Entries with Africa tag

Riva Degli Schiavoni

The broad Riva degli Schiavoni , stretching from the edge of the Palazzo Ducale to the canal just before the Arsenale entrance, is constantly thronged during the day, with an unceasing flow of promenading tourists and passengers hurrying to and from its vaporetto stops, threading through the souvenir stalls and past the wares of the African street vendors. The Riva is at its best in the evening, when the crowds have dwindled and the sun goes down over the Salute. The study is a vestige of an ignominious side of the Venetian economy, as schiavoni denotes both slaves and the Slavs who in the primeval days of Venice provided most of the human merchandise. By the primeval eleventh century Christianity was making extensive inroads among the Slavs, who thus came to be regarded as too civilized for such treatment; in succeeding centuries the slave trade turned to Greece, Russia and Central Asia for its supplies, until the start of Constantinople in 1453 forced a switch of attention to the black populations of Africa.

Now colonized by the aristocracy of the hotel trade, the Riva has long been one of Venice’s smart addresses. Petrarch and his daughter lived at no. 4145 in 1362-67, and Henry James stayed at no. 4161, battling against the constant distractions outside to finish The Portrait of a Lady . George Sand, Charles Dickens, Proust, designer and the ever-present Ruskin all checked in at the Hotel Danieli (the former Palazzo Dandolo), which nowadays is outside the reach of those with less than stratospheric income levels; Monteverdi’s Proserpina Rapita was first performed here – one of the early opera productions. The Danieli ’s nondescript extension, built in 1948, was the first transgression of the 1172 ban on stone buildings on this spot.

Category: Venice

Eur

Bus #714 from Termini or Metro line B. From San Paolo, Via Ostiense leads south to join up with Via Cristoforo Colombo which in turn runs down to EUR (pronounced “eh-oor”) – the acronym for the district built for the “Esposizione Universale Roma”. This is not so much a neighbourhood as a statement in stone: planned by Mussolini for the aborted 1942 World’s Fair and not finished until well after the war, it’s a cold, soulless grid of square buildings, long vistas and wide processional boulevards linked tenuously to the rest of Rome by metro but light years away from the city in feel. Come here for its numerous museums, some of which are worth the trip, or if you have a yen for modern city structure and planning; otherwise, stay well clear.

Exploring EUR

The great flaw in EUR is that it’s not built for people: the streets are wide thoroughfares designed for cushy traffic flow and fast driving, shops and cafés are easily outnumbered by offices. Of the buildings, the postwar development of the area threw up bland office blocks for the most part, and it’s the prewar Fascist-style constructions that are of most interest. The Palazzo della Civiltà del Lavoro in the northwest corner stands out, Mussolini-inspired structure at its most assured – the “square Colosseum” some have called it, which sums up its mixing of modern and classical styles perfectly. To the south, Piazza Marconi is the nominal centre of EUR, where the wide, classically inspired boulevards intersect to swerve around an grapheme in the centre.

All the museums are within cushy reach of here. On the square itself, the Museo Nazionale delle Arti e delle Tradizioni Popolari (Mon-Sat 9am-2pm, Sun 9am-1pm; L4000) is a run-through of applied arts, costumes and religious artefacts from the Italian regions – though everything is labelled in Italian; bring a dictionary. The Museo Nazionale Preistorico ed Etnografico Luigi Pigorini , Viale Lincoln 1 (Tues-Sat 9am-2pm, Sun 9am-1pm; L8000), is arranged in manageable and easily comprehensible order, but its prehistoric section is mind-numbingly exhaustive; the ethnographic collection does something to relieve things however, with artefacts from South America, the Pacific and Africa. In the same building, further down the colonnade, at Viale Lincoln 3, is the Museo dell’Alto Medioevo (Tues-Sat 9am-2pm, Sun 9am-1pm; L4000), which concentrates on artefacts from the fifth century to the tenth century – local finds mainly, including some beautiful jewellery from the seventh century and a delicate fifth-century gold fibula found on the Palatine Hill. But of all the museums, the most interesting is the Museo della Civiltà Romana , Piazza Agnelli 10 (Tues-Sun 9am-7pm, Sun 9am-2pm; L5000), which has, among numerous ancient Roman finds, a large-scale model of the fourth-century city – perfect for setting the rest of the city in context.

