Rome may be a cliché but it’s actually all you need. It’s art and food. What more do you need, right?
I didn’t give much thought on where to celebrate my 40th birthday when I found affordable plane tickets half a year ago. I just knew it had to be – Italy 🙂
Three and a half days that we spend in Rome was beautiful! The hotel was fantastic, with a spacious bed and a shower for my big boyfriend, (that’s always a challenge we encounter :)), we haven’t had a bad meal, nor wine and Debeli, finally, drank great espresso. The people are dressed nice, casual but stylish, there’s no sneakers on their feet, only classic boots and everybody likes dining out, even if it’s a quick lunch break in a local cafeteria. But we’re going to talk about that a bit later. For now, let’s stick to the facts. And photos 🙂
1) Rome is the capital of the Italian Republic, or la capitale as do Italians say
2) Il capoluogo means the capital of the region, in this case – Lazio region
3) The city has around 3 million inhabitants, and
4) according to the famous legend, it was founded in 753. BC
5) The founding fathers, or better say twin brothers, were Romulus and Remus, nurtured by a she-wolf
6) By the early fourth century, the Romans had built a road network of 70 000 kilometers throughout the Roman Empire. Each Roman mile was about 1,000 paces (around 1400 meters) and was marked by a milestone
7) The word palace comes from the word Palatin, where August founded the tradition of building Imperial palaces
8) Every night at the Trevi Fountain about 3,000 € are swept up from the bottom of the fountain. The money is donated to Caritas, a catholic charity, who uses the money to provide services for needy families in Rome.
9) Rome has around 280 fountains and
10) more than 900 churches.
11) In Ancient Rome only free-born Roman men were allowed to wear togas, which was a sign of Roman citizenship.
12) The Roman women, on the other hand, wore stolas, a female version of toga made from linen.
13) Rome is known as the Eternal city and Caput Mundi, coming from Latin and meaning capital of the world.
14) Trajan’s Column in Rome is around 35 meters and the sculptural frieze that wraps around the column is approximately 200 meters in length.
15) Rome became the capital city of a unified Italy in 1870 after taking the title from Florence.
16) Concrete was a Roman invention used on many structures such as the Pantheon, the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, which are still standing today thanks to the development of Roman cement and concrete.
17) Contrary to popular belief, Roman Gladiators rarely fought to the death. Instead they were considered celebrities. However, this fame did not bring ease into their lives since many of them were slaves.
18) SPQR stands for and means “The senate and the people of Rome.” The symbol is still seen all over the city today.
19) When the Roman Empire reached its territorial peak in 117 AD it spanned over 4 million square kilometers.
20) There is a law in Rome that allows cats to live without disruption in the place where they were born.
21) It was common for people in Ancient Rome to vomit between meals so they could eat more.
22) Roman husbands kissed their wives on the mouth at the end of the day, to check their spouses’ breath and to see if they had been sitting around drinking wine all day.
23) Nasone (or big noses literaly translated) is a name for thousands of drinking fountains around the city
24) Rome was built on the seven hills: Aventine, Caelian, Capitoline, Esquiline, Palatine, Viminal and Quirinal
25) At about 142 feet in diameter, the dome of the Pantheon in Rome is bigger even than the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica. It’s also completely unreinforced which makes it the single largest unreinforced, concrete dome in the entire world.
27) The last gladiatorial fights took place in 435 AD and it is thought that over 500,000 people lost their lives and over a million wild animals were killed throughout the duration of the battles at the Colosseum.
28) Like most Romans, the Emperor Augustus was extremely superstitious. He always put on his right shoe first because he believed that left was unlucky.
29) Rome built the first-ever shopping mall between 107 and 110 AD! The Trajan’s Market, or Mercati di Traiano in Italian, were built by Emperor Trajan on several multi levels and sold a wide range of goods and grocery items.
30) Rome attracts around 20 million tourists a year with the Vatican Museums welcoming 5.5 million and the Colosseum 5.1 million visitors.
