After the unification of Italy, Pellegrino Artusi established the basis for an Italian national cuisine when he became the first cookbook author writing a single book with recipes from every Italian region. Artusi was also a food critic. Around the end of the 19th century, Artusi described a delightful dish he had had in a trattoria in Rome. This dish included veal, prosciutto and sage. And it was such a delectable dish that it just jumped into your mouth: saltimbocca alla romana (which is Italian for jump-in-mouth, Roman style).
Ingredients 8 veal cutlets 4 oz prosciutto crudo 8 fresh sage leaves 3 Tbsp butter 1 cup white wine 1 big handful flour Salt, pepper
Using a meat pounder, pound your cutlets until they get really thin. While you pound the meat sprinkle it with some salt and pepper. Set the flour in a shallow bowl and then coat the veal cutlets with flour. Atop each cutlet lay a piece of prosciutto crudo and then a sage leaf. Fix the prosciutto and sage leaf into the meat by using a toothpick. Heat the butter in a large skillet. When the butter is melted add the veal, prosciutto side up. Sauté the veal until golden brown, about 1-2 minutes. Carefully turn the veal and cook for a minute, taking care not to burn the prosciutto or the leaves. Take the veal out of the skillet and place it in a serving plate, prosciutto side up. Pour the wine into the skillet, give a quick stir and let the alcohol evaporate for a minute. Pour the thin wine sauce on top of the veal, serve and let the veal cutlets jump in your mouth (remove the toothpicks first)!
Tips Chicken saltimbocca? Nice idea, but when in Rome do as the Romans do (which means using veal for your saltimbocca)!
If you have read my previous posts on Roman cuisine you already know that Romans like recipes that are simple, easy and delicious. Saltimbocca alla romana meets all these criteria. But Roman cuisine is also a poor one, so the use of butter (an ingredient almost inexistent in southern Italy) puzzled me. Last time I was in Rome I asked my butcher (a lovely genuine Roman lady) and she confirmed to me the use of butter. So, even though olive oil would be a more Roman ingredient, follow this recipe and use butter.
Butter is not the only odd ingredient in this recipe. Veal cutlet is a pretty nice cut of meat and certainly not among the cheapest. It is true that Roman cuisine is a cucina povera, but it’s also true that in Rome you also find Vatican City. And as Romans say “Chi se vo' impara' a magna', da li preti bisogna che va” (if you want to learn how to eat, you have to go to see the priests). In other words, for centuries while common people struggled to prepare something to eat, the Pope enjoyed a splendorous cuisine where meat and dairy products were served frequently.
Yep, this is another rustic and traditional pasta recipe from Rome. No one exactly knows the origin of this dish, but because carbonara is a cognate of the Italian word carbone (charcoal), some people say this pasta was initially prepared for charcoal workers who needed a hearty meal during their hard work day. In a way there is some truth in this statement since at the beginning of the 20th century, Italian laborers used to carry simple pasta dishes to work, such as spaghetti cacio e pepe. However, coal miners worked in Umbria (and not in Rome), and in fact there are no historical records of spaghetti alla carbonara before World War II. This suggests that a possible origin of this dish was the Italian interpretation of what the American and Canadian soldiers ate while they were in Rome during WW II. Basically, Italians took the quintessential North American breakfast based on eggs and bacon and served it with … pasta, of course!
Ingredients 1 lb spaghetti 5 oz guanciale, diced 4 oz pecorino romano cheese, grated 4 egg yolks 1 egg Olive oil Salt, pepper
In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and the entire egg. Gradually add the cheese while vigorously whisking the egg mixture. Add some freshly ground black pepper to the egg mixture. Meanwhile, begin to cook the pasta. In a saucepan, heat about 1 Tbsp of olive oil, then sauté the diced guanciale until it turns golden. About 1 minute before the pasta is cooked al dente (according to the cooking time on the label instructions), add a couple of Tbsps of the cooking water to the egg mixture. Does it sound familiar? We are tempering the eggs, just as we did when making gelato. When the pasta is al dente, drain it and toss it directly into the pan where you sautéed the guanciale. Then toss the spaghetti into the bowl with the egg mixture. The eggs were raw, but the heat of the pasta will cook them. If you are not convinced of this, make sure you are using pasteurized eggs. Add the guanciale. Give a quick stir and serve your spaghetti alla carbonara with freshly ground black pepper and more grated pecorino romano cheese.
