An Emperor's Outdoor Dining Cave: Sperlonga, Italy

Monday, August 2, 2010

The Cave at Sperlonga. The fish pond and remains of the imperial dining room in the foreground

 

Matthew and I successfully met up with the group from the Vergilian Society program at 9 AM. The group made stops at Terracina and at Sperlonga on the way to Cumae. I especially liked the museum at Sperlonga, which is suspected to be the site of one of the Emperor Tiberius' villas. There are some Hellenistic-style statures there on the theme of Odysseus, including a nice reproduction of a statue group of Odysseus and his men blinding the Cyclops, Polyphemus. The statues were originally in a triclinium set in a cave, or spelunca in Latin. The name, Sperlonga, might actually be a corruption of the Latin word for cave. Sperlonga has a beautiful beach within sight of the museum and cave, but we didn't have time to go there. Sigh!

Exploring the interior of the cave, the original location of the museum's statues

Upper-class Romans liked to grow fish in ponds on their estates

A view of the dining area from inside the cave. Tourists on the right give an idea of the scale.

We can tell from these holes on the dining platform that the Romans raised lampreys, a delicacy, here

Another exterior view of the cave at Sperlonga

The Capitoline Museum and a New Place to Stay

Sunday, 7/25/10

 After packing my bags, checking out, and locking my bags up at the Casa la Salle, I headed over to the Capitoline Museum with Susan and Jim. We saw the famous bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, we saw the "Dying Gaul," and much more. It was fun.

Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius

Diana the Huntress

The top floor had a special exhibit. Susan and I saw some bronze pieces, including a particularly striking statue, from the House of the same Julius Publius that we visited on our second trip to Pompeii-- the one where they found the corpses. The house in Pompeii had  Disney-like holographic projections. Publius was an art collector and the bronzes gave us just a little taste of his collection. Nice!

 For more pictures from the museum, visit this set on Flickr.

 This afternoon was spent loading up the bus and moving to the Hotel Villa Rosa in a part of town called Trastevere, which is from Latin “trans Tiberim,” which means, “across the Tiber.” It is more an extension of Rome, a very ancient one, rather than a part of Rome proper. But it is not far outside of town. There is good transportation by tram and by bus, so I think the group will adjust quickly. Jessica, my roommate, and I miss the electrical outlets and the internet connectivity at Casa la Salle, although there are some internet cafes close to the hotel. Not much is open on Sundays, so we took the Number 8 Tram back towards Rome to find a decent dinner. 

The hotel is up some stairs from the main street through this part of town, the Via Trastevere. It's on a tiny side street. We were were told if we get lost to ask for the Trastevere Train station, because the hotel is located across the Via Trastevere from there.
  
My boyfriend, Don, and I had a very nice, and probably final, Skype call last night. He told me my tomatoes are ripening faster and heavier than he can eat them. Did I mention I'm an avid gardener? 

 He plans to make salsa. I wish I could help him. 

I am looking forward to meeting my son, Matthew, on Saturday morning, though, and having a nice time in Rome when he gets here.

I would like to thank the National Endowment for the Humanities for funding this portion of my studies.

The Roman Mysteries

Friday, 7/23/10

 This was a quiet day. The morning was spent in lecture, discussion, and translation sessions. Nadine uses historical novels to teach her very diverse 6th-grade class. She shared selections from Caroline Lawrence's, The Thieves of Ostia, which were very good. Even though I teach high school students, I suspect I could get some of my own students hooked on these books. The series is called, “The Roman Mysteries.” After lunch I did my PT exercises, then wandered around this part of Rome a little. For tomorrow I want to visit the Vatican Museums. My friend Susan wants to go with me. We found a bus stop nearby where we can take a bus that will hopefully drop us off a little closer to the Vatican than we can get on the Metro system. I went to the Metro system and figured out how to purchase myself a week-long public transportation pass for 16 Euro. That will get me through the weekend and help out when we are at the Villa Rosa this coming week. My understanding is that it is not as conveniently located as this place, so we may want to take buses to find good restaurants, etc. I also took a picture of a sign near the ticket booth that said, in various languages, “Beware of pickpockets.” I had a nice Skype talk with Don this evening. It was pleasant; almost like sitting across from him at his kitchen table. We both miss each other and enjoyed the visit.

Beware of Pickpockets--Whatever Your Language!

I would like to thank the National Endowment for the Humanities for making this portion of my trip possible.

Exploding Mountains, the Emperor Caligula, and Plane Trees

Wednesday, 7/14/10

A plane tree

   

Today the group spent the whole day at the Vesuvian Institute. The change of pace was most welcome. Until 1:00 we had presentations and study sessions. Leigh gave a great presentation on the details of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. I hope I remember the terms subduction, pyroclastic flow, and pyroclastic surge.

