Poste Italiane S.p.a. Sped. in abb. post. DL 353/2003 (Conv. in L 27/02/2004 N.46) art. 1 comma 1 Aut. C/RM/04/2013 - Anno 12, Numero 5 MAY 2020 | € 2,00
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE MAGAZINE IN ROME
WHAT'S+
ON
WHERE TO GO IN ROME
ART AND CULTURE ENTERTAINMENT GALLERIES MUSEUMS NEWS
0 0 0 0 5
CONT
EDITORIALS
4. ITALY'S TOURISM MAKES PLANS FOR THE FUTURE Marco Venturini
8. THE COLOSSEUM LOOKS TO THE POST COVID-19 ERA Andy Devane
14. NOTES FROM A
CORONAVIRUS REFUGEE
Susan Levenstein
MISCELLANY
32. ROME FOR children 34. STREET ART guide 36. MUSEUMS 40. ART GALLERIES 56. CULTURAL VENUES 60. Wanted in rome junior 63. RECIPE 66. USEFUL NUMBERS
26. COVID-19 HITS SMALL BUSINESSES
WHAT'S ON
44. MUSEUMS 47. CINEMA 47. ACADEMIES 48. POETRY 48. GARDENS 49. MUSIC 50. OPERA 51. EVENTS 53. ART NEWS
Marco Venturini
30. NATURE RECLAIMS
ITALY'S LOCKDOWN CITIES
Andy Devane
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE MAGAZINE IN ROME
Poste Italiane S.p.a. Sped. in abb. post. DL 353/2003 (Conv. in L 27/02/2004 N.46) art. 1 comma 1 Aut. C/RM/04/2013 - Anno 12, Numero 5 MAY 2020 | € 2,00
DIRETTORE RESPONSABILE: Marco Venturini EDITRICE: Società della Rotonda Srl, Via delle Coppelle 9 PROGETTO GRAFICO E IMPAGINAZIONE: Dali Studio Srl STAMPA: Graffietti Stampati S.n.c. DIFFUSIONE: Emilianpress Scrl, Via delle Messi d’Oro 212, tel. 0641734425. Registrazione al Trib. di Roma numero 118 del 30/3/2009 già iscritta con il numero 131del 6/3/1985. Finito di stampare il 30/04/2020
Copies are on sale at: Newsstands in Rome Anglo American Bookstore, Via della Vite 102 Wanted in Rome, Via di Monserrato 49 Wanted in Rome Via di Monserrato 49 - tel. 066867967 advertising@wantedinrome.com editorial@wantedinrome.com www.wantedinrome.com www.wantedinmilan.com
WHAT'S+
ON
WHERE TO GO IN ROME ART AND CULTURE ENTERTAINMENT GALLERIES MUSEUMS NEWS
Roma by Harry Greb Vicolo di S. Rufina, Trastevere www.harrygrebdesign.com
ENTS 4
ITALY'S TOURISM MAKES PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
8
53
THE COLOSSEUM LOOKS TO THE POST COVID-19 ERA
ART NEWS
49 music
Tourism
ITALY'S TOURISM MAKES PLANS FOR THE FUTURE Antonio Barreca, one of the key figures in Italy's travel and tourism industry, TALKS TO WANTED IN ROME ABOUT what challenges the country's tourism faces as a result of the coronavirus lockdown Marco Venturini You are the director general of Federturismo - Confindustria. Can you give us a general overview of the association and explain what services it offers? Federturismo is the National Business Federation of the Travel and Tourism Industry of Confindustria, and represents the entire production chain of the tourism industry.
The federation includes 20 different productive sectors, that range from hotels, spas, beach establishments, ski lifts, travel retail, marinas, transport (airports, buses, trains, car rentals), amusement parks, entertainment companies, travel agencies, tour operators, currency exchange, tax- free shopping, fairs, conferences and catering. Federturismo is an association of companies, and as such represents their interests within the government and parliament in a spirit of constant dialogue and collaboration. What is the importance of the tourism sector in Italy and how much does it weigh on employment and gross domestic product? The Italian tourism industry has 4.2 million employees and an annual turnover of €232 billion, equal to 13 per cent of the nation’s GDP. Tourism represents the economic engine of entire regions of our country, now totally at a standstill. It’s a sector with an incredibly valuable heritage that must be preserved, enhanced and made competitive. More importantly, in this moment of emergency in which all productive categories are blocked and will probably not restart even after the lockdown has been lifted, it must receive help. How has the Italian tourism industry been affected by the coronavirus pandemic? Has an estimate of the damage already been made?
Antonio Barreca, director general of Federturismo.
4 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
The situation is dramatic. Already in March,
The island of Capri seen from Monte Solaro.
at the beginning of the emergency, the overall losses were estimated at around â‚Ź30 billion, but now there are fears that they may also double, reaching â‚Ź60 billion. Not to mention the 500,000 seasonal workers that should have been hired in this moment, and who have not yet seen the start of their contracts. Many of them live an entire year on the work of the summer months, and have problems accessing NASPI, a monthly unemployment allowance. Are there some regions or sectors that are more affected than others? They are all in the same situation, none excluded, even if the airlines, transport and accommodation facilities are the ones that are paying the higher price. Tourism was one of the first industries to be hit by the coronavirus crisis where travel restrictions and cancellations led to an almost complete halt to international and domestic tourism. All the bookings we had, as a country, were all cancelled. What are the main concerns of your associates and how are you working to help them? Businesses need to start again, quickly and safely. Along with UNI, the Italian Unification Board, we have agreed to open a technical tourism table in order to develop a first series of useful guidelines for businesses, that will gradually reopen in view of the summer season.
We are working to develop, within the general rules on workplace safety defined at national and international levels, the protocols to which all tourism companies must adapt in order to guarantee and offer their services in the safest way possible for workers and customers. Having said this, government intervention will be necessary in any case. We must be sure that the lost profits will not force companies to close. What are the association's previsions for the coming months? A return to normal is not going to happen soon, especially if we think of international customers which make up half of our market. This summer in Italy, we will not be able to rely on international tourism, which contributes 51 per cent of the bookings in hotels and accommodation facilities. We trust in the internal market, even if we are worried about the spending capacity of our fellow Italians. There is a possibility that many of them will have to work during the summer, as their vacation days were used up due to the fact that companies have leaned on this method to ground themselves during the pandemic. We must also consider that the structures that will reopen, in order to guarantee social distancing, will necessarily work at 30-35 per cent of their usual capacity. Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 5
Venice was to have introduced a tourist entry fee this year but the plan has been shelved for now.
How will the tourism sector change after the pandemic? It is inevitable that the way of doing tourism will be turned upside down. Although it is difficult now to be able to make predictions, we can still assume that in the reboot phase, forms of travel mainly concentrated in Italy and of short-medium range will be preferred. A kind of tourism that will go for smaller and less crowded destinations and open air activities. As well as individual trips for couples and families. What would you like to say to potential Italian tourists who, even in these uncertain times, are starting to think about the summer holidays? In this climate of profound uncertainty, Italians are not booking their holidays and those who have done so previously, have cancelled their booking. But, the summer holidays must be saved and the message to convey is that you can go on holiday despite the virus, you just need to be equipped and follow the instructions that will soon be given by the competent authorities. It will be proximity tourism: by the sea, in the mountains or in the villages. The important thing is that Italians start travelling again. What are, in your opinion, the actions that the Italian government must absolutely take to help the Italian tourism industry? Certainly the pandemic crisis, with the blocking of flights and the fear of infections, will make the arrival of foreign tourists in Italy very difficult. However, they must be reminded that they all can book with the 6 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
guarantee of not losing anything, as they will always be refunded. The government has set regulations on how to make refunds, and tourism companies will respect them with great responsibility. In this critical phase of health emergency, but also a socio-economic one, companies need a quick and decisive intervention to support their business and a push to restart. For this reason, we have asked the government for a package of measures, such as the abolition of taxes for the whole of 2020, a tax credit on rent for hotels and tour operators, and extraordinary funds dedicated to tourism along with the simplification of the application of social safety nets. The government must show that it has understood the seriousness of the situation, and we expect special measures to help us face the situation. Antonio Barreca Since July 2011 Antonio Barreca has been the director general of Federturismo, the Italian National Federation of the Travel and Tourism Industry which is part of Confindustria (the Italian employers' confederation). He served in 2014 as a senior advisor for tourism for Sicily. He has been a member of the Tourism Sustainability Group of the European Commission since February 2011, and the vice president of the tourism committee at the Italian Organization for Standardization (UNI), an association that publishes standards for industrial, commercial and tertiary sectors.
Tourism
A FOOTBALL GAME UNLIKE ANY OTHER GET YOUR
TICKETS ON YOUR
MOBILE PHONE
asroma.com/en/ticketing OR SIMPLY SCAN THIS CODE WITH YOUR PHONE
Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 7
Culture
THE COLOSSEUM LOOKS TO THE POST COVID-19 ERA Alfonsina Russo, director of the Colosseum Archaeological Park, talks to Wanted in Rome about the new realities of managing one of the world's most visited tourist sites Andy Devane Italian archaeologist Alfonsina Russo is the director of the Parco Archeologico del Colosseo which, in addition to the Colosseum, includes the Roman Forum, the Palatine Hill and the Domus Aurea. In 2019 the Colosseum was named the most popular tourist attraction in the world, based on booking data compiled by TripAdvisor, attracting 7.5 million visitors last year. As Italy prepares for phase two of the coronavirus emergency, and museums and archaeological sites get ready to reopen to the public, what preventive measures will be in place at the Colosseum's archaeological park to reduce potential exposure to the virus? The archaeological park had already implemented all the measures for the protection and health of both the staff and the public before the prime
ministerial decree of 8 March [when Italy closed all museums and archaeological sites], and we shall now intensify our actions. I refer to the personal protective equipment (PPE), such as disposable gloves, masks, hand sanitisers – which have been available since December, and therefore long before the emergency started – but also to disinfecting and sanitising the shared spaces such as bathrooms and offices every day. Looking at the details of the long-term measures, which will be co-ordinated in conjunction with MiBACT (Italy's ministry of cultural heritage and tourism), we are considering a rethink of the ticketing process. This could involve all tickets being bought online, as well as longer time slots for visitors and more time between each slot, quota systems – already in place at some monuments in the Parco – and diversified visitor routes. We shall benefit from the extension of WiFi across the whole park and the creation of additional digital aids, which have already been planned, such as the webAPP Il Parco tra le mani (The park in your hands). All visitors – Italians, foreigners, children and the visually impaired – will be able to download content from a QR code directly to their mobile device. We are also studying ways of using both the audio and video guide via QR code.
Alfonsina Russo, director, Parco Archeologico del Colosseo.
8 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
Have there been any advantages to being closed? For example, has the closure been a time to reflect on ways to improve the
Culture visitor experience, or to allow for essential maintenance works to be carried out? The pandemic, which is bringing the culture sector to its knees, did not catch us unprepared. The ministry's strategic policy in recent years has put the public at the centre of its strategies of safeguarding and enhancement. Moreover culture continued during the lockdown and Colosseum Archaeological Park, by increasing activity on its website and on social networks, participated actively in the communication campaigns promoted by MiBACT to help Italians stay in touch with art and culture. But an online visit can never replace the real thing. So we are aiming to increase public loyalty by launching a membership system, to strengthen the connection with people living in Rome and Lazio. Among other things we shall be promoting turismo di prossimità (a new form of local tourism in the coronavirus era), to encourage Italians to visit the wonders on their doorstep. We are looking at ways to attract families and we are targeting educational activities.
We also took the opportunity to carry out some maintenance works that we have always been putting off so as not to interfere with the public: at the Colosseum we have repaired the floor, painted railings and parapets, removed weeds from the walls; at the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill we have resurfaced some paths and increased pruning and grass cutting. Parco Colosseo has maintained a prominent online presence throughout the closure – more so than usual – do you think social media will play an enhanced role in the future? Yes, I think so, even though I have always considered online communication important even in phase one of the coronavirus pandemic. In phase two, in addition to the actual visitors to the archaeological park, we shall also give the same importance and attention to digital visitors, who are a completely new audience, and offer them a genuine visitor experience. It will be necessary to increase their involvement, to identify new types of visits, for example with
The Colosseum was the world's most popular tourist site in 2019 according to TripAdvisor. Photo: Patryk Kosmider/Shutterstock.com.
Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 9
Culture
The Colosseum and Arch of Constantine seen from the Palatine Hill.
the support of tour guides, whose work has been almost wiped out by this difficult situation, and who we are now trying to reintegrate into the system. Going still further I also think that the "distance" can be reduced not only by increased interaction with websites and social media, but also, as the director general of Italy's museums Antonio Lampis proposed recently, by using a new cinematic type of language, similar to that already tested in video games. How has the closure affected the programming of important events such as the Raphael exhibition at the Domus Aurea (which was scheduled to open on 24 March) or archaeological excavations such as the dig at the Curia-Comitium complex in the Roman Forum? We have had to postpone everything until we know that the health situation is safe. We intend to keep the appointments we made, certainly in relation to the exhibition of Raphael in the Domus Aurea. We had in any case planned to keep this open until January 2021 in order to mark the entire year that celebrates the 500th anniversary of the death of Raphael. As far as the excavations are concerned, we are revising our budget but we hope we shall 10 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
not have to give up research which, together with the protection and maintenance of the site, is the beating heart of the archaeological park. What is the estimated loss so far in terms of visitors and ticket sales, and will the loss in revenue have a negative impact on any projects planned in the near future? We have not made estimates yet and and it is too premature to do so. However, as I said, we are currently carrying out a budget review. We had a surplus in 2019 that will allow us to continue with our activities, giving priority to the maintenance and care of the cultural heritage. We shall also respect the national solidarity fund under which the special superintendence of Rome and the Italian museum system receive 30 per cent and 20 cent of the park's total revenues respectively. In recent years the Colosseum has achieved record numbers of tourists. How do you see 2020 working out in terms of numbers – and profile – of visitors? Given the gloomy outlook for international tourism, I expect a dramatic reduction in museums' ability to attract visitors, as the
Culture number of foreign tourists – which in the case of the park make up about 70 per cent of annual visits – will be reduced to zero, at least to begin with. For a while it will be necessary to give priority to the turismo di prossimità, but this is something I have always been very clear about, ever since I took up my post as the head of the park in 2017: in recent years the reopening of the Curia as a meeting place, the opening of new thematic routes and a closer relationship with schools have all been designed to involve the city and the greater Rome area. In the same way, we have chosen to replace the outgoing exhibition Carthago. Il mito immortale with an exhibition dedicated to POMPEI. Lo sguardo di Roma, thanks to agreements with the Museo Archaeologico Nazionale di Napoli (MANN) and with the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, which will loan important works for the exhibition. We are also ready to guarantee adequate levels of accessibility for all the different categories of visitors. In recent years we have promoted refresher and training courses for staff – not just those at the park – to welcome blind and deaf people. We are also open to local associations to welcome the most vulnerable and fragile visitors.
We have designed and created aids for visits, such as tactile information panels and guides, and smartphone apps. The park will be the protagonist of an important process of social inclusion, open to the multiethnic dimension of Rome. Since you became director of the Colosseum Archaeological Park in December 2017 you have overseen the reopening of many longclosed sites on the Palatine Hill. Can we expect any new openings over the next year or two? Yes, absolutely. Works are in an advanced state to reopen the Domus Tiberiana complex on the Palatine. It was the first of the imperial palaces conceived in an organic and monumental way and is located in the northwestern area of the Palatine hill. The Horrea Piperataria will also be reopened, below the Basilica of Maxentius, with an unprecedented multimedia itinerary. There have been recent reports about wild animals and birds enjoying a crowd-free Palatine hill. Is this also the case in the Roman Forum, and can you describe the sensation of an empty Forum, or Colosseum, particularly at night? The sensation is twofold: alienation on one side and peace on the other. It disorients me not
The Roman Forum with the Arch of Septimius Severus, in the centre, which will be restored later this year.
Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 11
Culture
The Stadium of Domitian on the Palatine.
to hear the "thousand languages" of the world chattering in the Forum and in the Colosseum. At the same time however my colleagues and I who take turns to look after and maintain the site have rediscovered the pleasure of silence and we have had the privilege of seeing the ancient roses bloom at the House of the Vestal Virgins, the reawakening of nature and the animals that have always lived in our Parco but who were afraid of visitors and remained hidden away. When things eventually return to "normal" – whenever and whatever this will entail – do you envisage a new type of tourism in Rome? Yes and in a way I hope so. Let me explain: certainly the 7.5 million tourists who have visited our park annually in recent years are a boast and a source of pride, because they show that the Fora, the Palatine Hill and the Colosseum in primis remain irreplaceable icons, and retain our fascination with history. But it is clear that it was mostly a selfie tourism, bound to tours of less than two hours, interested in the 12 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
photo shoot sometimes without the awareness and the memory of that shot. Ours is an area steeped in history, layers, myths, but also human knowledge, of alternating lives over centuries and centuries. I want to have the satisfaction of being able to say that – following this emergency – those who come to visit us, at least in the first few months, will do so because of a need to be nourished by all this. Alfonsina Russo A specialist in classical archaeology, Alfonsina Russo has been a director at Italy's culture ministry since 2009, with experience in museum management and organising major exhibitions in Italy and abroad. She is responsible for the overall management of the Colosseum Archaeological Park as well as the implementation and development of its cultural and scientific programme. For details about the Parco Archeologico del Colosseo see www.parcocolosseo.it.
Mater Dei SpA - Dir. San.: Dr. G. Cervelli - Aut. Reg. Lazio n. D0111 del 17-03-03 Paideia SpA - Dir. San.: Dr. A. Lamanna - Aut. Reg. Lazio n. 1072 del 10-12-02
HOSPITALS
IN ROME
Via A. Bertoloni, 34 Rome +39 06 80220.1 clinicamaterdei.eu
Via V. Tiberio, 46 00191 Rome +39 06 33094.1 clinicapaideia.eu
Companies certified with Quality management system ISO 9001:2015
YOUR PRIVATE
Medicine
NOTES FROM A CORONAVIRUS REFUGEE Susan Levenstein
Dr Susan Levenstein
Dr Susan Levenstein, who has her own medical practice in Rome, has been blocked in California since 4 March. She travelled to a medical conference in the USA and for a two-week book tour to present her memoir Dottoressa: An American Doctor in Rome, which was published in May 2019. All her engagements were cancelled and she has been stuck in Berkeley with her husband, the avant-garde composer and performer, Alvin Curran ever since. Here are exerpts about the covid-19 pandemic in both the USA and Italy from her blog Stethoscope on Rome1. They date between 4 March and 23 April, our press deadline. There are extensive links to source material and research in her blog that are not included here. 5 MARCH Rome’s streets are empty, the supermarket shelves loaded with food. My fellow denizens, for once free of the tourist hordes, are enjoying their lives in a state of limbo, waiting for coronavirus to come crashing down around their heads before they start stocking their larders and hunkering down. 14 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
At least that’s what things were like yesterday. I can’t say about today, because I have just arrived in San Francisco to begin a two-week book tour cum working vacation scheduled months before that damned virus jumped the species barrier deep into China. We were biting our nails until the last moment – would the Americans impose a 15-day quarantine on all travellers from Italy? – and felt some relief at getting away, like Boccaccio’s fictional pals who fled to the hills outside Florence to escape the Black Death. But the first New York Times headline I see on landing is “California Declared a State of Emergency”, and it’s entirely possible that all the events we’ve come for will be cancelled in the spreading panic. When covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, struck northern Italy in February like a bolt from the blue, the authorities got their act together surprisingly fast. They isolated the worst-affected areas, set up national and regional telephone hotlines, called in medical trainees and retirees, planned dedicated wards in infectious disease hospitals, instructed practicing physicians in telephone triage, and broadcast two concepts to the general public: people leaving an epidemic area should self-isolate for two weeks even if they have no symptoms, and if they have cough, body pain, or fever they should pick up the phone rather than heading for doctors’ offices or emergency rooms where they might infect the sick and vulnerable. Anyone with suspected coronavirus is tested in isolation in the emergency room, if they’re sick enough to be there, or in their own homes by a hazmat team sent by the health department to take the swab. Testing is free, preliminary results are available within hours, anyone who needs to stay home gets paid sick leave, and under the Italian national health service nobody pays a penny for doctors, emergency rooms, or intensive care.