Tips Common mistakes when people make spaghetti alla carbonara outside Italy: adding onions, butter and cream. The use of cream is something you actually can find in the north of Italy, but this is a Roman dish, so, no cream.
In North America, people associate carbonara sauce with the erroneous version with cream and butter. At the same time, North Americans prepare “coal miner’s spaghetti” which not only has a name that seems to be a translation from Italian (if we believe the mine worker origin), but also the way you prepare coal miner’s spaghetti is more like how you prepare spaghetti alla carbonara. However, coal miner’s spaghetti calls for bacon instead of guanciale, people use a combination of Parmesan and Romano cheeses, parsley is also added, and the ultimate Italian-American ingredient is not absent either: garlic.
Despite the simple ingredients of this dish, spaghetti alla carbonara is pretty tricky to make. Usually what happens is that you get scrambled eggs instead of a creamy egg sauce. The use of cream and onion makes this recipe foolproof, but you should try the traditional recipe.
When you are in Rome, you’re forced to make some hard decisions. For example suppose that you’re at the Fontana di Trevi and that you want to go to Piazza Navona. Well, there are several routes, each one with incredible things to see. And, because of constraints on both time and energy, when you choose one route you’re missing all the things on the other available routes. On the other hand, the what-to-see lists provide the essential highlights, but there’re plenty of attractions that are not mentioned in the guides. So let’s face it: it takes more than a lifetime to get to know Rome. I’d say that 3-4 days is the very minimum to see the top 5 Roman essentials: St Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museum, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Fontana di Trevi and the Piazza Navona (visiting the Pantheon in between). But I’d recommend to everyone staying in Rome for at least 5-6 days. Actually, I always tell my friends to stay in Rome for at least a week. That way, you can leave one day to visit the surroundings of Rome. Again, you have a lot of alternatives: I castelli di Roma, the Etruscan ruins, il lido di Roma (the Roman shore) … but I have two suggestions about what to see in the surroundings of Rome: Tivoli and Ostia Antica.
First, I have a lot of friends who complain about not having had enough time to go to Pompeii when they were visiting Italy – usually people visit Rome, Florence and Venice on their first trip to Italy, leaving Naples for a second visit. Although Naples and Pompeii are not that far from Rome, they’re not that close either. If you don’t have enough time to go to Pompeii, then Ostia Antica is the perfect substitute. Ostia Antica is the ancient harbor of Rome, and now a huge archeological site. Getting there is pretty simple since Ostia Antica is easily reachable by taking the Roman subway! Ostia Antica is full of ruins from imperial times, so there you can have that feeling of experiencing life in an ancient city. There you can visit the old theater, the forum, some nice houses, the public bathrooms, the market and old restaurants. One thing you don’t find in Pompeii is the ruins of insulae: the apartment buildings of ancient Rome. You’ll be impressed with how huge and tall they were. Since Ostia was abandoned, mainly because of several attacks by pirates, and not covered by lava and ashes as Pompeii was, the remaining wall frescoes are scarce and far from being as impressive as the ones in the Pompeii area. However, in Ostia Antica you can find really nice mosaic floors. Finally, one thing to think about … if Ostia Antica was the ancient harbor of Rome, then where is the sea? (Ostica Antica now lies about 2 miles from the sea.)
Another very interesting place to visit not far from Rome is Tivoli. There you have two attractions, each one being a perfect example of the lifestyle of the rich and famous of two different eras. On one side of the town of Tivoli, you find the Villa Adriana. Hadrian’s Villa was the retreat home of the Roman emperor Hadrian, who wanted to escape all of the gossiping, intrigues and troubles of the capital’s Palatine Hill and its court. The Villa was composed of more than 30 buildings, including various palaces, theaters, thermae (individual spas), libraries and temples. In one word, the Villa provided tutti i confort (every comfort) an emperor needed. Everything in the Villa was inspired by the emperor’s numerous travels around the known world, especially to Egypt and Greece. These destinations in a way reflect Hadrian’s passion for the Greek youth Antinous, who mysteriously died by drowning in the Nile. Hadrian deified his beloved Antinous after Antinous’ tragic death: one of the most recent excavations at Hadrian’s Villa was a Temple dedicated to Antinous. Hadrian, a devoted Hellenophile, loved all expressions of art and he was involved in the design and construction of the Villa. In fact, we don’t know the names of the architects who worked with Hadrian, because he was the head of the whole project. This is why the great complexity that the Villa exhibits also reflects the complexity of Hadrian’s mind.
