Dance Historic & Afternoon Tea and other Rome, Italy Things to Do Tips

Museum Art & Popular Tradition in

EUR

In the atmosphere of a bygone age the pleasures and the magic of a 19th century Grand Ball are combined with the refinement of an Afternoon Tea. The aim of a Tea Dance is to share with all the guests the dances of the great 19th century tradition: Waltzes, Quadrilles, Country Dances and Marches taught by the Master of Ceremonies of the National Company of Historic Dance (Compagnia Nazionale Danza Storica), Nino.

Tea Dances take place from 15.30 to 19.00, and during the afternoon, in addition to dancing you can enjoy a buffet, listen to great music and from time to time you may be delighted by artistic surprises.
These photos were the Danza Storica (historical dance) at the National Museum of Art & Popular Tradition in Rome's EUR area at a Sunday afternoon event. Here there was the demonstration of the dance and you were encouraged to participate which was great fun. Your dress may be contemporary.
The 10 Euro contribution was a bargain & you are welcome to tour this stunning Museum!

BE SURE TO CHECK THEIR WEBSITE FOR CURRENT VENUE, DAY & TIME.

Photo 1 Demonstration of the Historic Dance
Photo 2 Spectator participation
Photo 3 The Professionals
Photo 4 Tea time!

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Directions: Contact website for current venue
Website: http://www.danzastorica.it/eng/index.html

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Tevere/Tiber River & Bridges: Walk the bridges of the Tiber

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Written by icunme

on Jun 10, 2009

by icunme

Try to take a romantic walk over the bridges of the Tiber at Sunset. Photo below is what you may see.

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Musei Capitolini Museums: Campidoglio

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Updated by icunme

on Jun 10, 2009

Piazza Campidoglio

After he arrived in Rome, Pope Paul III (Farnese) decided to reshape the Capitoline Hill into a monumental civic piazza; Michelangelo designed the project and his Piazza del Campidoglio is one of the most significant contributions ever made in the history of urban planning. The hill's importance as a sacred site in antiquity had been largely forgotten due to its medieval transformation into the seat of the secular government and headquarters for the Roman guilds, and it was in forlorn condition when Michelangelo took charge of reorganizing it as a dynamic new center of Roman political life.
COMPARE THE EQUESTRIAN COPY OF MARCUS AURELIUS IN THE COURTYARD WITH THE ORIGINAL INSIDE THE MUSEUM.

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Address: Piazza del Campidoglio 1
Directions: Ascending stairs to the right of Piazza Venezia next to the Vittorio Emanuelle Monument
Website: http://www.museicapitolini.org

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Piazza Navona: Piazza Navona - Center's popular gathering spot!

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Updated by icunme

on May 3, 2008

Piazza Navona at sunrise

by icunme , 2 more photos

Rome holds a very special attraction for me at sunrise. Even the most popular destination will unveil her heart to you at dawn - when it is quiet, solitary, with lingering traces of the previous night's revelry (photo 1). Strewn evidence of the racous nightlife will shortly give way to the artisan's easel. The commanding presence of the Church of Santa Agnese en Agone will open its doors to the devoted - not an unusual scene in Rome where revelry and reverence co-exist, seemingly oblivious to each other or, perhaps, choosing to ignore one another. Sunrise reveals the secrets of the night and you are privy to the transition. The absence of people provides an unobstructed view of the resident art - the rising sun baths the piazza in radiant light. Witness nature embellish art - changing the tint of travertine from moment to moment. I won't blink - won't miss a shade.

Photo 2 - Piazza Navona is bustling during the day and always a center of Rome's night life. The Piazza in daytime with artists and browsers with the Church of Santa Agnese in Agone in background.

Photo 3 - Piazza Navona was frequently flooded - nope, not by rain nor storm runoff or the Tevere -- by Romans themselves to provide fun for all! This plate by Vasi shows us Piazza Navona in summer when it was flooded to provide refreshment to the Romans - reminiscent of an ancient era when the Stadium of Domitianus was used for "naumachias" - combat boat games.

The Piazza was embellished at the end of 19th century by the third fountain on the north side. Pope Innocentius X, Giovanni Battista Pamphili 1572-1655, was elected in 1644. (More detail on the fountains in another tip). He was born in the family palace in Piazza Navona and is buried in the Church of Santa Agnese in Agon. This gives us a hint as to why he devoted effort and resources to transform the former vegetable market among the ruins of the Stadium of Domitianus into one of the most impressive piazzas in all of Rome.

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Address: Piazza Navona
Directions: Rome Center

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Roman Forum: FORUM - Temple of the Vestal Virgins

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Updated by icunme

on Aug 2, 2007

Temple of the Vestal Virgins

by icunme , 2 more photos

The Temple of the Vestal Virgins was home to six Roman women - each became a priestess and attended the eternal flame. These holy women were revered in their time and the only female priests within the roman religious system - given rights and priviliges not even available to the upper class - they even controlled their own finances. Duties included performing rituals in regards to the Goddess Vesta, and baking the sacred salt cake to be used at ceremonies during the year.

There were, however, some drawbacks. If one of the Virgins let the flame go out she faced death. While enjoying many benefits, including a rather luxurious life in the House of Vestal Virgins, punishment for breaking the rules were severe. Breaking the vow of chastity was punished by burial alive. This method was adopted to kill a vestal without shedding her blood. Such executions would take place in the "Evil Fields", or Campus Sceleratus, just outside the Servian Wall. The lover would be flogged to death on the Comitium. While these executions took place several times, it was also an event that wrought various forms of negative omens.

Vesta was the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Hesta, who was the goddess of the hearth. Vesta, however, was worshipped both as the guardian of the domestic hearth and also as the personification of the ceremonial flame. Vesta's chief festival, the Vestalia, was held on 7 June.

