Here at the eCool compound, we’ve elevated the status of Ingrid Rowland to a level that’s near divine. This may be a heretical move on our part, but, she’s the sun around which our earth spins. Thus, today, we’re groovin’ on the fabulously entertaining and enlightening review given to her new book about Giordano Bruno on Salon.com. Click on over and read all about it.
For the past couple of days, Rome has been awash with news of a planned beauty contest for nuns.
“Miss Sister Italy,” an online beauty contest for those in the habit, is being organized by a priest, Antonio Rungi, of the southern Italian diocese of Modragone, who told the Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera:
Nuns are above all women and beauty is a gift from God. This contest will be a way to show there isn’t just the beauty we see on television but also a more discrete charm.
Any nun between 18 and 40 years of age who wishes to be part of the contest should send their photographs to Father Antonio, who will publish it on his blog. Nuns can choose to wear their full habits and veils or let their hair down.
He claims that the idea for a beauty contest originated with the nuns themselves and that he expects about 1000 participants.
You really think all nuns are old, stunted and sad? This isn’t the case any more, thanks to the arrival in our country of young and vital nuns [notably from Africa and Latin America].
Fr. Antonio hopes the event will become an annual one and that next year the contest can move beyond the internet and take place in real time, preferably in conjunction with the extraordinarily popular Miss Italia contest.
Photo by Jamie John Davies.
Photographer Susan Sanders has been out wandering the street and she tells us that there’s been an August-long explosion of graffiti and street art in the Eterna. A lot of what she’s seeing out there are stupid scribbled tags of te type that deface practically every building in town - enough already! But, occasionally she comes across something a bit more interesting, like this lineup of sticker art that currently enhances Piazza San Callisto in Trastevere.
For more views of Rome, visit Susan’s website, Rome with a View.
It’s hot and steamy in Rome these days. The weather, in combination with the fact that everything in the Eterna is closed, make it hard to motivate the staff here at the eCool compound. Hence, the scarcity of posts. Most days, when we saunter into the compound after a few iced coffees and a leisurely stroll through the city’s deserted streets, we find our eCool employees hunkered down in front of the television, watching the Beijing Olympics. The minute we switch off the set and demand that they start writing and photographing, the whole team heads for the glorious swimming pool that’s been put up “in the shadow of the Colosseum” on the Caelian Hill. (If you’re sweating it out in Rome this summer and you’ve not yet been to this pool, run there!) It’s hard to get any work done in this national holiday month!
The eCoolers did show a bit of excitement when we suggested they write about the Olympics instead of just watching them. And so, today, we bring you news of a new book by Pulitzer Prize winner, David Maraniss, titled Rome 1960. The Olympics that Changed the World.
Rome’s 1960 Olympics happened half a century after they were first planned. The Eternal City was awarded the Olympics in 1908, but the eruption of the volcano Vesuvius in 1906 forced the city to decline the honor, which was passed to London. Thus, there was much celebration when, in 1955, the International Olympic Committee selected Rome as the host for the XVII Olympiad.
Like all Olympic cities, Rome went to work when the announcement was made. The entire city’s infrastructure, from the transportation system to the water supply, was significantly upgraded, and a number of new sporting venues were constructed. None of the new stadiums were as interesting as the ancient settings in which some sporting events were held: the wrestling competition was held in the Basilica of Maxentius in the Roman Forum, the gymnastic events were staged at the Baths of Caracalla, and the marathon — won by the Ethiopian runner Abebe Bikila who set a new world record while racing barefoot — finished under the Arch of Constantine.
The athletic competitions at the Rome Olympics proved to be just as spellbinding. The Soviet team, backed by generous Communist athletic subsidies, trounced the Americans by winning more medals than ever before. Supercharged sprinter Wilma Rudolph broke racial barriers when she won the gold despite a bout with childhood polio that left her in leg braces. America’s number one hope for a medal, sprinter Dave Sime, was recruited into an effort to convince a Soviet long jumper, Igor Ter-Ovanesyan ,to defect to the United States during the Games. And the gold-medal-winning marathoner, Bikila, had the satisfaction of achieving athletic triumph on the streets of the very country that had annexed and ruled his own for several decades in the first half of the 20th century.