On the other side of Tivoli, you find the Villa d’Este. The Villa was commissioned by Cardinal Ippolito d’Este, son of the infamous Lucrezia Borgia (and therefore grandson of the fearsome Pope Alexander VI, il Papa Borgia), after receiving the property and the title of governor of Tivoli for life. Both were a gift from Pope Julius III returning the favor of the cardinal d’Este’s voting for Julius III as the future Pope. The villa is a magnificent example of an Italian renaissance mansion and gardens. The frescoes decorating the walls and ceiling inside the villa are exquisitely regal. Decorative renaissance frescoes combine the new techniques developed in that period with elements from ancient Roman frescoes, which were re-discovered by that time when artists visited the recently excavated Domus Aurea (the golden house of Nero). The gardens are exceptional. Because the house is advantageously located on top of a hill , its gardens enjoy a glorious theatrical layout filled with fabulous fountains. The famous Cento Fontane (one hundred fountains – which can be spotted in the banquet scene of Ben-Hur) and the Rometta (the little Rome fountain, which displays a miniature version of how Rome looked at that time) are just two of the most illustrious fountains in the villa. In fact, it is hard to count all of the fountains: Europa, del Bicchierone, del Pegaso, dei Draghi, dell’Ovato, di Proserpina, della Civetta, dell’Organo, di Nettuno, etc. The splendorous gardens from Villa d’Este with their charming fountains and spectacular giochi d’acqua were the inspiration of several gardens not only in Italy, but also all around Europe.
Tips The tower of Pisa was almost entirely made from building material coming from the ruins of Ostia Antica.
Lots of the marble and statues displayed in the Villa d’Este came from Hadrian’s Villa.
As you might have noticed, Roman recipes for pasta are extremely simple to make. Spaghetti cacio e pepe means spaghetti with cheese and black pepper, and with these two ingredients you can enjoy a delectable dish of pasta!
Ingredients 1 lb spaghetti 7-8 oz pecorino romano cheese, grated 1 Tbsp olive oil Freshly ground black pepper
Pour the grated cheese into a bowl. Cook the pasta in plenty of salted boiling water. Just minutes before the pasta is ready, take a couple of tablespoons of the cooking water and add it to the cheese. Whisk until a creamy paste forms (use enough hot cooking water to achieve this). When the pasta is almost al dente (about 1 minute before the total cooking time), drain it and toss the spaghetti into a saucepan with 1 Tbsp olive oil and freshly ground black pepper (reserve about 1 cup of the cooking water). Quickly sauté the spaghetti. Add the creamy cheese mixture and stir for about 1 minute. You may need to add some more cooking water to keep the creamy texture of the sauce. Serve hot with a nice touch of grated pecorino cheese and black pepper.
Tips If you know some Italian probably you’re more familiar with the word formaggio for cheese. Although formaggio is the most usual word, in Italian you can also say cacio for cheese and, in some dialects, the word cacio is more common. Actually, also in Latin there were two ways of saying cheese: cāseus and formāticus. While the original word for cheese was cāseus, molded cheese was called cāseus formātus, which gave origin to the abbreviation formāticus. Formāticus is the origin of the modern words formaggio in Italian, fromage in French and formatge in Catalan. Cāseus is the origin of the modern words cacio in Italian, queso in Spanish, queijo in Portuguese, Kaese in German, and even cheese in English!
Bucatini all’amatriciana is another very Roman recipe, a red version of spaghetti alla gricia, where the influence of Neapolitan cuisine appears with the use of tomato. While the original recipe comes from the town of Amatrice (now in the Lazio region but before in the Abruzzo region), it is in Rome where people eat bucatini with this sauce. But in Amatrice, sugo all’amatriciana, which means sauce in the Amatrice style, is almost always served with spaghetti. Actually Amatrice claims the invention of spaghetti.