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Directions: Roman Forum

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Tevere/Tiber River & Bridges: TIBER BEACH - sand and all right in Rome

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Updated by icunme

on Aug 14, 2006

Tiber Beach at Ponte Sant Angelo

by icunme , 2 more photos

So, don't fight that Ostia traffic - come right here to the banks of the Tiber............
Sand, lounge chairs, umbrellas, 2 swimming pools, cafe, bar - and great view of passing boats -- Castel Sant Angelo in the background!

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Address: Ponte Sant Angelo

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Vatican Museum & City: NEWS FLASH - Unveiled necropolis at Vatican

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Written by icunme

on Nov 2, 2006

by icunme

Unveiled necropolis at Vatican Opens
Three years ago during construction of a parking lot, a new necropolis was discovered. The Vatican announced its opening to visitors in October, 2006. Visitors will be able to descend into an ancient world of the dead that was a burial place for the rich and not-so-affluent during Roman imperial rule. One archaeologist noted that sculptures, engravings and other objects found entombed with the dead made the find a "little Pompeii" of cemeteries.

The burial sites, ranging from simple terra-cotta funerary urns with ashes still inside to ornately sculptured sarcophagi, date from between the era of Augustus (23 B.C. to 14 A.D.) to that of Constantine in the first part of the 4th century.

From specially constructed walkways, visitors can look down on some skeletons, including that of an infant buried by loved ones who left a hen's egg beside the body. The egg, whose smashed shell was reconstructed by archaeologists, might have symbolized hopes for a rebirth, officials at a Vatican Museums news conference said Monday.

The remains of the child, whose gender was not determined, were discovered during the construction of the walkways, after the main excavation had finished, said Daniele Battistoni, a Vatican archaeologist.

Buried there were upper-class Romans as well as simple artisans, with symbols of their trade, offering what archaeologists called rare insights into middle- and lower-middle-class life.

"We found a little Pompeii of funeral" life, said Giandomenico Spinola, a head of the Museums' classical antiquities department.

"We have had the mausoleums of Hadrian and Augustus," Spinola said, referring to majestic monuments along the Tiber in Rome, "but we were short on these middle- and lower-class" burial places.

The burial sites help "document the middle class, which usually escapes us," said Paolo Liverani, an archaeologist and former Museums official who worked as a consultant on the site. "You don't construct history with only generals and kings."

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Directions: VISITS TO THE VATICAN NECROPOLIS:
Enquiries: Excavations Office, by e-Mail (scavi@fsp.va) or by fax +39 06 69873017
Other Contact: e-Mail: scavi@fsp.va

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St John Lateran: First Seat of the Pope - Basilica San Giovanni

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Written by icunme

on Oct 18, 2006

Basilica San Giovanni in Laterano

by icunme , 3 more photos

Few people realize that this is the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome, containing the papal throne and it ranks above all other churches in the Roman Catholic Church, even above St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican - officially bearing the title of ecumenical mother church - mother church of the whole inhabited world among Roman Catholics.

The exterior statues that surround the top are centered by Christ with the Cross. Huge statues of the Apostles line the Center aisle inside. A side view (photo 2) of this was visible from our kitchen window when we lived in this neighborhood. The church bells did not just mark the Angeles, they rang a lovely melody.
This was the seat of the Pope.
History: The Lateran Palace fell into the hands of emperor Constantine and was eventually given to the Bishop of Rome by Constantine. The actual date of the gift is unknown but scholars believe it had to have been during the pontificate of Pope Miltiades when he hosted a synod of bishops in 313. The palace basilica was converted and extended, eventually becoming the cathedral of Rome, the seat of the popes as patriarchs of Rome.
The official dedication of the Basilica and the adjacent Lateran Palace was presided over by Pope Sylvester I in 324. The Papal Throne was placed inside. In reflection of the basilica's primacy in the world as mother church, the words Sacrosancta Lateranensis ecclesia omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput are incised in the main door, meaning "Most Holy Lateran Church, of all the churches in the city and the world, the mother and head."
The current archpriest of St. John Lateran is Camillo Cardinal Ruini, Papal Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome.
Photo 3: Concert in May 2006 at Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano
Photo 4: Sacred Steps at San Giovanni (detail on separate tip)

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Address: Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano
Directions: East of Colosseo

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Roman Forum: Roman Forum - Rome's ancient time machine

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Updated by icunme

on Apr 11, 2009

Temple of Castor and Pollux

A good Forum book with the overlay will serve you well. The more you know of the history here - the more you will appreciate all you see and can identify here.
You will be transported back to ancient times here - with a book on the ancient site in hand and ample time to devote. I revisited the Forum and spent the better part of an afternoon comparing what now exists to the overlay describing what was where - when - and for what purpose. I was largely unaware of the people around (luckily, there were very few) and I was mesmerized by the way the Romans organized their center - civic, political, markets and social life. It occurred to me how it all would work very nicely today - even still does to a degree with the same basic institutions - just perhaps a bit more diverse and spread throughout what we now know as Rome Center.

You may even have an opportunity to see archeologists at work as many sites are very active - no doubt they continue during our lifetime and, in fact, may proceed for centuries to come as new technology is developed.

Photo 4 - The site where Julius Cesar was cremated and the bouquets that, even now, are laid in tribute. Don't miss it when you are there......

Because my travelogues are up to limit, there is now an album for the Forum and I hope you enjoy viewing it as much as I enjoyed developing it. A good Forum book with the overlay will serve you well!

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Directions: Rome Center

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Events & Festivals: Cinema Film Fest - October 13 to 21

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Updated by icunme

on Jun 12, 2009

Film Screen goes up in Piazza

Popolo