Tips

CITIES, CULTURE AND ART in Italy

In this Blog you will find The insights, the curiosity and the advice that will be useful and will accompany you in your days in Italy.

August 2017

Bramante’s Tempietto in Rome

Bramante’s Tempietto (meaning, mini temple) is off the beaten track Rome beauty at it’s best. A walk up to the Gianicolo hill, from Trastevere will bring you to this hidden corner of the city, with breathtaking views over the the domes of Rome. Bramantes ‘Tempietto’ and the church of Saint Peter In Montorio on this hill is like stumbling [...]

21 August 2017
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Roman houses beneath Palazzo Valentini

What lies beneath this building is breathtaking….Walking past the 16th century Palazzo Valentini in Rome, you would never think that it was housing an entire maze of ancient Roman houses with exquisite mosaics, waiting to be discovered. It was as much a surprise to them, when they discovered the ruins a mere decade ago, as it was to the Roman [...]

16 August 2017
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The Roman calendar

Enjoying the month of August? Did you know that Augustus added the month of August to the calendar? There were once ten months of the year. That’s right. The Roman calendar was 10 months, which is 304 days. They ignored the remaining 61 days, which fell in the middle of winter. The months began with March and were named Martius, [...]

5 August 2017
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Ostia Antica: The perfect day tour

The seaport town of Ostia Antica, is bigger than Pompeii, with minimal crowds, and where the visitor can enter another world. Bakeries, fishmongers and restaurants dating back two thousand years ago, eerily stand empty, but pretty well preserved. Mosaics and frescos are waiting to be discovered and miraculously seem as though they were made yesterday. It’s hard to believe this white marble [...]

1 August 2017
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July 2017

The Keats Shelley House in Rome

Just beside the Spanish Steps, the Baroque monument that’s on the top of your to do list, is the Keats Shelley Museum. Blink and you will miss it, but it’s definitely worth a visit as one of Rome’s many hidden historic gems. Most tourists don’t realise that the English Romantic Poet John Keats died of tuberculosis in Rome aged 25 [...]

27 July 2017
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The Rome Carriage Museum

Museo Delle Carrozze D’Epoca: The Horse Drawn Carriage Museum Want to see the original charriots used in the Films Ben Hur and The Gladiator? The Rome Horse Drawn Carriage Museum displays 159 old carriages, which are part of a collection of 600 collected over a 50 year period and on show within a 3000 square foot space. There is even the wagon [...]

25 July 2017
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Off the beaten track bars in Rome

For a quiet moment in Rome, to escape the buzz and slow down after an exciting day of sightseeing with Italy’s Best, these two wine bars are just the ticket. Borghese Gardens Casina Valadier Located at Viale del BelvedereCasina Valadier is a beautiful wine bar with Rome’s domes as a backdrop. Vivi Bistrot Villa Doria Pamphili Via Vitellia 102 Off the beaten track, yet within resonable [...]

4 July 2017
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June 2017

Roses and ancient Roman rituals

During the Roman Empire, Rosalia or Rosaria was a festival of roses celebrated on various dates, primarily in May, but scattered through mid-July. The observance is sometimes called a rosatio (rose-adornment) or the dies rosationis, ‘day of rose-adornment’.  Flowers were traditional symbols of rejuvenation, rebirth, and in Greece and Rome, wreaths and garlands of flowers and greenery were worn by both men and women for festive occasions. [...]

21 June 2017
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