Dec 31st, 2011 at 10:00AM: Economic instability, a change of government, and now this.
It looks like Italy's most famous landmark, the Colosseum, may be crumbling. The Culture Ministry has launched an investigation after eyewitnesses spotted bits of stone falling off the Roman ruin on two different occasions in recent days.
An Italian shoe company has promised to restore the Colosseum with an ambitious 25 million euro ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Rome posts
Is the Colosseum crumbling?
Dec 31st, 2011 at 10:00AM: Economic instability, a change of government, and now this.
It looks like Italy's most famous landmark, the Colosseum, may be crumbling. The Culture Ministry has launched an investigation after eyewitnesses spotted bits of stone falling off the Roman ruin on two different occasions in recent days.
An Italian shoe company has promised to restore the Colosseum with an ambitious 25 million euro ...How to access free WiFi in Rome
Dec 29th, 2011 at 5:00PM: Anyone who has ever tried to access free WiFi in Rome probably won't be surprised by a recent Business Insider headline proclaiming that Italians Don't Care About the Internet.
According to a report released by ISTAT, Italy's official statistics bureau, only 54.5% of Italians have access to the Internet, and 26.7% of Italians think the Internet is "useless" and "uninteresting".
It follows, ...Early Christian art on display at the Onassis Cultural Center, NYC
Dec 8th, 2011 at 2:00PM:
It's often called the Dark Ages, a time when barbarian hordes overran Rome and that great civilization's art, culture, and learning disappeared. A time when there were no great achievements.
It's a misnomer.
Rome did not fall in the fifth century with the usurpation of the last emperor in Rome in 476. To the east, at the new capital of Constantinople, modern Istanbul, the Eastern Roman ...Roman sites in Libya survived the war mostly unscathed, initial reports show
Dec 1st, 2011 at 9:00AM:
The recent fighting in Libya that toppled Gaddafi destroyed many lives and laid waste to many neighborhoods. Now that the country is beginning to rebuild, Libyans are taking stock of other effects of the war.
Libya's beautiful Roman remains, it appears, got off easy. Earlier this week, the Guardian reported that the Roman cities of Lepcis Magna and Sabratha both survived the war without any ...Is the Romulus and Remus statue a copy from the Middle Ages?
Nov 22nd, 2011 at 2:00PM:
It's one of the most famous symbols of ancient Rome--the legendary Romulus and Remus suckling from a she-wolf. Legend has it the brothers were born to a Vestal Virgin who had been abducted by the war god Mars. Abandoned, they were raised by a she-wolf. As adults they fought each other. Romulus killed Remus and went on to build Rome. The statue graces Rome's Capitoline Museum and is photographed ...Photo of the day - St. Peter's and a puddle
Nov 17th, 2011 at 6:00PM:
When taking travel photos, we spend a lot of time looking for the right background. Whether it's capturing a candid portrait or framing the perfect landscape, it's not always easy to convey a beautiful scene in a photograph. Flickr user John Overmeyer used a humble puddle of rain to elevate this night shot of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Of course, flawless composition, lighting, and luck ...Tracing Twitter to 16th century Rome
Nov 17th, 2011 at 10:00AM:
The ugliest statue in Rome is not easy to find. Tucked away in an alley off of Piazza Navona, blending in to the unremarkable stone façades of the buildings behind him, Pasquino, a human-shaped stump of marble resting on a pedestal pasted with notes and cartoons, hides in plain sight from most tourists who saunter past on their way to this district's many renowned restaurants, bars, and ...Historic stretch of Hadrian's Wall repaired
Oct 15th, 2011 at 2:00PM:
A stretch of Hadrian's Wall, the famous fortification in northern England that for centuries marked the northernmost boundary of the Roman Empire, has been repaired.
After 2,000 years, parts of the fortification meant to keep out northern barbarians are in pretty bad shape. People have stolen stones over the past several centuries and you can see parts of the wall in local farmhouses and ...Interesting indoor spaces around the world
Oct 4th, 2011 at 5:00PM: I love the outdoors, to the extent that I tend to bypass or overlook exceptional indoor spaces when I'm traveling or recounting a great trip. Fortunately, Lonely Planet author/former Gadling contributor Leif Pettersen's recent list on LP's website has reminded me that---as many a grandmother has said---beauty is on the inside.
Pettersen says only in recent years has he developed a special ...New exhibit sheds light on Antonine Wall, the Roman Empire's northernmost border
Sep 22nd, 2011 at 11:30AM: There's not much left of it now, just a deep swale in the earth and a few stones jutting out of the grass. Almost two thousand years ago, though, it was the northernmost boundary of the Roman Empire.
