Rose Garden

Another place in Rome in which i like to spend at least a relaxing half day couple of times a year is the municipal rose garden, on the Aventine Hill, directly opposite to the Circus Maximus and the Neronian Domus Aurea.

The rose garden, divided from the Via di Valle Murcia into two distinct sections - one more upstream and more extended, and the other at valley - home of more than a thousand species of roses from around the world, it is considered a good ground among the most beautiful in the world, both for the quality of the flowers and for the panoramic glance that offers.

Its curious that it is located in an area occupied from 1645 until 1895 from the Jewish cemetery;until the first half of the seventeenth century, the Roman Jewish community, could not bury their dead in Christian territory so they used land situated within the old Porta Porteseout of the vativcan land and curiously here since the third century a.C. stood the temple dedicated to the Goddess Flora, protector of flowers: in the same spot where now stands the rose garden.

The creation of the municipal rose garden is thanks to a lady of Pennsylvania, Countess Mary Gayley Senni lover of roses she used to grew dozens of this flowers in her properties in Grottaferrata near Rome.

In 1924 she donated the plants to the City, but then, not satisfied with the arrangements in a simple flowerbed on the Pincio, eight years later, saw her dream came true,the construction of a real rose garden.

The next year was held the first edition of the Rome Rose Prize,and the countess honorary member of the jury.

In the highest section of the extensive rose garden there is the real collection of roses.

There are traditional varieties, and modern hybrids and plants are distributed in different areas, depending on the different species.

The downstream section is where is placed the annual contest. while in the oval, are located only roses that have been winners in previous editions.

Roses most curious to be admired are the "Monstrosa " with green petals , " Omeiensis Pteracantha "with red and transparent thorn, viewedin backlight, lights up like a lamp, the rose that changes color several times in few days; the rose that emanates a strong smell of incense, and the North American variety "Knock Out", able to resist even at 30 degrees below zero.

In addition to a paradise of colors, scents and tranquility, the rose garden is obviously a haven for photographers as they can "immortalize" roses among the most beautiful in the world. not of less value, as I said, is the stunnig panorama "outside" the rose garden it offers a view that range from the Circus Maximus to the Domus Aurea, San Pietro and to the thousand domes of Rome.

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Protestant Cemetery in Rome

It's Not a graveyard "whatever" but the Protestant Cemetery
in Rome.
The Church in the'600 and'700, forbade non-Catholics (as well as suicides, prostitutes and actors) to be buried in Christian territory, so had to create new areas where buried, rigorously at night, those bodies, just outside the city walls.
For this reason existed at the time, a cemetery of the actors (at Porta Pinciana)
and one of the Jews (in the area where now stands the Municipal Rose Garden, on the Aventine hill).

The cemetery which I will speak accomodates "non-Catholic" of all nationalities: Italian (Gadda; Gramsci), American (Corso, poet of the Beat Generation, Simmons, sculptor and painter; Wetmore, sculptor, author of the wonderful "Angel of pain"), Russian Chinese Greek and mostly German (Goethe's son, the architect Semper) and English (Severn, American consul in Rome and a friend of Keats, next to which is buried).

Among the refined paths, surrounded by green hedges, pine and cypress trees you can see the graves of John Keats (1795 - 1821, died of tuberculosis in Rome, and Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822) sunk with his ship in the waters of Tuscany. His tomb is in the shadow of the Aurelian Walls.
A particularly romantic, although little 'macabre, relates to his death: his body was cremated
at Viareggio but his friend Trelawny "pulled" his heart from the flame of his and led it to his widow, Mary (famous author of novel Frankenstein).

The cemetery, lies between the Porta San Paolo (formerly called Ostiensis), the Pyramid of Caius Cestius, the Aurelian Walls and the Monte Testaccio.



The site, also widely known as the Protestant Cemetery , is one of the oldest burial grounds in continuous use
In Europe. It is a great and suggestive place to visit I strongly recommend

It is hard to think of another urban site quite so glorious.

Its towering cypress trees and abundant flowers and greenery shelter a heterogeneity of elaborate and eclectic graves and monuments.



"It might make one in love with death, to think that
one should be buried in so sweet a place" wrote Shelley, not long before he drowned and was buried here.

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Cheese of Castelli Romani

Its hard not find cheese, on an Italian table, actually... its quite impossible!

The typical cheese, in the Castelli Romani area, are: the 'Roman Pecorino', 'Roman Caciotta', 'Ricotta Romana' and the 'Canestrato'. All these cheeses, are made, totally or partially, from sheep's milk. Sheep, in Italian, is 'pecora'. From here the name 'pecorino'.

