Admittedly, we don’t know that much about this ad.  We found it on an Italian blog and fell instantly and madly in love with it.  It’s fabulous.  It couldn’t be better.  It makes us happy.

Of course, it’s not so terribly unusual for Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam scene to be recycled into advertising.  In just the past years, the divine maestro’s most famous work has been used to push an artists’ award and Peugeot scooters — to name just a few of its appearances in advertising.

But, without a doubt, this is our all-time favorite.  It was put up by Dr. Kim, a plastic surgeon, theoretically in the building in which he works.  The tagline at the bottom of the ad says “Be born again.  Dr. Kim, Plastic Surgeon, 3F.”

Here at the eCool Compound, we’re grateful to Caroline Lawrence, author of the Roman Mysteries series of books and tv series for kids, for letting us know about the excellent Cave Canem Project now underway at Pompeii.

If you’ve visited Pompeii, you probably know that the ancient city is home to lots of affectionate stray dogs who spend their days sunning themselves on the cobblestones of the ancient streets and  befriending tourists and following them about the archaeological site.  While Rome has stray cats, Pompeii is home to their canine compatriots.

An admirable new project called Cave Canem (Cave Canem means “beware of the dog” in Latin and the phrase is famous because it is inscribed on a mosaic found in the doorway of a home in Pompeii) aims to find proper homes for these dogs.  To this end, they’ve put up a website at which you can browse the dogs that are in search of owners and download the paperwork necessary for adoption.  They come with charming ancient Roman names like Polidia and Vesonius; they’re chock-full of knowledge about Pompeii as they’ve been on many a guided tour; and they are healthy, vaccinated, and spayed or neutered.

Yes, we know that we showed you this last year.  But some of you are new here.  And others of you love Romulus and Remus as much as all of us at the eCool Compound do.  So, we’re going to show it to you again.

Of the hundreds of uses to which the She-Wolf is put in Roman advertising, this is our all-time favorite, so we’re happy that it’s almost time for Motodays Roma and that their logo is once again embellishing the Eterna, as it’s been posted  on billboards, buses, and signs citywide.

We like to think of Romulus and Remus wearing leather.  And we’re betting the She-Wolf did as well.

In 1685,  Vittoria della Rovere (portrait on the right), the Grand Duchess of Tuscany and the wife of Grand Duke Ferdinando II commissioned a gem-studded gold crown that she donated to the Carmelite nuns of Borgo Pinti in Florence as a symbol of her devotion to a new canonized saint, Maria Maddalena dè Pazzi, famous for her spiritual ecstasies.

That crown, embellished with 412 diamonds, 114 rubies, and 80 emeralds, was thought to have been lost–hidden away during the Napoleonic raids of the early 19th century–but it  has been recently rediscovered in a convent in Florence, according to Piero Pacini, a scholar of Santa Maria Maddalena dè Pazzi, who has published photographs and an article about the crown in Medicea. Rivista interdisciplinare di studi medicei, an academic journal devoted to the study of the Medici family.

The crown for the saint was made by Giovanni Comparini  and Giuseppe Vanni–the two goldsmiths that most often had the privilege of serving the Medici family in the 17th century–and cost 1800 scudi.  It was begun in the summer of 1684, when Vittoria della Rovere, along with her goldsmiths, paid an unexpected visit to the Carmelite convent at Borgo Pinti and ordered the nuns to show her all the jewels that “belonged” to the saint.  The Grand Duchess told the nuns that she intended to use the jewels to have a crown made for the saint and the project was completed in 10 months.  For about two centuries after the crown was finished, it displayed to the saint’s faithful devotees on occasions when the saint’s incorruptible body was exposed and venerated.

In the past months, the Flash Mob movement has been growing in Rome:  large groups of people  assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and pointless act for a brief time, then quickly disperse.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day in Rome–it seemed as if spring had suddenly appeared after a long, cold, and wet winter–and so it was the perfect day for flash mobbing at the Spanish Steps.  At 3pm, thousands of people arrived on the site, took a place on the steps, and reached for the sky.

There are other Flash Mob events on tap for March, so if you want to join in, just click over to the  Flash Mob Roma website to find out about them.   You’ll see that on Sunday 7 March, a group will be assembling at the Teatro Ambra Jovenelli to protest the fact that it’s slated for closure and possible destruction.

And on 27 March, a flash mob will appear in Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere to stage a 5-minute shaving cream war, this being, of course, the natural evolution of the annual pillow fight staged in the same place!

Things have been a bit dark and dreary in the eCool Compound for the past few months.  Never mind that it’s been raining in Rome for most of the winter, so the climactic conditions haven’t much  helped our moods.  But, among the things cheering us up in the past few days is a video by the band Hold Your Horses for their song “70 Million.”

If you don’t already know them, Hold Your Horses is a Franco-American band and they’re cheeky!  As you’ll see in the still we’re including in this post, the “70 Million” video offers a wink at art history as band members playfully reconstruct famous paintings in an off the wall lyrical interpretation that’s all their own.