Medicine Human beings being imperfect, implementation has had some hiccups. A Rome policeman developed a cough on 28 February after hosting a house guest from Lombardy, the northern region where coronavirus disease is most rampant. Instead of calling his doctor or the hotline he went to an emergency room, where the ER staff left him to stew in the regular waiting room, where he infected at least 15 fellow patients in addition to his wife and children. Italy’s response capacity is also hamstrung by its chronic and ever-worsening underfunding. And how about on the other side of the Atlantic? How will the United States succeed in handling an epidemic that seems increasingly likely to hit big, either soon or in the fall? My guess is badly. As a haven of rugged individualism and for-profit medicine, the US is far less equipped than Europe to mount an adequate response. To start with, a third of Americans have no paid sick time at all, and few have as much as two weeks. Which means that many people mildly ill from coronavirus will keep going to work, putting everybody around them at risk.
And as we all know, US is one of the few countries where access to medical care depends on access to money. Between deductibles and co-pays even insured Americans often find it hard to afford doctors’ visits, medications, and hospital care. Which means that many who should be tested for coronavirus are likely to skip it in order to avoid starting a chain reaction of medical expenses – some are even being charged for the test itself. Not to speak of the 27 million citizens who have no insurance at all, or the millions of undocumented immigrants who steer clear of hospitals. Even stocking up on medications in case of preventive quarantine can be impossible in the American context – insurance companies don’t allow it. Italy is notorious for disorganization, and has neglected epidemic preparedness. But this time it’s bested the US, which has been unable thus far to enact some obvious measures for containing the coronavirus. The Italian authorities tell a Neapolitan businessman who was obliged to spend a day in Milan for a meeting that he should stay home for two weeks when he gets back. When I landed at San Francisco airport the border police chatted me up about my life
Efforts are underway around the world to create a covid-19 vaccine.
Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 15
Medicine in Rome, and wanted to know whether I was carrying any cigarettes, but didn’t even ask when I had last been in northern Italy. Scary. Then there’s the politics of an election year. Our real experts on the science and the handling of epidemics, such as Dr Anthony Fauci, are being sidelined and even muzzled, while the coronavirus task force is run by Vice-President Mike Pence, who as governor of Indiana suggested the best response to the state’s HIV epidemic was prayer. And President Trump runs off at the mouth about how a vaccine is at hand and how worry about the coronavirus is just another Democratic hoax. Obviously the situation in both my countries is evolving not just day by day but hour by hour, and much of what I’m writing today may be out of date tomorrow. 15 MARCH On 14 April 2010, the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland spewed out a giant cloud of ash that grounded airplanes across Europe. That day my husband Alvin Curran and I happened to be in Valencia, a charming Spanish coastal city whose historic centre you can walk across in an hour. Train seats to Rome were snapped up before we grasped the situation, and it took three days until we managed to hop on a plane. Our first lesson in being a refugee: if you can’t leave, even the loveliest town is equivalent to Hades. Ten years later here we are again, only worse. Alvin and I came to California on 4 March so I could attend the 700-strong medical conference I’ve been going to every year since 1988, where I was to give a presentation of my memoir Dottoressa: An American Doctor in Rome to my scientific colleagues, and fit in another three book readings around the US as long as I was there. Days later the coronavirus crisis hit in force, and we were sent scrambling. My conference was cancelled at the last minute, then my two presentations in New York, then all air travel to Italy. We decided reluctantly that it wasn’t wise to bring our over-70 bodies to our beloved New York – try social distancing on the subway. Instead we cast our net in search of refuge in the Bay Area, until at least the end of April when Rome-bound planes may start flying again. 16 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
After offers of hospitality poured in from friends and relatives, we’ve landed in a comfortable “mother-in-law apartment” in North Berkeley donated by friends who usually rent it out on airbnb. As soon as we’d unloaded our bags in that high-end refugee camp we headed off to the splendid Monterey Market, a few blocks away, to stock our refrigerator. Only after we got back to the apartment did it register, with horror, that after washing our hands a hundred times a day, and greeting friends with namaste instead of kisses, we’d just finished voluntarily spending an hour cheek to jowl with hundreds of Berkeleyites pushing past each other to score rice, blueberries, and kale. In the meanwhile our adoptive country, Italy, is under rigorous lockdown, with everything from schools to restaurants to churches shuttered, and a three-foot distance enforced even between pedestrians on the street. Italians are great at handling emergencies, their national character being blessed with both resourcefulness and good cheer. The way Alvin and I got out of Valencia in 2010 was by sprinting across the airport on a tip from an Italian. Another time, when a cancelled flight left me and hundreds of others stranded at the New Orleans airport, all the Americans wandered around grousing. A party of Italians assessed the situation, decided there was no way to change it, and broke out some champagne. So it’s no surprise that quarantined Italians are socializing by singing from their balconies. 29 MARCH Treatment: Myths and promise Chloroquine Doctors are hoarding this ancient antimalarial and its cousin, hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil), for themselves and their families. Hydroxychloroquine is now in such short supply that patients who really need it, for autoimmune diseases such as lupus and Sjögren’s syndrome, can’t fill their prescriptions. Why are people convinced we have found the magic bullet? First, there’s Donald Trump swearing “It’s going to be great,” while Anthony Fauci tries to hold him back. Second, hydroxychloroquine is already an approved drug, so it can be given off-
Italy’s first IB school
Excellence
Done differently ST. STEPHEN’S SCHOOL ROME American international day and boarding school sssrome.it / +39 06 575 0605
Medicine label immediately by any doctor for any disease. Third, the drug does inhibit coronavirus in test tubes. Believe it or not, that’s all there is on the positive side. In research on actual covid-19 patients the results for hydroxychloroquine have been a wash. Studies in China were said to have found it effective, but for a long time the original research reports weren’t available. When Western physicians finally managed to see them, the drug turned out to have worked no better than a placebo. The only other study of hydroxychloroquine, in France, made a splash by claiming that 20 patients treated with hydroxychloroquine cleared coronavirus from their noses faster than 16 patients who received standard treatment alone. There are serious problems with this study, even beyond the tiny number of patients. When I looked at the paper for myself, I noticed that their results section was oddly missing any subsection reporting patients’ clinical status. Then a more careful reader than myself noticed that the paper did in fact mention clinical results – hidden where you wouldn’t notice them, in a subsection entitled “Demographics.” The French researchers, it turns out, had started out giving hydroxychloroquine not to 20 but to 26 patients, and the patients who received the drug actually did worse than those receiving standard treatment: three of them needed to be transferred to the intensive care unit and a fourth died. No control patient had those outcomes. These damning results suggest that the researchers may have buried their clinical findings on purpose. Azithromycin (Z-Pak) This anti-bacterial – not antiviral – antibiotic is sometimes used to counter bacterial superinfection in serious viral illness, and has been given to some covid-19 patients in combination with hydroxychloroquine. It is known to be relatively safe, but there is no evidence it has any benefit, and some suggestion (above) it may do harm. Favipiravir A Japanese antiviral that reduced recovery time and improved chest x-ray findings in two Chinese trials with a total of 340 patients. It is approved for compassionate use in Italy, and is being studied there, but is not available in the United States. 18 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
Convalescent serum Most people who recover from infections develop antibodies that protect them from reinfection. Products derived from their blood – whole blood, the antibody-rich serum that remains when you remove the red blood cells, or a more refined immunoglobulin product – can be effective treatments. For decades, a century ago before we had antibiotics, they were the mainstay of treatment for infection. There is reason to hope not only that they might keep moderate covid-19 from deteriorating, but that small daily doses might protect people at very high risk, such as health care workers on the front lines, from becoming infected. Soon Italy and the US should be able to produce their own, now that there is a large enough pool of patients in convalescence. Tocilizumab (Actemra) This “biologic,” most often used for inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, is an antibody against the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-6. It has no direct action against viruses, but might help tamp down an overactive inflammatory response in the lungs of patients with covid-19 pneumonia. Preliminary results among 20 Chinese patients suggested improvement following one or two doses. Unfortunately this drug might also promote viral replication, and long-term complications include tuberculosis and other serious infections, so it is only appropriate to try in the sickest patients. Roche has begun a large study. Interferon Interferon (Avonex and others), like tocilizumab, has complex effects on the immune system, and may in addition suppress viral multiplication. Interferons are usually prescribed for hepatitis C and multiple sclerosis, and have shown promise in non-covid-19 coronavirus disease. Like tocilizumab, however, interferon is quite toxic and risks making patients worse rather than better. Injected interferon beta is undergoing clinical trials nonetheless, but it is hoped that an inhaled formulation of the same drug, code named SNG001, might give similar benefits with fewer side effects. It has been found to improve the recovery of asthma and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) patients with lung infections, and is due to begin testing in the United Kingdom in critically ill covid-19 patients.
C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
File 2019 wanted in rome press e magazine dic 2019 seconda.pdf 3 10/12/2019 13:38:16
HEALTH 24H SERVICESROME Paideia SpA - Dir. San.: Dr. A. Lamanna - Aut. Reg. Lazio n. 1072 del 10-12-02
YOUR PRIVATE HOSPITALS Bilingual and highly qualified personnel Direct payment is accepted from major italian and foreign insurance companies
Via A. Bertoloni, 34 Rome +39 06 80220.1 clinicamaterdei.eu
Via V. Tiberio, 46 00191 Rome +39 06 33094.1 clinicapaideia.eu
Companies certified with Quality management system ISO 9001:2015
Mater Dei SpA - Dir. San.: Dr. G. Cervelli - Aut. Reg. Lazio n. D0111 del 17-03-03
Medicine Hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil): At the beginning of April President Trump went from “It will be wonderful” to “I really think they should take it,” and two more reports now claim Plaquenil is good for treating covid-19. HOWEVER. One is a repeat performance from the French researchers and the new one is methodologically even worse.
Novel coronavirus SARS CoV-2.
8 APRIL Convalescent serum – exciting news Since my previous post on 29 March about the candidate medications to treat the dread corona several preliminary steps have been whizzed through. A blood test capable of telling who’s had covid-19 has gone in a week from a hope to a reality. An antibody-rich preparation from recovered patients’ blood has proved effective in both China and northern Italy. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has classified covid-19 convalescent serum as an investigational drug, allowing American hospitals to start administering it. Now not only are large studies underway, but the National Covid-19 Convalescent Plasma Project (NCCPP) has set up a dedicated website to recruit potential donors. If you are in the United States and think you have had covid-19, even if you were never tested, or if you know someone in that situation, please go to the NCCPP website2 to get more information, and sign up. One blood donation treats one sick patient – you might save a life. Antiviral drugs Remdesivir: This new antiviral, widely available on a compassionate basis, might see the first results of clinical studies as early as next week from China and at the end of April from the United Kingdom. Fingers crossed. The patent-holder, Gilead Science, tried to get its monopoly extended by having remdesivir declared an “orphan drug,” causing such an outcry that it had to back off. 20 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
The other, a Chinese study pre-published by its authors without going through any kind of review, is just as fishy: poorly written, peculiar methods, and unclear results. My doubts remain unallayed. Between the strange new Plaquenil study, the older ones whose great results evaporated when the results were actually examined I have to admit I’m getting a bit skeptical of any covid-19 research that comes out of China. Favipiravir (Avigan): The report of one of the two published trials, which was in any case seriously flawed, has been abruptly withdrawn by the researchers. We’ll see what the better ongoing studies will show. Lopinavir/ritonavir (Kaletra): A small trial had found no benefit, and now a second, larger one has proved just as disappointing. This medication is probably a dead end. Leronlimab: An experimental drug with antiviral as well as antiinflammatory properties, which very recently began testing. It’s far too early to say much. Minor contenders touted in the media Nitric oxide: a trial of this inhalant is now underway at the University of Alabama. Heparin: Desperately ill patients sometimes develop Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation, widespread blood clotting, treated with blood thinners such as heparin. In a Chinese study, fewer covid-19 patients with DIC died (40 per cent vs. 64 per cent) if they were given heparin. This was a retrospective study, not a clinical trial, and heparin is standard therapy for DIC in any case. But hot-off-the-presses reports of the first autopsies done on covid-19 patients say that some – not all – of the people who died showed a peculiar pattern of thrombosis: a lot of clotting in the lungs but none in the rest of the body. Though this is different from
Single Cycle Master Degree Program
EN
Medicine and Surgery
The new English-taught Master Degree Program is designed using a multidisciplinary approach to train students to become doctors practicing in a diverse biomedical-social culture with interdisciplinary and intercultural working skills. In line with the guiding principles of Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, the teaching is entirely patient-centred and community-centred. A deep knowledge of ethical issues is applied to the use of advanced medical technology in order to promote health-care through a humanistic approach. Students are provided with strong foundations in scientific methodology, statistics and "evidence based medicine” imparted through means of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) a method that uses complex real-world problems as the vehicle to stimulate student learning of theoretical concepts and principles as opposed to direct presentation of facts and concepts. The program is designed in such a way that its core contents anticipate and integrate the European specifications for global standards in medical education according to the World Federation on Medical Education in international basic standards and quality development of biomedical education (WFME Office, University of Copenhagen, 2007) and the Basic Medical Education WFME Global Standards for Quality Improvement - 2015 Revision (WFME Office Ferney-Voltaire, France Copenhagen, Denmark 2015).
orientamento@unicampus.it - www.unicampus.it
Tel: 06.22541.9056/8121/8715 - Via Álvaro del Portillo 21 - 00128 Roma
Medicine DIC, it suggests that it might make sense to give heparin to all patients with advanced covid-19. Ivermectin: This drug for head lice and pinworms turns out to block the growth of SARS-CoV-2 virus in test tubes and may soon be tested in human beings. Its chief promoter looks like a charlatan; I wouldn’t hold my breath. BCG: Dubious statistics suggest that covid-19 takes root less in countries where this tuberculosis vaccine is widely used (which include China). Studies are underway to see whether BCG might give a general boost to the immune system and help fight off covid-19 – “the equivalent of a Hail Mary pass.” Viagra: A pilot study is on in China. Lots of luck. Ozone: A quack treatment with no known efficacy, considered by the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be “a toxic gas with no known useful medical application,” being pushed as a treatment for covid-19.
Colloidal silver: The FDA has issued warning letters to its manufacturers for fraudulently claiming effectiveness against covid-19. There is no evidence that any supplement or foodstuff, from zinc to elderberry to CBD to sauerkraut, can help prevent or treat covid-19. Vaccines A possible covid-19 vaccine coming out of Pittsburgh has now been tested in mice, and the mice produced antibodies. This is good. Volunteers in China, the United Kingdom, and Seattle have already received doses of three other vaccines, so we’ll soon know whether people will produce antibodies too. Even if they do, though, it doesn’t shorten the 12-18 month timeline before a useful vaccine may be available. Two weeks ago there were already 44 candidate vaccines, being studied in 500 centers spread across a dozen countries. The death rate “scandal” China is known to have vastly underreported its covid-19 death toll. It has also come out in the Italian press, then the international press, that Italy did too. In hard-hit Bergamo and Brescia, in particular, a suspiciously low number of deaths were being attributed to covid-19 in proportion to the increase in overall death rate. Many deaths were being classified as influenza or pneumonia, without coronavirus testing. The reality is neither scandalous nor nefarious. True, at the peak of the epidemic, the health system was so overwhelmed and test kits so lacking that many elderly people with probable covid-19 were left at home to die undiagnosed. But just a week after Italy’s lockdown on 9 March the epidemic began improving continuously and steadily, suggesting that underreporting of deaths likely happened only in limited areas and for limited periods without greatly impacting the overall statistics. Daily deaths are now down by at least a third, and every region of Italy now has intensive care beds to spare – partly because the absolute number of very sick covid-19 patients has dropped, partly because the country succeeded in expanding those beds from 5,324 to 9,284.
Levenstein's new book Dottoressa: An American Doctor in Rome.
22 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
Now The New York Times writes that the same underreporting is happening in the United States: “Hospital officials, public health experts
Medicine and medical examiners say that official tallies of Americans said to have died in the pandemic do not capture the overall number of virusrelated deaths, leaving the public with a limited understanding of the outbreak’s true toll.” So it wasn’t just the Italians being Italians, after all. Doctor patients In Italy an outsized proportion of diagnosed covid-19 cases have been in health care workers – 11,252 cases at the beginning of April, eight per cent of the total. As of today 94 Italian physicians have died, most of them over 65 years old, many retirees who heroicially volunteered to return to work on the front line. Interestingly, the Spallanzani Hospital in Rome, which specializes in infectious diseases and has treated vast numbers of covid-19 patients, has reportedly had no cases among its own doctors and nurses. And in the United States, where the death toll is now up to three-quarters of the Italian total, only one physician has died from the disease. Why so much variation? In part, it’s due to varying degrees of training in the care of contagious patients. But in part it is surely related to the horrific conditions in northern Italy at the height of the epidemic. In Lombardy, where the vast majority of those doctors died, staff in some ICUs were intubating seven covid-19 patients a day and working 14-hour shifts for weeks on end, while family physicians with no protective equipment went door to door signing death certificates for patients who had died at home and whose surviving household members were likely to be infected. 16 APRIL Convalescent serum Since I first wrote about convalescent serum on 29 March the recruitment of recovered American covid-19 patients has proceeded apace, blood banks now vying with hospitals to find donors. The Red Cross has set up a donor website in addition to the National covid-19 Convalescent Plasma Project one. Patients with confirmed diagnoses are already donating plasma at the New York Blood Center, and they soon will be in at least another nine states. In Italy, the Tuscan blood bank has begun sending letters to recovered covid-19 patients inviting them to donate plasma, with Lombardy and Veneto soon to follow suit and Lazio, Campania, Marche and Molise the next comers.