The roman pecorino, its one of the most ancient cheese made, very famous and highly appreciated, in Italy and throughout the world. This cheese its entirely made of whole sheep milk, and has a typical aroma and a spicy flavor, giving a particular tasty flavor to first courses, especially on pastas.

The 'Canestrato', it's a direct derivate of the above mentioned pecorino cheese. His name derives from the fact that its made by being pressed into a 'canestro' - Italian word for wicker basket - of which pattern, will show on the cheese itself.
The Caciotta Romana its, usually, a fresh cheese, but, in can also be, sometimes seasoned, having a more marked flavor.

This cheese presents itself quite compact, white in color, which can end up in a light straw-colored shade. One of the most popular cheeses, its sells over 30.000 Kg, its shaped as a cylinder, 7 Cm in height, from 1 to 3 Kg in weight.

Excellent with 'fave romanesche' - roman broad beans - and over some pasta dish. Top of the line, thinly sliced on a nice, and rich, salad dish. One more hint: with potatoes or field mushrooms, makes an excellent, and light, second dish. Mixed 'Caciotta', are made by mixing sheep and cow milk. They are tasty and spicy, typical of the Roman countryside. Its shape is low and round, not less than three kilos in weight.
The great demand is for the 'Ricotta Romana' - Ricotta cheese - a firm, dry and compact cheese. Made from cow buffalo, sheep, goat and/or mixed cheeses.Never the less these products of the Roman countryside, produced with modern technologies, still retain all the fragrance of the old times past, and those characteristics such as: being natural, high quality and, above all, nourishment.

Cheese has always been found on most popular tables, mainly used for fast snacks and, also, for long trips - dried - since its simple to make, it goes well with bread, wine and other local goodies. It's a fast meal, complete and efficient and, above all... satisfying and filling! Can be preserved in a water solution, or spiced with thyme, pine seeds, and pepper. Excellent are the small 'ricottine' - same classic shape as a ricotta, but smaller - usually eaten with grilled bacon, porcini mushrooms and various salads. Don't miss these cheeses of you take a trip to the Castelli Romani... enjoy!

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Rome Italic Forum of Mussolini

Ambitious building projects from the 1920s to the 1940s are still visible around Rome, and would have been even more widespread had the Fascist regime lasted longer.

Fascist architecture appears here and there in the historical center of Rome, but it is most present south of the center in the Mussolini-conceived EUR district, and at the Foro Italico sports complex north of Rome.

This guided visit will take you to the buildings and urban spaces that best exemplify how architecture could transmit the ideology of Fascism. Many of these Mussolini-era structures were directly inspired by imperial Roman art and architecture, but modified (some more convincing than others) to be colder, more sterile, more totalitarian.

For anyone with an interest in Rome's modern period or in comparative architecture, this unique tour is guaranteed to fascinate.The cult of sport was promoted and glorified in service of the Fascist regime that ruled Italy from 1922-1943.

In keeping with his belief that a fit country was a strong country, Fascist Dictator Mussolini commissioned the construction of the Foro Italico, a giant sport complex on the north edge of Rome, in the 1930s. Originally known as the Forum of Mussolini, the complex was conceived as a temple dedicated to the Fascist cult of athleticism, an idea that finds its expression in sculptural and mosaic decoration.

Today, you’re most likely to visit the Foro Italico today to attend a soccer match (it’s home to both the Roma and the Lazio teams and the stadium has been rebuilt since the time of Mussolini) or the world-class tennis tournament that takes place each year in May. But, not to be missed, is the spectacular indoor swimming pool, the walls of which are decorated with mosaics created by masters and students from the Scuola Irene of Spilimbergo, in the North-East Italian region of Friuli.

The giant mosaics are done in a style that’s typical of Mussolini’s art and architecture, paying homage to the modernist aesthetic of the early twentieth century, while simultaneously giving a nod to the glorious classical art of Rome’s ancient past.
Why such interest in the glorification of sport? Peter Bondanella explains the Fascist obsession with physical exercise in his book The Eternal City: Roman Images in the Modern World (University of North Carolina Press, 1987. pp. 192-193):

The Forum [of Mussolini] was intended to celebrate sport and strenuous physical exercise. Fascist leaders like to picture their regime as a youthful one. After all, the fascist humn was “Giovinezza” (”Youth”), and not only Mussolini but a number of party leaders often had themselves photographed in various sporting poses. Some leaped over drawn bayonets or through burning hoops to demonstrate their physical fitness and personal courage.

“Physical culture,” as the Fascists like to call it, was an important aspect of the regime’s ideology.



