Friday 2/6 -- Musei Capitolini

I haven't been here for many years... The museum has been expanded and improved a lot. La Lupa is still there:



Scholars are still arguing about its provenance: the Etruscans or 13th century? I didn't know the twins were added much later, in the 15th century. Here are a couple of SYA girls posing with La Lupa:



La Lupa was on their list of things to visit and on their Ancient History quiz the following Monday.

The original equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius is now inside in a special hall (a copy stands on Campidoglio):



It has been restored after the 1979 dynamite attack.



There is an open balcony in the Tabularium on the lower floor with a perfect view of the forum:

Friday 2/6 -- La Centrale Montemartini

La Centrale Montemartini is the second stop of the day. The former power plant on via Ostiense, named after the engineer Montemartini, was used in the 90s to house temporarily the surplus from Musei Capitolini and for an experimental exhibit, then became a permanent museum. Here ancient statues (mostly headless) are intermixed with 1930s steam and diesel engines and other heavy machinery. Looks cute and still reeks of machine oil.



Here is a very modern-looking fanciulla seduta -- a Roman copy from a Greek original (from sala caldaie -- "the hall of the heaters") :



Here is a better picture and other photos.

Friday 2/6 -- F & I

The day happily ended at Fabrizio and Isabella's, with a cooking lesson (pasta con vongole, mozzarella buffala con puntarelli e alici):





After supper, a tape of Carlo Verdone's comedy (Un Sacco Verdone, 1982), unfortunately most of it not very easy to follow. Here is an easier one (La telefonata) on YouTube.

Rennes

M went to Rennes Wednesday through Sunday, ostensibly for a meeting of all the math teachers.

Remember Rennes...




... Saturday morning trips to the market...



All the math books out... I'm sure for the picture:



Si mangia bene in Rennes...





Visiting with friends:







Meanwhile, I had to stay back and review 5 levels of math, from algebra to calculus with a bunch of rowdy kids (some of them nice, others rude) on Wednesday, then administer tests and grade all 60 of them! Please remind me not to ever get close to a school...

Ostia Antica

Meanwhile... A Friday school trip to Ostia. A big town of ruins on a cold day:



Had everything, even a synagogue or two...



The students were supposed to do a treasure hunt for famous buildings with a map, but mostly fooled around:

... and Civita di Bagnoreggio

A lonely Sunday trip with the group called Archeotuscia of Viterbo to Civita di Bagnoreggio. It's, sort of, Viterbo's Grand Canyon:





Not bad if you haven't seen the real thing.



We didn't stop at the village, just took the trail up to the canyon and back.

The group was about 30 people. The place is about 30 km from Viterbo; someone gave me a ride. On the way back, we stopped at a muddy field, which had some buried remnants of walls. Looked to me like an abandoned foundation of a 19th century building. But they said "Roman." The "archeologists" then happily dived into the mud and emerged with a few suspiciously modern-looking clay roof tile fragments. Took me a while to wash my shoes at home. Next Sunday to Sorano...

Palatino and Colosseo

Friday Jan 16: an all-day school trip to see the forums, the Palatino, and the Colosseo.



Nice sunny day...



Somehow, I never took the Coliseum very seriously. In particular, I didn't know that it was built on the spoils from the Judean war:



I didn't know either that it is called Colosseo not because it's huge but because it had a huge statue at the entrance.

Inside, an interesting exhibit about protecting art as national heritage, including this cute 19-th century statue "Young Michelangelo carving a faun's head."