The Antonine Wall protected a narrow part of Scotland between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde, from the 140s to 160s AD. After the Emperor Hadrian built Hadrian's Wall across what is now ...David's Discoveries: Rome's most charming neighborhood -- Garbatella
Aug 22nd, 2011 at 9:00AM:
Say "Rome" and like Pavlov's dog, millions worldwide will bark "Colosseum," "Forum" or "Vatican."
Ask even an intrepid traveler with an insider's track on the Eternal City and you still probably won't get "Garbatella" in reply.
Yet these days Garbatella is among Rome's hippest, most charming and atmospheric neighborhoods, with one of my favorite authentic, throw-back trattorias anywhere. ...The world's most disputed antiquities: a top 5 list
Aug 3rd, 2011 at 1:00PM:
New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art announced Tuesday that it would return 19 Egyptian antiquities that have lived at the museum for most of the last century. These artifacts, excavated from the 14th century B.C. tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun (King Tut), include a sphinx bracelet, a small bronze dog, and a broad collar with beads, among other bits and pieces. Zahi Hawass, the former Secretary ...Archaeologists explore "Pompeiis" in Bulgaria and El Salvador
Jul 10th, 2011 at 4:00PM:
Pompeii is an archaeological wonder, an entire Roman town preserved by a volcanic eruption. Now archaeologists are investigating two other "Pompeiis" to learn more about the past.
In El Salvador, a team has discovered a village dating to c. 630 AD that was covered in volcanic ash. Joya de Ceren was sealed up so well that archaeologists have been able to examine corn cobs, the logs used to ...Roman bath discovered in York
Jun 22nd, 2011 at 8:30AM:
The remains of a Roman bath have been discovered in York in northern England.
Archaeologists made the find while excavating ahead of construction of the new City of York Council Headquarters. York (then called Eboracum) was an important trading center in Roman times. So important, in fact, that it had more than one bath. The image above is from the basement of the Roman Bath pub, where a ...Creepy and beautiful cemeteries around the world
Jun 20th, 2011 at 9:30AM:
Cemeteries aren't the first places most people go to while on vacation, but they can tell a lot about a culture and its history. We all have to die sometime and the way we deal with the dead says a lot about ourselves.
Some cemeteries are overgrown and covered in moss. Others are orderly and well-kept. Some are beautiful, and can inspire wonderful photographs like the one taken here by user ...New discoveries reveal life and times of the Roman Emperor Hadrian
Jun 19th, 2011 at 3:00PM: The Emperor Hadrian is one of Rome's most famous emperors, ruling at the height of the Empire from 117-138 AD. His villa just north of Rome is a popular tourist attraction, yet some Italian researchers have discovered what countless visitors never noticed: the buildings are aligned with astronomical events.
On the summer solstice (June 21 this year) light passes through an opening above a ...Gladiator died because of ref's error, says archaeologist
Jun 19th, 2011 at 12:00PM: A gladiator who fought 1,800 years ago may have died because of a bad call from a ref.
Archaeologists have long puzzled over a line in the epitaph of Diodorus the gladiator's gravestone. It reads, "After breaking my opponent Demetrius I did not kill him immediately. Fate and the cunning treachery of the summa rudis killed me."
The summa rudis was a referee who oversaw gladiator games. Unlike ...Ancient faces: the Fayum mummy portraits of Egypt
Jun 13th, 2011 at 10:30AM: The pyramids, Tutankhamen's gold, the massive temples of Luxor and Karnak. . .the civilization of ancient Egypt has left us an incredible legacy, yet of all of these impressive monuments and treasures none has a more personal effect on the viewer than the Fayum mummy portraits.
During the Graeco-Roman period, after Egypt had fallen first to Alexander the Great and then to the Romans, the old ...Book review: Quiet Corners of Rome
May 24th, 2011 at 10:30AM: Travel guidebooks conceive of the world as a series of obvious, important monuments. This is particularly true of a brash and magnificent city like Rome. Your typical traveler could be forgiven for simplifying this complex historic capital down to a giant marble stadium, a series of famous steps and giant chapel mural. But writer David Downie reminds us there's a lot more to Rome than its ...Crucifixion nails found in Israel? Probably not.
Apr 16th, 2011 at 11:30AM: There's been a shocking archaeological discovery in Israel. Nails from the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ have been found!
Well, no, probably not.
The claim comes from Israeli Canadian documentary filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici, the Washington Post reports. Jacobovici has done several documentaries on Christian subjects and came across an archaeological report from 1990 mentioning the discovery of ...
