Rome blog for Bed & Breakfast Chaplin Hostel

This Rome information blog about the Porta Portese fleamarket in Trastevere is written for the guests of the B&B Chaplin Hostel Rome.

Porta Portese, the biggest and most colourful flea market of Rome and Italy, is held every Sunday, in the quarter of Trastevere, around the Via Portuense and the Via Ippolito Nievo.

Over two thousand dealers have stalls at Porta Portese and you can buy anything at the flea market, from antique wardrobes to the tiniest and most banal household goods.

There is an atmosphere of semi-illegality at Porta Portese: Between the official market stalls the “vu-comprà”, in the past mostly Africans, nowadays also many Chinese and Bangladeshi immigrants, have set up their blankets and cardboard boxes with fake sunglasses, CD’s, DVD’s, hand bags and cheap jewelry.

Professional thieves are meanwhile trying to sell the cell phones and photo cameras they stole in the course of the week in the center of Rome or on the same day at the market itself.

Officially the Porta Portese flea market starts at 5am every Sunday morning and continues till more or less 2pm, but in reality many stalls start packing up 1 or 2 hours earlier than that, especially when it rains or during the hot Rome summer months when the Romans abandon the Eternal City in droves.

Both the crowds and the, sometimes rather aggressive, stallholders can be quite overwhelming, so in a separate Porta Portese blog entry I have written some tips on how to deal with the market.

From the Chaplin Bed and Breakfast the Porta Portese market can be reached by taking the 64 bus from Termini to Largo di Torre Argentina, and then taking the number 8 streetcar.

This Rome information blog is written for the guests of the Chaplin Bed & Breakfast in Rome.

From the 19th of February until the 18th of May the exhibition “China in the 21^st Century. Art between identity and transformation”, organized by Zhu Qi and Morgan Morris, will occupy one floor of the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome.

The Chinese artists of the “post ‘89” generation exhibit a series of paintings, installations, videos and photographs, showing a wide variety of interpretations of Chinese society ranging from Pop Art to a new way of using the symbols of Communist China.

While the exhibition is going on, in one of the Palaexpo’s rooms, the painter Liu Xiaodong will realize a new work, to be named “Eat First”, a kind of “Last Supper” depicting 13 people eating Mediterranean food.

There is also space for cinema and literature. From February 21^st until May 18^th in the Sala Cinema and the Auditorium of the Palazzo delle Exposizioni there will be documentaries, shorts, full-length movies and discussions.

Various writers like Mian Mian (March 20th), Wang Shuo (April 22nd) and Su Tong (May 7^th) will read from their works in the Auditorium of the Palaexpo.

For practical information about opening hours, admission costs and directions to the Palazzo delle Esposizioni as well as about the duration of the exhibition visit the Rome blog contemporary exhibition page.

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

Via Clodia - history

The Via Clodia was probably built by the Romans on top of an earlier, Etruscan road. Unlike most other roads it was built for commercial rather than military goals.

The Via Clodia starts just north of Rome as a side street of the Via Cassia (near La Storta) and meanders through the northern part of the province of Lazio to end in Tuscany, not far from the town of Grosseto. The Via Clodia was seen as the main connection between the Via Cassia and the Via Aurelia.

The Via Clodia is named after a Roman magistrate during the republican era.

Another name for the Via Clodia was the Via delle Terme, because of the abundance of wells that could be found along it.

During the Middle Ages the Via Clodia, which was already paved 225 b.C., was a main road for the pilgrims coming to Rome. The road runs along the lakes of Bracciano and Bolsena (Europe’s largest lake of volcanic origin).

As soon as one leaves Rome one can already spot the Castello Orsini in the distance, nowadays as well as in the past a place where the rich and famous go to enjoy themselves.

Marta, on the banks of Lake Bolsena, is a picturesque fishing village. Another beautiful village is Castro, though it cannot be found on the map of the province of Lazio anymore, since it was systematically destroyed, stone by stone, by pope Innocenzo X Pamphili. At the moment they are trying to restore the little bit that is left of Castro

Other splendid villages one drives through are Anguillara Sabazia, Santa Maria di Galeria and Blera.

The forest of Lamone near Rome

The Via Clodia runs through the nature reserve of Lamone, the oldest wild forest of central Italy. On foot or by bicycle, one can follow several paths through the forest, the most famous of which is the Sentiero dei Briganti (the Robber’s Path). At the edge of the Lamone reserve lies the medieval borough of Farnese, in Italy known especially because in the early seventies the movie Pinocchio was filmed here.

Also Tuscania, which owes its importance mainly to the construction of the Via Clodia is worth a visit, for the Etruscan remains and the church of San Pietro towering above the village.

At Norchia, along the old pilgrim’s road, the Via Francigena, the tufo stone, much used in Rome, was won. From the city itself one has a splendid view over one of the largest Etruscan burial places.

From Roccarespampani, called thus after the Rocca Medievale (medieval rock), which one can only visit accompanied by a guide, one reaches the Ponte di Fra’ Cirillo (over the river Traponzo). The bridge, which has an altar built in it, was built by Cirillo, according to legend in one night only. Cirillo’s spirit is also said to still hover around the bridge. Experience in Italy learns that the second is a more credible legend than the first.

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.

