We recently spotted this graffiti on the old Mercato Generale on Via Ostiense. We’re calling it DJ Leisure - and we know there are readers out there who will understand the importance of that name.
Archive for the 'On the Street' Category
06
May
DJ Leisure
On the 13-14th of April, Italy held an early parliamentary election following the collapse of Prime Minister Romano Prodi’s center-left coalition government, which lost a vote of confidence in the Italian Senate last January 24th.
The elections greatly enlivened Rome’s streetscape - a myriad of political candidates and their associated parties wallpapered the Eternal City with posters applied to building walls and to metal billboards. Whether they intended to do so or not, Romans (and those of us here at the eCool Compound) spent months studying the smiling faces, clever logos, and optimistic campaign promises of an endless series of candidates, for it was impossible to venture out of one’s home without being visually bombarded by the paper propaganda.
Then, election day came - it was time for it all to be over. We’d tired of the grinning mugs of the politicians and were ready to return to streets lined with circus posters and notices about concerts, art exhibits, and other cultural offerings.
That, of course, was not to be the case. Those April 13-14th elections were more than just parliamentary in Rome, for the city’s mayor, Walter Veltroni, had stepped down from office in order to face off with Silvio Berlusconi for the office of Prime Minister. That meant that Romans were faced with choosing a new mayor in the mid-April elections. Their votes, however, were inconclusive. The two candidates, Gianni Alemanno and Francesco Rutelli, were evenly divided and therefore a runoff was required.
So, as the posters pertaining to the national election were stripped away, a whole new array of political advertisements appeared. Almost daily, the walls and placards were caked with new posters, creating a Rutelli-Alemanno, Rutelli-Alemanno, Rutelli-Alemanno stratigraphy that left the head spinning and the eye rolling.
Two long weeks later, the runoff election was held. Alemanno was found to have defeated his rival Rutelli by some 7 percentage points. And so what do the streets of Rome look like in the aftermath of Alemanno’s victory? The now-obsolete posters are starting to peel from the walls leaving a streetscape that’s more visually interesting than anything provided by the political candidates.
Today, on Photo Friday, Susan Sanders gives us a view into the perforated and peeling layers that line Rome’s streets. In some cases, overlapping layers have been ripped away to frame the face of someone’s preferred candidate (see top photo), while in other cases the degradation appears to be fueled by weak glue, wind, and rain. In every case, it’s interesting to watch the promising faces of Italy’s political vanguard peel away as the new governments - both local and national - take office and settle into what is likely to be the same old routine.
On 15 March 2008, Susan Sanders gave us a look at the political debris engendered when torrential rains sweep these posters off their walls and billboards and onto the streets. Click here. And click here for the clever poster created by a Roman artist whose studies of political propaganda posted in the Eternal City was called Lasagna Elettorale.
For more of Susan’s photos, visit her blog: Rome With A View.
Yesterday evening, just before 6pm, it seemed that Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere was being invaded by an army of some 300 people, all of whom were clutching strangely-shaped bags that appeared to be filled with soft objects of similar size. What were they doing? What were they carrying?
The mission of the bag-bearers became clear at the moment that the fine medieval bell tower in the piazza began its six-o-clock chime. To the tune of pealing bells, the mysterious bags were thrown aside to reveal that each member of the invading army was armed with a pillow. Time for the third edition of Roman Pillow Fight!
Organized by the so-called Committee for the Termination of National Apathy, the aim of the annual Pillow Fight event is that of relieving anxiety and stress.
You can read more at the official Roman Pillow Fight Blog where you’ll be directed to images of the event posted on Flickr (the source of our images) and to video on YouTube. You’ll also find links to the Facebook and MySpace Roman Pillow Fight pages. Want to stage your own Pillow Fight? Visit the World Pillow Fight Day website - as it turns out, March 22nd was World Pillow Fight Day.
25
Apr
15 Minutes of Fame
The Cathedral of Palermo - known for its spectacular array of medieval tombs and sculpture - is today graced with a new work of art. An Andy Warhol style graffiti featuring the face of mob boss Matteo Messina Denaro has appeared on a wall that separates the church from nearby Piazza Setteangeli. The portraits were based on the last known photo of the fugitive boss.
The nearby text reads “Messina Denaro - the Last!” Newspaper reports suggest that the initials F.A. (above, surrounded by a circle) may be those of the artist.