Foro Italico: Largo Lauro de Rossi, 3.

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Tiberina Island in Rome

According to the legend the island was created by silt piling up on the crops of the Tarquins thrown into the Tiber when the last king of this line was driven out of Rome.

Natural island, It grew on the centuries of waste.

Tiberina Island in Romeis linked to the banks of the river by two bridges, the Fabricio and Cestio.

Today, in order to protect Tiberina from the current, the 'bows' have been extended right up to one of the pillars of the Garibaldi bridge.

Some ancient buildings can still be seen, like the Caetani tower dating to the Middle Ages, and the church of San Bartolomeo that was built on the site of the temple of Esculapius. Unfortunately nothing is left of the 10th century church as it was almost entirely rebuilt in the 17th century.

Every year, on November 2nd, the Brotherhood of the "Devoti di Gesù Crocifisso al Calvario e di SS. Maria Addolorata" Devouts of Jesus crucifix at Calvario and of Our Lady of Sorrows, so called of "Sacconi Rossi" (Big Red Sacks), celebrates the commemoration of deceased people with a procession on the Tiber Island banks.

The Tiberina island, besides to be an archeological place full of legend and traditions, contains inside characteristics still to be discovered: observing carefully you may note many elements and come to the conclusion that the Tiberina island is also.

Every Year there open-air summer cinema festival on Tiberina Island features a fascinating programme of previews, retrospectives and blockbuster movies.The festival takes place in a magnificent location on the Tevere river.

The Ponte Rotto (broken bridge) connects the island to the mainland and is illuminated to transform this magical place into a huge cinema set.

Music, dance, fashion shows, multimedia artists, food and wine tastings accompany themed evenings and there are also appearances by stars from the movie world.

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The Area Sacra of Caesar and the Cats of Rome

Today this area is an abode of cats; stay there like if they were the owners of that place, they play or rest among the ruins of Campo Marzio and all of them seem to be perfectly at ease and protected.

A few meters up, in the meantime, life runs fast. Largo di Torre Argentina in Rome is plenty of passers, cars, trams and work in progress. The library that overlooks the square is in constant activity. But what takes place few span up their heads, does not seem to interest the feline colony of the Area Sacra.

This site is one of the most ignored in Rome by tourists.

The reaction in front of what, at first sight, seems no more than a hole stuffed up of ruins in the middle of the square, is always the same. Distrust, a quick look and go, towards other more understandable destinations. Then once you discover the event that makes this place important, the level of attention increases , maps in hand, to identify the structures that had to be there in ancient Rome, instead of those four stones and flaky columns that you see today. Reveal the mystery then:

In the cats lair of Largo di Torre Argentina, the March 15th of 44 BC Gaius Julius Caesar was assassinated, it was made by a group of about sixty senators, they considered themselves the guardians and defenders of the republican tradition, they were opposed to any form of personal power. So, fearing that Caesar wanted to become king of Rome (unthinkable concept for Romans), decided it was the time to get rid of the dictator.

At about eleven o'clock in the morning, Caesar left the house and after the ordinary religious practices he got in the Curia. He went to sit unaware to his seat where he was immediately surrounded from the plotters which acted to ask him favors and graces. At the agreed signal, Publius Servilius Casca Longo unsheathe the dagger and struck Caesar at the neck, causing a superficial and non-fatal wound. Caeser tried to defend himself with the stylus in his hand, then all the plotters now around Caesar fling with daggers against their target; Caesar in vain tried to dodge the stab. but when he understood to be surrounded and he even saw Brutus (his son) going against him, covered his head with the toga, he passed over, pierced by twenty-three stab. Caesar had 56 years. The first Emperor of Rome, one of the most important and influential of the history; and his murder happened exactly here.

Today the district is called "Pigna", exactly in Largo di Torre Argentina; is right here where is consumed the most ancient and famous attack in ancient history. It was an important place of that time, area of thermal baths, majestic colonnades, leading religious area and especially political.

Centuries later, on this cultural esplanade passed years of hight-quality limestone activity, producing with bas-reliefs and columns layers of medieval buildings.

In 1926, Mussolini sent in this area some pickmen with the aim of breaking down the medieval structures and erect buildings able to accept the new leader class. The plan was never carried out, because under the blows of the pickaxes, came out the Area Sacra of Caeser, just, whose discovery had even touched the Fascist dictator.
Three years after that place was already territory of cats which, after all, they did not matter at all about the leader tears and nor about the stab inflicted to another leader two thousand years earlier.

Since then, the cats took possession of the place and of all the memories connected to it, becoming the major tourist attraction of the square.

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