The Pope’s socks

This morning, preparing breakfast at the Chaplin B&B, one of my guests told me that she had found the perfect souvenir to take home from Rome. Walking through the center, in the Pantheon area, they had stumbled upon the store that supplies the Pope’s robes and they had bought a pair of socks there, as a gift for their friends.

They remembered the name of the shop, Annibale Gammarelli, but couldn’t tell me the address, so I googled it. Most of the articles that came up were in German and one of them was intriguingly titled the “Soutane-Krieg”.

Gammarelli, Euroclero and the Cassock War

Gammarelli has been supplying Popes with their wardrobes since 1793, but when Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict he apparently changed tailors, preferring to stick with Euroclero (Piazza Sant’Uffizio, 4), the shop where he used to have his Cardinal’s wardrobe made.

As usual Annibale Gammarelli had been ordered to make the first set of garments for the new Pope, in three different sizes (small, medium and large), since nobody knew yet what size was going to fit the still to be elected Pontiff. None of them fit perfectly, though. Benedict had chosen the smallest size, but this turned out to be too short for his height, so the new Pope returned to his trusted Euroclero.

Though the Pope has decided to stick with Euroclero, Gammarelli will continue to be known as the pontifical tailoring firm. They firmly denied that the Pope had changed tailors, claiming that the clothes made by Euroclero should be seen as an “occasional gift to a friend”.

Central locations of and directions to Gammarelli and Euroclero

The address of Gammarelli is Via di Santa Chiara, 34 and the phone number (+39)0668801314.
From the Bed and Breakfast Chaplin and the Rome Hostel Little Italy you take bus 40E and get off at Largo di Torre Argentina. Turn right into either the Via di Torre Argentina or the Via dei Cestari and the second street you cross is the Via di Santa Chiara.
To get from the B&B’s to the Piazza Sant’Uffizio you take the 40E all the way to the end of the line, just outside St. Peter’s Square, and then walk around the Vatican.

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

”In Scaena”

The imposing setting of the Colosseum, Rome’s most famous monument, forms the backdrop for this exhibition exploring the history of theatre in ancient Roman times.

Through some seventy statues, models, mosaics, masks and other works of art from museums around Italy, this show looks at the way in which the Romans built on the traditions of Greek drama and added elements from Etruscan and other cultures to develop their own form of mass entertainment that has provided inspiration for writers, actors and architects ever since.

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

Roma Archeologia Card

The so-called Roma Archeologia Card costs 20 Euros, is valid for 7 days and gives free access to several of Rome’s major tourist attractions: the various locations the Museo Nazionale Romano is housed in, the Colosseum, the Palatine Hill, the Baths of Caracalla, the Tomb of Cecilia Metella and the Villa Quintilli.

The Archeologia Card can be obtained at the ticket offices of the museums and monuments mentioned (except for the Tomb of Cecilia Metella and the Villa Quintili), as well as at the Visitor Center of the Apt (Tourist Information) in Rome. The address is Via Parigi 5 and from the Bed and Breakfast Chaplin Hostel Rome it can be reached by walking from the rrailway station Roma Termini towards the Piazza della Repubblica. The second side street on the right past the Piazza is Via Parigi.

This article was written for the guests of the Hostel Chaplin B&B and Little Italy Bed and Breakfast in Rome.

Roma Jazz Festival

Among the saxophone players performing during the “Metasax-festival ”, the 31st edition of the Roma Jazz Festival, there are both famous foreign (Joshua Redman, Lee Konitz) and italian (Stefano Di Battista. Maurizio Giammarco) names.

The opening concert, which took place on Sunday November 4th, was held by the PMJO (Parco della Musica Jazz Orchestra).

The program for the following days:

05 Nov Manu Dibango and his Soul Makossa Gang
06 Nov Joe Zawinul
07 Nov Stefano Di Battista
08 Nov Joshua Redman Trio
09 Nov Rosario Giuliani with Enrico Pierannunzi with a “Homage to Monk”
10 Nov Benny Golson and Johnny Griffin
11 Nov Francesco Bearzatti (ore 18); David S. Ware
12 Nov Lee Konitz
13 Nov Maceo Parker

To reach the Auditorium Parco della Musica from Bed and Breakfast Chaplin Hostel Roma and from hostel Little Italy B&B one needs to take bus “M” from the main railway station Rome Termini and stay on till the last stop.

This blog is written for my guests at the Bed and Breakfast Chaplin Hostel Rome.

Pop Art Exhibition

Fifty artists and over one hundred works of art are on display in the exhibition e “Pop Art! 1956-1968”, in the Scuderie del Quirinale.

It is almost impossible to capture the essence of the style Pop Art in one definition, although one can pinpoint some of the characteristics: an interest in consumer culture, in the common, banal aspects of life, but also in the influence of the means of mass communication.

The first room is dedicated to Pop Art’s predecessors, while the following ones are ordered by theme: objects, portraits and brands, the historical events of the sixties (Kennedy’s death, the moon landing).

On the upper floor the exhibition goes back and forth between the high- and the lowbrow. The visitor can see that the artists did not only seek for inspiration in supermarkets and on tv, but also in museums themselves.

The last room is dedicated to the human body.

Pop Art, Gallerie del Quirinale, until January 27th

Directions from the Chaplin Bed and Breakfast

From B&B Chaplin Hostel Rome you need to take bus 64 until the end of Via Nazionale. Via XXIV Maggio is its last side street on the right.