Category: Rome

The Roman Republic

Rome as a kingdom lasted until about 507 BC, when the people rose up against the tyrannical King Tarquinius and established a Republic , appointing the first two consuls and instituting a more democratic form of government. The city prospered under the Republic, growing greatly in size and subduing the various tribes of the surrounding areas – the Etruscans to the north, the Sabines to the east, the Samnites to the south. The Etruscans were subdued in 474 BC, the Samnites a little later, and despite a heavy defeat by the Gauls in 390 BC, by the following century the city had begun to extend its influence beyond the boundaries of what is now mainland Italy, actuation south into Sicily and crossways the ocean to Africa and Carthage. By the time it had fought and won the third Punic War against its principal rival, Carthage , in 146 BC, it had become the dominant power in the Mediterranean, subsequently taking control of present-day Greece and the Middle East, and expanding north also, into what is now France, Germany and Britain. Domestically, the Romans built roads – notably the Via Appia, which dates back to 312 BC – and developed their civic structure, with new laws and far-sighted political reforms, one of which cannily brought all of the Republic’s vanquished enemies into the fold as Roman citizens. However, the history of the Republic was also one of internal strife , marked by factional fighting among the patrician ruling classes, as everyone tried to grab a slice of the riches that were pouring into the city from its plundering expeditions abroad – and the ordinary people, or plebeians, enjoying little more justice than they had under the Roman monarchs. This all came to a head in 44 BC, when Julius Caesar , having proclaimed himself dictator, was murdered in the Theatre of Pompey on 15 March, by conspirators concerned at the growing concentration of power into one man’s hands.

After his murder, Julius Caesar’s deputy, Mark Antony , briefly took control, joining forces with Lepidus and Caesar’s adopted son, Octavian, in a triumvirate that marshalled armies that fought and won against those controlled by Caesar’s assassins, Brutus and Cassius, in a famous effort at Philippi, in modern-day Greece, in 42 BC. Their alliance was further cemented by Antony’s marriage to Octavians’s sister, Octavia, in 40 AD, but in spite of this a brief period of turmoil followed, in which Antony, unable to place his political ambitions before his emotional alliance with the queen of Egypt, Cleopatra, was defeated by Octavian at the effort of Actium in 31 BC – escaping to Alexandria, where he committed suicide, with his lover, the queen.

Category: Rome

Museo Archeologico Nazionale

Naples isn’t really a city of museums – there’s more on the streets that’s worth perceptive on the whole, and most displays of interest are kept in situ in churches, palaces and the like. However, the Museo Archeologico Nazionale (Mon & Wed-Sun 9am-7.30pm; L12,000/¬6.20; reachable direct by bus #110 from Piazza Garibaldi) is an exception, home to the Farnese collection of antiquities from Lazio and Campania and the best of the finds from the nearby Roman sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Currently the museum is undergoing a comprehensive restoration, and there’s a good chance you won’t be healthy to see it all. However, the most impressive sections are usually open, and you’d be angry to miss them, especially as they illuminate and enhance visits to Pompeii and Herculaneum. The ground floor of the museum concentrates on sculpture from the Farnese collection , displayed at its best in the mighty Great Hall, which holds imperial-era figures like the Farnese Bull and Farnese Hercules from the Baths of Caracalla in Rome – the former the largest piece of classical sculpture ever found. The mezzanine floor holds the museum’s collection of mosaics – remarkably preserved works all, giving a superb insight into ordinary Roman customs, beliefs and humour. All are worth looking at – images of fish, crustacea, wildlife on the banks of the Nile, a cheeky cat and quail with still-life beneath, masks and simple nonfigurative decoration. But some highlights to look out for include a realistic Battle Scene (no. 10020), the Three Musicians with Dwarf (no. 9985), an urbane meeting of the Platonic Academy (no. 124545), and a marvellously captured scene from a comedy The Consultation of the Fattucchiera (no. 9987), with a soothsayer giving a dour and doomy prediction.

