{"id":2972,"date":"2014-05-21T22:28:01","date_gmt":"2014-05-21T20:28:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rickzullo.com\/?p=2972"},"modified":"2017-06-22T18:54:06","modified_gmt":"2017-06-22T16:54:06","slug":"playing-tourist-in-rome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/playing-tourist-in-rome\/","title":{"rendered":"Playing the Tourist in Rome"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>So much to see in Rome, so little time.\u00a0 Even for someone who lives here.\u00a0 I do my best to discover lesser-known sites and hidden treasures, but it\u2019s a herculean task.\u00a0 Most native Romans never manage to see it all in one lifetime, so what chance do I have?<\/p>\n Well, left to my own devices, I have zero chance.\u00a0 I guess until recently I\u2019ve been too stubborn to admit that.\u00a0 A couple of months ago, friend and fellow blogger Shelley Ruelle (Un\u2019 Americana a Roma<\/a>) sent me an email inviting me to take a tour with the company she works for, Through Eternity.\u00a0 It had been a while since I\u2019ve played the tourist in Rome, so I jumped at the chance. \u00a0Still, I knew that I didn\u2019t need to see the Vatican or the Coliseum\u2026again.\u00a0 So she suggested the \u201cLove and Death<\/a>\u201d tour, which was right up my alley.\u00a0 Instead of just gazing at beautiful sites, this tour strives to weave together stories, bringing history to life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Our tour guide Luca was energetic and well-informed.\u00a0 We started on top of the Capitoline Hill, the site of Rome\u2019s first scandal: the fratricide of Remus by his dear brother Romulus.\u00a0 Is the story true?\u00a0 Was Rome, in fact, named after the victorious brother?\u00a0 Not really, says Luca, rather it was the other way around: the fictional character of Romulus took his name from the city long after it was established.\u00a0 One myth crushed, but there would be many more to uncover along the way.<\/p>\n When we reached the bottom of the long staircase, I remarked to Luca what a great vantage point this spot is (see photo below).<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Here you have much of Rome\u2019s history displayed in one glance.\u00a0 The red arrow points to some Roman ruins (partially blocked by Bus #80\u2026sorry), the white arrow points to a medieval church (Santa Maria in Aracoeli, 12th<\/sup> century), the yellow arrow indicates the Renaissance piazza (designed by Michelangelo), and of course the obtrusive white slab of marble (sometimes called \u201cthe wedding cake,\u201d or \u201ctypewriter\u201d) is the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of a unified Italy, completed in 1925.\u00a0 Quite an eyeful, huh?<\/p>\n At Largo Argentina we listened to the story of Caesar\u2019s assassination, which occurred on this exact spot:<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Now in this case, I had thought the story was a myth\u2014but no, Luca assured me that the best sources confirm the location.\u00a0 The blood was quickly washed away, but the memory of Caesar\u2019s death lingered for a long time.\u00a0 Indeed, the chamber where he was murdered was immediately sealed off by his nephew Octavian (Emperor Augustus), and for the duration of the Empire, the Senate was forbidden to convene on March 15th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n The Borgias provided much fodder for scandal in their day.\u00a0 It seems that the patriarch Rodrigo Borgia (Pope Alexander VI) fathered more children than any man in Rome during his papacy.\u00a0 And of course there were rumors of incest in the family, with the beautiful Lucrezia having been accused of improper relations with both her father and brother Cesare.<\/p>\n But the tale that really made my skin crawl was that of Giulia Agrippina.\u00a0 Apparently Giulia and her son Nero (yes, THAT Nero) didn\u2019t always see eye to eye when it came to ruling the Empire.\u00a0 So when his mother planned a sea voyage, Nero designed a ship that would fall apart midway through her crossing. \u00a0Which it did, perfectly as planned.\u00a0 But Agrippina was a tough old broad and she swam to shore, barely surviving the attempt on her life.\u00a0 Nero, now getting very nervous, sent a trained assassin to kill her once and for all. \u00a0Her last words, shouted just as the assassin was about to strike, were \u201cIf you\u2019re going to kill me, then stab me in the womb!\u201d A poetic end for a woman that had given birth to such a monstrous a child as Nero.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a tourist in Rome and enjoy such stories, which blend history and narrative, told to you at the actual places that they occurred, check out Love and Death in Rome<\/a> for delicious, gossipy introduction to more than 2,700 years of scandals.<\/p>\n2,700 years of Scandals<\/h2>\n