They arrive in thousands in wintertime and transform the roman sky with their evolutions.

​Starling’s flocks are beautiful to see and always distract me when I am driving, nevertheless being thousands and thousands they create some problems as well.  The make a real mess on the cars.

In the past article, I stressed the importance of the she wolf for the roman citizens.

I want to give you an example by posting these wonderful pictures done by Greta, a 5 years old child, in school.

The She Wolf feeds Romolus and Remus

Romolus saw more birds in the sky, therefore the Gods prefer him and he will be the founder of Rome. (Look at Auspicia for more info)

​Romulus set the borders of Rome and Remus invaded it. Romulus killed Remus

​The She Wolf is the most important and significant among the Roman animals.
The myth of Rome’s origin state that a she wolf breast-fed the two abandoned babies Romulus and Remus saving their lives. Romulus, grown adult, was the founder of Rome.
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The she wolf is therefore associated to Rome foundation, to our sense of identity and has been the symbol of Rome in the past 28 centuries.

It seems strange but events that happened millennia ago are current for a Roman citizen, the She Wolf is a symbol with which the Romans identify themselves now.
It is the emblem of the city together with the famous S.P.Q.R – the senate and the people of Rome.

The symbol of the She Wolf is everywhere: in the garbage cans, in the ribbon for road works, on the Capitol - the seat of the municipality. Of course, the soccer team Roma has the yellow and red roman colors and the she wolf as a symbol. The genuine Romans frequently wear a pendant with the she wolf.

​Roman climate is very mild and pleasant in winter time, and quite hot in summertime. I always suggest winter visit to Rome: the sky is beautiful, the city is quitter not overloaded with tourists, the weather is not too chilly.
The snow in Rome is an event. It happens so rarely that I’ve seen snowing in my city only about 10 times.
Kids are excited, as they don’t go to school, the city is a bit paralyzed when it happens.
The snow never last more than 1 or 2 days. It soon melts, knowing this we hurry in taking the most of the pictures we can of our beloved roman sites with the snow.

The Roman sunsets are famous, beautiful, surprising.

​Rome is an incredible city: often at the end of a day spent exploring, the sight of the sky that ignites with extraordinary colors rewards us.

Rainbows are beautiful to see... it always takes me to a childish surprised mood when I see a rainbow in the sky.

We have thousands of green parrots in town. They are all over...in the trees in front of my home, in the ruins of ancient Rome and a huge colony is in ancient ostia excavations.

They are not native of Italy; I imagine that green parrots owner tired of taking care of pets released them and they found my city very comfortable.

​They have considerably grown in number in the past few years.
I have never seen a green parrot when I was a child and now I wonder if they are replacing some other species.

We fortunately don’t have too many pigeons in Rome.

I have nothing against them, nevertheless these birds are dangerous for art works, and therefore a limited presence is optimal in the eternal city. 

​Largo Argentina, located in the very center of Rome, is an archeological site. The square was dug in the nineteen century revealing the remains and podium of four republican temples dating from the fourth to the first century before Christ.

​It sound strange, but it is right there that a cats colony resides. Homeless and abandoned cats are taken care in that beautiful setting and admired by the passerby. If a roman want to adopt a cat that is the place where to go. My brother got two cats there.

​Some 4 years ago, I saw the first rabbit on the palatine hill and since then, while touring with my clients the remains of the imperial palaces; I always look around for them.

The palatine hill is the site of Rome origins... where our story started 28 hundreds years ago. It is where Romulus, Rome founder, created the city. Because of this symbolic value, the hill later become the residence of Octavian Augustus and of the later emperors.

The site has majestic ruins and it is fascinating to immerse ourselves in this mixture of history, nature and power.

I love the idea that this historical place has new inhabitants now...the bunnies.