Antiviral drugs Remdesivir: Some good preliminary news: the manufacturer has reported outcomes for the first 61 covid-19 patients given remdesivir on compassionate grounds. Most promisingly, only 18 per cent of the patients on ventilators died; in New York City, 80 per cent of covid-19 patients placed on ventilators died. This report is NOT a controlled trial, but its results encourage such trials to go forward. Hydrochloroquine: The reputation of hydroxychloroquine slides from bad to worse. The society whose journal published the French research has said officially the article “Does not meet the society’s accepted standard.” And the first author, Didier Raoult, turns out to be a shady character. He was once temporarily banned from publishing, after being caught out falsifying research results, and the rest of his bibliography is nearly as suspicious. In an as yet unreviewed paper, a different French group studying covid-19 patients with pneumonia has now reported hydrochloroquine to be useless. Vaccines Of the scores of research teams racing to develop one, four have already moved beyond animal testing to trials on human volunteers. But the timetable is all over the map. Most experts continue to think a vaccine should be ready to roll out in autumn 2021. Others are afraid it will take years. The research team in Oxford3, England, thinks its may be set for widespread use as early as this September. One virologist has hinted that a vaccine could be obtained even faster if researchers overcame their moral scruples and deliberately infected volunteers with coronavirus. Be aware that even a functioning vaccine may not eliminate the pandemic. We hope the winning entry will act like the measles vaccine, which gives permanent 97 per cent protection after two doses. But it might instead turn out to be like the yearly flu vaccine, which only reduces infections by 50 per cent or so. What we already know about immunity to coronaviruses is discouraging. Some coronaviruses cause the common cold, and immunity after you’ve had Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 23
Air travel in the era of covid-19. Photo Naufal Zaquan / Shutterstock.com.
a case lasts only a couple of years, even though natural infection is better than vaccines at goosing the immune system. Personal notes from my gilded cage in Berkeley You know how when you have laryngitis you hear a singer and can’t fathom how they’re doing it? Or when you have a sprained ankle and marvel at a passing jogger? I might have thought watching movies would be like that, night after stay-at-home night. But no, those scenes of crowded dance floors and hot kisses look perfectly normal. What did touch that nerve of unreality was reading an oldish New Yorker, writers all obsessed with unthinkables – art openings, restaurants, political rallies, trips to Europe – blessedly unaware that the world was about to, or could ever, grind to a halt. A light now flickers at the end of my own refugee tunnel. Alitalia has kept up daily nonstop flights from New York to Rome, but they are nightmares. I’ve heard of people being abandoned in transit at JFK for days on end. I’ve read about repatriation flights taking off from New York and Madrid with every seat occupied. Other planes sat on runways for hours with hundreds of passengers packed cheek to jowl. Following scandalized interrogations in the Italian parliament, Alitalia now claims it will start inflight social distancing… but even better, they’re promising a brand new nonstop flight from San Francisco to Rome. It will be inaugurated on 1 June, and my husband and I will be on it. 24 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
23 APRIL Remdesivir: Some treated covid-19 patients, part of a clinical trial in Chicago, seem to be doing better than expected. But the results are preliminary, have not undergone peer-review, and do not include any real control group – nor, shockingly, does the broader study they are part of. All the remdesivir trials in China have been halted because – fortunately for the Chinese – they couldn’t find enough patients. But there may be an ulterior motive, because as of 23 April there is very bad news for remdesivir out of China: A randomized study reports zero difference between treated patients and controls in mortality at one month. The study was underpowered and the results preliminary, but certainly what we’re seeing is extremely discouraging. Perhaps, as with other antivirals such as Tamiflu and acyclovir, the drug might have worked better if given earlier in the course of disease, but still… For Susan Levenstein’s complete postings see http:// www.stethoscopeonrome.com/
1
2
https://ccpp19.org/donors/index.html
3
The Times, 11 April. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/ article/coronavirus-vaccine-could-be-ready-byseptember-flmwl257x. See also https://www. thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS01406736(20)30796-0/fulltext.
If you want to follow covid-19 treatment research for yourself and can handle technical language, here’s a constantly updated source: https://www.epocrates.com/e/guideline/03_19
Medicine
Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 25
Business
COVID-19 HITS SMALL BUSINESSES How has the lockdown hit small businesses in Rome and what help would they like to see. SEVERAL ENTREPRENEURS TALK TO US ABOUT their worries and their hopes for the future Marco Venturini Massimo Riccioli is the owner of La Rosetta restaurant just near the Pantheon. He says that he feels very responsible for his employees and plans to open as soon as it is permitted. He believes that this is a time for reflection and that everything will change as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. On the positive side he is grateful that his children managed to get home and that they have all had time to be together.
Massimo Riccioli of La Rosetta.
26 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
Before the pandemic he had already started a takeaway service from his restaurant. He also wants to develop his own delivery service, independent of the large online platforms. La Rosetta is famous for its oysters and fish menus and he now has plans for a new menu based on inexpensive but good quality fish at affordable prices. As Riccioli says: “In order to be ahead of the game one has to change.” La Rosetta, Via della Rosetta 8, www.larosetta.com.
Business Alessandro Corbellini who is part owner of the popular Shamrock Irish Pub in Monti has been working there for the last 15 years. He says that the pub only began to notice a gradual fall in the number of customers just a few days before the lockdown and then along with everyone else they had to close. After the health crisis Corbellini is worried about the economic aspects of the pandemic. He hopes that there will be help in the form of fewer taxes and that energy and gas prices will drop. When asked what he would like the government and local authorities to do he said that he hopes for a more equal distribution of income. “A manager, a boss, cannot earn 20/30 times more than a worker. That is unfair and only creates social unease. As soon as this emergency ends I hope people open their hearts more, also because if you give more purchasing power to the people, it should be a benefit for all.”
Alessandro Corbellini, centre, of The Shamrock.
His advice for the future is that people should be kinder and happier and although he doesn’t want the emergency to last he hopes it will have given people a new sense of sharing. Shamrock Irish Pub, Via del Colosseo 1/c, www.shamrockpubroma.it. Francesco Pocchi is one of the partners of 404, an integrated digital communication agency, specialising in the promotion of products dedicated to entertainment: films, TV series, video games, art exhibitions. It offers digital PR, social media marketing, graphics and programming services. The agency was founded in Rome in 2009 and has been operating consistently since then. Pocchi says that he first noticed a decrease in business during the initial restrictive measures in the northern regions in early March. The decrease then became a total stall, as measures were extended to the whole of Italy. The whole industry is now frozen. “As the market has dried up completely”, he says, “many medium-sized or small agencies are facing an epic crisis due to their continuing expenses (wages, utilities, rent), but without being able to invoice and generate income in any way. At the moment we are just trying to understand when cinemas will reopen.”
Francesco Pocchi of 404.
When asked what he would expect from the national government and local authorities, he replied that what he would like to see is a safety net for all companies such as 404 that are selling services. They need help with the monthly costs during a period when there is no income. This would involve cutting the costs of the workforce, and not just the social security costs, but also a fiscal policy that would produce enough liquidity to carry them over the months of quarantine. Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 27
Business As to the future Pocchi feels that there will be a rebound after the lockdown. He says: “Entertainment like tourism, is an emotional market, and has a capacity for fast growth because it doesn’t involve a lengthy process of industrial production. But this crisis will leave many jobs on the ground at the expense of professionalism.” The government, he says, will have to deal with all this because it will take a long time to absorb the effects of this crisis. QuattroZeroQuattro, www.404.it. Christiann Santini was a freelance tour guide and tour operator for about 10 years, but he changed his job just a couple of months before the covid-19 pandemic hit Italy. He went to work for a religious institution as an operations manager and although he was pleased to have changed his job just in time he found that he had enormous new responsibilities and says that handling the crisis has been very complicated.
Alessandro Mattei of Bukowski Bar.
When asked what he would like the government and local authorities to do to help he replied that first of all he would hope that the government would do everything possible to fight the virus.
“Our institute hosts lay students studying at some of Rome’s pontifical universities so obviously when lessons were cancelled half of the students left to travel home. But some are still with us because our community is home for them and also because travelling was dangerous or impossible due to the new restrictions. At the moment we are all working from home but I don’t really know for how long this will work for us.”
“Only serious and strict restrictions will help to defeat the disease and allow us to start working again safely,” he said. He also recognised the economic crisis and hopes that the government will give as much help as possible to help companies survive.
He said that the institute will only really be able to tell how badly it has been affected by the crisis when it opens registration for the next academic year 2020-2021.
Alessandro Mattei opened the Bukowski bar, which is also a gallery and bistro, in Borgo Pio in 2013. He noticed that there were fewer customers about two weeks before the lockdown on 10 March. At first, he said, neither he nor his clients understood the real danger of the situation. He then closed voluntarily until 9 June, just a few days before the official lockdown. He thinks that the government and the local authorities should do everything possible to help but realises that the situation is very complicated. He hopes that there will be assistance for small businesses, which have rents and salaries to pay.
Looking to the future he hopes that it will bring a new beginning based on more ethical and economic foundations.
As to the future he says: “Things will get better but the question is when. I think it will take plenty of time, at least six months.” Christiaan Santini who works for a religious institution.
28 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
Bukowski Bar, Via degli Ombrellari 25.
Wildlife
NATURE RECLAIMS ITALY'S LOCKDOWN CITIES Wild animals and birds reclaimed cities around Italy during quarantine Andy Devane Animals and birds living on Rome’s Palatine Hill have been taking advantage of the lack of tourists to “take back” the hill for themselves, during the coronavirus lockdown.
Some of the more colourful birds include pheasants, parakeets, woodpeckers and mallards, while the hill is also home to 60,000 bees which make organic wildflower honey.
The creatures live in the wildest, most undisturbed area of the Palatine, which is part of the Colosseum Archaeological Park, however they tend to stay hidden during the day.
Animals return to the city This story has been replicated in deserted towns and cities across Italy, where birds and animals have made a return, emboldened by the lack of people and traffic.
Not anymore though. The wild animals, including foxes, porcupines, rabbits and hedgehogs, can now be seen pottering around in daylight among the ancient Roman ruins. “They are present all year round, here they find a protected environment because no pesticides or herbicides are used, but only organic products with low environmental impact” – Gabriella Strano, the park’s landscape architect told Italian newspaper La Repubblica – “Generally, during the day they remain hidden out of fear but now they are back to reclaim their space.”
In recent weeks, Rome has seen an increasing number of ducks returning to its fountains, particularly the Barcaccia in the once bustling Piazza di Spagna, as documented by the Keats Shelley House. There is even a video of a mother duck with nine ducklings in tow waddling along the pavement on Lungotevere Aventino. One unexpected side effect of the lockdown involves the fact that many people chose to leave their city residence to weather out the quarantine in their second homes in the countryside. Environmentalists
Mallard ducks in the Barcaccia fountain in Piazza di Spagna. Photo ANSA.
A jellyfish in Venice made headlines around the world.
A rare otter was filmed by WWF Italia at a nature reserve over Easter.
are concerned that as people return to their empty houses in the city they will disturb nesting birds, including seagulls, on their terraces.
another slightly out-of-focus shot that he says he took of the same bird.
In Rome there are growing cases of cinghiali or wild boar appearing on streets in the suburbs, while further afield people have seen swans and cormorants in the canals of Venice, dolphins in the Sardinian port of Cagliari and a badger barrelling down a street in the centre of Florence. Venice jellyfish A large jellyfish was filmed recently as it glided through a canal close to St Mark’s Square in Venice, just below the water surface. The footage was captured by local biologist Andrea Mangoni who said that the virtual absence of boat traffic had increased water transparency, making it possible to observe marine life in the centre of Venice. The creature was identified as a rhizostoma pulmo, better known as the barrel jellyfish, the dustbinlid jellyfish or the frilly-mouthed jellyfish, which is very common in the upper Adriatic and would have access to Venetian canals through tidal flows between the sea and the lagoon. The sight of the jellyfish was surpassed by the arrival of a large octopus, filmed recently in the Grand Canal in front of Piazzale Roma. The event has been described by marine biologists as unprecedented - so much so that some speculate that the octopus escaped from the Cannaregio fish market or was released there as a joke. Flamingo walks across road in Cagliari A photograph of a flamingo crossing a street on the Italian island of Sardinia has gone viral however the image has also attracted suspicion on social media, with some people suggesting it is photoshopped. The photographer, Mauro Marroccu, told Italian media that he saw the exotic bird walking across a road that divides the Molentargius wetlands in Quartu S. Elena, as he drove into Cagliari. Marroccu insists that the image is real, showing
The 1,600-hectare Molentargius nature reserve is protected due to its importance as a place of rest, wintering and nesting for flamingos which are a common sight in its shallow waters. Whales swim through Strait of Messina The majestic sight of two whales swimming through a ship-free Strait of Messina was captured in recent aerial footage by the Italian fire brigade. The sperm whales, swimming side by side, were filmed gliding through the narrow stretch of sea between Sicily and the coast of Calabria in southern Italy. Although whales have been spotted in the area before, it is not a common sight. Authorities say the whales have “reclaimed” the normally busy strait which is currently free of ferries and ships due to the coronavirus emergency. The video can be seen on the Vigili del Fuoco channel on Youtube. In recent days a young common minke whale was filmed in the harbour of Anzio, a coastal town south of Rome. Despite its name, this type of minke whale is far from common in Mediterranean waters, with experts describing it as “only an occasional visitor.” The video can be watched on the ‘Creature del Mare’ Facebook page. Virtual visit to Italy’s nature reserves Italians were unable to venture into the great outdoors this Easter, missing out on the beauty of spring in the natural world. To counteract this time away from nature, the Italian branch of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has released a beautiful video of scenes from Italy’s nature reserves. This virtual tour, under the hashtag #lanaturanonsiferma (nature doesn’t stop), features footage of wild animals including bears, wolves and otters enjoying a pleasantly quiet Easter holiday. The video can be seen on the WWF channel on Youtube. Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 31
ARTandSEEK English-language cultural workshops and visits to museums and exhibitions for children in Rome. For event details tel. 3315524440, email artandseekforkids@gmail.com, or see website, www.artandseekforkids.com. Bioparco Rome's Bioparco has over 1,000 animals and offers special activities for children and their families at weekends and during the summer. When little legs get tired, take a ride around the zoo on an electric train. Open daily. Viale del Giardino Zoologico 20 (Villa Borghese), tel. 063608211, www.bioparco.it. Bowling Silvestri This sports club has an 18-hole mini golf course, with good facilities for children aged 4 and over, adults and disabled children.
32 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
There are also tennis courts, a table tennis room and a pizzeria. Via G. Zoega 6 (Monteverde/Bravetta), tel. 0666158206, www.bowlingsilvestri.com. Casa del Parco Eco-friendly workshops, in Italian, in which kids can learn about nature and how to care for the environment. Located in the Valle dei Casali nature park. Via del Casaletto 400, tel. 3475540409, www.valledeicasali.com. Casina di Raffaello Play centre in Villa Borghese offering a programme of animated lectures, creative workshops, cultural projects and educational activities for children from the age of three. Tues-Fri 14.30, Sat-Sun 11.00 and 17.00. Viale della Casina di Raffaello (Porta Pinciana), tel. 060608, www.casinadiraffaello.it.
Cinecittà World This 25-hectare theme park dedicated to the magic of cinema features high-tech attractions, real and virtual roller coasters, aquatic shows such as Super Splash, giant elephant rides and attractions with cinematic special effects. Located about 10 km from EUR, south of Rome. Via di Castel Romano, S.S. 148 Pontina, www.cinecittaworld.it. Climbing Associazione Sportiva Climbing Side. Basic and competitive climbing courses for 6-18 year olds. Tues, Thurs. Via Cristoforo Colombo 1800 (Torrino/Mostacciano), tel. 3356525473. Explora The 2,000-sqm Children’s Museum organises creative workshops for small children in addition to holding regular animated lectures, games and meetings with authors of children’s books. Via Flaminia 80/86, tel. 063613776, www.mdbr.it. Go-karting Club Kartroma is a circuit with go-karts for children over 9 and two-seater karts for an adult and a child under 8. Closed Mon. For details see website. Via della Muratella (Ponte Galeria), tel. 0665004962, www.kartroma.it. Gymboree This children's centre caters to little people aged from 0-5 years, offering Play and Learn activities, music, art, baby play, school skills and even English theatre arts. Gymboree @ Chiostro del Bramante (Piazza Navona), Via Arco della Pace 5, www.gymbo.it. Hortis Urbis Association providing hands-on horticultural workshops for children, usually in Italian but sometimes in English, in the Appia Antica park. Weekend activities include sowing seeds, cultivating plants and harvesting vegetables. Junior gardeners must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Via Appia Antica 42/50, www.hortusurbis.it. Il Nido Based in Testaccio, this association supports expectant mothers, parents, babies and small children. It holds regular educational and social events, many of them in English. Via Marmorata 169 (Testaccio), tel. 0657300707, www.associazioneilnido.it.
Luneur Located in the southern EUR suburb, Luneur is Italy’s oldest amusement park. Highlights include ferris wheel, roller coaster, carousel horses, bamboo tunnel, maze, giant swing and a Wizard of Oz-style farm. Aimed at children aged up to 12. Entry fee €2.50, payable in person or online. Via delle Tre Fontane 100, www.luneurpark.it. Rainbow Magicland The 38 attractions at Rome's biggest theme park are divided into three categories: brave, everyone, and kids. Highlights include down-hill rafting, a water roller coaster through Mayan-style pyramids, and the Shock launch coaster. Located in Valmonte, south-east of the capital. Via della Pace, 00038 Valmontone, www.rainbowmagicland.it. Time Elevator A virtual reality, multi-sensorial 5-D cinema experience with a motion-base platform, bringing the history of Rome to life in an accessible and fun way. The time-machine's commentary is available in six languages including English. Daily 11.00-19.30. €12 adults, €9 kids. Via dei SS. Apostoli 20, tel. 0669921823, www.time-elevator.it. Zoomarine This amusement and aquatic park outside Rome offers performances with dolphins, parrots and other animals for children of all ages. It is also possible to rent little play carts. Children under 10 must be accompanied by an adult. Via Casablanca 61, Torvaianica, Pomezia, tel. 0691534, www.zoomarine.it.
Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 33
Rome’s artart capital continues to to grow with newnew murals by important Italian and Rome'sreputation reputationasasananimportant importantstreet street capital continues grow with murals by important Italian international streetstreet artistsartists appearing all the all time. the works located the suburbs, often far often from the and international appearing theMost time.ofMost of theare works are in located in the suburbs, far centre. Here is where to is find Rome’s mainthe street artstreet projects murals. from the centre. Here where to find main artand projects and murals around Rome. Esquilino Esquilino Murals Murals byby Alice Alice Pasquini, Pasquini, Gio Gio Pistone, Nicola Pistone, Nicola Alessandrini, Alessandrini, Diamond. Diamond. Casa Casa dell’Architettura, dell'Architettura, Piazza Fanti 47. PiazzaMafredo Manfredo Fanti 47. Marconi Marconi The The M.A.G.R. M.A.G.R. (Museo (Museo Abusivo Abusivo Gestito Gestitodai daiRom), Rom),a aproject projectby byFrench French street artistSeth Seth is located in a street artist is located in a former former soap factory Via Antonio soap factory on Viaon Antonio AvogaAvogadro, opposite dro, opposite Ostiense'sOstiense’s landmark landmark Gasometro. details see Gasometro. For For details see www.999contemporary.com. www.999contemporary.com. Museodell’Altro dell’Altroe edell’Altrove dell’Altrovedidi Museo Metropoliz Metropoliz This former former meat meat factory factory inin the the This outskirts of of Rome art outskirts Rome isis now nowa astreet street museum being home hometoto art museumasaswell well as as being some200 200squatting squatters,migrants. many of The them some migrants. The Museo dell’Altrodi e Museo dell’Altro e dell’Altrove dell’Altroveor diMAAM, Metropoliz, or MAAM, Metropoliz, is only open only open Saturdays, and onis Saturdays, andon features the work the work of moreincluding than 300 offeatures more than 300 artists artists including Gio Edoardo Kobra,Edoardo Gio Kobra, Pistone, Pistone, Sten&Lex Diamond.and See Sten&Lex, Pablo and Echaurren MAAM Facebook page for details. Borondo. See MAAM Facebook page Via Prenestina 913. for details. Via Prenestina 913. Ostiense Ostiense Fronte Del Porto by Blu. Via del Porto Fronte Del Porto by Blu. Via del Fluviale. Porto Fluviale. Fish’n'Kids by Agostino Iacurci. Via Fish’n’Kids by Agostino Iacurci. Via del Porto Fluviale. del Porto Fluviale. Wall of Fame by JB Rock. Via dei Wall of Fame by JB Rock. Via dei Magazzini Generali. Magazzini Generali. Shelley by Ozmo. Ostiense underpass, Shelley by Ozmo. Ostiense Via Ostiense. underpass, Via Ostiense. Palazzo occupato by Blu, Via Ostiense. Palazzo occupato by Blu, Via Ostiense. Pigneto Tributes to Pier Paolo Pasolini by Pigneto Maupal, Mr. Klevra and Omino 71. Tributes to Pier Paolo Pasolini by Maupal, Mr. Klevra and Omino 71.
