I can't believe that I'm saying this but Rome is an ugly city. I'd honestly rather spend time in New York. At least that city's honest about what it is. Rome passes itself off as the epitome of culture but while I was there all that I saw was a typical modern city with the occasional relics scattered throughout. Not that those relics aren't worth pursuing, but the city adds nothing to them. I can only assume that we missed the nice bit somehow (we stayed mostly on the east side of the city). Admittedly, having my life ruined didn't improve my opinion any but I was disappointed before that. Either the west side is infinitely superior in every way or Rome is the most overrated city in existence. Finding it hard to believe the latter I can only assume it's the former. Someday I will return to Rome and spend a few days there to determine the truth of it for myself.
Whether or not there is some hidden beauty in Rome it is a mean city. New York is an apt comparison. Nobody cares what happens to you and you're unlikely to get a sympathetic ear from the authorities. Anyone visiting should take my advice and be vigilant at all times. Rome can seriously mess up your life.
So on to the nice bits, such as they are. We were in Rome for two days but we really only spent the first afternoon there. The rest of the first day was spent in transport and getting the hotel and the second day was spent cancelling the rest of the trip. Hooray. The hotel was a problem because there was some sort of problem with the room I booked. I don't know what it was because the man spoke no English and just gestured angrily at me. It took a couple of hours to sort that out. Then we set out for Rome Central. Our hotel was right near the train station and we'd have been well advised to take the Metro to the center of town but I wanted to see the city. Definitely a mistake. There was nothing of any interest whatsoever on the way down and the entire area was just a very dull modern city. When we got to the forum things did pick up a bit. The picture above is of the Forum of Augustus. It's the first thing you'll see as you approach from the East. It was also closed. Most of the forums and buildings are clumped into this area. The Palatine Hill is immediately opposite this forum. The Capitoline Hill is slightly further along as is the Tarpeian Rock where they used to throw traitors from.
Going back up the street from this forum is the Colosseum.It's located right on a major highway. As with everything else it has an ugly modern city built up around it.
Right next to the Colosseum is the Arch of Constantine. This arch was mostly butchered from other arches located nearby. Go past it and you walk along the side of the Palatine Hill which is now a park containing most of the forum and other buildings. I never saw it. We were scheduled to do that on the second day.
The Colosseum itself is cool, but it is exactly what you'd expect it to be. There are no real surprises. Somehow it just feels like something you're obliged to see when you visit. Had I known nothing about it I'd likely have been awestruck by it but I've been plastered with images of it all my life. Not that it wasn't amazing to see but I'd compare it with the Parthenon. It's obligatory and overdone and thus not as interesting.
The inside of the Colosseum is the cool bit. You can see where people would have sat and look down onto the ring. The floor is missing so you can see the structure underneath it where they would have stored the animals and released the gladiators.
View Larger Map
41°53'32.28"N, 12°29'4.54"E
Cinecittà Studios is opening its doors and letting people in to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of Italy. From April 29 to November 30, 2011 visitors can go and see the sets of the many films they made here. Further information can be found here. It's in Italian but you can run it through Google Translate. For those who don't know about Cinecittà , it is Italy's premiere film studio and is extremely popular with producers from around the world. Many of the most famous epics have been made here including Ben-Hur, Quo Vadis?, and Cleopatra as well as Italian films such as those by Federico Fellini. More recently they filmed Rome and Gangs of New York here, two sets which are still up!
The museum is very small but fairly interesting. The number of items on display is limited but they present them sell. On the floor is a projection of clips from the various movies that were filmed there.
The real highlight is the set for HBO's Rome.This set is almost completely intact despite a nasty fire a few years back. It's located just through the Gangs of New York street and has quite an impressive entrance. The set itself looks extremely real and it feels like you're actually in the Roman forum. Watching Rome will be more interesting from now on because I will know where they filmed many of the scenes.
The Gangs of New York set is slightly disappointing, not because it isn't impressive but because most of it has been destroyed. That film had a shipyard, a giant square and several roads but all that's left is one stretch of road. A part of it is given over to another film they shot there. Some sort of Italian Comedy set in Naples. These sets are available through a guided tour, which is generally given in Italian although the guide when I was there spoke some English. Basically, they walk you through these two sets and then back to the main entrance.
View Larger Map
41°51'8.56"N, 12°34'46.42"E
No comments:
Post a Comment