A Roman Feast

Last weekend we had the opportunity to go to Roma and had a blast. One of the great things was that we were able to bring back some stuff that we purchased at the market: Spices (Cayenne and Cumin for taco night); black beans (for taco night again!); artichokes; and squash blossoms. I was really excited to have the squash blossoms!


Rome is known for artichokes and we had artichokes at almost every meal when we were in Rome. In Italy, artichokes are grown in almost all of the 20 regions and Italy is responsible for 2/3 of the world population, followed by France, Spain, and the U.S.

The artichokes soaking in water....


The final product.......


The artichokes were great but my hands down favorite were the squash blossoms!

At the market........



We debated for a long time on what we were going to stuff them with and finally decided on a goat cheese/spinach/garlic mixture! Squash blossoms are really really delicate but definitely worth the effort!




Reed created a tempura batter (flour and sparkling water) so we could fry them up!

Roma again!

A Few random pictures from Rome!

'Dog Parking'

Sunset in Rome

Street Lamp in Centro Storico


View from inside the Pantheon

Roasting chestnuts near the Spanish Steps

Roma::Monday

Roma:Monday

Monday morning we headed to the vegetable market at Campo de’ Fiori, one of Rome’s most famous produce markets. In the middle of the square is the statue of Giordano Bruno, a monk who was burned at the stake for heresy in 1600.

The market was wonderful and we had such a great time especially since there is no market at all in Siena! Boo!! In addition to produce they had different spices: we stocked up on cumin and cayenne pepper for our Mexican food along with a giant bag of black beans. There are no black beans in Siena!

The market-Chestnuts

Pumpkins (zucca giallo) and garlic

Hot Chili peppers in a basket on a motorino

Reed and Ollie outside a salumeria

Above is a picture of a man sharpening his knife by biking! He did not want his picture taken so we had to quickly sneak one!

After the market we headed over to the Vatican so Reed could go inside St. Perter’s. Unfortunately there was something going on and the line was unbelievably long and we had a train to catch so Reed could not go in. Something for our next trip. We had a fabulous time and were sad to leave!

St. Peter's Basilica

The Forum-right near our hotel

Roma::Sunday

Roma:Sunday

Sunday morning we headed out with Oliver to the Aventine Hill, one of the 7 hills of Rome. At the top of the hill is the Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta and the Priorato dei Cavalieri di Malta. If you look through the keyhole in the door, there is a spectaculr view of the dome of St. Peters Basilica framed by trees (to read more, click here).


We dropped Mr. O back at the hotel and headed to the Colosseum where we took an audio tour. The Colosseum was once a massive amphitheater for fights held on holidays in Rome (at that time, more than half of the days in the year were holidays!). There were two different types of fights: those between gladiators and those involving exotic animals, including lions, panthers, and even hippos. During the reign of Trajan (98-117 AD), Trajan held a marathon 117 day killing spree involving 10,000 gladiators and 11,000 animals. I thought it was interesting that a gladiator usually only fought two times a year! At the time of the games, the arena was called the Flavian Amphitheater, and was only named the Colosseum during the Medieval Period in reference not to its colossal size, but rather to the giant statue – Colosso di Nero – which was nearby. After the 6th century, the Colosseum was abandoned and exotic plants, whose seeds were brought by the animals, grew within. The stone, marble, and other materials used to build the Colosseum were used to build other structures, including St. Peter’s Basilica.

We then headed off to the catacombs, some 300 km of tunnels used as burial grounds by the Christians. We went to San Callisto, the largest. The catacombs are located on Via Appia Antica, which once ran from Rome to Brindsi (a city in Puglia-the heel of Italy). No photos are allowed within the catacombs. To read more about the catacombs, click here)

Outside the catacombs::a heard of sheep!

Next we headed back to get a few pictures of the Colosseum and Travi Fountain at night. These are the work of Reed!

(I put our names on the two Colosseum pics so no one stole them off the internet. If you want a copy, let me know)

Roma::Saturday

Roma: Saturday

Last week we decided to head to Rome for the weekend. We originally were planning on heading out to Cortona (Tuscany) and Orvieto (Umbria) but we would have needed to rent a car, and the rental prices were more than what it would cost us to go to Rome. Go figure!

We headed out very early on Saturday morning: we had a 8 am train to catch and the train station is about a 40 minute walk from our apartment. Oliver did very well on the train, especially the first train to Chiusi.

Ollie and Reed in Siena

The train from Chiusi to Rome was a lot noisier and Ollie got scared every time another train passed us or when we went through a tunnel!

Me and Ollie on the train to Roma

The train only took three hours and by 11 am we were in Roma (we kept telling Oliver he was in the big tomato!).

For lunch we headed over to Trastevere, which is across the river from Centro Storico. Originally it was a poor working class area but now is becoming more popular for foreigners to buy property. We decided that we would spend the day walking around the city and seeing some of the main tourist sites: Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. The Trevi Fountain was my favorite!

Pantheon

Pantheon- interior

Trevi Fountain

Trevi Fountain

Spanish Steps

A Trip Back in Time to Ancient Rome

The Smithsonian magazine recently had an article entitled "Rome Reborn" in the July issue. Rome Reborn is a full-size, real-time digital model of Rome circa A.D. 320:

"The entire city is modeled in three dimensions, and users can "fly" through, and over, the ancient city's winding streets, broad plazas, forums-and even its most famous monuments."

Researchers hope that the Rome Reborn model will help test theories about how the city worked and looked back then. The pictures seen here are from the model and depict the city as it once was.

All pictures are from the Smithsonian article.

The best part is that the project was spearheaded by the University of Virginia's own Bernard Frischer who is the head of the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities here (the actual digital version was also created by people here)! The University of Virginia and Milan Polytechnic used lasers designed to measure jet aircraft to help create the digital representation. More than 100 people from Italy, the U.S., Germany, and Britain worked on this project, which has been licensed commercially. For tons more information, check out U.Va.'s Rome Reborn Web site here which has great photos, a history of the project, and more video clips.

The model will soon have the addition of tens of thousands of characters and layers of texture to help the model look more "lived in." "Rewind Rome" will be officially unveiled on April 21, 2008 (which is reportedly Rome's 2,760th birthday).

Fly through ancient Rome
Here!