History was never one of my favorite subjects in school. I always preferred English. Anything to do with reading and writing was always more up my alley. Maybe I just liked to make things up or read things other people had made up and not deal with actual facts. Either way, the older I've gotten, the more interested I am in learning about the history of certain things. Since I'm living here this month I decided why not visit the National Museum of Rome and learn more about the history of this great city.
National Museum of Rome
Now I couldn't remember visiting this place the last two times I was here. I want to say it's because we didn't see it, but then again that could just be me not remembering it because I found it to be so boring the first (or second) time around. Honestly, it was still a bit boring today, but I'm glad I went. And as you will see, I definitely know how to amuse myself in any setting. The museum gives an overview of the city's history, almost like you're walking back in time and the statues, frescoes and other works of art are giving you a tour of what it was like back then.
One immediate takeaway: so many of the relics of Rome's history, either came from Greece or were copied from the Greeks, so there's an abundance of Greek influence everywhere. Rome's legions conquered what they believed to be the more-cultured Greek civilizations by adopting the Greek gods, art styles, fashions and even language. No offense to the Romans, but walking through the museum I kept thinking of them as an annoying sibling who copied everything the other (Greek) sibling would do.
It was a little odd to see statues of Julius Cesar and then statues of Athena and Socrates. By the way, my guidebook, "Rick Steves' Rome 2014," describes Julius Cesar as, "a people's favorite. He gave great speeches. Chicks dug him." How could you not love that? For anyone interested in travel books, anything by Rick Steves is a good way to go because it's not only humorous but straight to the point. It gives you the basic info without bombarding you with facts that you won't be able to remember anyway. By reading the few pages on the National Museum, I was able to give myself a guided walking tour of each room and learn what I'm sharing with you in this post.
One of the most popular sculptures in the museum is that of Athena bathing. Can't a girl get some privacy?! The first thing I noticed (other than the fact that like most other statues in the museum, she missing arms and part of her skull) is her curvaceous body. Yes, she has some love handles and fat rolls. So what?! This is what real women looked like, people! (Who wants another canolli?)
One immediate takeaway: so many of the relics of Rome's history, either came from Greece or were copied from the Greeks, so there's an abundance of Greek influence everywhere. Rome's legions conquered what they believed to be the more-cultured Greek civilizations by adopting the Greek gods, art styles, fashions and even language. No offense to the Romans, but walking through the museum I kept thinking of them as an annoying sibling who copied everything the other (Greek) sibling would do.
It was a little odd to see statues of Julius Cesar and then statues of Athena and Socrates. By the way, my guidebook, "Rick Steves' Rome 2014," describes Julius Cesar as, "a people's favorite. He gave great speeches. Chicks dug him." How could you not love that? For anyone interested in travel books, anything by Rick Steves is a good way to go because it's not only humorous but straight to the point. It gives you the basic info without bombarding you with facts that you won't be able to remember anyway. By reading the few pages on the National Museum, I was able to give myself a guided walking tour of each room and learn what I'm sharing with you in this post.
One of the most popular sculptures in the museum is that of Athena bathing. Can't a girl get some privacy?! The first thing I noticed (other than the fact that like most other statues in the museum, she missing arms and part of her skull) is her curvaceous body. Yes, she has some love handles and fat rolls. So what?! This is what real women looked like, people! (Who wants another canolli?)
Athena in all her healthy glory
I can't leave out my personal favorite, the sculpture of a man who has a head, and no real body but then has genitals carved out of the pillar of marble where his body should be. Now, either someone was super lazy or didn't get around to finishing this piece or he just wanted us to know that this guy was indeed a dude and leave it at that. Ok, we get it.
Hello, sir.
When reading the placards of many of the sculptures of heads and torsos, I noticed that the descriptions were often vague or unsure of exactly who the head may have belonged to. (A lot of, "Well, this COULD be Julius Caesar, but it could be his third cousin who was born 100 years later." Um, ok thanks.) That got old after a while. If you've seen one mystery marble head with curly hair, pupil-less eyes and a missing a nose, you've basically seen them all.
Side note: While climbing the stairs to see the next floor, I was quite amused by the giant red "Roman Numerals" that marked each floor of the building. How fitting. Did those come from the Greeks too?
Side note: While climbing the stairs to see the next floor, I was quite amused by the giant red "Roman Numerals" that marked each floor of the building. How fitting. Did those come from the Greeks too?
What floor am I on?
Here are some more museum highlights:
Who wouldn't want a set of giant knockers?
Who wouldn't want a set of giant knockers?
Who's there?
Somewhere out there is a pissed off one-armed giant...
Can someone give me a hand?
This guy looked like he needed a friend.
No caption required.
There's a section of old coins, some of which were giant and heavy. Imagine carrying those puppies around with you to the market when you had to go buy yourself a horse. I also saw some ancient Roman jewelry, which for a former jewelry buyer was nothing to write home about.
Ancient Roman coin-makers and coins
Two-plus hours and all that history had made me hungry. Also, Athena made me realize that I have lots of room to devour some pasta without the risk of love handles. So it was off to Mamma Angela's Trattoria, a place I read about on Yelp. As we all know, in the US, people constantly use Yelp. That isn't really the case in Europe, although most reviews you do see are graciously written by Americans on holiday. Mamma Angela had gotten some great reviews so I decided to check it out. It did not disappoint!
I treated myself to a glass of local Rose, bruschetta (which I enunciated perfectly, thank you, Giada DeLaurentis) and fettucine fruitti di mare (mixed seafood). I wanted to try the tiramisu but I was stuffed, so I had to follow it up with an espresso to make sure I didn't fall into a pasta-induced coma. I didn't get to meet Mamma Angela, but she's top notch. If you're ever in Rome, go check out her ristorante.
I treated myself to a glass of local Rose, bruschetta (which I enunciated perfectly, thank you, Giada DeLaurentis) and fettucine fruitti di mare (mixed seafood). I wanted to try the tiramisu but I was stuffed, so I had to follow it up with an espresso to make sure I didn't fall into a pasta-induced coma. I didn't get to meet Mamma Angela, but she's top notch. If you're ever in Rome, go check out her ristorante.
Delicious meal at Mamma Angela's
Those of you who know me, know my love affair with food, so there will definitely be more of these pictures to make you all jealous in the coming days. I just signed up for two different food tours through a highly recommended company called Eating Italy. They walk you through certain neighborhoods in Rome and you basically eat for 4 hours straight. Yes, please! Or I should say, "Si, per favore!"
One thing about me is that I love to learn new languages and I actually learn pretty quickly. Before I went to Paris last year, I studied some basics so that I could at least try to order a glass of wine in French. And locals always appreciate it when you try. So here I am in Rome, and I'm spouting out basic greetings and ordering food in Italian to the best of my ability and everyone is responding to me in English! And here I was thinking my Italian accent wasn't half bad. Apparently, it's bad enough that I have "I'm an American, please respond in English," written all over my forehead. But it's still just the first week, so I'll keep practicing and maybe I can fool someone at some point.
Ciao amicis!
One thing about me is that I love to learn new languages and I actually learn pretty quickly. Before I went to Paris last year, I studied some basics so that I could at least try to order a glass of wine in French. And locals always appreciate it when you try. So here I am in Rome, and I'm spouting out basic greetings and ordering food in Italian to the best of my ability and everyone is responding to me in English! And here I was thinking my Italian accent wasn't half bad. Apparently, it's bad enough that I have "I'm an American, please respond in English," written all over my forehead. But it's still just the first week, so I'll keep practicing and maybe I can fool someone at some point.
Ciao amicis!
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