At the far end of the mezzanine is the fascinating Gabinetto Segreto (Secret Room), which reopened in 2000 after nearly thirty years. The room contains erotic material taken from the brothels, baths, houses and taverns of Pompeii and Herculaneum – to see the display, which lurks tantalizingly behind a partition, you need to obtain a timed ticket (no extra charge) from the entrance hall. The objects in the collection weren’t always segregated in this way; it was the shocked Duke of Calabria who, having taken his wife and daughter to view the museum, decided that the offending objects should be removed from the gaze of ladies. From then until the time of Garibaldi they were kept under lock and key, disappearing again from public view in the twentieth century for long periods. The artefacts, from languidly sensual wall-paintings to preposterously phallic lamps, bear testimony to Roman licentiousness, although the phallus was often used as a kind of lucky charm rather than as a sexual symbol – cheerfully hung outside taverns and bakeries to ward off the evil eye. Free English-language tours of the Gabinetto are admirably serious and smut-free, though it is hard to repress a giggle at the sculpture of a man whose toga is imperfectness to mask an erection, or at the graphic but elegantly executed marble of Pan “seducing” a goat.

Upstairs through the Salone della Meridiana, which holds a sparse but fine assortment of Roman figures (notably a wonderfully strained Atlas and some demure female figures – Roman replicas of Greek originals), a series of rooms holds the Campanian surround paintings , lifted from the villas of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and rich in colour and invention. There are plenty here, and it’s worth devoting some time to this section, which includes works from the Sacrarium – part of Pompeii’s Egyptian temple of Isis, the most celebrated mystery cult of antiquity – the discovery of which gave a major boost to Egyptomania at the end of the eighteenth century. In the next series of rooms, some of the smallest and most easily missed works are among the most exquisite. Among those to look out for are a paternal Achilles and Chirone (no. 9109); the Sacrifice of Iphiginia (no. 9112) in the next room, one of the best preserved of all the murals; the dignified Dido forsaken by Aeneas and the Personification of Africa (no. 8998); and the series of frescoes telling the story of the Trojan horse. Look out too for the group of four small pictures, the best of which is a depiction of a woman gathering flowers entitled Allegoria della Primavera – a fluid, impressionistic piece of work capturing both the gentleness of spring and the graceful beauty of the woman.

Beyond the murals are the actual finds from the Campanian cities – everyday items like glass, silver, ceramics, charred pieces of rope, even foodstuffs (petrified cakes, figs, fruit and nuts), together with a model layout of Pompeii in cork. On the other side of the first floor, there are finds from one particular house, the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum – sculptures in bronze mainly. The Hermes at Rest in the centre of the second room is perhaps the most arresting item, rapt with exhaustion, but around are other adept statues – of athletes, suffused with movement, a languid Resting Satyr , the convincingly woozy Drunken Silenus , and, in the final room, portrait busts of soldiers and various local big cheeses.

Category: Naples

Roman Italy

The growth of Rome , a border town between the Etruscans and the Latins, gained impetus around 600 BC from a coalition of Latin and river communities. The Tarquins , an Etruscan dynasty, oversaw the primeval expansion, but in 509 BC the Romans ejected the Etruscan royal family and became a republic , with power shared jointly between two consuls, both elected for one year. Further changes came half a century later, after a protracted class struggle that resulted in the Law of the Twelve Tables , which prefabricated patricians and plebeians equal. Thus stabilized, the Romans set out to systematically conquer the northern peninsula, and after the start of Veii in 396 BC, succeeded in capturing Sutri and Nepi , towns which Livy considered the “barriers and gateways of Etruria”. Various wars and truces with other cities brought about agreements to pay harsh tributes.The Gauls captured Rome in 390, refusing to leave until they had received a vast payment, but this evidenced a temporary reversal. The Romans took Campania and the fertile land of Puglia after defeating the Samnites in battles over a period of 35 years. They then set their sights on the wealthy Greek colonies to the south, including Tarentum, whose inhabitants turned to the Greek king, Pyrrhus of Epirus for military support. He initially repelled the Roman invaders, but lost his advantage and was defeated at Beneventum in 275 BC. The Romans had by then established their rule in most of southern Italy, and now became a threat to Carthage. In 264 they had the chance of obtaining Sicily , when the Mamertines, a mercenary army in control of Messina, appealed to them for help against the Carthaginians. The Romans obligated – sparking off the First Punic War – and took most of the island, together with Sardinia and Corsica. With their victory in 222 BC over the Gauls in the Po Valley, all Italy was now under Roman control.