 

 From another presentation I learned that Caligula once gave a dinner-party in a Plane Tree. I took some pictures of a local plane tree. It is too small for a dinner-party, but the shape gives you the idea. It might be a shady spot for a party. A platform could be built where the tree widens beneath the crown.

A nice, cool spot for a dinner-party?

 This afternoon I did my PT exercises and took a walk to the Terme di Stabia to see if I could get more aqua s. ferrata. I could get in for free, but the particular spigot I wanted apparently only flows in the morning. Maybe on Saturday I can get some more. The other ladies who have problems with rashes want me to bring some back for them, since they see it is clearing up my rash. I only have a  little it left and will be sad when I run out.

 We met at 7 tonight to go over tomorrow's plans. The group will be going to Ischia, site of the first Greek colony in Italy. The Greeks called it Pithecusae. Some of the ruins are beneath the church of Sancta Restituta, a Roman Catholic saint from North Africa. From Pithecusae another Greek colony, Cumae, was established, where Matthew and I will be staying for my last two weeks in Italy. Our group must get going early tomorrow, meaning out of the hotel by 7:30 am, to catch our boat ride to the island on time. We are warned to be at the correct harbor on Ischia (there are two) at 5 pm or we will miss the last ferry home and have to find a way to spend the night there. After our morning educational tour, we will have some free time to enjoy the beaches, dining, thermal spas, or gardens of Ischia. It sounds like a nice place to get stranded, although I have no intention of doing so.

I would like to thank the National Endowment for the Humanities for funding this portion of our trip, whether I get stranded or no.

Naples, Italy

Wednesday, July 7, 2010:

The Farnese Bull

  

I have so many ideas and reflections I want to share, and not enough time in my day. It is 10  PM here, and I need to complete this entry, do my physical therapy stretches, do some minimal labeling of the pictures from the Naples Museum I am uploading while I type this, and get some sleep. I'm also hoping that my wonderful boyfriend, Don Burke, will give me a call. I decided since my Italian cellphone is supposed to work for free incoming calls and emergency outgoing calls, I'll just hold onto it. Of course, the fact that I have no idea how to make an emergency call in Italy is something that bothers me, but not enough to ask-- I feel too busy!

This morning our group took the train and metro system to the National Archeological Museum at nearby Naples. Members of the group who'd lived in busy and sometimes unsafe metropolitan areas were more comfortable with this whole process than I was. I am from an area of North Carolina that has a public transportation (bus) system, but you call for it 24 to 48 hours in advance to schedule your ride, and it takes you to your destination anywhere in the county. I don't even know if the $4.00 fare is one way or round trip, because I've never used it. Also, Naples is known for having pickpockets and purse cutters and purse and jewelry snatchers who particularly prey upon tourists, so I was nervous about that.

The museum was well worth the trip. I got pictures of marble busts of Roman emperors from the Farnese Gallery, which feels like the seeds of a student project. I saw and photographed the magnificent Farnese Bull. I saw and photographed a slew of frescoes from Pompeii and Herculaneum, mostly focusing on mythology for another potential student project, but I also took pictures of scenes that struck my own interest. Another participant, Susan,, a teacher from Chicago Public Schools, and I found we enjoyed each others' company as we walked through the gallery. She looked at the work from a technical perspective while I was looking at the culture the art reflected. I bought a reproduction Herculanean bracelet and a statuette of a faun for a class project.

  Our group was given directions on how to get home. Susan and I got on a slightly wrong train and went  seven stops out of our way. We realized this when we came to the end of the line and our train shut down. The kindly conductor spoke some broken English, and I some broken Italian, and he managed to get us on the right train to where we could get a connection back to Stabia. There we poked around, got some snacks (gelato for me!) and shopping done, and made our way up to the Villa. I took some video that tried to get some feel for the old-style European feel of the streets on our walk from the downtown area up to our hotel, but I'm not sure how good a job I did. I was going to look at the video tonight and label pictures, but I think I only have time to do my stretches and go to bed. I wish I had an easy way to ask a physical therapist or doctor if I am doing any harm by skipping my full exercise regimen. I hope all the walking up and down stairs is doing me enough good as far as strengthening the leg and knee.

 Oh, our evening discussion session was fantastic. Jessica Tang and Jill Howard gave a great presentation on Roman slavery. There seem to be some frightening parallels between the changes in the economy and farming due to the Roman latifundia system and the government-supported farming system today, as outlined in the documentary Food, Inc. and elsewhere. I have a million more reflections but this is all I can manage for now. Tomorrow we are visiting more villas, going to Boscoreale, and hearing a visiting lecturer on I-wish-I-could-remember-what.

 Postscript: I couldn't sleep and wrote a draft of a little poem about Stabia, the little city where we're staying. But that's fodder for another post.

I would like to thank the National Endowment for the Humanities for making this portion of my studies possible.