Rome: Where All Roads Lead - Italy - page 12

LIGHTING A CANDLE It doesn't matter what your religious beliefs are,
lighting a candle in a Roman Catholic Church is a non-denominational must-do.
Avoid any churches that offer only electric candles and, instead, head directly for
the medieval churches like Santa Maria (p. 64) in Trastevere or Santa Maria
della Pace (p. 61) behind Piazza Navona, where the smell of burning wax is intox-
icating. The procedure is simple: You must make a monetary offering (like half a
euro) before lighting a candle from those already burning, and it's recommended
that you light it with a cause or person in mind before sticking it into a bowl of
sand or mesh holder.
DRESSING UP Go to the clothing market at San Giovanni (p. 79) and, for
next to nothing, pick up a new dress or a jacket that looks great. You will never feel
overdressed in Rome; in fact, dressing up is a sign of cultural respect, even for a
simple meal out. It is, quite simply, a matter of adhering to the idea of the bella
figura —putting forth your best image. Women here still believe they can be femi-
nine and flirtatious, and men are still chivalrous. So why not do as the Romans do?
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ROME
“Roma, Caput mundi, tenet orbis fren rotundi (Rome, Head of the World, holds
the reins of the round orb),” wrote a medieval poet, summing up the high esteem
in which Rome was once held. No other Western city has ever embodied such
power, such wealth, such majesty.
As you go from the Forum—a large part of it now buried beneath Mussolini's
folly, the Victor Emmanuel II monument—to the church of San Clemente, where
archaeologists have unearthed finely wrought pagan sculptures, you'll be reminded
of how cultures inevitably cannibalize each other.
The Palatine Hill, one of the seven hills on which Rome was founded, bears
evidence of Iron Age huts from the mid-8th century B . C . The Etruscans con-
quered Rome around 660 B . C . and established it as the capital of their empire. By
250 B . C ., Latin tribes finally purged the Etruscans from Italy.
Rome flourished as a republic, the center of a huge, growing empire. In 44 B . C .,
Julius Caesar was assassinated and his successor, Augustus, transformed Rome from
a city of brick to a city of marble and solidified Rome's status as a dictatorship. By
40 B . C ., Rome and its armies controlled the entire Mediterranean world. Because
of overexpansion and a series of corrupt and incompetent rulers, Rome declined in
the 3rd century.
In 395, under Constantine, the empire split and a “new Rome” was established
in Constantinople. From 410 to 455, Rome was sacked by barbarian tribes and
the population dwindled. In 475, Rome fell, leaving only the primate of the
Catholic Church in control. In the following decades, the Pope slowly adopted
many of the responsibilities and the prestige once reserved for the Roman emper-
ors. The classical city was literally stripped of its stone and marble to build the
Christian city we see today. From the ruins of antiquity came the splendor of
Christian Rome in the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
The Romans' building acumen is still evident today. The first of many great
Roman roads, the Appian Way, still stands, lined with tombs. You can climb to
the top of the ancient fortification wall that surrounds the city core at the tiny
Wall Museum. The first Roman aqueducts streak across the nearby countryside.