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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The Cool Hunter is on top of the hippest things happening worldwide and this mornign they’ve alerted us to the fact that Milan’s  most upscale shopping street, Via Montenapoleone, has been embellished with fiberglass models of the adorable Fiat 500 C (released in February) that are serving as planters.

The happening, called “Create a tree,” is a team effort between the City of Milan, Fiat, and artist-designer Fabio Novembre. It’s goal?  Novembre says he’s trying to unite trees and cars–two elements always vying for urban space–as a “symbol of a new way of living.”

Sten & Lex are by far our favorite Roman street artists.  Their work is gorgeous at the same time that it’s brainy.  They wrestle with Italy’s long history in the most contemporary of fashions.  And so we nearly swooned when the Wooster Collective published the latest from these two: it’s an image from Piazza Magione in Palermo depicting Pope Sergius (reigned 687-701), the first Pope born in Palermo.

Those of you who follow us on Facebook know that we often post links there that never make it into eCool blog entries.  Today, we offer a round-up of those links for those of you who aren’t yet Facebook fans of eternallycool.net:

A Leonardo da Vinci exhibit titled The Mind of Leonardo, The Universal Genius at Work, it is on show in Rome’s Palazzo Venezia until August 30.  We’re generally dubious of the zillions of Leonardo shows that pop up in every Italian city, but we’ve not seen this one, so we’ll reserve judgment for when we do.

The “it’s been closed almost forever” fresco section of the Naples Archaeological Museum has re-opened.  Yippee!  All those fabulous paintings from Pompeii, Herculaneum, and surrounding areas are available to be admired again.

A three-year-long project has created the first fully comprehensive 3D image of one of Rome’s catacombs.   Learn even more on Pruned.

Lidia Bastianach talks about cooking and eating Italian style in this video: Tutti a tavola a mangiare!

One of many, many accounts & reviews of the Pompeiii and the Roman Villa exhibit at the Getty.

Having been returned to Italy from the Metropolitan Museum some time ago, and then taken a trip to Greece to star in an exhibit about cultural property, the Euphronius Vase has moved into its new home at the Villa Giulia.  Get the lowdown from Looting Matters.

Everything you ever wanted or needed to know about mozzarella di bufala in Campania from the L.A. Times.

The Kimball Museum in Ft. Worth Texas has acquired the earliest known painting by Michelangelo.

Study of the Markets of Trajan suggests that sandy ash produced by a volcano that erupted 456,000 years ago might have helped a huge ancient Roman complex survive intact for nearly 2,000 years despite three earthquakes.  On the Discovery Channel.

A museum that invites you to touch the curly locks on Michelangelo’s David or throw your arms around the Venus De Milo in Ancona.

Modern hikers following  the Via Francigena, a medieval route once used by pilgrims traveling from Canterbury to Rome, are to get an international web portal that will provide detailed guidance on the 1,000-kilometre Italian stretch of the road, running from the Valle d’Aosta to Lazio. Read more at Italymag.co.uk.

By Nick Squires, from the Telegraph:

Vestal Virgins, bloodthirsty gladiators grappling with tigers and a portly toga-wearing guide are the highlights of a new high-tech attraction which aims to bring Ancient Rome to life.

“3D Rewind Rome” opens this today within sight of the Colosseum, the scene of fights to the death between gladiators, slaves and wild animals.

It blends video-game technology with Hollywood animation to recreate life in the temples, tribunals and market places of the ancient city in 310AD, during the reign of Emperor Maxentius.

Gladiatorial scenes, graffiti-covered walls and dusty streets crowded with 60,000 virtual characters aim to give visitors a taste of what life was like in “Caput Mundi” – the centre of the ancient world.

“Now all of Rome is at your feet,” says Sapientus, the chubby, balding 3D guide to a detailed virtual model of the city, developed by archaeologists, architects, historians and digital designers.

Tourists will be able to watch a rowdy Senate debate, see the plebeian goings-on of the working-class district of Suburra and get a glimpse into the hallowed sanctuary of the Vestal Virgins.

A financial crisis which sweeps the city will be all too familiar to contemporary viewers.

“Oh no! My life savings! I could have earned more by keeping my money under the mattress!” Sapientus complains.

The computer images are most startling during gladiatorial scenes in the Colosseum. At the preview, the audience wearing three-dimensional glasses leapt back when evil gladiator Bestia appeared to thrust his sword out of the screen.

The experience also includes glimpses of a gladiator locked in combat with a tiger.

The gladiators were brought to life with “motion capture” technology, using body-sensors on real people at the modern-day Scuola Gladiatori in Rome, run by a local historical society.

The historical authenticity of Rewind Rome starts with its location. “When we were excavating the site we found the remains of barracks where the gladiators would live and train before walking through underground tunnels and emerging into the Colosseum,” said Joel Myers, the British managing director of high-tech entertainment company Virtuality. “The aim is to help tourists better understand the archeological sites they see in Rome because very often they find them difficult to interpret.”

3D Rewind Rome is at 5, Via Capo d’Africa, near the Colosseum, and opens on November 20. Bookings can be made now on the website, www.3drewind.com, which is in English and Italian. Adults: 10 euros; Children: 6.50 euros 

Today we bring you a preview of a 2009 calendar commissioned from superstar photographer Annie Leibovitz by the Lavazza coffee company in which iconic Italian monuments are artfully reconsidered.  Shot in a studio (note the huge Trevi Fountain backdrop below), the images seem an invenzione that merges postcard photos with ancient sculpture and Italian Renaissance paintings.  Above, a Botticelli-esque model rises from the waters of the Trevi Fountain, a Venus reborn for the 21st century (with an espresso cup in her hand).

A kiss on a Roman bridge evokes the romantic allure of the Eternal City, while Leonard da Vinci’s Renaissance (wo)Man rolls about in a coffee cup at Hadrian’s Villa.

The She-Wolf, in the guise of a menacing supermodel, pays a visit to the Colosseum.

On the left, a Capitoline Venus-esque model  sips coffee surrounded by haute couture, while a less-than-mortally-wounded Dying Gaul-ess assumes an artful pose in Venice’s vast Piazza San Marco and a model frolics in a massive plate of pasta (love those breadcrumbs scattered across the table) in the hills of Tuscany.