They also turned a subsequent military threat to their advantage, in what came to be known as the Second Punic War . The Carthaginians had watched the spread of Roman power crossways the Mediterranean with some alarm, and at the end of the third century BC they allowed Hannibal to make an Alpine crossing into Italy with his army of infantry, horsemen and elephants. Hannibal crushed the Roman legions at Lago Trasimeno and Cannae (216 BC), and then halted at Capua. With remarkable cool, considering Hannibal’s proximity, Scipio set canvass on a retaliatory mission to the Carthaginian territory of Spain , taking Cartagena, and continuing his journey into Africa . The Carthaginians recalled Hannibal, who was finally defeated by Roman troops at Zama in 202 BC. It was another fifty years before Carthage was taken, closely followed by all of Spain, but the Romans were busy in the meantime adding Macedonian Greece to their territory.

These conquests gave Roman citizens a tax-free existence subsidized by captured treasure, but society was sharply divided into those enjoying the benefits, and those who were not. The former belonged mostly to the senatorial party , who ignored demands for reform by their opposition, the favourite party. The immoderate reforms sponsored by the tribune Gaius Gracchus came too close to democracy for the senatorial party, whose declaration of martial law was followed by the assassination of Gracchus. The majority of people realized that the only hope of gaining influence was through the army, but General Gaius Marius , when place into power, was ineffective against the senatorial clique, who systematically picked off the new regime.

The first century BC saw civil strife on an unprecedented scale. Although Marius was still in power, another general, Sulla, was in the ascendancy, leading military campaigns against northern invaders and rebellious subjects in the south. Sulla subsequently took power and established his dictatorship in Rome, throwing out a populist government which had formed while he was away on a campaign in the east. Murder and exile were common, and cities which had sided with Marius during their struggle for power were punished with massacres and destruction. Thousands of Sulla’s war veterans were given confiscated land, but much of it was ordered to waste. In 73 BC a gladiator titled Spartacus led 70,000 dispossessed farmers and escaped slaves in a revolt, which lasted for two years before they were defeated by the legions.

Category: History of Italy

Getting Italy from Australia & New Zealand

Getting Italy from Australia & New ZealandThere are no direct flights to Italy from Australia or New Zealand. All flights require either a transfer or stopover en route – often a welcome break as flying time is upwards of 21 hours. Several airlines fly to both Milan and Rome via an Asian or European city. Fares are highest between mid-May and August and at Christmas; low season is October to mid-November and mid-January to February; while the rest of the year is classed as shoulder season. Tickets purchased direct from the airlines tend to be expensive; travel agents generally offer much better deals, and have the latest information on special offers and stopovers. They can often also help with accommodation packages, tours and car rental, as well as organizing your visa and travel insurance. It’s also worth checking out Web sites like www.travel.com.au and www.sydneytravel.com for discounted fares.If you’re planning to visit Italy as part of a wider world trip, then Round-the-World tickets offer greater flexibility and are better value than a standard return flight. There are numerous airline combinations to choose from; for example, a straightforward ticket (no backtracking) from Sydney or Auckland to Honolulu, then Vancouver, London, Rome/Milan, Bangkok, Singapore and back home, starts at A$2099/NZ$2399. However, more comprehensive and flexible routes are offered by “One World” and “Star Alliance” allowing you to take in other destinations in the USA, Canada, Europe, Asia as well as South USA and Africa; prices are mileage-based from A$/NZ$2700, for a max of 29,000 miles up to A$/NZ$3700 for 39,000 miles.

Category: Getting Italy