34 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
Via Via Fanfulla Fanfulla da da Lodi. Lodi. 2501 mural on Via Fortebraccio. Fortebraccio. 2501 mural on Via Blu by Sten Blu Landscape Landscape by Sten & & Lex. Lex. Via Via Francesco Baracca. Francesco Baracca. Prati Prati Anna Magnaniportrait portrait by Diavù. Anna Magnani by Diavù. Nuovo Nuovo MercatoViaTrionfale, Via Mercato Trionfale, Andrea Doria. Andrea Doria. theSabotino. bear by Daniza the bear byDaniza ROA. Via ROA. Via Sabotino. Primavalle Primavalle The Roadkill by Fintan Magee. Via The Roadkill by Fintan Magee. Via Cristoforo Numai. Cristoforo Numai. Theseus stabbing the Minotaur by Theseus stabbing the Bembo. Minotaur by Pixelpancho. Via Pietro Pixelpancho. Via Pietro Bembo. Quadraro Quadraro Tunnel murals by Mr THOMS and Gio Tunnel byMure. Mr THOMS and Pistone. murals Via Decio Gio Decio Mure. Via del NidoPistone. di Vespe Via by Lucamaleonte. Nido didel Vespe by Lucamaleonte. Via Monte Grano. del Monte Baby Hulkdel byGrano. Ron English. Via dei Baby PisoniHulk 89. by Ron English. Via dei Pisoni 89. Rebibbia Rebibbia Murals by Blu. Via Ciciliano and Via Murals by Blu. Via Palombini (Casal dèCiciliano Pazzi). and Via Palombini dè Pazzi). Welcome to(Casal Rebibbia by Zerocalcare. Welcome to Rebibbia by Zerocalcare. Metro B station. Metro B station. S. Basilio S.SanBa Basilio features large-scale works on SanBa features large-scale works the façades of social-housing blockson in the of social-housing blocks the façades disadvantaged north-east suburb of in the disadvantaged north-east S. Basilio near Rebibbia. The regenerasuburb of S.includes Basilio works near Rebibbia. tion project by Italian The project artistsregeneration Agostino Iacurci, Hitnesincludes and Blu works by Spain's ItalianLiqen. artistsViaAgostino alongside Maiolati, Iacurci, Hitnes and BluVia alongside Via Osimo, Via Recanati, Arcevia, Spain’s Via Treia.Liqen. Via Maiolati, Via Osimo, Via Recanati, Via Arcevia, Via Treia. S. Giovanni Totti mural by Lucamaleonte. Via S.Apulia Giovanni corner of Via Farsalo. Totti mural by Lucamaleonte. Via Apulia corner of Via Farsalo.
It’s aa New NewDay Daybyby Alice Pasquini. It’s Alice Pasquini. Via Via Anton Ludovico. Anton Ludovico. S. Lorenzo Lorenzo S. AlicePasquini. Pasquini. ViaSabelli. dei Sabelli. Alice Via dei Feminicidemural mural Elisa Feminicide by Elisaby Caracciolo. Caracciolo. Via Dei Sardi.Via Dei Sardi. Borondo. Via Viadei deiVolsci Volsci159. 159. Borondo. Mural by by Agostino AgostinoIacurci Iacurci on Mural on the the Istituto Superiore di Lattanzio, Vittorio Istituto Superiore di Vittorio Lattanzio, Via Aquilonia. Via Aquilonia. Pietro S. Pietro UmaCabra Cabra Bordalo II. Stazione Uma byby Bordalo II. Stazione di S. Pietro, di Monte di S. Clivo Pietro, Clivo del di Gallo. Monte del Gallo. Testaccio Hunted Wolf by ROA. Via Galvani. Testaccio #KindComments AliceVia Pasquini, Via Hunted Wolf bybyROA. Galvani. Volta, Testaccio market. #KindComments by Alice Pasquini, Via Volta, Testaccio market. Tor Pignattara Dulk. Via Antonio Tempesta. Tor Pignattara Etnik. Via Bartolomeo Perestrello 51. Dulk. Via Antonio Tempesta. Coffee Etam Cru. Via Ludovico Etnik.Break ViabyBartolomeo Perestrello Pavoni. 51. Coffee Break by Etam Cru. Via Tom SawyerPavoni. by Jef Aerosol. Via Gabrio Ludovico Serbelloni. Tom Sawyer by Jef Aerosol. Via Pasolini by Diavù. Former Cinema Gabrio Serbelloni. Impero, Via Acqua Bullicante. Pasolini by Diavù. Former Cinema Hostia by Nicola Verlato. Via Galeazzo Impero, Via Acqua Bullicante. Alessi. Hostia by Nicola Verlato. Via Herakut. Via Capua 14. Galeazzo Alessi. Agostino Iacurci. Via Muzio Oddi 6. Herakut. Via Capua 14. Agostino Iacurci. Via Muzio Oddi 6. Tor Marancia The Big City Life scheme features 14-m Tormurals Marancia tall by 22 Italian and internaThe Big City artists Life scheme features tional street including Mr 14-m tall by Jerico. 22 Italian and Klevra, Seth,murals Gaia and The idea international street was to transform theartists area's including blocks of Mr Klevra, Seth, Gaia and Jerico. flats into an open-air art museum. Via TheMarancia. idea was to transform the area’s Tor www.bigcity.life.it. blocks of flats into an open-air art museum. Via Tor Marancia. For full details see website, www.bigcity.life.it.
Clockwise from top left: S. Maria di Shanghai by Mr Klevra (Big City Life), Nido di Vespe by Lucamaleonte, El Devinir by Liqen, Fish'n'Kids by Agostino Iacurci, MAGR by Seth. Clockwise from top left: S. Maria di Shanghai by Mr Klevra (Big City Life), Nido di Vespe by Lucamaleonte, El Devinir by Liqen, Fish'n'Kids by Agostino Iacurci, MAGR by Seth.
Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 35
ROME'S MAJOR
MUSEUMS VATICAN MUSEUMS Viale del Vaticano, tel. 0669883860, www.museivaticani.va. Not only the Sistine Chapel but also the Egyptian and Etruscan collections and the Pinacoteca. Mon-Sat 09.00-18.00. Sun (and bank holidays) closed except last Sun of month (free entry, 08.30-12.30). All times refer to last entry. For group tours of the museums and Vatican gardens tel. 0669884667. For private tours (museum only) tel. 0669884947. Closed 26 December and 6 January, Easter Sunday and Monday. Advance booking online: www.biglietteriamusei.vatican.va.
Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums
Tel. 0669881814, www.vatican-patrons.org. For private behind-the-scenes tours in the Vatican Museums.
STATE MUSEUMS Baths of Diocletian
Viale Enrico de Nicola 78, tel. 0639967700, www.archeoroma.beniculturali.it. Part of the protohistorical section of the Museo Nazionale Romano in the Baths of Diocletian plus the restored cloister by Michelangelo. 09.00-19.45. Mon closed.
Borghese Museum
Piazzale Scipione Borghese (Villa Borghese), tel. 06328101, www.galleria.borghese.it. Sculptures by Bernini and Canova, paintings by Titian, Caravaggio, Raphael, Correggio. 09.00-19.30. Mon closed. Entry times at 09.00, 11.00, 13.00 15.00, 17.00. Guided tours in English and Italian.
Castel S. Angelo Museum
Lungotevere Castello 50, tel. 066819111, www.castelsantangelo.com. Emperor Hadrian’s mausoleum used by the popes as a fortress, prison and palace. 09.00-19.00. Mon closed.
Colosseum, Roman forum and Palatine
Colosseum: Piazza del Colosseo. Palatine: entrances at Piazza di S. Maria Nova 53 and Via di S. Gregorio 30. Roman Forum: entrances at Largo Romolo e Remo 5-6 and Piazza di S. Maria Nova 53, tel. 0639967700, www.colosseo-roma.it. 08.30-19.15. Single ticket gives entry to the Colosseum and the Palatine (including the Museo Palatino; last entry one hour before closing). Guided tours in English and Italian.
36 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
Crypta Balbi
Via delle Botteghe Oscure 31, tel.0639967700, www.archeologia.beniculturali.it. Museum dedicated to the Middle Ages on the site of the ancient ruins of the Roman Theatre of Balbus. 09.00-19.00. Mon closed. Guided tours in Italian.
Etruscan Museum at Villa Giulia
Piazza Villa Giulia 9, tel. 063226571, www.villagiulia.beniculturali.it. National museum of Etruscan civilisation. 08.3019.30. Mon closed. Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna Viale delle Belle Arti 131, tel. 06322981, 08.30- 19.30. Italy's modern art collection. Mon closed.
MAXXI
Via Guido Reni 6, tel. 063210181, www. fondazionemaxxi.it. National Museum of 21st-century art, designed by Zaha Hadid. Tues-Sun 11.00-19.00, Thurs and Sat 11.00-22.00. Mon closed.
Palazzo Corsini
Via della Lungara, 10, tel. 0668802323, www.barberinicorsini.org. National collection of ancient art, begun by Rome’s Corsini family. 08.30- 19.30. Tues closed.
Museo Nazionale d’Arte Orientale
Italy's museum of oriental art. Piazza Guglielmo Marconi 14 (EUR). For details see website, www.pigorini.beniculturali.it.
Palazzo Altemps
Piazza S. Apollinare 46, tel. 0639967700, www.archeoroma.beniculturali.it. Ancient sculpture from the Museo Nazionale Romano, including the Ludovisi collection. 09.00-19.45. Mon closed.
Palazzo Barberini
Via delle Quattro Fontane 13, tel. 064824184, www.barberinicorsini.org. National collection of 13th- to 16th-century paintings. 08.30- 19.30. Mon closed.
Palazzo Massimo alle Terme
Largo di Villa Peretti 1, tel. 0639967700, www.archeoroma.beniculturali.it. Important Roman paintings, mosaics, sculpture, coins and antiquities from the Museo Nazionale Romano, including the Kircherian collection. 09.00- 19.45. Mon closed.
S Villa Farnesina
Via della Lungara 230, tel. 0668027268, www.villafarnesina.it. A 16th-century Renaissance villa with important frescoes by Raphael. Mon-Sat 9.00-14.00 excluding holidays.
PRIVATE MUSEUMS Casa di Goethe
CITY MUSEUMS
Via del Corso 18, tel. 0632650412, www. casadigoethe.it. Museum dedicated to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. 10.0018.00. Mon closed.
Centrale Montemartini
Chiostro Del Bramante
Via Ostiense 106, tel. 060608, www.centralemontemartini.org. Over 400 pieces of ancient sculpture from the Capitoline Museums are on show in a former power plant. 09.00-19.00. Mon closed. Guided tours in English for groups if reserved in advance.
Bramante’s Renaissance building near Piazza Navona stages exhibitions by important Italian and international artists. Arco della Pace 5, tel. 0668809035, www.chiostrodelbramante.it.
tudy abroad or earn your degree in Rome
Doria Pamphilj Gallery
Piazza del Campidoglio, tel. 060608, www.museicapitolini.org. The city’s collection of ancient sculpture in Palazzo Nuovo and Palazzo dei Conservatori, plus the Tabularium and the Pinacoteca. 09.00-20.00. Mon closed. Guided tours for groups in English and Italian on Sat and Sun.
Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, Via del Corso 305, tel. 066797323, www.doriapamphilj.it. Residence of the Doria Pamphilj family, it contains the family’s private art collection, which includes a portrait by Velasquez, a sculpture by Bernini, plus works by Raphael, Titian, Tintoretto and Caravaggio. 09.00-19.00.
Galleria Comunale d’Arte Moderna
Galleria Colonna
Capitoline Museums
Via Francesco Crispi 24, tel. 060608, www.museiincomuneroma.it. The municipal modern art collection. 10.00- 18.00. Mon closed.
Palazzo Colonna, Via della Pilotta 17, tel. 066784350, www.galleriacolonna.it. Private collection of works by Veronese, Guido Reni, Pietro di Cortona and Annibale Caracci. Sat 09.00-13.00 only. Private group tours are available seven days a week on request. For wheelchair access contact the gallery to arrange alternative entrance.
All classes in English Scholarships availableGiorgio de Chirico House Museum MATTATOIO MACRO Asilo
Via Nizza 138, tel. 060608, www.museomacro.it. Programme of free art events at the city’s contemporary art space until the end of 2019. 10.30-19.00. Mon closed.
Piazza Orazio Giustiniani 4, tel. 060608. www.museomacro.org. Open for temporary exhibitions 14.00-20.00. Mon closed.
Accepting applications Fall 2020 Museofor di Roma – Palazzo Braschi Museo Barracco
Corso Vittorio Emanuele II 166, tel. 0668806848, www.mdbr.it. A collection of mainly pre-Roman sculpture. 09.00- 19.00. Mon closed. Via S. Pantaleo 10, tel. 060608, en.museodiroma.it. The city’s collection of paintings, etchings, photographs, furniture and clothes from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. 09.00-19.00. Mon closed. Guided tours in English and Italian on prior booking tel. 0682059127.
Piazza di Spagna 31, tel. 066796546, www.fondazionedechirico.org. Museum dedicated to the Metaphysical painter Giorgio de Chirico. Tues-Sat, first Sun of month, 10.00, 11.00, 12.00. Guided tours in English, advance booking.
Keats-Shelley House
Piazza di Spagna 26, tel. 066784235, www. keats-shelley-house.it. Museum dedicated to the lives of three English Romantic poets – John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron. Mon-Sat 10.00-13.00, 14.00-18.00. Guided tours on prior booking.
Museo storico della Liberazione
Museo dei Fori Imperiali and Trajan’s Markets
Via IV Novembre 94, tel. 060608, en.mercatiditraiano.it. Museum dedicated to the forums of Caesar, Augustus, Nerva and Trajan and the Temple of Peace. 09.00-19.00. Mon closed.
Via Tasso 145, tel. 067003866, www.museoliberazione.it. Housed in the city's former SS prison, the Liberation Museum were tortured here during the Nazi occupation of Rome from 1943-1944. 09.00-13.15 / 14.15-20.00.
Museo Canonica
MUSJA
Viale P. Canonica 2 (Villa Borghese), tel. 060608, www.museocanonica.it. The collection, private apartment and studio of the sculptor and musician Pietro Canonica who died in 1959. 09.00-19.00. Mon closed. Guided tours in Italian and English (book ten days in advance).
Museo Napoleonico
Piazza di Ponte Umberto 1, tel. 060608, www.museonapoleonico.it. Paintings, sculptures and jewellery related to Napoleon and the Bonaparte family. 09.00- 19.00. Mon closed. Guided tours in Italian and English.
Privately owned museum dedicated to modern and contemporary Italian and international art. Via dei Chiavari 7, tel. 0668210213, www.musja.it.
Palazzo Merulana
Via Merulana 121, tel. 0639967800, www.palazzomerulana.it. Museum hosting the early 20th-century Italian art collection, including Scuola Romana paintings, of the Cerasi Foundation. 09.00-20.00. Tues closed.
www.johncabot.edu admissions@johncabot.edu
Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 37
MAXXI amazes you, ROME'S MAJOR always art
architecture MUSEUMS design
VATICAN MUSEUMS Viale del Vaticano, tel. 0669883860, www.museivaticani.va. Not only the Sistine Chapel but also the Egyptian and Etruscan collections and the Pinacoteca. Mon-Sat 09.00-18.00. Sun (and bank holidays) closed except last Sun of month (free entry, 08.30-12.30). All times refer to last entry. For group tours of the museums and Vatican gardens tel. 0669884667. For private tours (museum only) tel. 0669884947. Closed 26 December and 6 January, Easter Sunday and Monday. Advance booking online: www.biglietteriamusei.vatican.va.
Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums
Tel. 0669881814, www.vatican-patrons.org. For private behind-the-scenes tours in the Vatican Museums.
STATE MUSEUMS Baths of Diocletian
Viale Enrico de Nicola 78, tel. 0639967700, www.archeoroma.beniculturali.it. Part of the protohistorical section of the Museo Nazionale Romano in the Baths of Diocletian plus the restored cloister by Michelangelo. 09.00-19.45. Mon closed.
Borghese Museum
Piazzale Scipione Borghese (Villa Borghese), tel. 06328101, www.galleria.borghese.it. Sculptures by Bernini and Canova, paintings by Titian, Caravaggio, Raphael, Correggio. 09.00-19.30. Mon closed. Entry times at 09.00, 11.00, 13.00 15.00, 17.00. Guided tours in English and Italian.
Castel S. Angelo Museum
Lungotevere Castello 50, tel. 066819111, www.castelsantangelo.com. Emperor Hadrian’s mausoleum used by the popes as a fortress, prison and palace. 09.00-19.00. Mon closed.
Colosseum, Roman forum and Palatine
Colosseum: Piazza del Colosseo. Palatine: entrances at Piazza di S. Maria Nova 53 and Via di S. Gregorio 30. Roman Forum: entrances at Largo Romolo e Remo 5-6 and Piazza di S. Maria Nova 53, tel. 0639967700, www.colosseo-roma.it. 08.30-19.15. Single ticket gives entry to the Colosseum and the Palatine (including the Museo Palatino; last entry one hour before closing). Guided tours in English and Italian.
38 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
photography Crypta Balbi Via delle Botteghe Oscure 31, tel.0639967700, www.archeocinema logia.beniculturali.it. Museum dedicated to the Middle Ages on the site of the ancient ruins of the Roman Theatre of Balbus. 09.00-19.00. Mon closed. Guided tours in Italian.
Etruscan Museum at Villa Giulia
Piazza Villa Giulia 9, tel. 063226571, www.villagiulia.beniculturali.it. National museum of Etruscan civilisation. 08.3019.30. Mon closed. Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna Viale delle Belle Arti 131, tel. 06322981, 08.30- 19.30. Italy's modern art collection. Mon closed.
MAXXI
Via Guido Reni 6, tel. 063210181, www. fondazionemaxxi.it. National Museum of 21st-century art, designed by Zaha Hadid. Tues-Sun 11.00-19.00, Thurs and Sat 11.00-22.00. Mon closed.
Palazzo Corsini
Via della Lungara, 10, tel. 0668802323, www.barberinicorsini.org. National collection of ancient art, begun by Rome’s Corsini family. 08.30- 19.30. Tues closed.
Museo Nazionale d’Arte Orientale
Italy's museum of oriental art. Piazza Guglielmo Marconi 14 (EUR). For details see website, www.pigorini.beniculturali.it.
