Line C, Metropolitana

Tags

engineering, heritage, Italy, Metro, metropolitana, monuments

Rome remains a city of great interest to me and since we left some years ago I still follow what is going on. It remains really our second home and very dear to us.

The completion at snail pace of the Line C of the Metropolitana di Roma, the infamous line C which connects line A and B in Rome is something I have been following for years. When we left Rome in 2011 I thought it would be completed in a year or two. This is a very long metro line which crosses Rome from one end to the other however given that Rome is a very compact city building a metro line over 24 Km should not be a long tedious affair, well think again. The first tranche of Line C is now complete from the Eastern Suburb at Monte Compatri-Pantano to San Giovanni where is intersect with Line A.  San Giovanni is the site of the ancient Basilica of San Giovanni Laterano, the Pope’s church since he is the Bishop of Rome with a Papal Palace attached. The first section now functionning opened in 2014 and two more stations in 2018. The biggest hurdle is all the archeological sites along the route, as the construction gets nearer to the historical centre of Rome the engineers have to dig ever deeper and at the same time all work must stop the minute they hit any ancient site. Archeologists and historians are brought in and a major study is undertaken, which can take a couple of years, so this causes many long delays.

The result the digging has now reached the Roman Forum area and the Colosseum, continuing down the Via dei Fori Imperiali, as you can see from the photo upper right corner down to the Altar of the Nation, ( the big white monument) the tunnelling is now more than 90 feet under ground to avoid any ancient structure. Some stations because of the complexity of avoiding any archeological structure or monument have been cancelled out right, like the planned station at Lago di Torre Argentina where four ancient temples of the Republican era around 2200 years old are located and also it is the site of the Theatre of Pompey where Julius Cesar was assassinated in 44 BC.  So far the line is 15 years late in completion and billions in Euro over budget.

Centre of Rome, Piazza Venezia in front of the Altar to the Nation. 

In any other city, engineers and politicians would have compromised and agreed to save some monuments and ignore others, based on the importance historically of what should be preserved and what should be discarded. In North America, this is a common compromise, in Canada often everything is bulldozed and only a plaque will recall what was destroyed. However in Italy it is a very different matter and any question of not studying what is found and not taking measures to preserve it is considered barbaric. So I have seen years of discussion between the various Mayors of Rome, Prime Ministers of Italy, Ministers of Culture, archeologists, University deans, members of the public etc. go on and on and on, enough to drive you crazy.  If this was not enough there was also a big discussion around the two boring machines or Talpe (Italian for moles)  underground digging the tunnels, what to do with them, should they be left in a side gallery once the work is over or …

How much this is costing in total is not even considered. it is not important, what does matter is to preserve the past of Rome. Some Metro station will have museums built within to exhibit the artefacts, so that riders can view it all as they come to the Station. The design of each station in the historical centre must be practical but also appropriate to the surrounding area and style matters. The Piazza Venezia station will be unique in the world given the Palaces of noble princely families, like the Colonna and Doria Pamphilij in the neighbourhood and the importance of this square in the heart of Rome.

In the digs discovered so far are barracks of the Pretorian guards with beautiful mosaic floors intact and some wall paintings, then at Piazza Venezia the forgotten Athenaeum of Emperor Hadrian was unearth which prompted great excitement amongst Academia. Not to mention all the other finds and artifacts.

Line C is important for the future of the City and public transport, it needs to be built and the delays only make things worse in terms of traffic congestion in Rome a City with a population of almost 3 million people, you have 2.6 million cars. This week the Mayor of Rome announced that the Colosseo Station will open in 2025 more than 8 years late and Piazza Venezia should open thereafter, but what about all the other stations going across the Tiber and beyond St-Peter’s, no one knows.

Rome for Romans remain the Capital of the World and it seems that from what I have seen this belief is entrenched in how people see themselves and their City.

Line C is in pale green, remains 6 stations to be built from Colosseo to Clodio Mazzini.

En passant…

Tags

Borghese, museum, Vatican

Today a friend who lives in Rome sent a little comment about his visit to the Villa Borghese. This famous museum only admits 80 persons per hour instead of the usual 300 person per hour due to Covid 19 concerns.

Given the size of the building it must be a delight to be in such a magnificent building with so few people and so much spectacular art work.