They are big... brown, grey and black colors, very calm, and not scared of people.
I do not know how many rabbits are there, I’m always wondering, as the area is very extensive.
 I saw them first time in 2015. In 2016, I counted four, but the following year I saw none. I was worried, of course. Then I saw them again last year and few weeks ago.
​I just love them.

​Every March 15th we got an appointment.
In Largo Argentina square, where the Curia of Pompey used to be, we meet and participate to the re-enactment  of the assassination of Julius Caesar that occurred 2061 years ago now!
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The Curia of Pompey is not visible but we know that it lies underneath the Teatro Argentina. The square is fascinating and keeps a vivid memory of the past due to the remains of four republican temples visible in its centre on a lower street level.

I can understand, looking at this sculpture, the fascination the minotaur’s had in the past and over the centuries.
This splendid sculpture displayed in Rome in the Palazzo Massimo museum, shows the great contrast between beauty and the wild, intellect and nature. 

The torso is really astounding while the head is so brutal!
It also depicts the inner essence of human beings, where  both  intellect or passions and violence coexist.
It was done on purpose back then, over 2000 years ago.

This is an ancient  roman copy of a sculpture by the famous Miron. The minotaur bust was part of a sculptural group depicting  Theseus fighting and eventually winning over the beast. 

The inclination of the minotaur’s head suggests he’s going to be hit by Theseus.

The mythological story is aimed to assert Athens independence over the Cretan influence.

The king of Crete’s wife got this love affair with a bull (this story deserves another blog) and gave birth to the minotaur: half man half bull.

Since the Athenians had lost a war with Crete (or had killed the son of Crete’s king Minos –there are different version of the myth),  together with the minotaur  heating only humans, the Athenians had to send 7 boys and 7 maidens to Crete to fed the beast.

Theseus, the son of Athens’s king Aegeus, went to Crete to kill the minotaur and eventually succeeded.

Palazzo Massimo Museum

As you know in the circuses were  large valleys, with seats all around, used in the ancient roman times for chariot races.  The chariots  were  turning around a central line called ‘spina’.

The most famous hippodrome of the past is the Circus Maximus in Rome. Augustus in 10bc brought an obelisk from Egypt to decorate the ‘spina’.

The obelisks were considered, by both Egyptian and Romans, to represent the connection between the sky and the earth.

The hippodrome was a little model of the cosmos:

The obelisk was the sun, the ground represented the earth and the canal running in the middle of the spina was the sea.

The four factions of chariot raiders represented the 4 seasons.

The famous Keyhole is located in a gateway leading to the Knights of Malta  gardens in piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta on the Aventine hill in Rome.
The  square was designed by the famous architect and painter Giovan Battista Piranesi, a 18th century  famous architect and engraver also known for his
romantic etchings depicting Rome,  who also realized  the palace and  the small church called Santa Maria del Priorato, both within the extraterritorial properties.
The beautiful and impressive square has splendid decorations rich in obelisks and military trophies full of symbols and
references and the famous doorway with the keyhole.

Every Sunday morning in the trastevere roman neighborhood is held the traditional streetmarket of Porta Portese.
Today while going to meet Margaret and her family I stopped for a coffee and was pleased by the animated atmosphere...

It's very alive and you can really find every kind of stuff there. Even pickpockets!
In any case it's worth a visit

Rome in December is wonderful for kids as Christmas approaches. There are several Christmas events that are not to be missed, particularly when visiting Rome with children. 

Lots of small markets can be found throughout Rome at Christmas time. However, by far the largest and most popular is the Navona Christmas market…  we traditionally bring our children there, and they love it. Kids can meet Santa Claus, see nativity scenes and browse the many stalls for Christmas goodies in the enchanting atmosphere of one of Rome’s most beautiful squares.

The origin of the gladiatorial games must likely be found in Etruria, where they formed part of the funereal ceremonies, replacing the older custom of human sacrifices. It seems they were connected to the cult of the god Saturn – an opinion confirmed by the fact that in Rome similar duels were organized during the saturnalia celebrations.