RANDOM UNO
Circo Maximo
On one of our walks we went by Circo Maximo, the largest of the venues for sports in the Roman world. They are doing some digging there and half of the area is closed off. There are signs up describing the history of the location. One sign indicated that the area on the Aventino hill that makes up one side of the oval was a Jewish cemetery until 1645. The cedar trees that were planted in the cemetery are still on the boundaries of the Circo.
One picture was of a coin indicating just how huge the facility was. The coin is from the inauguration of Trajan in the early 1st century. The obelisk shown in the picture is Egyptian and is now located in Piazza Popolo.
The Good and Bad Ads
The huge Armani ad on Via XX Septembre is back to showing a man. BOO!
But…. This is an ad for some matching underwear for couples. YEAH!!
We noticed something new on one street of the Jewish ghetto this year. In front of some apartment buildings they have small brass plates with the names of a Jewish person who lived there who was deported to a concentration camp during World War II. The majority of the dates of deportation were October 16, 1943 when the Germans rounded up all the Jews of Rome. Most of these people were sent to Auschwitz where they died.
Later we found some more plates along Via Nazionale in front of other apartment buildings so they are not just in the Jewish ghetto area.
Ipogeo Di Via Livenza
The hypogeum is situated near the Via Salaria, in an area that contained a series of tombs in ancient times. It came to light in 1923 during the construction works for a building, around 250 metres away from the Aurelian walls. The left wall depicts the hunting goddess Diana between two deer, while the right wall depicts a nymph stroking a roe deer. The building's function is still uncertain, but it is an interesting example of combining Christian and pagan themes. Among the many hypotheses put forward, the most convincing seems to be the one that considers the hypogeum as a nymphaeum, that is, a monumental fountain. The building is thought to date back to the latter half of the 4th century AD.
Porta Pia - Then and Now
The black and white photo was taken at Porta Pia, one of the gates in the wall and the one that is closest to our apartment. This photo is very famous as Girabaldi troops are about to enter the city of Rome in 1860. The second picture is of Porta Pia today.
Milk Machine
In one market we found an automatic milk machine. You bring your own bottle, put it in the machine and it fills the bottle with fresh milk.
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