FLUXEUROPA: ROME: PLACES TO VISIT

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ROME - PLACES TO VISIT

Brought up in the days when the Classics were still considered to be important and having been taught both Latin and Greek at school, I naturally made a beeline for the Classical remains. The Forums and the Colosseum are every bit as impressive as you might imagine, whilst the palace complex on the Palatine, the Baths of Caracalla and Nero's Domus Aurea were on a scale which surprised me. With important buildings clad in white marble, the effect must have been literally dazzling. In contrast to the use of space in twentieth-century neo-classicism, the originals crowded in on one another in intimate proximity.

Offertory box outside the the Santa Maria dell'Orazione e Morte

Rome is a very un-Gothic city, but lovers of the macabre will appreciate the baroque Santa Maria della Concezione in the Via Veneto (focus of Fellini's La Dolce Vita) which was once visited by the Marquis de Sade. Its crypt houses the bones of thousands of Capuchin friars. Piles of bones and skulls are one thing, but the really bizarre aspect of this ossuary is the way in which vertebrae and jawbones are arranged in patterns on the walls and ceilings. A final macabre and ogreish touch is provided by the mummified monks, child skeletons and lamps made from human bones. An inscription reads: "Quello che voi siete noi eravamo, quello che noi siamo voi sarete." (What you are we were, what we are you will be.) Another church with a strong theme of death is the Santa Maria dell'Orazione e Morte, Via Giulia, which can be found around the back of the Palazzo Farnese in the Campo de' Fiori area.

Rome is not short of churches. You can't hope to cover them all, but those with pagan sympathies shouldn't miss the Santa Maria in Cosmedin in the Aventine which contains the Bocca della Verità (Mouth of Truth). This has been described as a pre-4th Century "drain cover" and may represent a riverine god. It strongly recalls the bas-relief from the Roman baths at Aqua Sulis (Bath) in England.

FORO ITALICO

Despite its historical importance and grandiose plans, there is little left from the Mussolini era except for the Foro Italico in the north-west and the suburb of Eur to the south. As a lover of Art Deco neo-classicism, I took trips out to both of these locations. The Foro Italico (originally the Foro Mussolini) is a sports complex featuring a Mussolini obelisk, Fascist plaques and some rather heavy neoclassical statues which seem rather camp to the modern eye. The homo-erotic strand in Fascism was not, of course, acknowledged at the time.

EUR

Palazzo della Civiltà del Lavoro, Eur

The Eur derives from a planned international exhibition (Esposizione Universale di Roma) which had been scheduled for 1942. It's now used for governmental and residential purposes. Despite the "Fascist architecture" people are apparently keen to live there. If only Mussolini had stuck to urban regeneration instead of trying to revive the Roman Empire. Eur also houses the Museo della Civiltà Romana which presents an unashamedly Romano-centric view of history, albeit with some degree of justification.

The best views over Rome are from the roof of the Castel Sant'Angelo, and from the beautiful tree-covered park surrounding the Villa Borghese, which is a short walk from the top of the Spanish Steps. I’m indebted to FluxEuropa contributor, Stewart Gott, who recommended having a lager in the Castel Sant’Angelo bar. It’s good lager and you can combine creeping wooziness from alcohol with the sensation of height!

Rik - 8 June 2001