Day 10

Today we practiced our Italian in the market. After a brief review, we got coffee and pastries at a charming coffee shop near the ACCENT Center, then headed back over to Campo di’Fiori where the market is. I love this market. They have everything from exotic fruits to specialty cheeses to shirts to salts. Mario and Marco gave us all some money and sent us off to make our purchases in Italian. My group got some strawberries, apples, sun-dried tomatoes, and Fanta. It was fun, and I was happy to practice Italian, but I definitely want to go back to actually do some shopping at this market.

Cappuccino at the coffee shop

For the afternoon, we got a tour of the Colosseum with the History professor, Pia Kehl, but first, we went to lunch at this great restaurant called La Carbonara. Nicole got the pasta carbonara and Lindsey, Kristen and I tried the lasagna. Both were delicious. This is another restaurant I would definitely recommend. There’s writing all over the walls and cured meat hanging from the ceiling, which gives it a very homey feel.

Lasagna

Pasta Carbonara

 

Going back to the Colosseum with a guide was great. The first time we visited, I was awed, but it is so much better getting to hear the history behind what I’m seeing. Pia pumped us with a lot of information, not all of which I can relay here, but I will bring up some of the most interesting points. The holes in the walls are actually from people trying to extract the metal pins within the walls, which were used to keep the blocks together during construction. The barrel vaulted ceiling on the lower level was only possible because of newly discovered concrete construction. 

Holes from the excavators

Barrel vaulted ceiling

Pia talked a lot about social life in Rome. The emperor and all the most important people would always sit on the lowest level right in front of where the action was happening. The emperor had a chair (now marked by a cross) that was specifically oriented so the wind would blow into his face as he was watching. From the sounds of it, this definitely would have been appreciated, because the events would last the entire day and it would have been very hot, muggy, and uncomfortable. It’s estimated that 70-80,000 people could be seated for the events, but one had to have a personal invitation from the emperor to attend. Refusing the invitation was unheard of. The poorest classes were seated in the top rows in wooden seats instead of stone. There were awnings spanning across the top of the structure to provide shade and possibly also to circulate air.

The cross showing where the emperor sat

The pins where the awning was attached

Places where the brick has peeled away to reveal how the walls were constructed

The gladiators themselves were usually prisoners from other countries who had been given the choice to either die or fight for their lives. They had to train intensely and be extremely fit because the armor they wore was made of bronze. The helmet alone was around 7 kilos. They had to wear this armor in the hot arena, running through sand to battle large, ferocious animals. Pia said that if they did make it out of the arena alive (which was almost never), many of them died soon after from infections and diseases from wounds. They were never allowed to go back to their home country, and only a lucky few might have been chosen by a Roman woman to start a life with her. Many woman would take interest in the gladiators. If this happened, the one she chose would be escorted by guards from his training camp to her house where they would spend the night together. Infidelity was common in Rome because people did not marry for love.

 

The gladiator armor

The animals were kept in cages and to make things more dramatic, they were led into the arena from all sides, rather than just the two ends. Especially dangerous animals were kept in their cages and lifted onto the stage by elevators located below. Little rectangular shafts that still remain and indentations in the rock where the ropes were seem to be evidence of this.

Diorama of the elevator system for the animals

 

Remnants of the elevators for the animals

We found another grocery store called "Simply Market" just a few blocks away from our apartment which is much larger than he COOP one, so we stopped there on our way home to get some more ingredients and some wine. I actually got a nice Venetian Merlot from a specialty wine store. For dinner I made a lentil stew with sun-dried tomatoes from the market, eggplant, and red peppers. The bell peppers here are enormous! Then I taught Nicole how to make risotto with sun-dried tomatoes and white wine.

We were tired after a long day of walking, but we had planned to meet Kristen and her host-sister who is sixteen, at Campo di’Fiori in the evening. We invited Lindsey, another girl in the program, over to our apartment for some wine, then we decided to walk over. We had a pretty good night and met some nice people, but Kristen’s sister had to go home early, so we mostly ended up hanging out with Americans, Australians, and even some people from Cambridge.