Weather in Rome

Weather Icon

Italy Rome Tour Blog

Travel tips, Food, Lifestyle, Street Art, Events and Exhibitions in Rome and all around Italy.

roman sun dial

How did the ancient Romans count the years?

How did the ancient Romans count the years? In the Western world, years are counted from the birth of Christ. And before that? How were time and days measured in ancient Rome? Find out in these lines. In the Western world, years are counted from the birth of Christ. And before that? How were time and days measured in ancient Rome? Find out in these lines. The ancient Romans originally used a system of calculating time based on the year of foundation of their city: ab urbe condita, which means “from the foundation of the city” (753 BC). Each event was dated with respect to that year, considered the fundamental reference point of Roman chronology. However, with the passage of time and the transformations of the empire, the calculation system underwent changes. In particular, under the emperor Diocletian, it was decided to adopt a new reference point: 284 AD, the year of his accession to the throne. This sign of discontinuity marked the beginning of the so-called “Diocletianic Era”, used above all in official documents and in the calendars of

Read More
December 9, 2024 12:50 pm
ancient rome

Where did people go to pick up girls in ancient Rome?

In ancient Rome, there were several places where people could socialize and consequently, meet potential romantic or sexual partners. In ancient Rome, social life was full of opportunities to create bonds and cultivate relationships, both romantic and purely social. The city offered a wide range of public and private spaces where people could meet, share moments of conviviality and, often, get close to potential partners. The forums, for example, were the beating heart of city life, meeting places where citizens of all social classes gathered to discuss politics, business or simply to spend time together. In this context, it was not uncommon for glances, conversations and mutual attraction to lead to the birth of personal relationships. The baths also played a central role in daily life. These complexes were not only spaces dedicated to hygiene and relaxation, but real centers of socialization. Here men and women, at separate times or in distinct areas, could converse, observe and establish bonds that sometimes went beyond simple friendship. Another fundamental setting for personal interactions were the banquets and private parties organized by the

Read More
December 3, 2024 6:08 pm
Sculptures_of_dolphins_in_Fountain_of_Triton_Rome

Bees appear in the Triton Fountain. What do they represent?

The wonderful Triton fountain is another of the many Roman masterpieces by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. It was built between the end of 1642 and the first half of 1643. As in the Fountain of the Bees, several curious stylized insects also appear here. Find out why. The fountain is in fact located in the current Piazza Barberini and is fed by a branch of the Felice aqueduct, which passed in the immediate vicinity. It best expresses the new Baroque architectural and artistic conception of space. In fact, the sculptural part completely includes the same architectural structure. The four dolphins with intertwined tails, between which are placed the papal coats of arms with bees, the heraldic symbol of the Barberini family, support an enormous shell, from which the Triton rises imposing and majestic. The symbols carved in the Triton fountain recall the dynastic celebration of the Barberini, the family to which Pope Urban VIII belonged. Bees are the heraldic symbol of the family, and symbolize the triumph of Divine Providence. Dolphins, benevolent animals par excellence, represent the works of charity carried

Read More
April 4, 2023 8:55 am
italian-pasta

The Roman dish that conquered the United States

Rigatoni alla Zozzona are one of the most famous first courses of the Roman tradition, a humble recipe full of flavors that abounds in Roman spirit. A pasta that brings together all the regional specialties that pays no attention to calories and that has also conquered the United States. If we talk about the Roman culinary tradition we cannot help but mention the Zozzona pasta, an extraordinary mix that contains within it most of the most famous first courses of the Capitoline cuisine, made of humility and abundance, of simple ingredients in generous doses, of dishes rich in flavors that pay little attention to calories. Sausage, bacon, gravy, eggs and pecorino cheese, these are the ingredients of the legendary Zozzona, a dish that has conquered not only the palates of the capital but which has also exalted the taste buds overseas, yes because this is one of the coolest recipes in the United States United States of America. A poor pasta born from an anti-waste perspective that looks a lot like a synthesis of carbonara, cacio e pepe, amatriciana and

Read More
March 27, 2023 12:19 pm
roman forum

Rome has a secret name, which very few know

Did you know? Rome also has a secret name, which very few know. Rome has also had another secret name since ancient times and it has always been a sacrilege to pronounce it. What was this name and what happened to Ovid who tried to reveal it? Many anecdotes are linked to the names of Rome. According to a widespread tradition in antiquity, a city had three names: a sacred one, a public one and a secret one. The public name of Rome was joined by the religious name of Flora or Florens, used on the occasion of certain sacred ceremonies, the secret one has remained unknown. The reason and the need for this secrecy goes back to another tradition widespread among the ancients (but also in some non-Western contemporary cultures) and which is also found in the history of the origin of writing: the name of an object or entity it expressed the essence and energy of the object or entity it defined. Naming something was equivalent to making it alive and existing and knowing the name meant, in

Read More
March 20, 2023 9:30 am
spanish-steps-by-night

The Spanish Steps in Rome

The magnificent stairway of Trinità dei Monti, an eighteenth-century masterpiece, was built between 1723 and 1726 by the architect Francesco De Sanctis. The structure served as a link between the slopes of the Pincio dominated by the church of the Santissima Trinità and the underlying Piazza di Spagna. The stairway, in travertine, is made up of a series of ramps, 11, each made up of 12 steps, which divide and reunite, constantly changing direction. From any position it is possible to enjoy a magnificent panorama of the square De Sanctis managed to get the better of the project presented by Alessandro Specchi after long and heated discussions on how the steep slope on the Pincio side should be connected to the church. The staircase was made famous by cinematography but above all by the love of tourists who, before the Coronavirus emergency, used to crowd it (and not only them) at any time of day. A series of balustrades accompanies the ramps: they interrupt the difference in height and serve as a resting point and to admire the landscape. The