So who is the guy being praised (or blamed?) in spray-on street style? He’s a really bad guy - one of Italy’s most wanted fugitives, one of the world’s largest drug dealers (according to the FBI), and a man who’s definitely already had his 15 minutes of fame. A leader of Cosa Nostra, Matteo Messina Denaro became known nationally 2001, when the magazine L’Espresso put him on the cover with the headline: Ecco il nuovo capo della mafia (”Here is the new boss of the Mafia”).
Known for being a ruthless playboy mafioso and womaniser, driving an expensive Porsche sports car, and wearing a Rolex Daytona watch, Ray Ban sunglasses and clothes from Armani and Versace, Messina Denaro has been a fugitive since 1993 when he was involved in the bomb attacks that shook Sicily and killed prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.
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.
This week we’ve been celebrating the first birthday of the eCool blog. We’re happy to report that eCool is proving to be a big success - in each of the past few months we’ve had 60,000-80,000 hits and we take that as a sign that there’s lots of people interested in all that’s hip and happening in Rome! So Happy Birthday eCool!
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!
The story of Rome’s foundation is an action-packed tale populated by gods, heroes, kings, priestesses, and she-wolves - there’s scarcely a city in the world that could claim such an exciting beginning!
A king is overthrown and his daughter is forced to take a vow of chastity. Despite the girls’ good intentions, she is seduced by the war god Mars and finds herself pregnant with twin boys. Upon birth, the babies are taken from their mother and exposed on the banks of the Tiber River. Their lives, however, are saved when a she-wolf finds the children and takes them home to live alongside she and her newly-born pups. They are then rescued by a shepherd and his wife who raises them as their own children.
Later in life, these same boys, Romulus and Remus, decide to honor the astounding way in which their lives were saved by founding a city on the banks of the Tiber. They quarrel, however, about who will head up the city, and in an effort to insure his primacy, Romulus kills his brother Remus before founding the city of Rome on April 21st, 753 BC. Wow! It’s more of a mini-series than a story!
In antiquity, the exciting legend of Romulus, Remus, and the She-Wolf was commemorated and honored in a variety of manners. The Lupercal, or the cave in which Romulus and Remus were believed to have lived with the wolf family was kept as a holy shrine on the side of Rome’s Palatine Hill, while the hut in which Romulus lived after founding the city (also on the Palatine), was likewise considered a holy place.
While the careful preservation of such heritage sites meant that ancient Romans (and no doubt many tourists) could follow the Romulean-trail through Rome, paying visits to places associated with the city’s founder and its earliest history - just as Americans today might follow the Lincoln Trail or visit sites important to the life of George Washington - the Romans also recalled their city’s foundation with a religious that was held each year on the city’s birthday, 21 April.
On Roman religious calendars, 21 April was the day designated for the celebration of the Parilia - a festival held in honor of the god (or goddess - no one is sure) Pales who watched over and protected shepherds. Because Romulus and Remus began their lives in the care of a shepherd (and no doubt did some sheep herding themselves), it was commonly thought that Romulus must have been the first to have performed these rites as he founded his city.
So what do the rites entail? This evening - a bit in anticipation of Rome’s birthday - we got a glimpse of this festival when it was re-enacted by the Gruppo Storico Romano in front of the Temple of Hercules (formerly believed to be the Temple of Vesta) in Rome’s Forum Boarium.
In the presence of the Imperial Family (see top photo in this post), the Vestal Virgins processed to the front of the temple where they undertook a public purification by means of fire and smoke, burning the blood of an October Horse (the right hand horse of the team that won a particular chariot race on October 15 of the previous year), the ashes of an unborn calf, and the shells of beans. (We take this opportunity to emphasize that this was a re-enactment and that no animals were harmed in the recreation of this ritual.)
Smoke and spectators were in abundance as these six honorable virgins officiated at the rites meant to bring health and wealth for shepherds - but also to the city of Rome. And the performance was but a warm-up for the star-studded super-parade that will be staged by the Gruppo Storico Romano tomorrow in honor of Rome’s 2761st birthday. Stay tuned!
19
Apr
Don’t Touch My Radio
Also spotted in Venice last week - while roaming the furtherest reaches of Dorsodoro. Just what event(s) - we wonder - provoked the expression of this sentiment?