I remember walking in the gardens of the Villa Borghese, something I did many times given that we lived near by, I would go there just to relax and enjoy the greenery. The garden is the third largest in Rome, you can walk for hours all around it. The land was first acquired by the Borghese family in 1605, located on the ancient site of the Gardens of Lucullus, 60 BC, just outside the city walls built by Marcus Aurelius you can enter from the top of the Spanish Steps turning to the left or from Via Flaminia or at Porta Pinciana which was closest to my home. In Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V, bought the land in 1605 it was mostly a vineyard and covered a large area slopping down the Pincian Hill towards the Porta del Popolo and Via Flaminia. Today the vineyard is gone but was replaced with formal gardens in the French Style by Cardinal Borghese and later in the 19th century an English romantic gardens with ancient ruins, lakes and fountains was created giving the place an atmosphere both peaceful and serene.

Such huge estates acquired by noble families were used mostly to escape the city in Summer and many had large villas or palaces built within, such homes all have the one architectural features which is a roof top terrace to catch the evening wind coming off the Mediterranean sea towards Rome. This feature we enjoyed while in Rome dining on our terrace watching the ballet of small bats amongst the Maritime Pines.

Villa Borghese in Italian refers to an Estate and not to a building per se. In fact Cardinal Scipione built the Galleria Borghese which looks like a large palace simply to house his art collection so he could sit in various grand rooms and admire the works of art while having lunch or entertaining friends with music or discussions, it was not meant to be lived in. He would spend a few hours at the Galleria and then return to his home in the City. The family left its mark on Rome, his uncle Pope Paul V Borghese’s name is inscribed in bronze letters above the main entrance of St-Peter’s Basilica, he commissioned Bernini to do many works of art and architecture to enhance St-Peter’s and the semi-circular colonnade of the famous Piazza.

One of the magnificent rooms of the Galleria, your eye is drawn to look everywhere at once, it can be overwhelming.

On the grounds of the Villa Borghese you can see other large buildings, built for the 1911 World Expo, one today is known as the British School of Rome, the other is the Galleria Nazionale D’Arte Moderna with works from the 19th to 20th century. Both are formal and grand buildings in the Beaux Arts style. The Silvano Toti Globe Theatre is a copy of the Globe of London and presents Shakespeare’s Plays in Italian.

I always enjoyed this park, it is formal and relates to the history of Rome from antiquity, the vistas are enchanting so much so that Ottorino Respighi was inspired to composed the music entitled The Pines of Rome and I can see why.  Though Rome surrounds the gardens nowadays, it is very peaceful and quiet once you enter it.

View of the lake and the temple to the God of Medicine, Asclepius

Formal entrance from Via Flaminia, the gates speak of the grandeur of the Borghese Family with their coat of Arms and the Griffon and Eagle. The gates are closed at night. The Villa Borghese since 1903 is a public garden maintained by the City of Rome. The Borghese Family continues to this day, with assets in cosmetics, real estate, and other business lines with properties in Italy and in the USA.

Stay HOME!

Tags

Covid 19, Health, home, Italy, message, people

This little film is basically saying to all people living in Rome, don’t be stupid tonight just stay home. This way Rome will remain the Rome we know and love and we will all be safe. A simple message for all easy to follow. Italy has been hit very hard. Not all people have been careful. Enjoy this gentle poetic video addressed to us all.

 

As Spring approaches

Tags

Italy, memories, opera, Souvenir

I was listening to Renata Scotto sing Ch’il bel sogno di Doretta from La Rondine by Puccini. It reminded me of the many times we went to the Teatro del Opera in Rome where we had Season tickets.

Listening to the music and looking at the pictures posted here reminds me of our life in Rome. The memory of which is as strong today as it was then.

 

Opening night at the Teatro del’Opera in Rome waiting for the arrival of the President of the Italian Republic. The night Will had a funny conversation with an Italian Princess on too much botox.

On the Belvedere looking towards the Roman Forum

from our terrace, the view at sunset on Via dei Villini

Our terrace with all the plants Will and I planted, I loved those tiles with a greenish blue colour.

One of the more famous cemetery of Rome, it is a city in itself given the thousands of tombs and mausoleums. Many famous Italians are buried here and so are noble families. The Campo Verano is the one cemetery I know where even in death the dead compete with each other for social standing by the monumental graves built to proclaim who they were. A peaceful and beautiful garden cemetery.

Rome in Winter during a rare snowstorm

The Barberini Palace once the family home of Pope Urban VIII now a beautiful museum to classical painting. Setting for the movie Roman Holiday.

The Pontifical Academy of Science in the Vatican gardens, copied from Emperor Nero’s Palace built by the nephew of the Pope Pius IV, Cardinal Charles Borromeo later Saint Charles Borromeo. We were told by the Cardinal guiding us that originally this building was used by Cardinal Borromeo to receive his male friends and to party. It caused a scandal and he was sent to Northern Italy for a period. This area of the Vatican gardens is not open to the public.

