Gelateria in Rome

In my 4 prior visits to Rome, I took on the arduous and burdensome task of searching for the most delicious gelato in the city. As is the case in most Italian cities, there are gelateria on practically every piazza. Most are average, but every now and then a truly outstanding place crops up. If you're on the hunt for really good gelato, here are 2 color guidelines that are helpful:

1. Pistachio - every shop has it, but examine the color very carefully. Is it an unearthly or florescent green color? If so, you have entered a bad gelateria. If the pistachio is more of a muted sage green, then you're in a good one.
2. Banana - another color examination is in order. Good banana gelato should be a rather unappetizing grey color not vibrant yellow.

If the gelateria passes the color test, you can order any of the flavor with a high degree of certainly that it will be excellent.

One of my favorite gelateria in Rome is Giolitti on Via degli Uffici del Vicario. It appears to be only 600 feet from our apartment. It's been around since 1900. It reminds me of the soup restaurant in the Seinfeld episodes. The service here is very unpleasant. The last time I was there, the cashier was mean to me because I misunderstood the charge and handed her too many euros. Despite the bad service, the gelato is yummy.

My other favorite is called San Crispini. It's also really good gelato and they have some great flavors. The serving size is very small which I like because then i don't feel bad having more than 1 per day. They refuse to serve gelato in a cone because, they feel it detracts from the flavor. It's about 800 ft from where we're staying on Piazza della Maddalena.

I'm very excited to try out a place near Piazza Navonna called Gelateria al Teatro. It's on Via San Simone. It is a artiginale gelateria which means it produces small quantities using the best ingredients possible. They have some really interesting flavors.

That each of these places is so close to our apartment is a dream come true.

If Remus had won, Rome would be called Reme...

The story of Romulus and Remus is the foundation story of Rome. It goes like this...

Once upon a time there was a Vestal Virgin named Rhea Silvia. Vestal Virgins were a group of young women who served as priestesses. Their job was to attend to the goddess Vesta, who was the goddess of the hearth and was extremely important to everyone, rich or poor, in Rome. The Vestals took vows of chastity to serve this goddess and to be chosen as a priestess was a real honor to one's family.

So, on with the story. Rhea Silvia was the daughter of a man named Numitor. Numitor was the rightful leader of his town but was pushed into exile by his evil brother, Amulius. To ensure that his rule would never be challenged, Amulius killed Numitor's male children and made Rhea Silvia a Vestal Virgin so that she would never have kids. As is turns out, Rhea Silvia was raped by the god of war, Mars. This really could happen!

When Amulius learned that Rhea Silvia was pregnant, he waited until the birth. Rhea Silvia had twin boys and Amulius immediately took them from her. Amulius handed the infant twins to a couple of thugs and told them to drown the babies in the Tiber river. Incidentally, this practice was not uncommon in Rome's early history. Being thugs, they were lazy by nature and decided to place the babies in the shallows of the river, rather than the deep water.

After spending several hours in a shallow pool, the babies were discovered by a lactating she-wolf. She cares for the infants and feeds them. Then, the babies and the wolf are found by a shepherd. The shepherd takes the twins home to his barren wife and raise them through their teenage years.

As teenagers, Romulus and Remus decide to leave home and found their own village. They return to the bend in the river where they were discovered and choose that location as their new village. Then they begin to squabble...They have dug the foundations for the walls of the village and start to fight about who'll rule the town. In true Etruscan fashion, they look to the gods (via an analysis of the flight of birds) to answer the question. Romulus sees 6 birds flying toward him. Shortly thereafter, Remus sees 12 birds flying toward him. Now there's a real interpretation problem, who is the chosen one? The guy who saw the birds first, or the guy who saw the most birds? Romulus did not want to mess around with divine intervention anymore. He killed his brother and became ruler of the village, which became a town, then a city, and finally a empire.

This story embodies many of the qualities that the Roman people valued. Romulus overcame several challenges in his life that lead him to the foundation of his village. He's the child of the god of war which explains why the Romans were such a militaristic civilization. Respect for the will of the gods is valued, but only to the degree that it doesn't interfere with the ambitions of an individual. I could go on...

Who was in Italy before the Romans?

A few years ago, I gave a presentation to an Italian-American club about the Etruscan people who controlled much of Italy before the Romans came along. I thought that I'd share some of what I talked about with you. The Romans were deeply influenced by the Etruscans and, if you look closely while you're in Rome, you'll be able to see that influence.

When we talk about Etruria, this is the region that we are talking about. West of the Apennine mountain range, north of Rome, and south of Livorno. In general, Tuscany and Lazio. The Etruscans had solid control of central Italy until the Romans anhiliated their towns one by one.

There is much debate as to the origins of the Etruscans. Were they originally Italian? Did they migrate to Italy from some other place? As early as the 9th century BC, there is archeological evidence of Etruscan settlements. They may well have been in the region before this, but, so far, no archeological evidence supports this. Archeology is the primary source of our evidence about the Etruscans, they did not write their own history. The archeology shows that the Etruscans had a highly sophisticated culture. They lived in fortified towns, the earliest examples of which were built high up on hills.

Civita di Bagnoregio is a great example of a fortified town. It sits high above a plain. So it was well protected from surprise attacks. By the 6th century, these fortified towns had developed into a loose confederation that had elected officials. You’re perhaps wondering where Rome fits into all of this. The traditional date for the foundation is 756 BC. Rome was a small village for a really long time. The village coexisted quite happily with the neighboring Etruscan towns. As Rome grew, aggressive encounters with the towns increased in frequency. In 396 BC, Rome defeated the Etruscan town Veii, and gradually the neighboring towns fell one by one. Rome established itself as the dominant force in the region.

Now we come to my favorite aspect of the Etruscan civilization, their art. I mentioned before that most of what we know about the Etruscans comes from archeological evidence. This is an aerial shot of a town called Cerveteri. NOTE: I have not been here yet, but would love to visit in person. It’s just a few miles outside Rome. The mounds that you see are called tumuli, a type of burial chamber. Luckily for us, the Etruscans decorated their tombs lavishly, included pieces of artwork, and daily objects. They carefully sealed the tombs and many of them remained unopened until relatively recently. The Etruscans were famous for their metal work, here are my two favorite great examples:

Capitoline She-Wolf:

If you had to pick a work of art to represent Rome, this would likely be the choice of many individuals. However, it’s really an Etruscan piece. More specifically, the wolf is Etruscan; it pre-dates the founding of Rome. The representations of Romulus and Remus were added much later.

Monteleone Chariot:

Part of the collection of the Met. in New York. In 1902, a landowner working on his property accidentally discovered a subterranean built tomb covered by a tumulus (mound). His investigations revealed the remains of a parade chariot as well as bronze, ceramic, and iron utensils together with other grave goods. Following the discovery, the finds passed through the hands of several Italian owners and dealers, who were responsible for the appearance of the chariot and related material on the Paris art market. There they were purchased in 1903 by General Luigi Palma di Cesnola, the first director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The chariot is bronze with ivory inlays and boars tusk. The scenes depicted are from the Trojan War. The craftsmanship of this asside, the fact that it shows scenes from the Trojan War indicates how sophisticated the Etruscans were.

While the artistic influence the Etruscans had over the Romans in most interesting to me, it's not the only area where the Romans learned from these fascinating people. Here's a couple more things to remember:

• The Etruscans taught the Romans how to drain the marshy area surrounding the village "Roma" which enabled it to become the vast metropolis that you'll see soon
• The Etruscans taught the Romans how to determine the will of the gods through a careful analysis of the flight pattern of birds or a thorough examination of the liver of a sacrifical animal