Here, we’re showing you some of the Italian paintings they create, including Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, and Caravaggio’s Salome with the Head of John the Baptist. There’s some other fine stuff too that you can see if you click over and watch the whole video on Vimeo — from Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa to David’s Death of Marat and from Munch’s The Scream to Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, it’s rocking version of art history that’s definitely going to be hitting our classrooms in the next weeks!

It’s hard to imagine that any lover of Rome wouldn’t want one of these SWEET La Dolce Vita banners to hang in their home or office.  We’re gonna get about 10 for the eCool Compound.  At $10 a pop, they fit right into our decorating budget!

They’re made by Angela Deane, who, having pursued a career as a fashion designer and an artist has transformed herself into a banner mogul.  Her company, Banter Banners, has a sizable catalog of wall words that will embellish your everyday existence.

So, click on over.  And if they’re out of La Dolce Vita banners, it’s because we got there first!

In 1987, archaeologists working in Pompeii discovered a spectacular house that was dubbed the “House of the Chaste Lovers”– the name was derived from a fresco found inside the house that depicts two lovers kissing.  (See image below)

The discovery is a fascinating one.  The decoration of the house was still in progress when Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, so in addition to completed frescoes like that seen above, there are walls that feature graffiti and preparatory drawings as well.  Serving as further testament to the interior decoration process underway at the time of the eruption,  pots containing pigments were found, as were a small stove and a compass used by the artist.

As if the evidence regarding the process of fresco painting is not enough, the House of the Chaste Lovers also offers valuable about intersections between commerce and residential life in the ancient Roman world.  Certainly the  house was an upscale residence, but there was a bakery incorporated into it as well:  the bakery (see photo of the ovens above) faced onto the street to facilitate business interactions, the living quarters were in the more internal part of the house, and stables for mules (skeletons were found in excavation – see below) used to haul loads of grain opened onto an alley.

Excavations are still underway and thus the House of the Chaste Lovers has never been open to the public on a regular basis.  Now, however, the superintendency of Pompeii aims to remedy that situation by offering visitors a chance to see archaeologists in action on this all-important site.  As part of a new initiative branded POMPEI VIVA (Pompeii Lives), visitors will be allowed to enter several section of the 2,000-year-old house through suspended walkways, while other parts of the excavation yard will be protected by glass screens.

The official Pompeii website suggests that the house is due to open this month.  Various eCoolers were at Pompeii this week and noted that it’s still closed and the preparatory work was going on at a fast and furious rate.  But, we’re hoping that we (and many of you) find it open the next time we’re walking the streets of Pompeii.

We’re excited about the Rome and America exhibit on show at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia through August 1, 2010.  For generations, the story of ancient Rome’s rise and fall has fueled hopes for national greatness and fears for the fate of America’s republic.  Is America Rome? will America’s rise to world leadership last for a thousand years?  Or will the nation come to ruin, like the great empire of ancient Rome?  These questions have haunted Americans since the founding of the new nation in 1776, and they are still with us today.

Rome, like the United States, overcame a monarchy to become a republic.  Long after the fall of ancient Rome, its heroes and legends have continued to influence future generations.  From the battlefields of the revolution to the chambers of Congress, Rome became a part of America’s foundation. Through marble sculptures, paintings, jewelry, coins, and ceramics, Ancient Rome & America draws striking comparisons between Roman and American culture, from theories of government to slavery and civil war, to continental expansion and worldwide influence.

Ancient Rome & America – a multi-million dollar, artifact-rich exhibition showcasing the cultural, political, and social connections between the lost world of ancient Rome and modern America – views the lost world of ancient Rome through American eyes. The exhibition recovers the classical spirit that inspired Rome’s impact on the nation and asks, “What enduring lessons does Rome have for America today?”

Admission to Ancient Rome & America is $20 for adults, $18 for seniors ages 65 and up, and $12 for children ages 4-12. Active military personnel and children ages 3 and under are free. Group rates are also available. Admission to the Center’s main exhibition, The Story of We the People, including the award-winning theater production “Freedom Rising,” is included. iPod audio tours cost an additional $5. For ticket information, call 215.409.6700 or visit www.constitutioncenter.org

Those of you whose Papal aspirations provoked the purchase of Vatican: The Board Game after we featured it here on eCool yesterday, will want to prepare for your ascension to the throne by dabbing a bit of the Pope’s Cologne on your wrists before entering the conclave.

Made by Excelsis Fine Fragrances in San Rafael, California, The Pope’s Cologine is said to be a classic Old World fragrance made from the private formula of Pope Pius IX (1792-1878).

Excelsis claims to have obtained Pope Pius’s formula from the descendants of General Charles Charette, the Pope’s lifelong friend and the commander of the Swiss Guard under his rule.  Meticulously following this formula and using the same essential oils that were included in the Pope’s own cologne, they’ve produced a scent with notes of violet and citrus, which, as they say, is “the same scent that [the Pope] and those around him enjoyed so long ago.

Click here to learn more and to order your own bottle.