March 13, 2018 - Ben-Hur Territory

We took an afternoon to go walk around the Old City Center. Parts of Old Rome are all over the place in this city. You can hardly walk down a street without seeing an old city wall, crumbling columns, or portions of old structures built right into new ones. But in the center of the old city, there is so much more! Along with lots of other people to share it with you.

We will pay for and take a tour of the Colosseum on another day, but it is incredible just to see it from the outside. It is hard to imagine it in it's prime, but it must have been amazing. 

The triumphal Arco di Costatino, commemorating a battle won in 312. It's huge!

Well loved horse with hand crocheted head cover, was happy to get a neck scratch.

And yes, the Circo Massimo! The real thing. If you have never seen "Ben-Hur" (the old one) you really should, if only to see the chariot race, but the rest of the movie is really good, too. 

We made our way up to Palatine Hill, the center of the seven famous hills in Rome, that has been the site for imperial palaces since the time of Caesar Augustus. On the way, we saw many examples of modern architecture, built right on top of ancient structures! This building has modern (relatively) apartments with people living in them, over this ancient building, with even more ancient footings out in the yard.

Just walking down the street, we found this ancient fresco of Christ, below modern structures, and down below it, are excavations of many buildings down underground from an even earlier period. It was just underneath and around the corner from this next imposing structure finished in 1925.

This is the Altara della Patria or Alter of the Fatherland, finished in 1925, and built to honor Emanuele II, who was the king on the throne when Italy became unified. And just around behind it, we found the ancient structures of the Roman Forum, or the plaza that was the seat of the ancient government.

I love this one! So amazing to see. We will come back and tour this another day.

Do you see the little statue of Romulus and Remus suckling the she-wolf behind us? 

We find little and big representations of them, all over the city.

The Jewish Ghetto

There is a small area of Rome, near Palatine Hill, called the Jewish Ghetto, that is near a wide bend in the Tiber River. Before the river had huge walls built along it to prevent flooding, this small area was an undesirable swampy part of the city. This is where the Jewish population were forced to live at a time when they were also determined to be undesirable in the community. There was a wall built around the area, with an evening curfew, and a locking gate. The Jewish people who lived there had few rights and privileges, were crammed into tiny apartments, and lived in poverty. In present times, it is still inhabited by a thriving Jewish community.  Though the area is now more upscale, there are still plenty of reminders of the injustices of the past. The Jewish religion that is practiced in this small area is uniquely ancient, in that the people here never left the area and mixed with other Jews around the world, where tenets of the practice have changed and evolved. Jews now live all over the city, but this small area is still a "tight knit" community. This fountain that Hannah stands by, is known as "The Turtle Fountain."

From the Jewish Ghetto, we crossed over the Tiber River into a part of Rome called Trastevere. It is known to have a bohemian subculture with its own personality. It has an old feel to it, with narrow, twisting alley streets, interesting little shops and restaurants, an artsy component, a lively night life, and several universities. It was interesting to see, and we would like to go check it out some more in the day time.

This very old church in Trestevere, The Basilica of Santa Maria, is dedicated to a woman who held church services in her home before Christianity was legal. She put her life at risk many times to share the message. Her home was where the basilica now stands, and I believe you can pay to go see where she used to hold services down in the basement.