Palazzo Altemps
Piazza S. Apollinare 46, tel. 0639967700, www.archeoroma.beniculturali.it. Ancient sculpture from the Museo Nazionale Romano, including the Ludovisi collection. 09.00-19.45. Mon closed.
Palazzo Barberini
Via delle Quattro Fontane 13, tel. 064824184, www.barberinicorsini.org. National collection of 13th- to 16th-century paintings. 08.30- 19.30. Mon closed.
Palazzo Massimo alle Terme
Largo di Villa Peretti 1, tel. 0639967700, www.archeoroma.beniculturali.it. Important Roman paintings, mosaics, sculpture, coins and antiquities from the Museo Nazionale Romano, including the Kircherian collection. 09.00- 19.45. Mon closed.
Villa Farnesina
Via della Lungara 230, tel. 0668027268, www.villafarnesina.it. A 16th-century Renaissance villa with important frescoes by Raphael. Mon-Sat 9.00-14.00 excluding holidays.
PRIVATE MUSEUMS Casa di Goethe
CITY MUSEUMS
Via del Corso 18, tel. 0632650412, www. casadigoethe.it. Museum dedicated to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. 10.0018.00. Mon closed.
Centrale Montemartini
Chiostro Del Bramante
Via Ostiense 106, tel. 060608, www.centralemontemartini.org. Over 400 pieces of ancient sculpture from the Capitoline Museums are on show in a former power plant. 09.00-19.00. Mon closed. Guided tours in English for groups if reserved in advance.
Bramante’s Renaissance building near Piazza Navona stages exhibitions by important Italian and international artists. Arco della Pace 5, tel. 0668809035, www.chiostrodelbramante.it.
Doria Pamphilj Gallery
Piazza del Campidoglio, tel. 060608, www.museicapitolini.org. The city’s collection of ancient sculpture in Palazzo Nuovo and Palazzo dei Conservatori, plus the Tabularium and the Pinacoteca. 09.00-20.00. Mon closed. Guided tours for groups in English and Italian on Sat and Sun.
Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, Via del Corso 305, tel. 066797323, www.doriapamphilj.it. Residence of the Doria Pamphilj family, it contains the family’s private art collection, which includes a portrait by Velasquez, a sculpture by Bernini, plus works by Raphael, Titian, Tintoretto and Caravaggio. 09.00-19.00.
Galleria Comunale d’Arte Moderna
Galleria Colonna
Capitoline Museums
Via Francesco Crispi 24, tel. 060608, www.museiincomuneroma.it. The municipal modern art collection. 10.00- 18.00. Mon closed.
MACRO Asilo
Via Nizza 138, tel. 060608, www.museomacro.it. Programme of free art events at the city’s contemporary art space until the end of 2019. 10.30-19.00. Mon closed.
Palazzo Colonna, Via della Pilotta 17, tel. 066784350, www.galleriacolonna.it. Private collection of works by Veronese, Guido Reni, Pietro di Cortona and Annibale Caracci. Sat 09.00-13.00 only. Private group tours are available seven days a week on request. For wheelchair access contact the gallery to arrange alternative entrance.
MATTATOIO
Giorgio de Chirico House Museum
Piazza Orazio Giustiniani 4, tel. 060608. www.museomacro.org. Open for temporary exhibitions 14.00-20.00. Mon closed.
Museo Barracco
Corso Vittorio Emanuele II 166, tel. 0668806848, www.mdbr.it. A collection of mainly pre-Roman sculpture. 09.00- 19.00. Mon closed.
Museo di Roma – Palazzo Braschi
Via S. Pantaleo 10, tel. 060608, en.museodiroma.it. The city’s collection of paintings, etchings, photographs, furniture and clothes from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. 09.00-19.00. Mon closed. Guided tours in English and Italian on prior booking tel. 0682059127.
Piazza di Spagna 31, tel. 066796546, www.fondazionedechirico.org. Museum dedicated to the Metaphysical painter Giorgio de Chirico. Tues-Sat, first Sun of month, 10.00, 11.00, 12.00. Guided tours in English, advance booking.
Keats-Shelley House
Piazza di Spagna 26, tel. 066784235, www. keats-shelley-house.it. Museum dedicated to the lives of three English Romantic poets – John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron. Mon-Sat 10.00-13.00, 14.00-18.00. Guided tours on prior booking.
Museo storico della Liberazione
Museo dei Fori Imperiali and Trajan’s Markets
Via IV Novembre 94, tel. 060608, en.mercatiditraiano.it. Museum dedicated to the forums of Caesar, Augustus, Nerva and Trajan and the Temple of Peace. 09.00-19.00. Mon closed.
Via Tasso 145, tel. 067003866, www.museoliberazione.it. Housed in the city's former SS prison, the Liberation Museum were tortured here during the Nazi occupation of Rome from 1943-1944. 09.00-13.15 / 14.15-20.00.
Museo Canonica
MUSJA
Viale P. Canonica 2 (Villa Borghese), tel. 060608, www.museocanonica.it. The collection, private apartment and studio of the sculptor and musician Pietro Canonica who died in 1959. 09.00-19.00. Mon closed. Guided tours in Italian and English (book ten days in advance).
Museo Napoleonico
Piazza di Ponte Umberto 1, tel. 060608, www.museonapoleonico.it. Paintings, sculptures and jewellery related to Napoleon and the Bonaparte family. 09.00- 19.00. Mon closed. Guided tours in Italian and English.
Privately owned museum dedicated to modern and contemporary Italian and international art. Via dei Chiavari 7, tel. 0668210213, www.musja.it.
Palazzo Merulana
Via Merulana 121, tel. 0639967800, www.palazzomerulana.it. Museum hosting the early 20th-century Italian art collection, including Scuola Romana paintings, of the Cerasi Foundation. 09.00-20.00. Tues closed.
Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 39
ROME’S MOST ACTIVE AND CONTEMPORARY
ART GALLERIES
1/9 Unosunove
1/9 Unosunove focuses on emerging national and international contemporary artists and explores various media including paintings, sculpture and photography. Via degli Specchi 20, tel. 0697613696, www.unosunove.com.
A.A.M. Architettura
Arte Moderna Gallery housing numerous works of contemporary design, photography, drawings and architecture projects. Via dei Banchi Vecchi 61, tel. 0668307537, www.ff-maam.it.
Contemporary Cluster
Visual art, design, architecture, fashion design and beauty apothecary in a 17th-century palace. Via dei Barbieri 7, tel. 0668805928, www.contemporarycluster.com.
C.R.E.T.A.
Cultural association promoting ceramics and the visual, humanistic, musical and culinary arts through workshops, exhibitions and artist residencies. Palazzo Delfini, Via dei Delfini 17, tel. 0689827701, www.cretarome.com.
Dorothy Circus Gallery
Prominent gallery specialising in international pop-surrealist art. Via dei Pettinari 76, tel. 0668805928, www.dorothycircusgallery.com.
Ex Elettrofonica
This architecturally unique contemporary art gallery promotes and supports the work of young international artists. Vicolo S. Onofrio 10-11, tel. 0664760163, www.exelettrofonica.com.
Fondazione Memmo
Contemporary art space that hosts established foreign artists for sitespecific exhibitions. Via Fontanella Borghese 56b, tel. 0668136598, www.fondazionememmo.it.
Fondazione Pastificio Cerere
This non-profit foundation develops and promotes educational projects and residencies for young artists and curators, as well as a programme of exhibitions, lectures, workshops and studio visits. Via degli Ausoni 7, tel. 0645422960, www.pastificiocerere.com.
Fondazione Volume!
The Volume Foundation exhibits works created specifically for the gallery with the goal of fusing art and landscape. Via di S. Francesco di Sales 86-88, tel. 06 6892431, www.fondazionevolume.com.
40 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
Franz Paludetto
Gallery in S. Lorenzo that promotes the work of Italian and international contemporary artists. Via degli Ausoni 18, www.franzpaludetto.com.
Frutta
This contemporary art gallery supports international and local artists in its unique space. Via dei Salumi 53 tel. 0645508934, www.fruttagallery.com.
Gagosian Gallery
The Rome branch of this international contemporary art gallery hosts some of the biggest names in modern art. Via Francesco Crispi 16, tel.0642086498, www.gagosian.com.
GALLA
Exhibition space designed to showcase original, unconventional art works at affordable prices by artists working in various fields. Via degli Zingari 28, tel. 3476552515, www.facebook.com/GALLAmonti.
Galleria Alessandro Bonomo
Gallery showing the works of important Italian and international visual artists. Via del Gesù 62, tel. 0669925858, www.bonomogallery.com.
Galleria Valentina Bonomo
Located in a former convent, this gallery hosts both internationally recognised and emerging artists who create works specifically for the gallery space. Via del Portico d’Ottavia 13, tel. 066832766, www.galleriabonomo.com.
Galleria Frammenti D’Arte
Gallery promoting painting, design and photography by emerging and established Italian and international artists. Via Paola 23, tel. 069357144142, www.fdaproject.com.
Galleria Lorcan O’Neill
High-profile international artists regularly exhibit at this gallery located near Campo de’ Fiori. Vicolo Dè Catinari 3, tel. 0668892980, www.lorcanoneill.com.
Galleria della Tartaruga
Well-established gallery that has promoted important Italian and foreign artists since 1975. Via Sistina 85/A, tel. 066788956, www.galleriadellatartaruga.com.
Galleria Il Segno
Prestigious gallery showing work by major Italia and international artists since 1957. Via Capo le Case 4, tel. 066791387, www.galleriailsegno.com.
Galleria Mucciaccia
Gallery near Piazza del Popolo promoting established contemporary artists and emerging talents. Largo Fontanella Borghese 89, tel. 0669923801, www.galleriamucciaccia.com.
Galleria Russo
Operativa Arte Contemporanea
A new space oriented towards younger artists. Via del Consolato 10, www.operativa-arte.com.
Pian de Giullari
This historic gallery holds group and solo exhibitions showcasing the work of major 20th-century Italian painters alongside promising new Italian artists. Via Alibert 20, tel. 066789949, www.galleriarusso.it.
Art studio-gallery in the house of Carlina and Andrea Bottai showing works by contemporary artists from Rome, Naples and Florence capable of transmitting empathy and emotions. Via dei Cappellari 49, tel. 3397254235, 3663988603, www.piandegiullari2.blogspot.com.
Galleria Varsi
Plus Arte Puls
A dynamic gallery near Campo de’ Fiori, known for its stable of street artists. Via di Grotta Pinta 38, tel. 066865415, www.galleriavarsi.it.
Gavin Brown's Enterprise
New York gallerist Gavin Brown shows the work of international artists at his Trastevere gallery in a deconsecrated church dating to the eighth century. S. Andrea de Scaphis, Via dei Vascellari 69, www.gavinbrown.biz.
Il Ponte Contemporanea
Cultural association and gallery showing work by important contemporary Italian and international artists. Viale Mazzini 1, tel. 3357010795, www.plusartepuls.com.
RvB ARTS
Rome-based gallery specialising in affordable contemporary art by young, emerging Italian artists. Via delle Zoccolette 28, tel. 3351633518, www.rvbarts.com.
Sala 1
Hosts exhibitions representing the international scene and contemporary artists of different generations. Via Giuseppe Acerbi 31A, tel. 0653098768, www.ilpontecontemporanea.com.
This internationally known non-profit contemporary art gallery provides an experimental research centre for contemporary art, architecture, performance and music. Piazza di Porta S. Giovanni 10, tel. 067008691, www.salauno.com.
La Nuova Pesa
S.T. Foto libreria galleria
Well-established gallery showing work by prominent Italian artists. Via del Corso 530, tel. 063610892, www.nuovapesa.it.
MAC Maja Arte Contemporanea
Gallery devoted to exhibitions by prominent Italian artists. Via di Monserrato 30, www.majartecontemporanea.com.
Magazzino d’Arte Moderna
Contemporary art gallery that focuses on young and emerging artists. Via dei Prefetti 17, tel. 066875951, www.magazzinoartemoderna.com.
Gallery in Borgo Pio representing a diverse range of contemporary art photography. Via degli Ombrellari 25, tel. 0664760105, www.stsenzatitolo.it.
Studio Sales di Norberto Ruggeri
The gallery exhibits pieces by both Italian and international contemporary artists particularly minimalist, postmodern and abstract work. Piazza Dante 2, int. 7/A, tel. 0677591122, www.galleriasales.it.
T293
Monitor
The Rome branch of this contemporary art gallery presents national and international artists and hosts multiple solo exhibitions. Via G. M. Crescimbeni 11, tel. 0688980475, www.t293.it.
Nero Gallery
The Gallery Apart
Space dedicated to showcasing young international artists working in pop surrealism, lowbrow art, dark art, comic art and surrealism. Via Castruccio Castracane 9, tel. 0627801418, www.nerogallery.com.
This contemporary art gallery supports young artists in their research and assists them in their projects to help them emerge into the international art world. Via Francesco Negri 43, tel. 0668809863, www.thegalleryapart.it.
Nomas Foundation
TraleVolte
This contemporary art gallery offers an experimental space for a new generation of artists. Palazzo Sforza Cesarini, Via Sforza Cesarini 43 A, tel. 0639378024, www.monitoronline.org.
Nomas Foundation promotes contemporary research in art and experimental exhibitions. Viale Somalia 33, tel. 0686398381, www.nomasfoundation.com.
Contemporary art gallery focusing on the relationship between art and architecture, hosting solo and group shows of Italian and international artists. Piazza di Porta S. Giovanni 10, tel. 0670491663, www.tralevolte.org.
White Noise Gallery
Based in the S. Lorenzo district, this gallery exhibits unconventional work by young Italian and international artists. Via della Seggiola 9, tel. 066832833, www.whitenoisegallery.it.
Wunderkammern
This gallery promotes innovative research of contemporary art. Via Gabrio Serbelloni 124, tel. 0645435662, www.wunderkammern.net.
Z20 Galleria Sara Zanin
Started by art historian Sara Zanin, Z2o Galleria offers a range of innovative national and international contemporary artists. Via della Vetrina 21, tel. 0670452261, www.z2ogalleria.it. Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 41
Join us on Your Journey
L L NG OO OO NI CH AR CH M S S LE H RA Y -5 RY IG RL 2 TA OG H S EA E EN -11 D PR AG EM 6 AN IB 8 S EL E LE -1 NG 2 AG IDD S 11 DI - 1 IES RK AN 11 SIT WO M E R T AG TST ES D VE NE OU A NI L GR P U BA O TO GL A
Via di Villa Lauchli 180 00191 Rome, Italy +39 06 362 91012 www.marymountrome.com admissions@marymountrome.com
where to go in Rome WHAT’S ON
Teatro dell'Opera di Roma has been busy streaming its Teatro Digitale programme. See page 50. Photo Yasuko Kageyama / TOR.
Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 43
WHAT’S ON IN THE TIME OF CORONAVIRUS The covid-19 lockdown may have led to the closure of museums and cultural venues but it has also led to a spurt in creativity and different cultural activities online. Our usual What's On format has therefore changed too, to reflect the trend. Rome's cultural scene has responded to this unprecedented scenario with an exciting level of creativity and online ingenuity for which we should all be proud. We list some of the main initiatives here. We hope, for everyone's sake, to return to our normal format as soon as possible, although we imagine, and hope, that the new initiatives may well continue even when life returns to normal. Unintentionally the cultural centres will by then have managed to enlarge their audiences and taken the arts out of their usual geographical locations to those who do not necessarily have the time or inclination to go out to a concert or exhibition or opera but who are very happy to visit it online in their own time. Who would have thought it possible, for example, to watch The Rickshaw Boy, an opera in two acts by the contemporary Chinese composer, Guo Wenjing, at home, hundreds of kilometres away from the Teatro Regio in Turin on Rai5 on its RaiPlay platform? It was first premiered in Turin in 2015 as part of the Settembre Musicale festival and now is part of its #operaonthesofa initiative.
ITALY’S CULTURE NEVER STOPS - DESPITE A LOCKDOWN
How to enjoy Italian culture from the comfort of your home. La cultura non si ferma (Culture never stops) is a new page on the website of Italy’s culture ministry, outlining the multiple virtual initiatives available across Italy while the country is in lockdown. Divided
into six sections - Museums, Books, Cinema, Music, Education and Theatre - the page features video posts by art historians, archaeologists, archivists, librarians, restorers, architects, writers, actors and musicians. The initiative involves virtual tours of museums, music and theatrical performances, readings, insights into masterpieces and behind-the-scenes peeks into
MUSEUMs FIND YOUR LIKENESS IN ITALY’S ART MUSEUMS
The Italian culture ministry has relaunched its popular social media campaign, L’arte ti somiglia - Art looks like you, while Italy’s museums are closed during the coronavirus lockdown. The campaign invites you to find your likeness - or that of your children or family pets among the treasures of Italy’s art museums. The initiative has had a great response so far, with plenty of humour, fun and creativity in the portraits. “Art looks like you: it is your heritage and your future.
44 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
L’arte ti somiglia - Art looks like you.
Italy’s cultural institutions. The ministry describes it as “a rich cultural offer accessible from home that allows Italians to stay in touch with art and culture even in these difficult circumstances.” The initiatives are updated daily and can be followed with the hashtags #iorestoacasa and #ioleggoacasa. For full listings see website. www.beniculturali.it.
And it lives close to you!” says the ministry. For inspiration check out the online gallery of masterpieces from Italian museums, www. beniculturali.it, then post your picture on social media alongside the hashtag #LArteTiSomiglia.
VILLA GIULIA SETS FUN SOCIAL MEDIA CHALLENGE
Italy’s National Etruscan Museum at Villa Giulia may be closed but that hasn’t stopped its fans from bringing the museum’s priceless artefacts to life by replicating them in their own homes and sharing the results on social media. The initiative, inspired by similar challenges set by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Getty in Los Angeles, was launched by the director of the Rome museum, Valentino Nizzo, who along with his wife recreated a modern version of the terracotta Sarcophagus of the Spouses, dating from the sixth century BC. The post by Nizzo reads: “These strange subjects are reinterpreting the most famous work of our museum. What do you think? The challenge is open! Don’t be shy.” The rules are simple: choose a work from the museum and try to imitate it, recreating the scene using objects and materials that you have available in your home, during the nationwide Coronavirus lockdown, and post the image with the hashtag #lartetisomiglia. The results so far are a joyful mix of humour and creativity, using kitchen utensils, children’s action figures and even people to replicate the ancient artefacts from one of Rome’s finest museums. For more details see Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia on Twitter or Facebook.
MUSJA TURNS TO SPOTIFY
Musja, the new private museum of contemporary art in central Rome, is staying active during
the lockdown by presenting an online programme of music. The museum has released a Spotify list of songs inspired by the works in its collection or on display in its ongoing (but sadly closed) exhibition The Dark Side - Who is afraid of the dark? Musj (c) a, the museum’s first playlist on Spotify, has paired I’m on fire by Bruce Springsteen with the incinerated tunnel by Gregor Schneider while Difendere i mostri dalle persone by Tre allegri ragazzi morti has been matched with the grotesque masks of Monster Chetwynd. The museum says the online initiative is designed to “share culture while having fun together” and hopes that the list will be added to by its fans and past visitors of its first exhibition. See www.musja.it.
