Rome blog for Bed & Breakfast Chaplin Hostel

This Rome marathon blog entry is written for the Bed and Breakfast Chaplin Hostel.

Over 50 thousand athletes are expected to participate in the Rome marathon, which will be run Sunday March 16th and starts at the Imperial Forum.

The 14th edition of the Marathon of the City of Rome, as the event is officially called, will have 15 thousand athletes running competitively and another 35 thousand participants, amongst whom the “fitwalkers” and the “retrorunners” who will be there for so-called “Fun Run”.

Until Saturday evening it will be possible to enter the “Fun Run” by going to the “Marathon Village” in the Palazzo dei Congressi in the EUR area. For more information it is possible to call +39 (0)64065064.

The field consists of runners from 76 different nationalities, who will run one of the most beautiful marathons in the world, starting at the Imperial Forum and continuing along 42 kilometers and a bit of some of the most famous tourist attractions Rome has to offer, like the Colosseum, the Circus Maximus, the Baths of Caracalla, Piazza Navona and the Spanish Steps.

This Rome information blog is written for the guests of the Bed and Breakfast Chaplin Hostel Rome.

Lupercale

A large vaulted hall found 16 meters beneath the Palatine hill in Rome is almost certainly the fabled Lupercale (from the Latin word for wolf) - a sanctuary believed by ancient Romans to be the cave where, according to legend, the twin boys Romulus and Remus were suckled by a she-wolf.

Remus and Romulus’ founding of Rome

According to the myth, Romulus and Remus, the twin sons of the god Mars, were abandoned by the banks of the river Tiber in Rome. A wolf found them and fed them with her milk. Later, they were reared by a shepherd and grew up to found Rome, supposedly on April 21^st, 771 BC. Romulus became its first king after killing Remus, who mocked the height of the walls he was building.

Emperor Augustus and the Cave

The cave, decorated with mosaics, seashells and pumice stones, was found in a previously unexplored area during restoration work on the palace of Augustus, the first emperor of Rome. Augustus had probably wanted his residence built in a place sacred to the city. He had restored the sanctuary and connected it to his own abode.

When a camera probe was let down from the surface to examine the underground structure the outline of a white eagle was found at the apex of the vaulted ceiling. Since ancient texts indicate that the sanctuary was near the palace and a 16^th century document recorded that the emperor had embellished the cave with just such a white eagle, the cave is indeed believed to be the famous mythical Lupercale.

More than two-thirds of the 8 meters high and 7.5 meters wide cavity, is filled with earth and debris and the location of the entrance is as yet unclear.

Many Euros
The Italian government is spending 12 million euros ($17.7 million) to restore the, so far surprisingly neglected despite being studded with monuments, Palatine ruins. In February 2008 the remains of Augustus’ palace will reopen to the public after having been closed for decades out of fear that some of its buildings could give way.

Fertility

The cult of the Lupercale was kept alive until the 5th century when Pope Gelasio I forbade the Romans to whip their wives. This whipping business took place while running around within the holy Palatine Hill and was supposed to make the ladies more fertile.

At the moment Italy has the lowest birthrate of Europe.

This Rome blog article was written for the guests of the Bed and Breakfast Chaplin Rome.

Italy’s wine makers will be opening the doors of their cellars on Sunday for a sampling of their new “novello” labels, an annual event which grew out of the Beaujolais Nouveau tradition dating back to the 1930’s.

These fruity young wines appear on the shelves from November 6^th and are best drunk within a few months of production.

The Lazio region has an excellent and growing selection of these wines so, also considering the continuing good weather, the November month is a perfect one to take a trip out of Rome to visit some of the cellars – details at http://www.mtvlazio.com.

This article is written for my guests at the Rome Bed and Breakfasts Little Italy and Chaplin Hostel.

Museo dei Fori Imperiali

The Museo dei Fori Imperiali reopens today, after having been closed for more than 2 years due to work at Trajan’s Markets.

Around 40 thousand fragments were found and placed in storage during the excavations in the 1930s, and more were added during the 1997 excavations.

Unfortunately many of the masterpieces were turned to dust when the marble of the Forums was used to create chalk.

Trajan

Trajan himself, under whose reign the empire reached its biggest expansion, is barely represented in the new museum. More than others it is Caesar, with the remains of his offices, and August, with the fragments of his enormous statue, who take up a big part of the space.

For the immediate future the restorations of the Ulpia basilica and of Trajan’s library are planned.

Exhibitions

Right now there is an exhibition of the Japanes scuptor Ken Yasuda, while the next show will be about the Dacians.

Manzoni-Museo della Liberazione

After 20 months of reconstruction the line A metro stop Manzoni was reopened yesterday, September 8th, 2007. The stop also has a new name “Manzoni-Museo della Liberazione”.

Archeological station

Manzoni is the first of the so-called “archeological stations”, an antipasto for the future line C Colosseo stop. The archeological finds that have been dug up during the works are displayed behind glass (vitrines) along the tunnels leading to the turnstiles, in such a way that the walls of an opus reticolatum and the remains of an imperial domus can be admired.

The diggings have unearthed the remains of a paved street dating back to the 2^nd century before Christ. After Mecenate improved it in 35 b.Chr. the area, formerly unhealthy, became a rich and popular residential quarter.