31) Spanish Steps are by no means Spanish. They were funded by a donation from a French diplomat and crafted by two Italian architects between 1723 and 1725. The name, though, comes from the fact that the Spanish Embassy was, at the time of their construction, located at the base of the stairs.
32) Back in 46 BC Julius Ceaser was the one who introduced the modern 12 month calendar. Before that Lunar or Arabic calendars were used.
33) Rome covers 1,285 km2, or 580 square miles, with 98% of the population Roman Catholic.
34) St Peter’s basilica inside Vatican City is the largest church ever constructed.
35) Contrary to legend, Julius Caesar was not killed in the Roman Senate, but in the lobby of a theater built by Pompey the Great
36) There are around 10 000 Roman restaurants on TripAdvisor today, while 17 fine dining restaurants have twenty Michelin stars all together
37) The Dome of the Roman Pantheon is still the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome
38) It may have served as a massive sundial because precisely at midday during the spring equinox, a circular shaft of light shines through the oculus and illuminates the Pantheon’s imposing entrance.
39) Vestal virgins were chosen when they were less than ten-years old.
40) Rome has a museum dedicated entirely to pasta. But that’s a completely other blog post! A presto!
ČETERDESET U RIMU
Zapravo bilo je u prosjeku osam. Stupnjeva celzijevih. Ali proslavila sam prvih četrdeset godina u vječnom gradu. 🙂
Sigurno mislite da ima puno boljih gradova za proslaviti okrugli rođendan i sigurno ste u pravu, ali samo je ova destinacija imala povoljne avio karte kad sam ih bukirala 🙂 Neću se tužiti ni što su nam let dva puta, u roku tjedan dana, pomakli od 11 ujutro do 8 navečer. Izgubili smo na dolasku, ali dobili smo na odlasku tako da nije vrijedno spomena.
Tri i pol dana koliko smo proveli u Rimu isplanirala sam – ležerno. Naglasak je bio na hrani i, khm khm, hrani. Od službenog posjeta u planu je bila samo šetnja gradom, posjet Colosseumu i penjanje na kupolu Crkve sv. Petra, a što se tiče neslužbene delegacije…to ćete čitati u narednom postu. Ovaj će biti složen samo od 40 kratkih zanimljivosti i brda fotografija. Pa krenimo:
1) Rim je glavni grad Italije ili kako bi Talijani rekli capitale
2) Capoluogo znači glavni grad regije – Lacija
3) Grad broji cc 3 milijuna stanovnika, a
4) prema legendi osnovan je 753. pr. Krista.
5) Osnivači Rima bili su Romul i Remul koje je odhranila vučica. No sigurna sam da to već znaju i vaša djeca.
6) Stari Rimljani izgradili su mrežu cesta čija je ukupna kilometraža iznosila oko 70ak tisuća kilometara. Sitnica
7) riječ palača dolazi od riječi Palatin, mjesta gdje je car August utemeljio tradiciju gradnje carskih palača
8) Svake večeri iz Fontane di Trevi izvuče se oko 3000 eura koji se doniraju Karitasu, a koji ga potom raspodijeli potrebitima
9) Rim ima oko 280 fontana i
10) preko 900 crkava
11) U antička vremena samo muškarci rođeni u Rimu smjeli su nositi togu koja je bila simbol rimskog državljanstva
12) Žene su, s druge strane, nosile stole, žensku verziju toge napravljene od platna
13) Rim je poznat pod nazivima Vječni grad i Centar svijeta
14) Trajanov stup visok je oko 35 metara, a friz koji ga okružuje dužine je oko 200 metara
15) Rim je postao glavni grad ujedinjene Italije tek 1870. nakon što je svrgnuo Firencu s pijedestala
16) Rimljani su izumili beton, a koristili su ga pri izgradnji Panteona, Koloseuma i Foruma, građevina koje stoje i dan danas.