MAXXI MARKS 10TH ANNIVERSARY
MAXXI, Italy’s national museum of 21st century art, marks its 10th birthday in 2020. Speaking before the nationwide lockdown came into effect in early March, MAXXI president Giovanni Melandri said: “The national museum of arts, architecture, photography does not want to celebrate itself, rather it expands, strengthens and develops the guidelines of an ambitious expositive, cultural and social project.” Melandri launched the 2020 programme of events – including 18 new exhibitions and special artistic projects – alongside Italy’s culture minister Dario Franceschni who praised the “extraordinary work” at MAXXI – designed by Zaha Hadid – since its inauguration on 30 May 2010. Franceschini has increased state funding for MAXXI, saying “an investment in creativity must be made in the country”, announcing that work is underway to acquire works by artists such as Accardi, Cattelan, Fabro, Ghirri and Kounellis. Central to 2020 will be the opening
of a MAXXI modern art museum in L’Aquila, the earthquake-hit capital of the Abruzzo region, with an inauguration date of 21 June. Over the last decade there were 3,328,000 visitors to MAXXI, located in the Flaminio area of Rome, with the annual number of visitors in 2019 more than double the amount in 2010. Tickets generated €12.7 million, with ticket revenue increasing steadily over the last five years. As with all other museums in Italy ticket sales will be badly hit by the lockdown during the coronavirus emergency but MAXXI is making special efforts to reach out to a new virtual audience online. Liberi di Uscire Col Pensiero or “Explore with your mind” is the slogan that MAXXI used for its initiatives during the enforced closure for the covid-19 emergency. All its suggestions are located on the museum’s website and under #imstayingathomewithmaxxi. There are numerous options. These include the collection itself, the story of MAXXI’s ten-year history, video presentations from the curators of each section, as well as workshops for families and children. Another section full of hope is about MAXXI L’Aquila which should be opening on 21 June in the recently restored baroque Palazzo Ardinghelli in L’Aquila. This new space in the heart of the old city will be dedicated to artistic and cultural initiatives in the central Abruzzo region of Italy. In 2009 the region was devastated by an 6.3 magnitude earthquake, which destroyed most of the ancient city of L’Aquila. There will also be space in the magnificent palace for new MAXXI collections of art, architecture and photographs, as well as temporary exhibitions and educational programmes. For more details see www.maxxi.art, www.maxxilaquila.art.
Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 45
46 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
CINEMA LOCKDOWN ROME LIGHTS UP WITH CINEMA BY NIGHT
With Rome in lockdown, numerous initiatives have taken place to raise spirits, notably the balcony singsongs each evening at 18.00. Another uplifting campaign, Cinema da casa, takes place four hours later, in a growing number of suburbs around the capital. Behind the initiative is Alice in Città, the independent sidebar of the Rome Film Festival dedicated to children, directed by Fabia Bettini and Gianluca Giannelli. Cinema da casa involves beaming scenes from much-loved films onto the walls of apartment blocks. Anyone with a projector can take part, or else tune in to Alice in Città on Facebook and watch live at 22.00. “The initiative was born by chance” – says Bettini – “after the children told us that the city was dark and silent.” It
Cinema da casa lights up lockdown Rome. Photo Greenme.
began in the Trieste-Salario area of the capital and was soon joined by other districts including S. Lorenzo, Appia, Centocelle and Monte Mario. Such was the popularity of the Roman initiative that it has since spread to other Italian cities such as Turin, Pisa, Palermo and Florence. So far the most requested scenes come from movies such as Giuseppe Tornatore’s Nuovo Cinema
Paradiso, as well as Miracolo a Milano by Vittorio De Sica and Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times, as well as international films including Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, Mary Poppins and The Aristocats. “We have chosen 22.00 to make everyone go to sleep with a slightly lighter heart”, says Bettini. Tune in to the Alice in Città Facebook page to join the fun.
CULTURAL ACADEMIES VILLA MASSIMO: ART FOR NEIGHBOURS
The German Academy at Villa Massimo is coping with the lockdown in a novel way. The academy is inviting its neighbours on Viale XXI Aprile to open their windows and look towards the academy’s terrace where an artistic happening will takes place each night at 21.00. Villa Massimo can be followed on its pages of the same name on Facebook and Instagram.
Arte per i vicini at Villa Massimo. Tatjana Doll, Collected Silence.
Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 47
POETRY READ ALONE AND TOGETHER WITH KEATS-SHELLEY HOUSE
Keats-Shelley House is holding a weekly synchronised reading group, every Wednesday at midday (GMT) during this period of quarantine in many countries. The initiative involves reading a short passage in the isolation of your home for about 15 minutes. The invitation to read “alone and together” is extended to everyone, regardless of their location or time zone. The idea was inspired by John Keats who, on 16 December 1818, wrote from London to his brother George and sister-inlaw Georgiana in Kentucky, with the following suggestion: “I shall read a passage of Shakespeare every Sunday at ten o’clock – you read one at the same time and we shall be as near each other as blind bodies can be in the same room.” Organisers say that by emulating “this ingenious plan, we hope to harness reading’s intimate introspection, and also create a Keatsian community across our own various and hopefully temporary isolations.” Each week’s text will be announced on the KSH Twitter account and Facebook page, where you can leave a comment or suggest
a future reading. For full details see KSH website, www.keats-shelley.org.
KEATS-SHELLEY HOUSE POETRY COMPETITION FOR SCHOOLS
The Keats-Shelley House reminds all teachers that the deadline for its 29th Poetry Prize for Schools has been extended until 10 May. The entry form containing this year’s themes and regulations can be found on the KSH website, www.keats-shelley-house. org. Teachers may send submissions via email, by completing the form and sending it as an attachment to info@keats-shelley-house.org along with the poems. Handwritten poems should be scanned and sent as a pdf with typed transcriptions. An online presentation of this year’s winning and specially commended poems will take place on 5 June.
ROMANTIC POETS CELEBRATED ON STAMPS
The Royal Mail has issued a special set of stamps to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of English Romantic poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850). Wordsworth is joined by nine other important British Romantic poets: William Blake, Lord Byron, John Clare, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Mary Robinson,
The Royal Mail celebrates John Keats.
Walter Scott and Percy Bysshe Shelley. The stamps include an extract from each of the poets’ bestknown works, along with a specially commissioned monochrome design that reflects the theme of the poem. The Romantic poets, of course, share a close bond with Rome, particularly Keats and Shelley who are buried in the city’s Non-Catholic Cemetery. The Keats-Shelley House, the building at the foot of the Spanish Steps in which Keats died in 1821, is currently closed as a result of Italy’s nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus. It recently restored the historic ceilings in its museum and library, which contains the apartment where Keats spent the final 14 weeks and two days of his short life. Later this year the Keats-Shelley House plans to mark the 200th anniversary of Keats and Severn landing in Naples with a programme of events. For details of the stamps see Royal Mail website, www.shop.royalmail.com.
Gardens Usually a number of gardens in and around Rome are open at this time of year and Rome’s international rose competition in May held at the Roseto Comunale on the Aventino averlooking Circo Massimo is always a big event. However this year the rose garden will remain closed, due to the covid-19 pandemic, and the competition has been cancelled. Other much-loved gardens near Rome that normally open this time of year include Castel Giuliano, La Landriana and La Mortella. Pay a virtual visit to the spectacular gardens of Ninfa.
48 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
VIRTUAL VISITS TO GARDEN OF NINFA Ninfa Gardens may be closed but don’t despair, garden lovers: perhaps the most beautiful garden of them all can be now visited online. Ninfa is located about 80 km south-east of Rome near Sermoneta at the foot of the Lepini mountains. During its closure fans
MUSIC ACCADEMIA S. CECILIA
S. Cecilia Academia has been producing a wonderful series of short Instagrams showing its soloists at home, first violinist, the cellist, clarinetist, the flautist, percussion and so on through the orchestra. In addition to the snippets of music they play and suggest, it is a real cheer-up call to see and hear these musicians talking to us from their homes, with little insights into how they have coped with the lockdown. These are the people of the orchestra and chorus we seldom see and often take for granted. They are
of Ninfa can check in to admire the garden’s spring blooms thanks to the social media campaign #distantimavicini (far away but near) on Youtube (Fondazione Roffredo Caetani) and Instagram (giardinodininfa). Belonging to the Caetani family since the 14th century, the site was abandoned in 1382 but in the early 1920s the Caetani family began to create the
garden as it is today. Spread out over eight hectares, this romantic English-style garden has over 10,000 shrubs, plants and flowering trees from all over the world growing among the mediaeval ruins. The river Ninfa forms a lake in the garden which over the years has hosted 100 species of bird. For full details see website, www. fondazionecaetani.org.
bringing S. Cecilia home to us in an unexpected and imaginative way. S. Cecilia and the national broadcaster RaiCultura are also providing recordings of a selection of the orchestra’s previous concerts on the RaiPlay platform every Thursday (19.30), Friday (20.30) and Saturday 18.00. See www. santacecilia.it/concerti. The documentary Il Carattere Italiano by Angelo Bozzolini about the S. Cecilia orchestra and chorus, its soloists and its many prestigious conductors was available on the academy’s website until the end of April. Hopefully the streaming will be extended or organised again in some way. The photography is first rate, as are the interviews, and the wonderful stories not only about the people involved with the orchestra but also
about music in itself, and of course the Italian character as the title suggests.
AUDITORIUM LIVES
The programme on the website of the Auditorium Parco della Musica is peppered with “cancelled”, “suspended” and “postponed” however it keeps going with its #AuditoriumLives initiative, featuring footage of past events, from talks by architect Renzo Piano to concerts by composer Ludovico Einaudi. The auditorium’s summer music festival is still going ahead, for now, although it is hard to see it happening this year sadly. In the meantime tune into #AuditoriumLives on the website and social media channels, www. auditorium.com.
Conductor Antonio Pappano and the orchestra of S. Cecilia.
Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 49
OPERA
Rome's opera house has been busy streaming past productions. Photo Yasuko Kageyama / TOR.
TEATRO DELL’OPERA DI ROMA
During the lockdown the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma has an excellent digital streaming service of some of its previous operas. Just in case its summer season at the Baths of Caracalla (6 June- 6 August) manages to go ahead these are the three operas that were scheduled before the lockdown. Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Seviglia (7 July-7 Aug), Verdi’s Aida (12 July- 4 Aug) and Lehar’s The Merry Widow 30 June-2 July).
FUORTES RENEWED AT HELM OF ROME OPERA HOUSE
Teatro dell’Opera di Roma has elected a new board under the presidency of the city’s mayor Virginia Raggi. Carlos Fuortes, who has been the sovrintendente of the opera house since December 2013, has had his role extended for a further five years. The board has also approved changes to the 2020 budget following the crisis due to the coronavirus epidemic, according to a statement issued by Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. The opera house has been closed since 8 March, as part of a nationwide lockdown resulting from the covid-19 crisis, but has been busy streaming
50 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
operas from past seasons. Welcoming the reappointment of Fuortes at the helm of “one of the most prestigious cultural institutions in Italy and the world”, Raggi said: “All the more in these difficult days, we need culture, the deepest essence of our identity, to be kept alive.” In an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on 10 April, Fuortes said that the summer outdoor programme of opera, dance and concerts at the Baths of Caracalla is now looking “highly unlikely” given the present circumstances. For all updates see Teatro dell’Opera di Roma website. For all updates see Teatro dell’Opera website.
REGIOTORINO
Turin’s opera house really came into its own during the lockdown, streaming many of the operas in its repertoire long before other opera houses in Italy came up with the same idea. It had hoped to be able to reschedule its programme in April but now some of the operas have been moved to December and some have been cancelled. One of its entertaining programme during the lockdown was #LOperaTiSomiglia,
inspired by the ministry of culture’s #LArteTiSomiglia. The opera house asked participants to choose their favourite opera, dress up as one of the characters, create an appropriate scene, photograph it and share with #LOperaTiSomiglia and #teatroregiotorino. See more details of the operas that are still streaming see www.teatroregio.torino.it.
700 CHILDREN IN VIRTUAL CHOIR SING NESSUN DORMA
A virtual choir of 700 children performs Nessun Dorma to provide a message of hope and solidarity during the coronavirus pandemic. The initiative was launched by Europa InCanto which invited 700 children in Italy and Europe to sing the famous aria from Puccini’s opera Turandot, in what is being reported as the largest virtual choir in the world. The 700 children singing were accompanied by the virtual orchestra of the EICOEuropa InCanto Orchestra musicians, conducted by Maestro Germano Neri. The video can be seen on the Europa InCanto channel on Youtube.
OTHER EVENTS
Baths of Caracalla illuminated in the colours of the Italian tricolour.
BATHS OF CARACALLA LIT UP WITH ITALIAN FLAG
Rome’s Baths of Caracalla will be illuminated with the green, white and red colours of the Italian tricolour every night until the end of the country’s coronavirus emergency. The
illumination of the northern section of the ancient baths complex, which dates to the third-century AD, was carried out in collaboration with the city’s energy supplier Acea. It follows similar gestures at Palazzo Chigi, the senate and city hall, as well as the old gasometro in Ostiense, and the Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. The initiative is promoted by the city whose special superintendent Daniele Porro described the move as a sign of unity and a symbol of the hope that places of culture can reopen “as soon as it is possible to do so in complete safety.”
Italia mi manchi campaign by FAI. Photo Abbey of S. Fruttuoso in Liguria.
Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 51
S. Severa photo competition. Image Lazio Crea.
ITALY I MISS YOU
Italy’s culture ministry has shared a selection of 25 videos, created by the Fondo Ambiente Italiano (FAI), as part of the #ItaliaMiManchi social media campaign dedicated to Italian cultural heritage at a time when nobody can experience its beauty in person. The videos, which make extensive use of drone footage, document nature, art, stories and anecdotes of Italian beauty. Similar to Britain’s National Trust, FAI) was founded 45 years ago (to preserve and promote Italy’s cultural heritage through education, restoration and annual open days. For more details see FAI website, www.faiinternational.org.
S. SEVERA CASTLE PHOTO CONTEST
The Castello di S. Severa, located on the beach of the same name near Rome, is the subject of a photo contest launched by the Lazio region. Under the title Un Castello Sempre Vivo, the competition involves photography enthusiasts submitting pictures that they took of the castle before the nationwide lockdown. The contest is open, from
52 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
15 April until 15 May, to anyone over the age of 18. Photos should be sent by Messenger through the Castello di Santa Severa Facebook page. Pictures will be published in an online album, with voters voting for their favourite images. The three photos with the most likes will earn their photographers a prize: first place, a stay for two people for a weekend at the castle’s hostel; second place, two free admissions for one of the upcoming events or shows; third place, an exclusive guided tour of the castle for two people which also includes the Saracen Tower. For details see the ‘Castello di Santa Severa’ Facebook page.
ROME’S VIRTUAL LIBRARIES
The libraries of Rome have open their doors virtually, making their ebooks and digital resources available to their members for free. By simply registering online, also free of charge, via BiblioTu you will have access to more than 7,000 ebooks, over 7,100 periodicals from 90 countries in 40 different languages, more than 77,000 music recordings, 127 audiobooks, 93 databases and digital
collections, including newspapers and magazines. The city says there are other literary resources available on BiblioTu, on the Youtube channel of MediatecaRoma and on the social network pages of the capital’s libraries, under the motto: “Distant but united by the love of reading. Far away, but connected.” For details see website, www.bibliotechediroma.it.
RAICULTURA
State broadcaster RAI, along with the ministry of culture, has played an important part in keeping Italy’s culture rolling during the lockdown. There has been a vast choice of subjects – cinema, science, philosophy, music, theatre, dance and opera – on its Rai Cultura programmes. The philosophy section comes under the heading Le grande sfide del presente. Theatre and dance have imaginative sections called Interpretare un coreografia, I suoni nello spazio and costruire la scenografia. Science with Lincei per il clima has a selection of texts and videos on climate change. There have also been screening of the S. Cecilia concerts and the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma productions.
ART NEWS ITALY PROPOSES ‘NETFLIX OF ITALIAN CULTURE’
Italy looks at new ways of sharing Italian culture with the world. The country’s culture minister Dario Franceschini said his ministry is discussing the creation of an Italian online platform that gives paid access to Italian culture, describing it as “a sort of Netflix of culture.” Franceschini said the proposed platform could be used to offer cultural content in a different way, adding that: “I am convinced that the online offer will continue even after [the coronavirus emergency]: for example, there will be those who want to attend the premiere of La Scala in the theatre and those who will prefer to do so, paying, staying at home.” Franceschini said that the “explosion of online creativity” during these lockdown weeks had highlighted the “enormous potential” of the internet in sharing Italian cultural content, adding that this is precisely the starting point for developing a more structured project. The minister made his comments on Aspettando le parole, the RAI3programme conducted by Massimo Gramellini, on 18 April.
PALAZZO MERULANA BIDS FAREWELL TO FOUNDER Palazzo Merulana, one of Rome’s newest and most impressive art museums, bid farewell to its founder Claudio Cerasi who died in Rome on 19 April aged 87. The museum paid tribute to Cerasi as a “modern, kind, generous and determined soul” who realised his dream of offering Rome an “innovative, open and inclusive place.” Cerasi made his fortune in construction and his company was responsible for major building projects including MAXXI in Rome and the new opera house in Florence. Cerasi died almost two years after he opened the new art museum at Rome’s longabandoned health offices on Via Merulana, following a
The late Claudio Cerasi who founded Palazzo Merulana.
€5 million restoration project. In addition to funding the three-year renovation of the city-owned building, the entrepreneur filled Palazzo Merulana with the important collection of early 20th-century art that he had assembled privately with his wife, Elena. Under an 88-year lease, the public-private venture entrusted the management of the museum to Coopculture, Italy’s largest cooperative in the heritage and cultural activities sector. Cerasi spared no expense in refurbishing the four-storey palazzo, sections of which had been lying in disrepair for 60 years. The Cerasi collection comprises 90 works by Italian artists including Balla, Cambellotti, Casorati, de Chirico, Donghi, Mafai, Pirandello, Schifano and Severini. See website for updates on visiting times, www.palazzomerulana.it.
WILL ROME EXTEND THE RAPHAEL EXHIBITION?
When will Rome reopen the Raphael exhibition and will it be extended beyond its scheduled end date of 3 June? Impossible to tell, due to the covid-19 crisis, but these are the million-dollar questions in Italy’s culture world right now. “The wish is that the doors can be reopened as soon as possible and that from that Renaissance spirit that made Raphael’s art unparalleled, energy can be drawn for a restart of Italy and Europe”. This hope was expressed by none other than the president of Italy himself, Sergio Mattarella, on 6 April, the 500th anniversary of the death of Raphael. The exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale closed just three days after opening on 5 March, due to the coronavirus. The 6,000 lucky people who gained entry to the world’s greatest Raphael show admired the masterpieces on display while maintaining as much distance as possible from other visitors. So when will it reopen? “The hope is that this will happen as soon as possible but it is premature to start with requests for an extension to the lenders” – Mario De Simoni, president of Ales which organised the event, told La Repubblica newspaper – “However, we experienced a feeling of solidarity on the part of all national and international institutions towards the Scuderie del Quirinale.” Several years in the planning, the Raphael exhibition is a one-in-a-lifetime event and there were no plans for it to travel anywhere after Rome. Also in Rome’s favour is the fact that the precious drawings were returned to storage in the dark, after just a few days. As pointed out by La Repubblica, museums all over the world know that an exhibition of this magnitude cannot last just three days. That is the hope anyway. Two videos on YouTube under the Italiachiamò initiative of the Italian culture ministry show the pre-opening and after-closing of the Raffaello exhibition. The first video shows the people who have worked on the exhibition taking the literally priceless works by Raffaello out of their cases with such evident wonder and care. The other shows the same works being put back into their boxes to keep them safe, “messo al buio” and “put to sleep”. There is a charming scene at the end of the second video which features Mario De Simoni, the head of Ales, an inhouse company of the ministry of culture that provides Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 53
PROVIDING AN OUTSTANDING BRITISH EDUCATION TO ROME’S INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY SINCE 1958
LEARN MORE ADMISSIONS@STGEORGE.SCHOOL.IT TEL: +39 06 3086001 WWW.STGEORGE.SCHOOL.IT 54 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
STEVE MCCURRY’S TRIBUTE TO ITALY
“Italy has drawn me back more times than I can count.” With these words the celebrated photographer and Magnum photoreporter Steve McCurry introduces his video Tribute to Italy, a selection of images that captures the Italian spirit, culture and traditions. McCurry said he created the homage to Italy in light of the country’s battle with the coronavirus pandemic, stating that “Italians have selflessly and heroically dealt with unimaginable tragedy, yet no one doubts that they will triumph over this adversity.” McCurry, who is best known for his Afghan Girl portrait which appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1985, said: “I stand with all the Italian people. You are always in my heart.” The video can be seen on McCurry’s blog, www.stevemccurry.blog.