The new Manzoni is meant as a foretaste of what the underground stations for the future lines C, D e B1 are going to look like.

The modernisation of line A should be finished in April 2008 and from May onwards the line ought to start working again till midnight (instead of only till 9pm, as is the case right now).

The subway stop Manzoni is on line A, two stops from Rome Termini and the Bed and Breakfast Chaplin Hostel.

The Città dell’Altra Economia (The City of The Other Economy) in Rome is the first permanent market in Europe where there is only space for alternative economies and none at all for multinationals.

The Città is situated in the Roman quarter of Testaccio, on the Campo Boario of the ex-Mattatoio. The objects that are sold are characterized by the fact that they have been produced without harming nature or people.

The surface is immense, 3.500 square kilometers, more than half of which are covered. The style of the complex has been adapted to that of the surrounding buildings and electricity is completely obtained through the use of solar panels.

The entrance of the Città dell’Altra Economia is in Largo Dino Frisullo. From Hostel Chaplin Bed and Breakfast Rome you take the underground (line B) from Rome Termini to the stop Piramide.

Opening hours: Tue-Fri 10-21; Sat 10-23; Sun 11-19.

On September 15th the exhibition celebrating the 80 years’ existence of the AS Roma fanclub finished. It was such a success - more than 200,000 visitors came to the ex-Mattatoio to see signed shirts, shoes of famous players of the past, Totti’s Pallone d’Oro and much more - that the idea was forwarded to create a genuine museum for the soccer team.

Local hero Francesco Totti himself has set up a non-profit organization in order to achieve this and Rome’s mayor, Veltroni, himself a Roma fan, has endorsed it. All that seems to lack is a suitable spot, which has to be located in Rome’s Testaccio area, where the team started in 1927.

Veltroni has promised that, should the rival team Lazio also want a museum, he would offer the same assistance.

To celebrate the 10 years’ existence of MTV-Italia on September 15^th a music festival will take place at the Piazza San Giovanni in Rome. Several famous Italian bands and singers will perform: Tiromancino, Irene Grandi, Elisa and Negramari, who will perform with Jovanotti, are some of the biggest names.

There will be no big foreign names, since the organizers were afraid that that would take the attention away from the Italian singers.

At the same time a sister festival will be held on the Piazza Duomo in Milano.

The MTV music festival on Piazza San Giovanni in Rome from Hostel Chaplin B&B can easily be reached by taking the subway line A from Rome Termini to the stop San Giovanni. This is really the third stop from Termini, but due to work that is being done on the Rome subway system the Manzoni stop is not being used right now, hence count only two stops from Roem Termini.

Tango in the Roman quarter San Lorenzo

Every summer evening “San Lorenzo in Piazza” (San Lorenzo in the Square) organizes a different event in the Piazza dell’Immacolata, only 10 minuten away from the Chaplin Hostel Rome.

Tonight (August 30th, 2007) the tango will be the theme of the evening. “La Plaza de Tango” is organized by the tangoschool Riachuelo and anybody is allowed to participate. Admission is free and the event starts at 9,30pm. For more information call: 0669603218.

From Hostel Chaplin B&B Rome to Piazza dell’Immacolata

Piazza dell’Immacolata is situated right in the middle of San Lorenzo, one of Rome’s coziest and liveliest quarters. From Bed and Beakfast Chaplin Hostel Rome you turn left, and then right at the traffic lights till you see an arch on your left. You go undeneath the arch and take the second street on your right (Via de’ Luceri). Just keep walking and you will end up in the Piazza dell’Immacolata.

And since you are in San Lorenzo anyway…

Since our favorite pizzeria in San Lorenzo, Formula 1, is closed at the moment, we recommend dinner in the pizzeria SottoSopra, on the corner of Via degli Equi and Via dei Sabelli, and especially that you try the pizza ‘nduja (a specialty from Calabria) there.

From September 1st till September 30th 2007 every Saturday and Sunday at noon a concert will be held in the Chiostro di Paolo II (named after the palazzo’s founder, Cardinal Pietro Barbo, the future Pope Paulus II (1464-1471)).

The music that will be played will date from the middle ages and the periods of the rinascimento and the baroc. The musicians will try to interpret the pieces the way they were supposed to be played at the time they were written.

For more information and reservations you can call +39 (0)669994284.

From Chaplin B&B Rome and Hostel Little Italy Bed and Breakfast Rome you take bus 40E or bus 64 from Rome Termini tot Piazza Venezia.

The program is as follows:

Sep 01 “Insula Feminarum” played by La Reverdie
Sep 02 “Grida ed Intonazioni” by L’Homme Armé

Sep 08 16^th Century Neapolitan by Chominciamento di Gioia
Sep 09 More music from Naples, bawdy songs dedicated to the female

Sep 15 and 16 Bach’s Suites per Violoncello Solo by T. Lavronov en M. Tabbia

Sep 22 Music by o.a.. Pergolesi and Vivaldi by the group Ricercar Continuo
Sep 23 a.o. “Dolcezze Amarissime d’Amore” by C. Ansermet and P. Clerici

Sep 29 The Italian style from Corelli to Veracini played by Casazza-Mulé-Giorgi
Sep 30 “La Venexiana” by Luzzaschi e il Concerto delle Dame di Ferrara.