Sugo all’amatriciana is very simple to prepare, although lots of people make the mistake of adding onion to it. Even Italians do it. Even some Romans do it, but people never do it in Amatrice. I was watching Lidia Bastianich on TV once, and I almost fell down when she was blanching some onions for her amatriciana. Good Lord! I must say though that in Italy adding onion to a sauce for pasta is a question of personal taste, but you must take note of the interesting lack of onion in a lot of traditional recipes: puttanesca, amatriciana, arrabbiata, carbonara … no onion at all! And yet, especially when sauce is prepared outside Italy, people tend to use onion. In Chile, where pasta is one of the most common dishes, people use big chunks of onion in their sauces. I’ve heard of some Italians that freak out at how oniony Chilean sauces are! (And I’ve heard of lots of Italians who freak out at how garlicky American sauces are, but that’s another story.)
Ingredients 1 lb bucatini 4-5 oz guanciale 12 oz passata di pomodoro (good quality tomato sauce) or canned San Marzano tomatoes 1 cup white wine 1 Tbsp olive oil 1 pinch peperoncino (red pepper flakes) 4 Tbsp pecorino romano cheese, grated Salt, black pepper
Dice the guanciale. In a saucepan over medium heat, sauté the diced guanciale with the olive oil and peperoncino. When the guanciale begins to lose its fat, add the wine. Sauté until the guanciale turns golden. Take the guanciale from the saucepan and reserve. Start cooking the pasta in salted boiling water. While the pasta is cooking, heat the tomato sauce in the same saucepan where you sautéed the guanciale. Add the guanciale and continue heating the sauce until the pasta is al dente. When the pasta is ready, drain it and toss it directly into the saucepan with the sauce. Give a quick stir, add some black pepper and serve with pecorino cheese!
Tips In Rome some locals call this sauce matriciana. That’s why some people argue that the Roman version with bucatini (and onion according to some other people) has nothing to do with the amatriciana from Amatrice (with absolutely no onion, often served with spaghetti, and sometimes using pancetta instead of guanciale, the latter being considered too poor as an ingredient). Actually they claim that the word matriciana comes from the Latin word matrix in reference to motherhood and matriarchy: an argument that, they claim, shows how ancient the Roman recipe is (they forget that tomatoes were introduced from America though). However, a common feature of Romanesco or the Italian dialect from Rome is dropping vowels, so not surprisingly people simply say matriciana in Rome.
This is another extremely simple recipe from the Roman kitchen to yours. If you know some Italian I’m sure you’ll be surprised by the name of this recipe. Maybe you would recognize better aglio, olio e peperoncino. While aglio, olio e peperoncino is standard Italian, ajo, ojo e peperoncino is Roman dialect or romanesco. Both mean garlic, oil and hot pepper. As a matter of fact, these are exactly the ingredients we’ll use.
Ingredients 1 lb spaghetti 1-2 garlic cloves, minced 5 Tbsp Olive oil 1½ Tbsp peperoncino (red pepper flakes – or 2 small and fresh hot peppers)
Cook the pasta in plenty of salted boiling water. Just minutes before the pasta is ready, sauté the garlic with the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the peperoncino. When the pasta is al dente, drain it and reserve about ¼ cup of the cooking water. Toss the pasta over the quick soffritto and add the reserved starchy water. Give a quick stir and serve!
This might be the easiest pasta dish to make! And this recipe is the real McCoy, in the sense that other traditional Roman dishes like bucatini all’amatriciana and spaghetti alla carbonara were inspired by bucatini alla gricia.
Ingredients 1 lb bucatini pasta 5 oz guanciale (Italian unsmoked bacon), diced 4 Tbsp pecorino romano cheese, grated Freshly ground black pepper
Cook the pasta in plenty of salted boiling water. In the meantime, in a saucepan over medium heat sauté the guanciale until nice and golden. When the pasta is al dente, drain it and reserve about ¼ cup of the cooking water. Toss the pasta over the guanciale, add the cheese, some freshly ground black pepper, and the reserved starchy water. Give a quick stir and serve!