Italian cooking classes where I discovered that the Anchovy is a delicate white fish and fresh is simply grilled and served with lemon juice or eaten raw marinated in lemon juice, it is quite good and more a shame we do not have it here in North America.

Our dining room at home set for a Christmas dinner party.

The Borghese Gallery built in 1605 by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V and patron of Bernini. He built this gallery to house his art collection. The settings of the immense gardens all around makes for a nice park to walk and relax in the centre of the City.

Gardens of the Residence of the Canadian Ambassador at Villa Grandi in Rome set up for a staff picnique. This is also the site of the Villa of Scipio Africanus which is under the garden. This villa was given to Canada by the Italian Government in 1950 as War reparation, it formerly belonged to Dino Grandi the #2 of the Fascist Government who fled in 1944 to South America.

General view of Rome from the Gianicolo Hill in the background the Alban hills South East of the City.  St-Peter’S dome is just out of sight to the left of this photo.

Will making ravioli by hand, he made the dough and then put it through the machine, next he prepared the stuffing which was pumpkin. Cooking the ravioli takes only minutes. I remember they were quite good.

The entrance to Hell or the Underworld according to ancient Romans beliefs situated between the Arch of Septimus Severus and the Temple of Saturn.

The Arch of Titus commemorating his destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple. Part of this arch in the Roman Forum was damaged during the middle-ages and it was Rachele Guidi, second wife of Mussolini who had it restored around 1930. Walking in the Forum in all Seasons was always pleasant, so much to see and study.

Near Piazza Venezia

Entrance to our home in Rome on Via dei Villini

Italian cheeses, meats and wine shop, a real pleasure to discover the incredible variety of cheeses made all over Italy.

At dinner with our friend Diana in Rome.

The ancient Via Appia in Rome.

 

Nostalgic for Rome

Tags

Italy, la grande bellezza, life, Nostalgy, Travel

Jep Gambardella has seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades, but after his 65th birthday and a shock from the past, Jep looks past the nightclubs and parties to find a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty, which is Rome itself the Great Beauty.

Friends are going to Rome in April, a great time to be in the Città. Despite all its problems and degraded infrastructure Rome remains a fantastic city unlike any other city in the world.

I read today a remark by someone who said that we are now in late Winter, 17 February? Really well I suppose that one month from now we will be at the end of Winter still mid-March but at the end nonetheless. By April restaurants will start to re-open in anticipation of the arrival of the first cruise ships. However with the Chinese Flu I wonder what impact it will have on people travelling.

Still April in Rome is a wonderful time.

Rome, the Tiber River on the Tiberina Island.

Summer evening

Tags

caracalla, La Rondine, opera, Puccini

I was listening to Radio-Canada this evening and they were playing La Rondine by Puccini. The music brought me back to our Summers in Rome, it seems like such a long time ago.

We had Season tickets to the Opera di Roma, in the Summer time the company would move from the main theatre to an open air one at the Baths of Caracalla, the famous ruins were the second largest Roman public baths, or thermae, built in Rome between AD 212 and 216, during the reign of the Emperor Caracalla. Today they are splendid ruins set in a beautiful park.

I will always remember these Roman Summer nights, it was so much cooler in the open air and the moon during the performance would rise above the ruins. We saw quite a few operas in Rome during our many years.

Rome

Tags

Birthday, Eternal city, Italy, Romulus

The 21 April is the Birthday of Rome, Maggior di Roma is an expression in Italian meaning Rome is greatest. Rome celebrates its 2,772nd birthday on 21 April which this year coincides with Easter Sunday festivities. Known as Natale di Roma, the annual birthday celebration is based on the legendary founding of Rome by Romulus in 753 BC.

Rome is known as the Eternal City even among the ancient Romans themselves. It was so called because the Romans thought that no matter what happened to the world, no matter how many other empires might rise and fall, Rome would go on forever. Romans still think this way today. Tu non vedrai nessuna cosa al mondo maggior di Roma. 

Puccini composed this Hymn to Rome in 1919 to celebrate the victories of Italy in the First World War and its liberation from Austrian dominance. It became in a way its Birthday song. Puccini got his inspiration from an ancient poem, “Carmen Saeculare” (literally, “Secular Hymn”, usually translated as “Song of the Ages”), is a hymn or ode by the Roman lyric poet Horace, commissioned by Emperor Augustus in 17 BC. It is collection of mythological and religious verses encouraging the restoration of the tradition and the glorification of the gods, particularly Apollo, Diana, Jupiter and Venus.

