May 15, 2018
A visit to Rome… 8 days….octo dierum in Latin. Might rhyme with tourist delirium in English
Google Rome. Over 300 entries and 27 pages before I stop scrolling. The phrase drinking water from a fire hose comes to mind.
Scrolling through the Wikipedia page for Rome is heavy lifting – history, local, regional, metropolitan and national government, geography, climate, demographics, religion, architecture, parks, gardens, fountains, aqueducts, statues, obelisks and columns, bridges, catacombs, economy, education, culture, entertainment and performing arts, tourism, fashion, cuisine, cinema, langiage, sports, transportation, the Vatican is like drinking a reservoir with a straw.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome
The tip of the iceberg:
From about 753 BC, five periods , 28 centuries of history, any one of which make America seem like a pipsqueak of an epoch.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome#Earliest_history
Battered over the ages by Visigoths, Vandals, a slave rebellion by Spartacus, Muslim Arabs, contests between Ghibellines and Guelphs and intra mural feudal familial bickering .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guelphs_and_Ghibellines
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartacus
Populations of 2,873,874 residents in 496.1 square miles as of 2017
Rome constitutes a comune speciale, is the largest both in terms of land area and population among the 8,101 comuni of Italy. It is governed by a mayor and a city council.
Current mayor 39 year old Virginia Raggi, first woman ever elected mayor, a member of the Five Star Party
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Star_Movement
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Raggi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comune
6 political parties from Right to Left running for office in the 2018 election, the divisions of loyalty largely regional (think of USA red/blue states) with robust partisanship. Imagine a dinner conversation in an Italian family around election time!
Rome ranked as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy.[15] Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
Walls around Rome. Throughout its from 3 BC to 1800 AD, Rome has the longest standing set of ancient walls still partly standing. Techniques and reasons varied as the weapons to breach them evolved. They’re all named after Kings, emperors or popes.
http://roma.andreapollett.com/S4/walls.htm
Rome, like arrondissements in Paris (20), is divided into municipi (19), the Seine River dividing Paris, the Tiber River dividing the municipi in Rome. The Tiber is the 3rd longest river in Italy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_subdivision_of_Rome#List_of_historic_Rioni_in_Rome's_centre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrondissements_of_Paris
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiber
Regions of Italy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regions_of_Italy
Rome is one of 20 regions of Italy, Lazio
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/521010250622309038
Each region has its own flag!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regions_of_Italy#Macroregions
Provinces of Italy
In Italy, a province (provincia) is an administrative division of intermediate level between a municipality (comune) and a region (regione). There are currently 107 provinces in Italy.
A province of the Italian Republic is composed of many municipalities (comune).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provinces_of_Italy
States in America are divided into counties (parishes in LA, boroughs in AL)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_counties_and_county_equivalents
What type of government does Italy have?
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-type-of-government-does-italy-have.html
Political parties in Italy…mind boggling!
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_parties_in_Italy
Italy’s political shift to the Right: Unemployment and anti-immigration sentiment
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/01/italy-election-darker-side-politics-far-right.html
The Tiber River: 252 miles long, flows through Rome on the way to the Tyrrhenian Sea
https://www.britannica.com/place/Tiber-River
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiber
Places you might have heard of - the Coliseum, St Peter’s Basilica, The Roman Forum, The Vatican,
My upcoming visit for 8 days seems preposterously short.
How big is Italy?
https://www.wanderingitaly.com/blog/article/1063/how-big-is-italy
The area of the US is 9,826,675 square kilometers by comparison. Thus the US is about 32.5 times the size of Italy.
By population, Italy is the 23rd largest country in the world with 61,680,122 people living within its borders.
If Italy were a US state, it would lie between New Mexico and Arizona to be the 5th largest state by area.
Currency as of May 10, 1 Euro was $1.19 USD
https://x-rates.com/calculator/?from=EUR&to=USD&amount=1
Major cities of Italy
https://www.wanderingitaly.com/maps/italy-cities-map.html
Want to travel by train? Here are major train routes and types of rail lines.
https://www.wanderingitaly.com/transportation/italy-train-map.htm
I baven't even started on architecture, cathedrals, fountains, music...Dio mio!
Recent Comments