Imperiali, where a paradea full of gladiators, centurions, and senators marched from the Circus Maximus to the Colosseum and along the Via dei Fori Imperiali (click here and here).

But that wasn’t all that was going on!  The street was lined with stalls touting the wholesome goodness of Italy’s most traditional foods, while a range of sporting demonstrations wowed the crowds – we at the eCool Compound were blown away by the Ruzzolone, a traditional cheese-rolling contest held in an Umbrian hill town.

There were street performers galore, including clowns, fire-eaters, roaming musicians, acrobats, and puppet shows.  Two groups in particular caught our eye.  We couldn’t help giggling at the Romulus & the She-Wolf hand puppet troupe that’s seen in the photo above.  And these stilt walkers clad in 18th-century costumes left us wondering just how tall the Colosseum really is.

For those of you who may not have been keeping up with events in Rome over the past few days, it’s important to note that yesterday, 21 April, was the 2761st birthday of the Eternal City.   Celebrations began on Saturday 19 April with a re-enactment of the ancient Parilia Festival in the Forum Boarium, and then continued on Sunday 20 April with a parade in which a thousand people dressed as centurions, gladiators, Vestal Virgins, senators, prisoners of wars, and goddesses strolled around the Colosseum.  (See our coverage here and here).

The events just described were staged by the Gruppo Storico Romano, but other celebratory events organized by the Comune di Roma and Legambiente were also on offer on the Via dei Fori Imperiali: Stalls showcasing food products particular to various small towns and villages across Italy were set up along the roadside while folk bands and demonstrations of traditional sporting events were given.

Among the strangest and most interesting of events was a demonstration of the Ruzzolone – a sporting event practiced only in the Umbrian village of Panicale – in which huge roundels of Pecorino cheese are rolled around town on Pasquetta, the day after Easter (Please note that in the demonstration of this event on Via dei Fori Imperiali, no effort was made to roll the cheese all the way around Rome, nor even to coax it into following the contours of the pomerium, the city boundary established by Romulus.  Darn!)

The event – as practiced in Panicale in Umbria – is described in fascinating detail here:

From the NY Times:  Mr. [Stew] Vreeland tells of the Ruzzolone in Panicale — the rolling of the cheese. A sporting event that combines elements of bocce and yo-yo, it is, Mr. Vreeland says, “as crazy as it sounds.” The giocatori, or players, send a nine-pound round of Pecorino cheese rolling on a course around the perimeter of the ancient, walled village. It is launched with a leather strap, wrapped around the cheese and pulled by a stick of wood. Spotters run alongside the cheese to mark where it falls. The winner — the player who completes the race course in the fewest strokes — gets the cheese.

Often the cheeses go careening into nearby olive groves or, as Mr. Vreeland wrote on his Web site, www.seeyouinitaly.com, “get wedged under the one Fiat Uno that didn’t get the No Parking message.” When the race is completed, the crowd is entertained by a bandaccia (literally “bad band”), with people playing pots, pans, cowbells, horns and a few actual instruments.

Kind of crazy, eh?  But that’s not all that was on display.  Crowds were also treated to a mighty display of tiro alla fune or tug of war – a contest that apparently has long been a favorite in Italian towns and villages.

The competition was fierce – it was the azzuri against the rossi or the blues against the reds.  Both teams pulled to a rhythmic chant, each trying to gain ground with every grunt as the crowd yelled and cheered.

Ultimately, the brute strength that was the blue team managed to exert their power over the reds, pulling their opponents over the magic line and declaring victory.  Are these gusy wearing azzuro the Italian National Tug of War Team?  We don’t know but it seems their jerseys suggest that might be the case.

Today marks Rome’s 2761st birthday! From our point of view, she’s a birthday girl who looks infinitely younger than her estimable age. Happy Birthday Roma!

Here at the eCool Compound, we began our celebration two days ago, when we attended a re-enactment of the Parilia rites celebrated by the ancient Romans every year on 21 April. The fun continued yesterday when a thousand historic reenacters dressed as gladiators, emperors, Vestal Virgins, and senators marched from the Circus Maximus to the Colosseum and down the Via dei Fori Imperiali. We posted some photos of that fabulous parade yesterday and are here to bring you more today.

Crowds of centurions patiently waited as those less-organized participants in the parade made their way down the street.

Everyone was decked out in their finest ancient gear. Admittedly we never thought of topping off our helmet with a wolf skin, but the effect is fantastic – and, let’s face it, not everyone feels comfortable in chain mail so we admire these guys who are willing to weld it on for this very special occasion.

While the outfits were impressive, its the accessories that really make the Roman, and those on display in this parade were nothing to scoff at! From standards to swords and from lion skins to silver face masks, this crowd clearly understood the importance of accouterments.

Even the kids got into the act, donning laurel wreaths and “giallo-rosso” tunics as they joined in the celebration.

But even bigger things are afoot this weekend as the Eternal City is celebrating its 2761st birthday with a host of events – from concerts to the extraordinary opening of archaeological sites to the re-enactment of ancient rituals (click to read yesterday’s post). As far as we’re concerned, however, the e-Coolest of all the events is the annual parade staged by the Gruppo Storico Romano in which thousands of historic re-enactment groups from across Europe march through Rome’s ancient city center, in celebration of the city’s long history.

We’re your eyewitness for the event, so enjoy the photos and stay tuned for more posts about this and other events in coming days.

Each year in honor of the holiday, the Gruppo Storico Romano holds a “Goddess Roma” contest in which they choose a young woman to lead the parade in the guise of the goddess Roma. She’s seen above, sporting her war helmet and holding the orb of the earth in her hand.

The goddess is escorted through the city by Romans of every variety. This year historic reenactment groups from Italy, England, Holland, Spain, Switzerland, Poland, Germany, and Croatia joined in the fun, putting on a spectacular display of ancient costumes.

Military maneuvers not seen for centuries were expertly executed on the Via dei Fori Imperiali.

Gladiators of every rank, status, age, and gender joined in the fun (see above) – often threatening the well-being of innocent spectators along the parade route – though even more ominous was the presence of the Three Fates (see below).

More photos tomorrow on Rome’s actual birthday. In the meantime, we’re busy baking a she-wolf cake!