Portrait of Baldassarre Castiglione (1513) by Raphael. © Musée du Louvre, Dist. RMN – Grand Palais / Angèle Dequier.
services for Italian museums and galleries, especially Le Scuderie. He talks about what he calls one of the works that probably would not normally receive much attention, The Visitation of the Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth. It was painted about 1517 for the father of Giovanbattista Branconio dell’Aquila, a papal official and a friend of Raffaello. The painting was placed in the Branconio chapel in the church of S. Silvestro in L’Aquila and plundered from there by Spanish troops in 1655. It has been part of the Prado collection since 1837. De Simoni points out that in the painting Elizabeth is holding the hand of her pregnant cousin Mary, a normal gesture in ordinary times, he says, but not in these days; one which he hopes we shall all be able to return to before long. There is also another informative YouTube talk about Raeffello’s work (some of which are now at the Scuderie) by the director of the Uffizi, Eike Schmidt. In one section he compares the two portraits of the Doni, Florence art collectors, with those of the Duke of Urbino (Guidobaldo da Montefeltro) and his wife (Elisabetta Gonzaga) painted before he arrived in Florence. It is under the La Cultura non si Ferma initiative by the ministry of culture and #iorestoacasa. The Scuderie website also has a 12-minute virtual tour of the exhibition, www.scuderiequirinale.it.
Tribute to Italy by Steve McCurry.
EUROPEAN HERITAGE LABEL FOR OSTIA ANTICA
The archaeological area of Ostia Antica near Rome has been awarded the European Heritage Label by the EU, in recognition of its historical and cultural heritage. Ostia was one of nine other heritage sites in Europe to be awarded the distinction, bringing the total of 48, with the latest batch including Kynžvart Castle (Czech Republic), Site of Remembrance in Łambinowice (Poland) and Chambon-sur-Lignon Memorial (France). These sites “provide great opportunities for European citizens to connect with their cultural heritage and strengthen their sense of belonging to the European Union,” stated European commissioner responsible for culture, Mariya Gabriel. Unlike the UNESCO world heritage sites, the EU heritage sites are considered important for European history and culture. For more details see EU website, www.ec.europa.eu/programmes/creative-europe.
RETURN OF QUADRIENNALE
The Quadrenniale di Roma, a major showcase of contemporary art in the capital, is determined to go ahead at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni this autumn. The 17th edition of the event continues a tradition begun in 1931 and will open at the Via Nazionale venue on 1 October. The event, which enjoys the support of the Italian culture ministry, will feature the work of around 40 artists in an exhibition that will propose an “unprecedented perspective” on Italian art. Quadrenniale president Umberto Croppi said that the event – curated by Sarah Cosulich – would act as a grand revival for Italian contemporary art. An €8 million construction project is nearing completion for the Quadriennale’s new headquarters at the former papal arsenal building at Porta Portese. The site was once used for the construction and maintenance of the papal fleet, with access to the Ripa Grande port on the Tiber below. The papal arsenal was commissioned by Pope Clement XI and its design, by an unknown architect, was based on the larger papal arsenal at Civitavecchia, designed by Bernini and concluded by Carlo Fontana. The Rome complex opened for business in 1715 and remained in operation until the end of the 19th century when the building of the Tiber’s muraglioni walls put an end to the old river port. Quadriennale di Roma website. Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 55
lassical lassical
The following is a list of the main musical associations in Rome but it is not a definitive list of all the music that is available in the city. The following is a list of the main musical There are also concerts in many of the associations in Rome but it is not a definitive churches and sometimes in the museums. list of all the music that is available in the city. There are also concerts in many of the Auditorium Conciliazione, Via della churches and sometimes in the museums. Conciliazione 4, www.auditoriumconciliazione.it Auditorium Parco della Musica, Viale Auditorium Conciliazione, ViaP. de della Coubertin 30, www.auditorium.com Conciliazione 4, www.auditoriumconciliazione.it Accademia Filarmonica Teatro Auditorium Parco della Romana, Musica, Viale P. de Olimpico, Piazza Gentile da Fabriano 17, Coubertin 30, www.auditorium.com www.filarmonicaromana.org. The new season Accademia Filarmonica Romana, Teatro starts on 15 Oct Olimpico, Piazza Gentile da Fabriano 17, Accademia S. Cecilia, www.santacecilia.it. All www.filarmonicaromana.org. The new season concerts Parco della Musica. The startsat onAuditorium 15 Oct newAccademia season startsS. on 5Cecilia, Oct www.santacecilia.it. All
concerts Universitaria at Auditorium Parco della Musica. Istituzione dei Concerti, AulaThe newUniversità season starts on 5 Oct www.concertiiuc.it Magna, la Sapienza,
Istituzione Universitaria deiGonfalone Concerti,32a, Aula Oratorio del Gonfalone, Via del Magna, Università la Sapienza, www.concertiiuc.it www.oratoriogonfalone.com Oratorio delMethodist Gonfalone, Via delPiazza Gonfalone 32a, RomeConcerts, Church, Ponte www.oratoriogonfalone.com S. Angelo, www.romeconcerts.it RomeConcerts, Piazza Ponte Roma Sinfonietta, Methodist AuditoriumChurch, Ennio Morricone, S. Angelo, www.romeconcerts.it Torvergata, www.romasinfonietta.com Roma Auditorium Roma Tre Sinfonietta, Orchestra, some concertsEnnio are atMorricone, Teatro Torvergata, www.romasinfonietta.com Palladium, Piazza Bartolomeo Romano 8, teatropalladium.uniroma3.it, while others at Roma Tre Orchestra, some concerts are are at Teatro the Aula Magna, Piazza Scuola Lettere Filosofia Lingue, 8, Palladium, Bartolomeo Romano Universita Roma Tre, Via while Ostienze teatropalladium.uniroma3.it, others234, are at www.r30.org the Aula Magna, Scuola Lettere Filosofia Lingue, Universita Tre,festivals Via Ostienze 234, There are oftenRoma concerts, and opera www.r30.org recitals in several churches in Rome.
often concerts, festivals and153, opera All There Saints' are Anglican Church, Via Babuino recitals in several churches in Rome. www.allsaintsrome.org All Saints' Anglican Church, Via Babuino 153, Ponte S. Angelo Methodist Church, Ponte S. www.allsaintsrome.org Angelo, www.methodistchurchrome.com Ponte S. Angelo Methodist Church, Ponte S. Oratorio del Caravita, Via della Caravita 7 Angelo, www.methodistchurchrome.com
Oratorio del Caravita, Caravita St Paul's Within the Walls,Via Viadella Nazionale and7 the corner of Via Nazionale, www.stpaulsrome.it St Paul's Within the Walls, Via Nazionale and the S. Agnese Sagrestia del Borromini, corner ofin ViaAgone, Nazionale, www.stpaulsrome.it Piazza Navona S. Agnese in Agone, Sagrestia del Borromini, Palazzo PiazzaDoria NavonaPamphilj hosts a series called Opera Serenades by Night with Dinner throughout Palazzo Doria Pamphilj hosts a series called the year. There is a concert, a tour of the museum Serenades by Night Dinner throughout and Opera dinner afterwards. Viawith del Corso 305, the year. There is a concert, a tour of the museum www.doriapamphilj.com and dinner afterwards. Via del Corso 305, www.doriapamphilj.com Jan 2019 ••Wanted 5056 |48 Oct 2018 • Wanted in in Rome | |May 2020 Wanted inRome Rome
MUSIC MUSIC THEATR THEATRE CINEMA CINEMA VENUES VENUES
cc
MUSIC THEATRE CINEMA DANCE OPERA
c
inema inema
The following cinemas show movies in English or original language, and sometimes foreign film festivals. See Wantedshow in Rome website for The following cinemas movies in English weekly updates. or original language, and sometimes foreign film festivals. See Wanted in Rome website for Adriano, Cavour 22, tel. 0636767 weeklyPiazza updates. Barberini, Piazza Barberini 24-26, tel. Adriano, Piazza Cavour 22, tel. 0636767 0686391361 Barberini, Piazza BarberiniMastroianni 24-26, 1, tel. Casa del Cinema, Largo Marcello 0686391361 tel. 06423601, www.casadelcinema.it
Casa del Cinema, Largo Marcello Mastroianni 1, Cinema dei Piccoli, Viale della Pineta 15, tel. tel. 06423601, www.casadelcinema.it 068553485 Cinema dei Piccoli, Viale della Pineta 15, tel. Farnese Persol, Piazza Campo de’ Fiori 56, tel. 068553485 066864395, www.cinemafarnesepersol.com Farnese Persol, Piazza Campo de’ Fiori 56, tel. Greenwich, Via G. Bodoni 59, tel. 065745825 066864395, www.cinemafarnesepersol.com Intrastevere, Vicolo Moroni 3, tel. 065884230 Greenwich, Via G. Bodoni 59, tel. 065745825 Lux, Via Massaciuccoli 31, tel. 0686391361 Intrastevere, Vicolo Moroni 3, tel. 065884230 Nuovo Olimpia, Via in Lucina 16/g, tel. Lux, Via Massaciuccoli 31, tel. 0686391361 066861068 Nuovo Olimpia, Via in Lucina 16/g, tel. Nuovo Sacher, Largo Ascianghi 1, tel. 065818116 066861068 Odeon, Piazza Stefano 22, tel. Nuovo Sacher, LargoJacini Ascianghi 1, 0686391361 tel. 065818116
Space Moderno, Piazza della 44, tel. Odeon, Piazza Stefano JaciniRepubblica 22, tel. 0686391361 06892111 Space Moderno, Piazza della Repubblica 44, tel. Space Parco de’ Medici, Viale Salvatore Rebec06892111 chini 3-5, tel. 06892111 Space Parco de’ Medici, Viale Salvatore Rebecchini 3-5, tel. 06892111
ddance oopera p pop r ock r ance
Teatro Costanzi, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Piazza Beniamino Gigli 1, www.operaroma.it
Teatro Olimpico, Piazza Gentile da Fabriano Teatro Costanzi, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, 17, www.teatroolimpico.it Piazza Beniamino Gigli 1, www.operaroma.it Teatro Vascello, Via Giacinto Carini 78, Teatro Olimpico, Piazza Gentile da Fabriano www.teatrovascello.it 17, www.teatroolimpico.it
Teatro Vascello, Via Giacinto Carini 78, www.teatrovascello.it
pera
Teatro Costanzi, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Piazza Beniamino Gigli 1, www.operaroma.it Teatro Costanzi, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Piazza Beniamino Gigli 1, www.operaroma.it
op
ock
Concert venues ranging from major pop and rock groups to jazz and acoustic gigs.
Concert venues ranging from major pop and Alexanderplatz, 9, tel. 0683775604 rock groups to Via jazzOstia and acoustic gigs. www.alexanderplatzjazzclub.it Alexanderplatz, Via Ostia 9, tel. 0683775604 Angelo Mai Altrove, Via delle Terme di www.alexanderplatzjazzclub.it Caracalla 55, www.angelomai.org Angelo Mai Via Atlantico delle Terme di Atlantico, VialeAltrove, dell’Oceano 271d, Caracalla 55, www.angelomai.org tel. 065915727, www.atlanticoroma.it
Atlantico, Viale Atlantico Auditorium Parcodell’Oceano della Musica, Viale 271d, P. de tel. 065915727, www.atlanticoroma.it Coubertin, tel. 06892982, www.auditorium.com Auditorium della Viale de Casa del Jazz, Parco Viale di PortaMusica, Ardeatina 55,P.tel. Coubertin,www.casajazz.it tel. 06892982, www.auditorium.com 06704731,
t
Casa del Jazz, Viale di Porta Ardeatina 55, tel. 06704731, www.casajazz.it
heatre heatre
Teatro Argentina, Largo di Torre Argentina 52, tel. 06684000314, www.teatrodiroma.net Teatro Argentina, Largo di Torre Argentina 52, tel. Teatro Belli, Piazza di S. Apollonia 11, tel. 065894875, 06684000314, www.teatrodiroma.net www.teatrobelli.it Teatro Belli, Piazza di S. Apollonia 11, tel. 065894875, Teatro Brancaccio, Via Merulana 244, tel. 0680687231 www.teatrobelli.it www.teatrobrancaccio.it Teatro Brancaccio, Via Merulana 244, tel. 0680687231 Teatro Ghione, Via delle Fornaci 37, tel. 066372294 www.teatrobrancaccio.it www.teatroghione.it Teatro Ghione, Via delle Fornaci 37, tel. 066372294 Teatro India, Lungotevere Vittorio Gassman 1, tel. www.teatroghione.it 06684000311, www.teatrodiroma.net Teatro India, Lungotevere Vittorio Gassman 1, tel. 06684000311, www.teatrodiroma.net
Lanificio 159, Via di Pietralata 159, tel. 0641780081, www.lanificio159.com Lanificio 159,ViaVia di Pietralata 159, Live Alcazar, Cardinale Merry del Valtel. 14, 0641780081, www.lanificio159.com tel. 065810388, www.livealcazar.com Live Alcazar, Merry del 35, Val 14, Monk Club, Via ViaCardinale Giuseppe Mirri tel. tel. 065810388, www.livealcazar.com 0664850987, www.monkroma.it Monk Club, ViaPiazzale Giuseppe Mirri 35,1, tel. PalaLottomatica, dello Sport tel. 0664850987, www.monkroma.it 06540901, www.palalottomatica.it
PalaLottomatica, Piazzale Sport 1, tel. Rock in Roma, Via Appiadello Nuova 1245, tel. 06540901, www.palalottomatica.it 0654220870 www.rockinroma.com Rock in Roma, Via Appia Nuova 1245, tel. Teatro Quirinetta, Via Marco Minghetti 5, tel. 0654220870 www.rockinroma.com 0669925616, www.quirinetta.com Teatro Quirinetta, Via Marco Minghetti 5, tel. Unplugged in Monti, Blackmarket, Via 0669925616, www.quirinetta.com Panisperna 101, www.unpluggedinmonti.com Unplugged in Monti, Blackmarket, Via Panisperna 101, www.unpluggedinmonti.com
Teatro Olimpico, Piazza Gentile da Fabriano 17, tel. 063265991, www.teatroolimpico.it Teatro Olimpico, Piazza Gentile da Fabriano 17, Teatro S. Genesio, Via Podgora 1, tel. 063223432, tel. 063265991, www.teatroolimpico.it www.teatrosangenesio.it Teatro S. Genesio, Via Podgora 1, tel. 063223432 Teatro Sistina, Via Sistina 129, tel. 064200711, www.ilsiwww.teatrosangenesio.it stina.it Teatro Sistina, Via Sistina 129, tel. 064200711, Teatro Vascello, Via Giacinto Carini 78, tel 065898031 www.ilsistina.it www.teatrovascello.it Teatro Vascello, Via Giacinto Carini 78, Teatro Vittoria,www.teatrovascello.it Piazza di S. Maria Liberatrice 10, tel. tel. 065898031, 065781960, www.teatrovittoria.it Teatro Vittoria, Piazza di S. Maria Liberatrice 10, tel. 065781960, www.teatrovittoria.it 51 | Oct 2018 • Wanted in Rome
ddance oopera p pop r ock r ance
Teatro Costanzi, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Piazza Beniamino Gigli 1, www.operaroma.it
Teatro Olimpico, Piazza Gentile da Fabriano Teatro Costanzi, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, 17, www.teatroolimpico.it Piazza Beniamino Gigli 1, www.operaroma.it Teatro Vascello, Via Giacinto Carini 78, Teatro Olimpico, Piazza Gentile da Fabriano www.teatrovascello.it 17, www.teatroolimpico.it Teatro Vascello, Via Giacinto Carini 78, www.teatrovascello.it
pera
Teatro Costanzi, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Piazza Beniamino Gigli 1, www.operaroma.it Teatro Costanzi, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Piazza Beniamino Gigli 1, www.operaroma.it
op
ock
Concert venues ranging from major pop and rock groups to jazz and acoustic gigs.