Tips Pasta alla gricia is supposed to come from the town of Grisciano near Rome. The absence of tomatoes indicates its ancient origins: pasta alla gricia was eaten before tomatoes were introduced to Europe from South America.
Bucatini are like thick spaghetti with a transversal hole inside. Buco means hole in Italian.
The traditional recipe calls for guanciale, a kind of Italian unsmoked bacon (actually, cured and unsmoked pig jowl). However, New York City is the only place I know in North America where you can find guanciale (in one store in the middle of the meat district). So, it's only for this reason that you’re temporarily allowed to use pancetta or unsmoked bacon instead… but if you’re in New York, then you MUST get some guanciale! The same thing will apply to every recipe calling for guanciale.
This is a super simple pasta dish to make and a perfect example of the Roman cucina povera. Penne all’arrabbiata means penne pasta in a rage… and their anger is expressed by being really spicy!
Ingredients 1 lb penne pasta 1 ¾ cup passata di pomodoro or good tomato sauce 2 Tbsp peperoncino (red pepper flakes – or 2 small and fresh hot peppers) 2 garlic cloves, minced 4 Tbsp olive oil 1 bunch Italian parsley, chopped
Cook the pasta in salted boiling water. Meanwhile, in a saucepan over medium heat and using 2 Tbsp of olive oil, sauté the garlic together with the peperoncino for a minute or so (be careful since we don’t want to burn the garlic). Add the tomatoes and the remaining 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Let the sauce cook for about 5 minutes, just until the pasta is al dente. Drain the pasta and toss it over the sauce. Give a quick stir, add the parsley, and your penne all’arrabbiata is ready to serve!
Tips Instead of tomato sauce, you can also use about 15 oz ripe tomatoes (peeled, chopped and seeds discarded) or 15 oz canned San Marzano tomatoes (pelati).
If you want a less-angry version of penne all’arrabbiata, use 1 garlic clove and 1 Tbsp peperoncino.
In Italy, pasta is condita, which means seasoned with a sauce. That’s why you’d probably find traditional recipes a bit scarce in sauce by international standards.
So, there’s no cheese in this recipe? In traditional recipes, usually cheese is not added to a sauce when you’re using garlic.
Despite my love for Giada de Laurentiis, arrabbiata sauce does not call for pancetta or bacon. If you use pancetta then you’ll be getting something closer to pasta all’amatriciana. The use of onion is also a widespread mistake. In sum, onion, pancetta and cheese (even pecorino romano) are considered a sacrilege to the traditional recipe!
Roma è una città meridionale – Rome is a southern city – used to say my grandfather, proud of his deep northern Italian roots. You can really tell this is true when you look at what Romans eat. In Italy there are two different pasta regions: while in the North we prefer fresh pasta – pasta fresca – (and sometimes we prefer rice), in the South people use dried pasta – pasta secca. And Romans love dried pasta. In fact, they die for spaghetti! In Rome you’ll find the apotheosis of recipes calling for spaghetti: spaghetti alla carbonara, spaghetti cacio e pepe, spaghetti alla carrettiera, spaghetti alla gricia, spaghetti ajo, ojo e peperoncino... Romans love their spaghetti so much that they dispute with Naples the origin of spaghetti alla puttanesca! But Romans do not only love spaghetti. Rigatoni (such as in rigatoni alla pajata), bucatini (think of bucatini all’amatriciana) and penne (penne all’arrabbiata) are also dried pasta shapes Romans like.
Roman cuisine, and by extension the cuisine of the whole Lazio region, is also a cucina povera or peasant cuisine. No dairy products, almost no butter, no cream… so, carbonara sauce with cream? Heresy! And that’s also why you’ll never find fettuccine Alfredo in a trattoria in Rome. Actually, Alfredo sauce doesn’t even exist in Italy. So, if you visit Rome please don’t ask where you can have the “authentic” fettucine Alfredo or you’ll hear a loud “mai sentito!” (never heard of it!).
Also don’t expect garlic bread in Rome, because, you know, it doesn’t exist in Italy. However, Romans do have wonderful bruschette and crostini, which constitute a perfect starter or antipasto for your meal.