Read More
March 9, 2023 9:36 am

Join our newsletter to stay updated

In Rome there is a “particular” restaurant

The place is famous for the insults, swearing and profanity (hence the name) addressed to customers by the service staff and the entertainer. The waiters, with each dish, make compliments and jokes aimed at the customers; the musical animation with guitar and accordion consists of Roman vernacular stornelli, adapted and weighted according to the audience present at the tables. It sounds like a joke and instead it’s a spectacular commercial gimmick. It’s not easy to eat in this place because you are laughing all the time. Traditional Roman cuisine, entertainment and guaranteed entertainment. Stay away from the touchy: a small, warm place, to be booked in advance otherwise it will be difficult to find a place. Must try at least once in your life. The restaurant “Cencio, La Parolaccia” is located in Rome, in Vicolo del Cinque, Trastevere area: since 1941 it has distinguished itself from all the other Roman taverns, for its particular folk entertainment. “Vulgar” entertainment has become their forte. The restaurant, initially called Osteria da Cencio, was opened in 1941 by the spouses Vincenzo “Cencio” and Renata

Read More
January 23, 2023 4:45 pm
saint-paul-door-rome

The city walls of Rome: Saint Paul Door

After talking about the Porta Latina and the origin of the word Lazio associated with it, we dedicate our article to one of the most impressive and best preserved of the gates of the Aurelian Walls in Rome. The name is due to the fact that it is located near the exit for the Basilica of San Paolo outside the walls. The Gate has two huge towers with a circular base and originally two arches, it once took the name of Porta Ostiensis because the via Ostiense starts here and reaches the sea of Ostia between via Marmorata and viale Aventino. Over the years the port of Ostia lost its significant role for trade and the name of Paolo was increasingly associated with the port. The collection of the toll for the relative transit took place nearby. (In this regard, the customs scene in the film “We just have to cry” is memorable, where the transit – in another area – is repeatedly asked: “Who are you. What do you do? A Fiorino” filmed at the Castle of Rota ,

Read More
January 20, 2023 10:56 am

Day trip from Rome to Bomarzo Park?

One of the most loved destinations by the Romans for trips out of town is the park of the Monsters of Bomarzo, in the province of Viterbo. A fabulous place, very special. But why were all these sculptures designed that made even Salvador Dali wonder? Did you know? What do the monsters of Bomarzo Park represent? The Monster Park, also called Sacro Bosco or Villa delle Meraviglie of Bomarzo, in the province of Viterbo, is an Italian monumental complex. It is a natural park adorned with numerous basalt sculptures dating back to the 16th century and portraying mythological animals, deities and monsters. The architect and antiquarian Pirro Ligorio commissioned by Prince Pier Francesco Orsini (known as Vicino Orsini) designed and supervised the construction, in 1547, of the park, elevating the grotesque genre into a system in the mythological figures represented therein. Some scholars, erroneously, traced the “direction” to Michelangelo Buonarroti (E. Guidoni), while others, in particular for the Temple, cited the name of Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola. The realization of the sculptural works was probably entrusted to Simone Moschino. Orsini

Read More
January 17, 2023 10:22 am
gladiators-rome-colosseum

Gladiator fights were abolished in 404 AD

The gladiatorial activity was abolished in 404 by Honorius I. Already the emperor Constantine did everything possible to put an end to the barbarism of the Colosseum, however it was only in 404 that the shows ended completely. The battles were abolished following an accident in which the Greek monk Almacchio (or Telemachus) was killed, who went down to the Arena to protest against these abominable tortures. But who were the gladiators really? What really happened in the Colosseum in Rome and in the other amphitheaters of the Roman Empire and why did these shows get abolished after so many deaths? Did you know? Gladiator fights were abolished in 404 AD. after the killing of a monk. Theodoret narrates (History Eccl., V, 26) that a certain monk Telemachus would have come from the East to Rome to put an end to the cruelty of gladiator fights. One day during a show he went down in the middle of the arena among the fighters, trying to stop the massacre, but the indignant spectators stoned him. The emperor Honorius, informed of this,

Read More
January 11, 2023 9:25 am
latina-door

Where does the name Lazio come from?

Start our journey to get to know the Gates of Rome one by one. In fact, the city is surrounded by imposing protective walls that delimited its borders and by 14 access gates. An important anecdote is linked to one of these. For each door, there are hundreds of associated anecdotes. When you cross these doors it seems to cross not only a frontier and therefore space, but to cross time. One of these fourteen gates is the Porta Latina, whose name derives from the name of the Via Latina in the perimeter of Lazio and belongs to the Aurelian Walls. Unlike other gates that have undergone many changes over the years, the Porta Latina has remained the one that has had fewer reinterpretations than it originally was, despite the frequent conservation restorations and rearrangements of the medieval and more recent times. On the sides it is possible to see the monogram of Constantine while on the right the Maltese cross. A legend that spread in 1600 tells that the flight of the god Saturn towards the Lazio countryside took

Read More
January 6, 2023 3:21 pm

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died, funeral on January 5th

The Pope Ratzinger was 95 years old and in the last few days his condition had worsened. Pope Francis had asked the world to pray for him. With pain I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 am, in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican”. With this press release, the Director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Matteo Bruni, announced the death of the pontiff who preceded Pope Bergoglio. Pope Ratzinger was 95 years old and in the last few days his conditions had worsened. Pope Francis had asked the faithful to pray for him. Benedict XVI, the first Pope emeritus after his historic resignation from the pontificate in February 2013, ended his earthly journey this morning. “It is with pain that I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9.34 am, in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican”, reported the director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Matteo Bruni, also announcing that from the morning of Monday 2 January , the body

Read More
December 31, 2022 3:13 pm