Roma, turismo, web 2.0…

A NEW TOURIST DRAW IN THE ROMAN FORUM

In the Roman Forum, in front of the “Curia”, the ancient Roman Senate House, after being covered up by an iron and cement cage for over fifty years, the Lapis Niger is finally shown as a tourist attraction.

This is the mysterious underground area of black marble paving stone marking the spot where ROMULUS, the first King of Rome, is traditionally said to be struck by a lightening and carried to heaven or maybe his burial place, or, as other historians say, this could be the place where Romulus was murdered by a group of senators not agreeing with his imperious politics.

The Lapis Niger was first excavated in 1899, by italian archeologist Giacomo Boni, bringing back to light an archaic sacred shrine made up of an altar flanked by two statue bases suggesting the shape of two lying lions, next to a truncated stele on which the oldest known Latin inscription is carved. The inscription, partially decifred, curses anybody who tramples or defiles the spot: “whoever violates this place will be consecrated to the infernal gods.”

Stepping down to the dark room under the black stone has always been the dream of any archeologist, a thrilling emotion that any lover of the secrets of Rome would wish to experience at least once.

Last November, Professor Angelo Bottini, Superintendent of Archeology in Rome , said recent heavy rain had damaged the covering, and he decided to remove it.

A canopy reproducing the underground area, thanks to a laser-scanner,  was erected over the site and surrounded by a transparent fence, so that the archeologists can work on it, while visitors to the Forum watch.

This work is part of a larger plan to improve Rome’s archeological area.

Lorenza Faraone

International Tennis’ championship of Italy

For lovers of Tennis, in these days the International Tennis 2009 will be presented at Stadio Olimpico of Rome.
Like every year, the competition, scheduled from April 25 to May , will have around 60 among the best players in the world.

The 79th edition of the “Internazionali BNL di Tennis d’Italia” will share all the major stars of world ranking.
This year the premium for the winner is: 2,750,000 euros, for the men and 2,000,000 U.S. dollars for women.
At the championship, so with a total prize fund of over 4 million of Euros , organizers have to overcome the public record established last year: 162 thousand paying spectators.
For the occasion, the capacity of the central field was increased to 9500 seats.  

The test male will start April 25th, the female one, on May 3rd.
The two main innovations in the bill are Big Sunday of May 3rd (when both the male and female round) and the anticipation of the women’s final on Saturday May 9th.The decisive stages of both tournaments will again be broadcast live by Italia 1 channel, which for five years, has been the broadcaster of “Internazionali BNL d’Italia”.
SKY Sport will send all sessions of the game of the championship.

The International is also a way to spend a pleasant evening in an open space, in fact the area has a restaurant / bar just near the tennis courts, whose view is definitely breathtaking: at a glance you can see the cupolas of the most beautiful basilicas in Rome, the roofs of the houses and the cathedral in its many architectural styles.
During this event, it becomes an enchanting place for meeting for each age group.In conclusion, for those who believe that Italians are dedicated exclusively to the game of football, will be glad to know that are 5 Italians among these tennis players.Well … not only a nation of writers, surfers, poets, but also sports lovers.

Some curious place names in Rome - Part 2

We continue the journey to discover the Roman names, with the vast repertoire of stories, myths, anecdotes and secrets that rest in those names. Much history of the city is also contained in the names of many churches. Piazza della Pace (a few steps from Piazza Navona), for example, is a small square, almost hidden, which owes its name to an important moment in the history of Italy. Around 1480, here was a church dedicated to St. Andrew, which had outside an image of Maria. During an evening outdoors, finished in brawl, a stone struck the face of Mary that began to bleed. Pope Sixtus IV went in procession to the place of wonder and interpreted it as a warning against wars that rend Italy after the Pazzi conspiracy in Florence. The pope wanted in the place was built a temple dedicated to Madonna della Pace, like a votic to invoke Mary to avoid another tear in the peninsula.

 Another curious case is about Piazza della Quercia (behind Piazza Farnese), the origin of whose name is still doubtful. The most credited is that which tells of a church, entrusted in 1532 to the powerful corporation of butchers Romans. As it is tradition, workers belonging to the same category were for the most part from the same locality, in this case, from Viterbo and its countryside. The church, which was originally dedicated to San Nicolò di Capodiferro, became Santa Maria della Quercia also to honor the Virgin in Rome in the omonyme venerated shrine of Viterbo, where is holded the miraculous image painted on a fragment of tile, found near a oak.

Cats of Rome

When someone speaks of Rome, usually thinks about the main attractions of the Eternal City, of several monuments reminding centuries of history, of all museums that satisfied the curiosity of tourists from a lot parts of the world, telling also stories of famous people and not only …

However, not all of them, find that in every corner of the city, there are hundreds or perhaps thousands of lucky witnesses, the most common of everyday life: the cats of Rome!
Beautiful cats of every breed and size, multicolored or with a single color, of a neighborhood or of a private person.
Small and sweet animals, camouflaged among the cars in the parking areas, between the loops of all places, on benches in parks or in the middle of traffic, and which often give color and grace of the infinite beauty of the capital.

They are so involved in the capital life, that now in all stores where tourists usually go, it is impossible that miss the classic card with a cat at the foot of a historical statue or, tired in the warmer months, it quenches the Trevi Fountain or Fontana Barcaccia (wonderful work of Bernini) located at Piazza di Spagna.

The protagonist of the Roman landscape, the feline population is increasing, so that we reach even more than 300 colonies with different locations.

There are also the so-called “gattare”, the old women that deal with these animals, cuddle them and spend a lot of time as well as give them something to eat and often take care of their health and cleanliness.
However has to be noted that not always they are old people. Lately I have more and more frequently to seen children and families who care even though it is often difficult to take pets inside their homes.

Often there are even entire blocks that “adopt” as a mascot these beautiful animals.

We hope this habit takes more and more foot in the city life, do not have pets at home to care for and love them equally.

Why use Online Photo Sharing is better

CommonCraft has created an effective video in which explains the advantages of sharing photos online.
Very often without thinking about leaving the only available copy of our cherished photos in our computer, ignoring the fact that a disk can break and sometimes it is impossible to recover the data.

Last June my laptop was stolen,  I lost all the pictures of the last 4 or 5 holidays, including Santo Domingo and New York.

It ‘been so sad to say that my photos of our vacation… no longer existed, especially to her… she loves, and asked me, the old classic paper photo album!
… I had to promise that we would be back soon to New York to shoot again the photos!
Whether New York or Rome is… the advice is to save your photos online using services like Flickr