While David Maraniss’s book is about such athletic achievement, it is also about the changing world in which the 1960 Olympics were staged. Political and social events play a central role in the story of the Rome Olympics, from the rise of Communism and the advent of the Cold War to the slow disintegration of racial barriers. As well, Maraniss chronicles changes in the culture of athletics that still affect the sports world today.
As Maraniss himself says in an interview posted on his website, the Rome Olympics heralded the beginning of our modern world:
In so many ways, the 1960 Olympics marked a passing of one era and the birth of another. Television, money and doping were bursting onto the scene, changing everything they touched. Old-school notions of amateurism, created by and for upper-class sportsmen, were being challenged as never before. New countries were being born in Africa and Asia, blacks and women were pushing for equal rights. For better and worse, one could see the modern world as we know it today coming into view.
About this time of year, it gets hot in the eCool compound. As we sweat in front of our computers, putting together the very entries that keep you apprised of all that’s hip and happening in Rome, we get pretty darn thirsty and so we’re always on the lookout for a cool and refreshing treat we can break out when happy hour comes along — something that will lower our body temperatures, and, perhaps, alter our state of being.
After trying out an entire range of icy alcoholic treats year, including a Mirto-Blueberry granita, a Campari-Grapefruit granita, and a much-celebrated Coffee Granita with Bailey’s Irish Cream, this year we’re on to something new.
We’ve always loved sipping on Italy’s iconic soda, the Tassoni Cedrata (see image below). From it’s fabulous chartreuse hue to its delicate cedrata flavor, this carbonated beverage is the one most often found in the eCool refrigerator. A Wikipedia entry on Tassoni tells us that the soda reached the height of its popularity in the 1970s, and that it’s famed taste is rivaled only by the popularity of its 15-second television commercial which has been running since 1986 and therefore is the second longest running publicity “spot” on Italian television.
But we’ve digressed and left you wondering how to make a granita di Tassoni and vodka, haven’t we? Here’s the skinny:
We started by pouring four beautiful bottles of Tassoni (they’re about 8 oz each) into a bowl. To that we added about 3/4 a cup of vodka and a squeeze of fresh lime juice. (At this point we had to stop ourselves from drinking this delicious mixture).
We poured the liquid into a shallow dish and placed it in the freezer and then spent a pleasurable and refreshing afternoon opening the freezer to stir the mixture every half hour until the liquid froze into ice crystals.
Make it. You’ll be happy.
In past days, six mega-reproductions of beach equipment have appeared on the spiaggia in Rimini. A huge red bucket, two giant-sized lounge chairs (one with umbrella), a paddleboat fit for Neptune, and a massive kids’ float toy are attracting a great deal of attention from vacationers in the area.
The objects were commissioned by the Province of Rimini from a company that specializes in stage design and will remain on display until 17 August.
Photos by Manuel Migliorini / Adriapress
Today, Ferragosto, the 15th of August, marks the high point of the summer holiday season in Rome. The city is deserted, for all good Romans have taken themselves to the mountains or the sea.
Those of us left here in Rome are spending an exorbitant amount of energy trying to stay cool. Few apartments are air conditioned in the Eterna (though the number grows each year) and the black cobblestones streets have collected enough heat over the course of the summer to radiate warmth right up your legs.
Fortunately, Rome has spent centuries developing a gastronomical treat that helps to lower the body temperature and also provides a bit of nourishment on those “it’s just too hot to eat” days — that treat, of course, is gelato!
Photographer Susan Sanders caught some nuns enjoying cones near Largo Argentina recently. Their faces alone tell the story — they’re thrilled to be indulging their ice cream habit! For more delightful photos of Rome by Susan, visit her blog, Rome With A View.