Broccoli is also a very Roman thing, but artichokes are the quintessential Roman vegetable: carciofi alla romana, carciofi alla matticella, carciofi alla giudia. Artichokes Jewish style or carciofi alla giudia is a dish that comes from the important Jewish community – a community living in Rome since antiquity but also including refugees from Spain after their expulsion in 1492 and from Naples, by then under Spanish rule. Another legacy of the Roman ghetto is the love for deep fried food: baccalà alla romana (deep fried cod) and fiori di zucca fritti (deep fried zucchini blossoms).
What about meat? Roman cuisine is a poor one, so what people could afford was the offal of butchered animals: kidney, liver, tripe, entrails… I assure you that most of the quinto quarto (or offal in Italian) tastes better than it sounds. So, if you are brave enough you won’t regret asking for coda alla vaccinara (oxtail) or trippa alla trasteverina (tripe).
Are you thinking of having pizza in Rome? Although pizza is something you should try in Naples, where pizza was born, Romans have their own specialty: pizza bianca di Roma (white pizza from Rome). If you’re in a hurry, don’t hesitate to try a piece of pizza al taglio (pizza by the slice): it was the Romans who created the idea of rectangular pizza that they cut in little squares and then sell by the piece. Whereas in Naples pizza has only two different toppings (marinara and margherita), Romans got more creative with pizza al taglio, offering it with more toppings.
Finally, whereas peasants couldn’t afford cakes or pies on a daily basis, there are some elaborate Roman desserts, usually deep fried doughnuts, that were prepared for holidays and special occasions: bignè di San Giuseppe, castagnole, maritozzi con la panna, frittelle zuccherate. But the Roman dessert I like the best, and I’m sure you will too, is gelato!!!
Tips
In Rome, there are two restaurants for American tourists that claim to be the creators of the non-Italian fettuccine Alfredo (or all’Alfredo). Both are the only places in Italy where you can have pasta with Alfredo sauce. Actually they don’t use sauce, but Parmesan cheese with lots (I really mean lots) of butter – and now you know: Parmesan and butter is not a very Roman thing at all. In one of those restaurants, Alfredo himself (well… Alfredo “the third”) comes to your table to serve a big portion of his fettuccine using a golden fork and a golden spoon… MADDAIIIIIIIIII!!! If you’re visiting Rome please choose an authentic Roman trattoria!
April is the perfect month to write about Rome. According to legend, April 21 is when the imperial city was founded. Also, when you live outside Rome and especially if you live abroad, it is always at Easter when you have this special connection with Rome because of the activities the Pope performs. I’m talking about the broadcasting of the Via Crucis from the Colosseum, and then the Easter Mass and the multilingual Urbi et Orbi blessing (Urbi et Orbi means to the city – of Rome – and to the world).
It is hard to write just a few lines about Rome, the city that was the capital of the Roman Empire and then became the capital of the largest spiritual empire in history. That’s why Rome is known as the eternal city and capital of the world. It’s astonishing how all the hectic contrasts in Rome build a perfect harmony that allows us to enjoy a fabulous experience, full of history and passion: Rome is baroque, classic, sacred, profane, pagan and Christian. When you have the pleasure of visiting the Roman Forum, the Palatine hill or the Colosseum, or when you’re walking down the Via Sacra or the Via Appia, you can close your eyes and you’ll have the feeling of experiencing the birth of western culture.
According to legend, Rome has its origins with Romulus and Remus. However its historical roots are clear: the Etruscan, the Latin and the Greek worlds. In 753 B.C. Romulus, the mythical founder and first king of Rome, traced the boundaries of the new city around the seven Roman hills. The new city was chaotic from the beginning, with simple huts and narrow and dirty streets. However Romulus, who knew about conquest because he was the son of Mars – the god of war – and Rhea Silvia – a direct descendant of the Trojan fugitives –, together with his Latin fellows rapidly took possession of the Etruscan surroundings of Rome. The next step was obvious: conquering the known world. It was the Roman fate to command the nations: “tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento”. The city got bigger and, because of the limited space, houses with several storeys were built. The streets were still narrow and because of the high density of the population and the poor quality of building materials, the hazard of fire was a constant threat. In fact and as you might have known, fires destroyed Rome on several occasions – “Nero’s” fire being the most famous one.