17) Suprotno uvriježenom mišljenju, rimski gladijatori nisu se borili do smrti već su smatrani velikim influencerima i selebritijima. Doduše, to im nije bilo od pomoći, jer neki su bili doživotni robovi, a neki su naravno podlegli ozljedama ili umrli u borbi.
18) SPQR kratica je za “Senatus Populusque Romanus” (Rimski senat i narod Rima). Obelixovo značenje iste kratice, koje se meni osobno više sviđa, jest ”Sono pazzi questi Romani” ili ”Ludi su, ovi Rimljani” 🙂
19) U vrijeme najveće slave, u 2. stoljeću, Rimsko Carstvo zauzimalo je preko 4 milijuna kvadratnih kilometara
20) Prema jednom od (čudnijih) rimskih zakona mačke su mogle nesmetano živjeti na mjestu gdje su rođene
21) Bulimiju su izmislili stari Rimljani. Mi smo se samo debljali 🙂
22) Rimski muževi ljubili su svoje žene na kraju dana, ali ne iz sentimentalnih razloga već da provjere jesu li i koliko vina popile tijekom dana
23) Nasone (veliki nosevi u prijevodu) je naziv za fontane s pitkom vodom kojih Rim ima preko dvije i pol tisuće
24) Rim je izgrađen na 7 brdašaca, abecednim redom nazvanih: Aventin, Celij, Eskvilin, Kapitol, Kvirinal, Palatin, Viminal
25) Žene su u antičkom Rimu kosu bojale smjesom kozje masnoće i pepela
26) Kupola rimskog Panteona najveća kupola ikad izgrađena uporabom zidne konstrukcije
27) Posljednje gladijatorske igre održane su 435. godine, a pretpostavlja se da je oko pola milijuna ljudi izgubilo živote u ovoj vrsti zabave
28) Poput većine Rimljana i Car August bio je vrlo praznovjeran, pa bi pri obuvanju uvijek prvo stavio desnu cipelu
29) Rimljani su bili prvi koji su izgradili šoping centar (u jednostavnom smislu, naravno). Trajanova tržnica, izgrađena u prvom stoljeću, nudila je širok dijapazon robe na prodaju
30) Godišnje Rim posjeti oko 20 milijuna turista dok Vatikanske muzeje i Koloseum vidi preko 10ak milijuna posjetitelja. Fina brojka.
31) Španjolske stube, nisu uopće – španjolske. Francuz je donirao novac za gradnju, koju su izvela dvojica Talijana, ali ime dolazi od španjolske ambasade koja se nalazila pri dnu stepenica u vrijeme gradnje početkom 18. stoljeća
32) 46. godine pr. Kr. Julije Cezar uveo je dvanaestomjesečni kalendar kojem su prethodili lunarni ili arapski kalendar
33) Grad pokriva preko 1000 km² s većinskom katoličkom populacijom (oko 98%)
34) Bazilika Sv. Petra unutar Vatikana najveća je crkva ikad sagrađena
35) Suprotno legendi, Julije Cezar nije ubijen u Rimskom senatu, već u predvorju teatra kojeg je sagradio Pompej Veliki
36) Na TripAdvisoru trenutančno ima preko 10 000 registriranih restorana u Rimu, dok je dvadeset Michelinovih zvjezdica podijeljeno na sedamnaest restorana
37) Kupola rimskog Panteona najveća je kupola bez potpore na svijetu, a moglo bi se reći da se radi o ogromnom sunčanom satu, jer
38) Točno u podne na proljetni ekvinocij sunčeva svjetlost prolaskom kroz okulus osvjetljava ulaz Hrama svih bogova
39) Vestalske svećenice, djevice, regrutirale su se vrlo rano. Već s deset godina.
40) Rimski Muzej tjestenine posvećen je, pretpostavljate, talijanskom nacionalnom jelu, a moj sljedeći post bit će upravo o tome. Hrani! A presto!