Concert venues ranging from major pop and Alexanderplatz, 9, tel. 0683775604 rock groups to Via jazzOstia and acoustic gigs. www.alexanderplatzjazzclub.it Alexanderplatz, Via Ostia 9, tel. 0683775604 Angelo Mai Altrove, Via delle Terme di www.alexanderplatzjazzclub.it Caracalla 55, www.angelomai.org Angelo Mai Via Atlantico delle Terme di Atlantico, VialeAltrove, dell’Oceano 271d, Caracalla 55, www.angelomai.org tel. 065915727, www.atlanticoroma.it
Atlantico, Viale Atlantico Auditorium Parcodell’Oceano della Musica, Viale 271d, P. de tel. 065915727, www.atlanticoroma.it Coubertin, tel. 06892982, www.auditorium.com Auditorium della Viale de Casa del Jazz, Parco Viale di PortaMusica, Ardeatina 55,P.tel. Coubertin,www.casajazz.it tel. 06892982, www.auditorium.com 06704731,
t
Casa del Jazz, Viale di Porta Ardeatina 55, tel. 06704731, www.casajazz.it
heatre heatre
Teatro Argentina, Largo di Torre Argentina 52, tel. 06684000314, www.teatrodiroma.net Teatro Argentina, Largo di Torre Argentina 52, tel. Teatro Belli, Piazza di S. Apollonia 11, tel. 065894875, 06684000314, www.teatrodiroma.net www.teatrobelli.it Teatro Belli, Piazza di S. Apollonia 11, tel. 065894875, Teatro Brancaccio, Via Merulana 244, tel. 0680687231 www.teatrobelli.it www.teatrobrancaccio.it Teatro Brancaccio, Via Merulana 244, tel. 0680687231 Teatro Ghione, Via delle Fornaci 37, tel. 066372294 www.teatrobrancaccio.it www.teatroghione.it Teatro Ghione, Via delle Fornaci 37, tel. 066372294 Teatro India, Lungotevere Vittorio Gassman 1, tel. www.teatroghione.it 06684000311, www.teatrodiroma.net Teatro India, Lungotevere Vittorio Gassman 1, tel. 06684000311, www.teatrodiroma.net Jan 2019 5850| |May 2020••Wanted Wantedin inRome Rome
Lanificio 159, Via di Pietralata 159, tel. 0641780081, www.lanificio159.com Lanificio 159,ViaVia di Pietralata 159, Live Alcazar, Cardinale Merry del Valtel. 14, 0641780081, www.lanificio159.com tel. 065810388, www.livealcazar.com Live Alcazar, Merry del 35, Val 14, Monk Club, Via ViaCardinale Giuseppe Mirri tel. tel. 065810388, www.livealcazar.com 0664850987, www.monkroma.it Monk Club, ViaPiazzale Giuseppe Mirri 35,1, tel. PalaLottomatica, dello Sport tel. 0664850987, www.monkroma.it 06540901, www.palalottomatica.it PalaLottomatica, Piazzale Sport 1, tel. Rock in Roma, Via Appiadello Nuova 1245, tel. 06540901, www.palalottomatica.it 0654220870 www.rockinroma.com Rock in Roma, Via Appia Nuova 1245, tel. Teatro Quirinetta, Via Marco Minghetti 5, tel. 0654220870 www.rockinroma.com 0669925616, www.quirinetta.com Teatro Quirinetta, Via Marco Minghetti 5, tel. Unplugged in Monti, Blackmarket, Via 0669925616, www.quirinetta.com Panisperna 101, www.unpluggedinmonti.com Unplugged in Monti, Blackmarket, Via Panisperna 101, www.unpluggedinmonti.com
Teatro Olimpico, Piazza Gentile da Fabriano 17, tel. 063265991, www.teatroolimpico.it Teatro Olimpico, Piazza Gentile da Fabriano 17, Teatro S. Genesio, Via Podgora 1, tel. 063223432, tel. 063265991, www.teatroolimpico.it www.teatrosangenesio.it Teatro S. Genesio, Via Podgora 1, tel. 063223432 Teatro Sistina, Via Sistina 129, tel. 064200711, www.ilsiwww.teatrosangenesio.it stina.it Teatro Sistina, Via Sistina 129, tel. 064200711, Teatro Vascello, Via Giacinto Carini 78, tel 065898031 www.ilsistina.it www.teatrovascello.it Teatro Vascello, Via Giacinto Carini 78, Teatro Vittoria,www.teatrovascello.it Piazza di S. Maria Liberatrice 10, tel. tel. 065898031, 065781960, www.teatrovittoria.it Teatro Vittoria, Piazza di S. Maria Liberatrice 10, tel. 065781960, www.teatrovittoria.it 51 | Oct 2018 • Wanted in Rome
WANTED junior inROME CREATIVITY DURING THE “QUARANTIME”
The Arts students of St Stephen’s School continue to produce wonderful work, even during this challenging time. Creative Writing Teacher Moira Egan is proud to present some fine poetry and prose, embodying hope, empathy, and, yes, humour. The students’ writing is accompanied by Matisse-inspired interiors done in Lisa Fedich’s Visual Arts classes. We hope that you enjoy these pieces as you stay in and stay well! Ilaria, Grade 10 Mask Stamped from a factory I await the moment you kiss me. I protect you with my folds and I lick away your coughs, my face buried into yours like a hat on a head. I have seen my look-alikes on the streets, each three feet away and silent. Like a moth, I live for the light, one day, and I die. I soak up my (your) surroundings and I breathe in the funky air, loosely mixed with a hint of the peel of lime. Phoebe, Grade 9 Window I stand at the edge of her comfort, resting in silence as I watch over everything- the stress, the joy… the confusion when she loses her glasses. Sometimes I help. I flash a reflection. Look behind. She turns. Your left. Your other left. And then her eyes focus on my right, and she sees them, so she turns her back and puts them on. I fade back into transparency. I wonder if she’ll ever use the ones I mirror. Sliding them on, I look around her room, and she looks at me- well, no. She looks at herself, I just happen to be in the way. What are you staring at? She gapes blankly. I watch her watch me watch her, and she flashes a smile. At me? I smile back. Never mind, at herself. She’s looking at her teeth. Get back to work. She reluctantly looks back at her laptop. Wait, it’s been on her email page for three hours. Start to work.
60 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
I wait for someone to come through her door, startling her. I’m not going to warn her- she somehow gets scared every time. It’s ok. Dad already knows you’re not actually writing that essay. It’s very entertaining though- watching her frantically closing all her tabs. It’s almost dinner time. I see her approaching me- to thank me for my service? No, she just looks through me. Beautiful sunset, right? Every day I make sure she gets the best view- I crop and edit it too. Not a single thank you. That’s alright. Sometimes I make myself known. I throw small tantrums, bashing the shutters against the wall. She looks at me in annoyance. I’m still here. Your singing is awful, by the way. She leaves for dinner. I wish she’d bring me back some. I’d love some carbonara. Nothing. I get up and leave. Good luck finding your glasses next time.
Illustration by Emilia, Grade 11.
Jacky, Grade 10 Life in Quarantine The squares were crowded and people would smile As they would travel, mile by mile. But they became sick, and in numbers, it spread; People are now living their days in bed. Things stopped and the world screeched to a halt Making some lives as blue as cobalt. Even though things started to slow down, People now had fewer reasons to frown. Families gathered, what game shall we play? What new recipe shall we try today? Let’s try to make some steak tacos And now we can finally catch up with those shows. Because at the end of the day We’re all okay. Maisie, Grade 9 The Man on the Church Steps Every day on my way home from school I saw the same man He slept on the steps in front of the church on pieces of cardboard and coats left behind by forgetful children. He would wave to me and I would wave back. His hair was wild and the color of mud or tree bark after rain. He had pink cheeks like early drawings of Santa and when he waved hello at me his eyes would crinkle at the corners. For 11 years he would wave at me and I’d wave back. Sometimes, when I let my mind wander, I find myself thinking of him. Of what his life used to be. I wonder if he was funny and could always make his friends laugh. Maybe he remembered those days full of jokes that had brought tears to his eyes and pain to his chest. And still do. Or maybe he was sweet and stayed home on Sundays just to cook with his grandma. Maybe he never could make it just the way she did. Maybe he always added too much salt or left the sauce on too long. “How clumsy” she would think as she pulled a burning dish from the oven. Maybe he pretended not to notice when she smiled to herself as she shook her head, telling him she wouldn’t always be there to help him. Maybe he was smart and his friends would call him before tests asking for help. Maybe he would pretend it bothered him but really he liked to feel needed. Maybe he would work extra hard just so that he could teach them, and maybe he hoped that even after they learned everything they’d keep calling.
Illustration by Sofia, Grade 11.
I wonder about his childhood and his family. About who they are or were. I wonder about his parents. I wonder what his mother’s favorite flower was or what her laugh sounded like. I wonder if he still sees the pattern of her scarf on a curtain or a tablecloth and smiles to himself, remembering her hugs and how safe he felt with her. I wonder about his father’s smile. If it was a wide and friendly one for all the world to see. Or a quiet and personal one. Like an inside joke that only a select few could understand. I wonder if his father smelled of pen ink and peppermint. And maybe on hot days he remembers taking trips to the beach and getting to help pick out the CDs. Maybe he would slip in a few of his own just to see if anyone would notice. I wonder if he ever passes a window and hears a song he used to love and allows himself to reminisce for a moment longer than he should. I wonder how he came to sleep on the steps of the church and how long he was there. I wonder why he took the time to wave at me when I passed by him. I wonder if he ever wonders about me. I wonder where he is now. I hope he’s ok. St Stephen's School, Via Aventina 3, tel. 065750605, www.sssrome.it.
WANTED IN ROME JUNIOR: For young writers and artists Wanted in Rome accepts creative contributions from students in all international schools in Rome. Articles on topics related to either the student’s life in Rome or their school projects can be submitted by their class teachers. The work should be no more than 1,000 words and we also accept illustrations. Any class teachers who would like to propose a project please contact editorial@wantedinrome.com.
Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 61
38
Wanted in Rome | December 2017
An Education for Life that will make the dierence
Castelli International School
International Elementary and Middle School
www.castelli-international.it
agorski
By Kate Z
FETTINE PANATE CON CIPOLLA ROSSA E SALVIA Usually served hot, fettine panate are thin slices of beef which are dipped in egg and breadcrumbs and fried until golden. This recipe gives them a summery twist and turns them into almost a kind of salad by cutting them into strips and mixing them with red onion, fresh sage leaves and a zing of vinegar, all gently cooked together to encourage the flavours to blend. Easy to make in advance and store in the fridge, they benefit hugely from a rest before eating so this recipe is a brilliant addition to buffets or picnics. When buying the beef look for thin slices, the best are called 'girello' in Italian. If they are a little thick you can tenderise them by hitting them with a meat hammer, rolling pin or even the bottom of a tumbler or glass. The process of coating the slices can be messy but taking the time to make sure they have a good covering of breadcrumbs will help to give the finished dish a bit of bite. For another variation, the fried fettine panate can also be left whole, topped with a little tomato passata and a slice of mozzarella (or mozzarella and mushrooms) and baked in the oven at 180°C for a few minutes until the mozzarella has melted before serving them hot as a second course.
Ingredients Serves 4 4 thin slices of beef (approx 500g) 25 fresh sage leaves Flour Extra virgin olive oil 4 eggs, beaten Half a glass of white wine vinegar Fine breadcrumbs Salt 1 lt vegetable oil, for frying Pepper 3 red onions, roughly sliced Prepare the ingredients for the coating; put a generous amount of flour in a large bowl, season with salt and pepper and mix well. Crack the eggs into a separate bowl and beat well with a fork or hand whisk. Pour breadcrumbs into a wide dish, tray or board. Take the first slice of beef and coat it well in flour then dip it on both sides first in the egg and then in the breadcrumbs. Push the meat into the breadcrumbs with your fingers to ensure it is well-covered. Set aside and repeat the process with the remaining slices. Heat the vegetable oil in a wide saucepan or large frying pan until it is boiling. Test by sticking a wooden toothpick into the oil, if small bubbles form around the toothpick the oil is ready. Carefully place the beef slices into the oil (you may have to do this one or two pieces at a time depending on the size of your pan) and fry for about 2 minutes, turning over once, until they are golden and crunchy. Set the slices aside on a tray covered with kitchen paper to drain, sprinkle with salt and leave to cool. Once the slices have cooled down, use scissors to cut them into strips about 2cm x 5cm. In a large frying pan heat a good splash of olive oil and add the chopped red onion. Cook for a couple of minutes until it is just starting to soften then add the sage leaves, tearing any large ones in half. Cook for a minute and then add the beef strips and heat through. Add the vinegar and cook everything together for another minute to combine the flavours. Tip into a bowl and leave to cool down, then cover and place in the refrigerator until serving.
I B WO R L D S C H O O L
Inspiring Global Citizens. romeinternationalschool.it +39 06 844 82 651
BOOK A SCHOOL VISIT
C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
In an ever growing global community, health care is not limited to a person's home country: people from every culture can find what they need to feel themselves at home in Campus Bio-Medico University Hospital of Rome
Your Passport to Worldclass Healthcare Campus Bio-Medico University Hospital of Rome provides: • Coordination of Hospital, physician and diagnostic appointments • Free of charge translation services for all the procedures • 12 hours medical services, including air ambulance transfer coordination • Partnership with major International Insurance Companies • Elevated International Standard and sole General Hospital JCI Accredited in Rome Whether you are a patient, family member or friend feel free to contact us at: Hospitaly - International Patients Program Officer Via Álvaro del Portillo, 200 - Rome (Italy) mail: info@hospitaly.it - phone: 0039.06.22541.8852 WWW.HOSPITALY.IT
Associations American International Club of Rome tel. 0645447625, www.aicrome.org American Women’s Association of Rome tel. 064825268, www.awar.org Association of British Expats in Italy britishexpatsinitaly@gmail.com Canadian Club of Rome canadarome@gmail.com Circolo di Cultura Mario Mieli Gay and lesbian international contact group, tel. 065413985, www.mariomieli.net Commonwealth Club of Rome ccrome08@gmail.com Daughters of the American Revolution Pax Romana Chapter NSDAR paxromana@daritaly.com, www.daritaly.com
International Women’s Club of Rome tel. 0633267490, www.iwcofrome.it Irish Club of Rome irishclubofrome@gmail.com, www.irishclubofrome.org Luncheon Club of Rome tel. 3338466820 Patrons of Arts in the Vatican Museums tel. 0669881814, www.vatican-patrons.org Professional Woman’s Association www.pwarome.org United Nations Women’s Guild tel. 0657053628, unwg@fao.org, www.unwgrome.multiply.com Welcome Neighbor tel. 3479313040, dearprome@tele2.it, www.wntome-homepage.blogspot.com
Books The following bookshops and libraries have books in English and other languages as specified. Almost Corner Bookshop Via del Moro 45, tel. 065836942 Anglo American Bookshop Via delle Vite 102, tel. 066795222 Bibliothèque Centre Culturel Saint-Louis de France (French) Largo Toniolo 20-22, tel. 066802637 www.saintlouisdefrance.it La librerie Française de Rome La Procure (French) Piazza S. Luigi dei Francesi 23, tel. 0668307598, www.libreriefrancaiserome.com Libreria Feltrinelli International Via V.E. Orlando 84, tel. 064827878, www.lafeltrinelli.it
Religious All Saints’ Anglican Church Via del Babuino 153/b tel. 0636001881 Sunday service 08.30 and 10.30 Anglican Centre Piazza del Collegio Romano 2, tel. 066780302, www.anglicancentreinrome.com Beth Hillel (Jewish Progressive Community) tel. 3899691486, www.bethhillelroma.org Bible Baptist Church Via di Castel di Leva 326, tel. 3342934593, www.bbcroma.org, Sunday 11.00 Christian Science Services Via Stresa 41, tel. 063014425 Church of All Nations Lungotevere Michelangelo 7, tel. 069870464 Church of Sweden Via A. Beroli 1/e, tel. 068080474, Sunday service 11.15 (Swedish)
66 | May 2020 • Wanted in Rome
Libreria Quattro Fontane (international) Via delle Quattro Fontane 20/a, tel. 064814484 Libreria Spagnola Sorgente (Spanish) Piazza navona 90, tel. 0668806950, www.libreriaspagnola.it Open Door Bookshop (second hand books English, French, German, Italian) Via della Lungaretta 23, tel. 065896478, www.books-in-italy.com Otherwise Via del Governo Vecchio, tel. 066879825, www.otherwisebookshop.com St Patrick’s English-Language Lending Library Via Boncompagni 31, tel. 0688818727, Sun 10.00-12.30, Tues 10.00-14.00, Wed 15.00-18.00, Thurs 11.00-15.30 Footsteps Inter-Denominational Christian South Rome, tel. 0650917621, 3332284093, North Rome, tel. 0630894371, akfsmes.styles@tiscali.it International Central Gospel Church Via XX Settembre 88, tel. 0655282695 International Christian Fellowship Via Guido Castelnuovo 28, tel. 065594266, Sunday service 11.00 Jewish Community Tempio Maggiore, Lungotevere Cenci, tel. 066840061 Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas Largo della Sanità Militare 60, tel. 067726761 Lutheran Church Via Toscana 7, corner Via Sicilia 70, tel. 064817519, Sunday service 10.00 (German) Ponte S. Angelo Methodist Church Piazza Ponte S. Angelo, tel. 066868314, Sunday Service 10.30
Pontifical Irish College (Roman Catholic) Via dei SS. Quattro 1, tel. 06772631. Sunday service 10.00 Roma Baptist Church Piazza S. Lorenzo in Lucina 35, tel. 066876652, 066876211, Suday service 10.30, 13.00 (Filipino), 16.00 (Chinese) Roma Buddhist Centre Vihara Via Mandas 2, tel. 0622460091 Rome International Church Via Cassia km 16, www.romeinternational.org Rome Mosque (Centro Islamico) Via della Moschea, tel. 068082167, 068082258 St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church Via XX Settembre 7, tel. 064827627, Sunday service 11.00 St Francis Xavier del Caravita (Roman Catholic) Via Caravita 7, www.caravita.org, Sunday service 11.00
Support groups Alcoholics Anonymous tel. 064742913, www.aarome.com Archè (HIV+children and their families) tel. 0677250350, www.arche.it Associazione Centro Astalli (Jesuit refugee centre) Via degli Astalli 14/a, tel. 0669700306 Associazione Ryder Italia (Support for cancer patients and their families) tel. 065349622/06582045580, www.ryderitalia.it Astra (Anti-stalking risk assessment) tel. 066535499, www.differenzadonna.it Caritas soup kitchen (Mensa Giovanni Paolo II) Via delle Sette Sale 30, tel. 0647821098, 11.00-13.30 daily Caritas foreigners’ support centre Via delle Zoccolette 19, tel. 066875228, 06681554 Caritas hostel Via Marsala 109, tel. 064457235 Caritas legal assistance Piazza S. Giovanni in Laterano 6/a, tel. 0669886369 Celebrate Recovery Christian group tel. 3381675680
Transport • Atac (Rome bus, metro and tram) tel. 800431784, www.atac.roma.it • Ciampino airport tel.06794941, www.adr.it • Fiumicino airport tel. 0665951, www.adr.it • Taxi tel. 060609-065551-063570-068822-064157066645-064994 • Traffic info tel. 1518 • Trenitalia (national railways) tel. 892021, www.trenitalia.it
St Isidore College (Roman Catholic) Via degli Artisti 41, tel. 064885359, Sunday service 10.00 St Patrick’s Church (Roman Catholic), Via Boncompagni 31, tel. 068881827, www.stpatricksamericaninrome.org Weekday Masses in English 18.00, Saturday Vigil 18.00, Sunday 09.00 and 10.30 St Paul’s within-the-Walls (Anglican Episcopal) Via Nazionale, corner Via Napoli, tel. 064883339, Sunday service 08.30, 10.30 (English), 13.00 (Spanish) St Silvestro Church (Roman Catholic) Piazza S. Silvestro 1, tel. 066977121, Sunday service 10.00 and 17.30 Venerable English College (Roman Catholic), Via di Monserrato 45, tel. 066868546, Sunday service 10.00 Comunità di S. Egidio Piazza di S. Egidio 3/a, tel. 068992234 Comunità di S. Egidio soup kitchen Via Dandolo 10, tel. 065894327, 17.00-19.30 Wed, Fri, Sat Information line for disabled tel. 800271027 Joel Nafuma Refugee Centre St Paul’s within-the-Walls Via Nazionale, corner Via Napoli, tel. 064883339 Mason Perkins Deafness Fund (Support for deaf and deaf-blind children), tel. 06444234511, masonperkins@gmail.com, www.mpds.it Overeaters Anonymous tel. 064743772 Salvation Army (Esercito della Salvezza) Centro Sociale di Roma “Virgilio Paglieri” Via degli Apuli 41, tel. 064451351 Support for elderly victims of crime (Italian only) Largo E. Fioritto 2, tel. 0657305104 The Samaritans Onlus (Confidential telephone helpline for the distressed) tel. 800860022
Chiamaroma 24-hour, multilingual information line for services in Rome, run by the city council, tel. 060606
Emergency numbers • • • • • • •
Ambulance tel. 118 Carabinieri tel. 112 Electricity and water faults (Acea) tel. 800130336 Fire brigade tel. 115 Gas leaks (Italgas-Eni) tel. 800900999 Police tel. 113 Rubbish (Ama) tel. 8008670355 Wanted in Rome • May 2020 | 67