Last week Rome (and some other Italian cities got in on the act) as you’ll see in the YouTube video above.  In Rome, performances took place at the Colosseum and in Piazza Venezia, as well as at Piazza di Spagna.  The efforts in Piazza Venezia were foiled when police turned off the music mid-dance.

Michael Jackson Flash Mob in Piazza di Spagna

Readers may remember from last week’s Photo Friday that Susan Sanders is roaming the US in search of Rome (and inventions upon the Eterna)  in America.  This week she’s sent us something that made the whole compound burst into giggles – it’s a replica of Leonardo da Vinci’s Sforza Horse (surrounded by a tiny tiny white picket fense) that currently standing in front of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.

The horse heralds the opening of a new exhibit at the High titled “Leonardo da Vinci.  Hand of the Genius,” curated by Renaissance scholar Gary Radke.  The exhibition features approximately 50 works, including more than 20 sketches and studies by Leonardo, some of which will be on display for the first time in the United States

But back to that horse.  In 1481-82, the young Leonardo da Vinci was working in Milan when Duke Ludovico Sforza commissioned him to create a colossal equestrian statue of his father, Francesco.  In typical Leonardo-esque fashion, the artist spent nearly two decades studying and sketching horses as well as experimenting with the techniques of bronze casting in preparation for the project.  He created a huge clay model, but before he could cast the bronze, war broke out and French soldiers invading northern Italy requisitioned the precious metal set aside for the project and used it for cannons. The invading soldiers also destroyed the great clay horse.

Nonetheless, Leonardo left behind a myriad of plans and sketches. Some of those will be on view in the High exhibition so that visitors can compare the modern recreation of the Sforza horse outside the museum (it’s some 24 feet tall) to Leonardo’s original vision.

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

Readers may be interested to hear that Eternally Cool’s trusty photographer, Susan Sanders, is out roaming the globe in search of manifestations of Rome in the larger world.    This week she’s been in San Antonio, Texas, where her clever eye and trusty camera locked upon a fine work of art by Franco Mondini-Ruiz.

Called Que Purdy, the work depicts a copy of the Venus de Milo standing on a stack of pancakes, and embellishes the porch of the Museo Alameda (the only branch of the Smithsonian Museum that’s not in Washington DC) on Market Square in downtown San Antonio.

We’re led to wonder if the goddess really ate pancakes. We’re thinking carefully about whether maple syrup or strawberries would be the appropriate accompaniment.  And is that a short stack or a tall one?

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

A few weeks ago, Sydney, Australia celebrated the 12th annual Rocks Aroma festival, an event that attracted some 100,000 people and showcased coffee from around the world.

As part of the celebration, 3604 cups of coffee–each filled with different amounts of cream to create differing shades of brown–were used to create a giant image of the Mona Lisa.

Sorry for the absence eCoolers.  We’ve had some IMPORTANT things to take care of here in the Compound over the past week or so and that’s kept us from blogging as faithfully as we’d like.  But, we’re back and we’re bad!  So stay tuned for some Rome ultra-coolness over the course of the next few weeks.

We’re kicking off our Summer Coolfest with some sand sculptures from Jesolo Lido, a city near Venice on the east coast of the boot-shaped peninsula.  Seems that Jesolo Lido has a thematic sand sculpture festival each year and that this summer they’ve asked a team of professional sand sculpture artists to illustrate Dante’s Inferno (note to Compounders: possible alternative career).

In particular, artists were asked to take their inspiration from verses 1-9 of Canto III of the Inferno, words that Dante reads as he stands at the edge of the world of the damned souls:

Through me is the way into the woeful city; through me is the way into eternal woe; through me is the way among the lost people. Justice moved my lofty maker: the divine Power, the supreme Wisdom and the primal Love made me. Before me were no things created, unless eternal, and I eternal last. Leave every hope, ye who enter!

The international team of 18 participating artists have created the scenes, mythological figures, and the most famous characters from the Inferno, including the figures of Charon, Paolo and Francesca, the terrible Cerberus, Count Ugolino and  many others.

We haven’t seen this.  But we’d love to.  It’s on display at Jesolo Lido until July 31st and is open from 9am to 11pm.  Those who are really well-versed can take advantage an area where spontaneous poets (this means you!) perform by reciting the Inferno.

The entry fee is a mere 2 euro.  If you’re in the area, make your way to the Casa Bianca Beach.

It’s been sweltering hot in Rome for days (though forecasts say that the weekend will be better as temps will drop and there will be some rain) and as we mop the sweat from our brows, our minds wander and our imaginations summon up pictures of Italy’s idyllic seaside locales.  Let’s just say that we’re not managing to accomplish much in the eCool Compound right now – it’s just too hot to stay focused on the many tasks at hand.

Though not many of us eCoolers see a beach vacation coming our way anytime soon, we’d pretty much kill to be laying on a lounge chair, licking an ice cream, rubbing sunscreen on our skin, ducking our heads under the salty water, and enjoying the gentle seaside breeze.  Thus, the eCool team begged photographer Susan Sanders to provide us with a few photos that would illustrate our desires and she produced these fabulous snaps showing the wares of a float salesman as he makes his way up the beach at Sperlonga, a lovely little resort about halfway between Rome and Naples.

We love the bright colors of the plastic rafts and baby pools and we love the diligence with which the younger customers examine the wares.  For more images of Sperlonga by Susan, click on these links:  the whitewashed city center (oh to be sipping a prosecco in that piazza right now), more beach scenes (be warned – if you look at these you WILL leave your desk and head to nearest beach or pool immediately), and the ancient villa of the Roman Emperor Tiberius.

And you can always see more photos by Susan on her Rome With A View website.  While you’re at it, click over to Facebook and become a fan of Rome With a View.  That way you’ll get an update every time Susan publishes a new photo on her website (many of which never make it to the eCool blog.)

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.

It’s our understanding that a guy named Bernd Weise, a member of the Amphicar Club in Berlin, recently “drove” his 1961 Amphicar car down the Grand Canal in Venice.

A bit of enlightening research clued us in to the fact that this Amphicar is not just a toy produced by some guy in his back yard. It seems that the Amphicars were built in Germany between 1961 and 1968, a period in which 3878 vehicles were produced.  The only civilian amphibious passenger that was ever mass produced, they’re rear-engined, they’re fitted out with a 4 cylidner British-built Triumph Herald motor that produces 43 hp, and they’re all convertibles – which, of course, is as it should be.  We learned that on the history of the Amphicar site, where there’s much more.

If you want to get your own amphicar, click here.

For more photos, go to La Repubblica, the source of these.

Photographer Susan Sanders recently took a spin through Sperlonga, a small beach resort about an hour south of Rome.  Beach season isn’t quite underway yet, so the city is a bit deserted.  Her photos capture the quiet calm of this seaside idyll.

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

The eCool team recently took a break from all this blogging and posting and made a little giro through the small towns of southern Lazio.  Our journey took us to many a sandwich shop in search of the best mozzarella di bufala sandwich we could find.  We’re still fighting over who gets the title and if we ever manage to decide, we’ll be sure to let you know.

We did sometimes find ourselves distracted by other kinds of cheese as well, including this massive roll of something extra-yummy.   Who says cheese logs have gone out of style?!