And if you’re thinking of making some icy treats of your own (or just want to salivate over some fabulous photos of frozen delights), head on over to our friend Hande’s blog, Food Vagabond, and check out the amazing things she keeps in her freezer!
Here at the eCool Compound we’re aware that not every traveler to Rome is equally enticed by the bountiful remains of antiquity strewn across the Eternal City. Looking at fallen-down temples, collapsed columns, and foundation walls can get old — we’ll be the first to admit it.
But, that doesn’t make us any more sympathetic to the city of Rome’s announcement that they’re planning an ancient Roman theme park. Here’s what Reuters has to say:
With the ruins of ancient Rome, the splendor of Vatican City and countless Renaissance art treasures, what does Italy’s capital lack to attract tourists?
The answer, according to the mayor’s office, is a Disneyland-style theme park.
“The model is Euro-Disney in Paris,” said Deputy Mayor Mauro Cutrufo, announcing plans to build a vast ancient Rome theme park just outside the city which he says could be up and running within three to four years.
The park would provide family-friendly attractions to show visitors what life was like in the Rome of 2,000 years ago.
“You would relive scenes from the Colosseum, from ancient Rome, gladiators or maybe Julius Caesar or other things,” a Rome city official said.
In a city that’s chock-full of amazing experiences — from walking on ancient roads to gazing at Michelangelo’s frescoes on the Sistine Ceiling — do we really need to offer visitors an fabricated alternative to seeing Rome’s amazing art and architecture? Why build a fake Colosseum in a fake ancient Rome when the real thing is there for the taking?
We’re troubled by this, as are some city officials:
The government of the Lazio region, of which Rome is the capital, is run by the centre left and they are hostile to the proposal from the city council which is in the hands of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s centre right.
“I say no to Americanization,” said Claudio Mancini, a member of the Lazio council, who hopes the project will be stopped at the planning stage.
To our eye the project seems to be nothing more than a way to remove a few more euro from the pockets of tourists. Why not invest the same money to make Rome’s already-fabulous tourist attractions a bit more enjoyable? There’s certainly no end to things that could be done to enhance visitor experience at the Forum, the Colosseum, and the myriad of museums that are jam-packed with stunning art works. Read on. And let us know what you think.
For archaeologists and museum professionals, the last decade will probably be known as the “cultural property period,” a time in which the ethics of buying, selling, and even owning antiquities has been called into question.
For many institutions, including those who have scrupulously followed international law in the acquisition of antiquities, heightened awareness about cultural property protocol has led to a greater transparency – some museums and universities, the best solution to such problems is to provide the general public with access to their rich collection. Here at the eCool Compound, we consider this to be a very good thing indeed.
And so, we were both excited and impressed when we discovered Macquarie University’s Coins of Julius Caesar website. Artfully crafted by the Australian Centre for Ancient Numismatic Studies, the site showcases part of an impressive collection of ancient coins acquired by Dr W. L. and Mrs J. Gale and bequeathed to the university.
This is not just your everyday catalog, however, with lists of facts in such a manner so as to be only accessible to classics geeks. Instead, the scholars at Macquarie have gotten a bit creative and designed a beautiful website that will teach almost anyone about the life of Julius Caesar.
Because coins were political tools in the late Roman Republic, and because Caesar and those around him artfully made use of the Empire’s loose change as a way of promoting their ambitions and interests, much of Caesar’s biography can be traced through a study of coins.
We leave it to you to click on over and take a look at this interesting site. The images of the coins are beautiful (if you’ve never looked closely at Roman coins, this is the place to do it) and the site’s clear design makes it easy to follow Caesar’s life from his early career to his assassination and beyond.
Thanks to a post by Rogue Classicism, we were led to an article in Trendhunter Magazine about the photographic sculptures of Spanish artist Eugenio Recuenco. And, we’re in love with these stunning images.
Using his camera, models, some art direction by Eric Dover, and a fine bunch of makeup jobs by Lewis Amarante, Recuenco shows us what happens when life imitates art.