It was Augustus who, as emperor, received a Rome made of brick and left a Rome made of marble. He ordered and managed the renovation of the city. Rome could no longer have the appearance of a provincial city, and a new Rome had to be built to be a worthy capital of the new empire that had been forged. Rome was enriched with parks, temples, monumental public buildings and the Forum, the Roman version of the Greek agora, was consolidated as the center and meeting point of the city. The Forum was populated by merchants who offered the most varied of products. Later, new Fora were scattered around the city.
Trade was so important for Romans that entire large buildings were dedicated to commercial activities. A clear example is Trajan’s Market, which can still be seen surrounding the Roman Forum. This building had several storeys, which housed more than 150 stores: a veritable shopping mall of ancient times.
In the Palatine Hill magnificent palaces for the new emperors were built. These palaces were so grandiose that the word palace comes from the name of the Palatine Hill. At this point you might notice a big difference with the Greek world: the Romans exalted certain men over others. Romans not only built great temples, but also huge mansions and ostentatious mausoleums. The most important and influential Roman men were perceived as having a divine component. For example, the first work of Augustus in Rome was the construction of the Temple of Divus Julius, in commemoration of his adoptive father, Julius Cæsar.
Most of the people of Rome lived in insulæ, large apartment buildings of up to seven storeys with a very fragile structure. Juvenal, the Roman satiric poet, once wrote: “But here we inhabit a city propped up for the most part by slats: for that is how the landlord patches up the crack in the old wall, bidding the inmates sleep at ease under the ruin that hangs above their heads”.
But Romans were remarkable engineers, especially good at hydraulic engineering. Using a net of aqueducts (some of them still in use), water was brought in to Rome to supply fountains, bathhouses and public bathrooms. One of the pleasures of Rome still is to drink water directly from one of the thousands of highly decorated fountains. The rich had pipes that carried water to their homes and, around Rome, some villas even had central heating.
During imperial times, Rome had eleven public baths, more than a thousand fountains and pools, nineteen aqueducts, thirty-six arches, two amphitheaters and six circuses.
The Colosseum or Flavian Amphitheater was the meeting place of the common people. There, the inhabitants of Rome could forget their poverty and their problems, concentrating on the shows that were offered: the ludi or games where gladiators wrestled with wild beasts of every kind. The amphitheater was a Roman invention: the precedent for modern stadiums was born of the union of two Greek-style theaters joined together facing each other (amphi meaning on both sides in Greek). Although there is some evidence of Christians being executed in the Colosseum, the truth is that Christian martyrdom was held in the circus, the same place that hosted chariot races. The biggest circus was the Circus Maximus, with a seating capacity of 250,000 spectators. Today almost nothing remains of the Circus Maximus, but you can still have an idea of the size of it by looking at the park there now. Another circus was built under what is now Piazza Navona: actually the unusual shape of the square is due to the ancient track! On the Vatican hill there was another circus, right where St Peter’s basilica is found now.
While it is still possible to admire and recognize the wonders of imperial Rome, most of the things you see are just moribund pieces of a magnificent past. These ruins survived a destructive process caused primarily by looting and the practice of recycling marble. And not only barbarians destroyed the city: part of the marble you can currently see in Roman churches has an obvious origin. Moreover, the famous bronze figure of St Peter in the Vatican was made by casting ancient bronze statues. But this is not an indictment of the Church, because the Romans often acted similarly with the places they conquered. For example the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, and they brought to Rome what they found inside.
It was Pope Benedict XIV who saved the Colosseum from marble extraction for churches. The Colosseum was then devoted to the Via Crucis.
Note that there is only one building that remains standing and almost intact from Imperial Rome: the Pantheon. The Pantheon was built to honor all gods, and it was precisely this concept that saved it from destruction. With its large dome, in a way the Pantheon seems like a church and actually during medieval times it became a church dedicated to Our Lady. Finally, when visiting St Peter’s Basilica (it was the Romans who created the idea of basilicas) you totally feel that the Catholic Church was the natural heir to the Roman Empire; even the images of saints are represented in such a way that, with very little imagination, you can sense a certain similarity to the Roman gods.
To a large extent our laws, our institutions and many of the languages spoken in the Western hemisphere (even English), all have deep Roman roots. Therefore, to know Rome is to know a little more of ourselves.