Carnevale Season

Tags

Carnevale, Friends, Italy, mask ball, party

This is the Season for the Feste Romane, think of the music of Ottorino Respighi and also elsewhere in cities like Venezia. It is also the time of parties given by the aristocracy. I am happy to think that once in the not so distant past we went to such parties in Rome. What elegant parties they were. Here are some photos of our friends at the home of Prince Jonathan Doria-Pamphilj in his palace in the centre of Rome near Piazza Venezia last week. I remember when we first visited this palace and wonder how can anyone today live in such a grand place, it is beyond real. But family tradition and owning such a place for several centuries brings not only attachment but also a sense that you owe it to your ancestors to continue. Other princely families in Rome like the Colonna, the Palavincini, BonCompagni-Ludovisi or Torlonia, the  also have spectacular palaces but they are not open to visitors, you only enter as a guest invited as a friend.

Side view of the palace Doria-Pamphilj on Via del Corso (Via Flaminia in antiquity)

The interior courtyard of the palace.

It was a mask ball, here friends in the Mirror Gallery. (name withheld)

The Prince has through his family history a very large art collection of antiquities,  Renaissance and Baroque masterpieces. Our dear friends C.E. and her husband P.C.

Palazzo Doria Pamphilj—the colossal, 1,000-room family seat, which dates from 1505 and is among the most treasure-filled palaces in Europe. Said to be nearly two-thirds the size of St. Peter’s Basilica, the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj may well be the largest private residence in Italy. It houses one of the nation’s most important private art collections, with 650 works, including masterpieces by Raphael, Caravaggio, Titian, and Velázquez. The Doria Pamphilj clan—whose family tree includes the renowned Genoese admiral Andrea Doria and Giovanni Battista Pamphilj, who reigned as Pope Innocent X from 1644 to 1655—is one of just a handful of Rome’s ancient princely families who have survived with their palazzi, fortunes, and staggering art collections intact.

Prince Jonathan Doria-Pamphilj and his husband Elson Braga with their children Emily and Filippo Andrea VII.

Santuari Murali

Tags

beliefs, Catholic, Italy, madonna, religion, sanctuary, superstitions

Madonella or Santuari Muralli are found almost everywhere in Italy, attached to buildings and on street corners. Most are centuries old, maintained by the people of the neighbourhood or of a parish church. Many created by great artists as a commission by a religious congregation.

People pass by them, some will stop to say a short prayer, others just nod to them as if a neighbour. On some streets people leave plants or flowers, votive candles.

There is an unwritten rule and everyone knows that the flowers and votive candles are never to be disturbed. This is a sacred place even if just on a busy street. It is as if there is an invisible precinct. The idea of these Madonella (little Madonnas) or Wall Shrine is as old as Rome, in antiquity on street corners you would have the local divinity protecting the neighbourhood usually near the local tavern which served also as a Club for the area, serving food and drink. The divinities were there to protect and they were different in each neighbourhood, they also had a local story attached to them and were said to perform miracles against an attack by unfriendly foreigners. Rome is a superstitious place and Romans have always been known to be a superstitious people.

With the gradual transformation of the City in the fourth century A.D. with the imposition by Emperor Constantine of the Christian religion, slowly these old pagan shrines are changed to Christian ones. The most popular new figure is the Virgin Mary, often associated with Venus or Aphrodite. Since Venus usually appears with a cupid, the Virgin Mary appears with a new born baby Jesus, voilà transformation and a gullible public is none the wiser.

When we lived on Via Asmara there was such a Madonella, at the bottom of the street was a big high school and many students walked back and forth passing in front of it. There was always flowers and many votive candles and I remember thinking that the kids might be tempted to steal or break what was left in a moment of piety. No never they simply walked pass it without ever touching anything. They obviously knew better than to desecrate such a site.

A lovely tradition to see such sanctuaries attached to the walls of apartment buildings or commercial ones. Just a tradition, it what was once a very Catholic country, like all places Italy has changed a lot but this millennia old tradition persists.

 

 

Happy Birthday!

Today there is two birthdays I consider important, one is the birthday of Rome founded some 2771 years ago on 21 April by Romulus. To this day I think you can say Auguri Roma, bellezza eterna.

The other birthday is that of the Queen of Canada, Her Majesty Elizabeth II who is 92 years old and the oldest reigning Monarch in British history but not Canadian history, Louis XIV has that distinction. Nonetheless we wish her a wonderful Birthday.