{"id":129,"date":"2009-04-22T10:23:12","date_gmt":"2009-04-22T14:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=129"},"modified":"2009-04-22T10:23:12","modified_gmt":"2009-04-22T14:23:12","slug":"buon-compleanno-roma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/buon-compleanno-roma\/","title":{"rendered":"Buon Compleanno Roma!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, Tuesday the 21st April, Rome celebrated her birthday, and she\u2019s is not doing too badly given her age: 2,762! Rome\u2019s birthday is called il Natale di Roma<\/strong>: Natale<\/strong> comes from the Latin word\u00a0natus<\/strong>, which is the past participle of the verb nascere<\/strong> meaning \u2018to be born\u2019. Nowadays we only use the word Natale for Jesus\u2019 birthday (i.e. Christmas), and Rome\u2019s birthday,\u00a0ordinary people like me and you have a mere compleanno<\/strong>, which literally means \u2018a year\u2019s completion\u2019. Very confusing! But let\u2019s get back to the\u00a0Natale di Roma<\/strong>:\u00a0 I wonder if there are any other cities in the world that have such a definitive birthday?<\/span><\/p>\n

How do we know the exact date of Rome\u2019s foundation?\u00a0Well, the Roman historian Varrone<\/strong> (Varro, 1st century B.C.) fixed the date of the foundation of Rome to the 21st of April of the year 753 B.C. Varrone<\/strong> based his dating on the calculations made by his friend the astrologer Lucio Taruzio<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a legend of Rome\u2019s foundation\u00a0that tells us how\u00a0Numitore<\/strong>, king of Alba Longa <\/strong>(a pre-Roman town near Rome), and descendent of the Trojan hero Enea<\/strong>,\u00a0was overthrown by his brother Amulio<\/strong>, his daughter, Rea Silvia<\/strong>, being forced to become a Vestale <\/strong>(vestal, a virgin priestess). The amorous god Marte<\/strong> (Mars), however,\u00a0seduced Rea Silvia, and she gave birth to the\u00a0twins: Romolo <\/strong>(Romulus) and Remo<\/strong>. King Amulio<\/strong> ordered a servant to kill the twins, but the servant, not having the courage carry out the order, put the two babies in a basket instead and placed it\u00a0on the river Tevere <\/strong>(Tiber). The basket ended up in a marshy area between the Campidoglio<\/strong> (Capitol) and the Palatino<\/strong>, two of the seven hills that form Rome, and was found by a lupa<\/strong> (she wolf) who breast fed the twins, an\u00a0act that has been immortalized\u00a0in many Roman sculptures, and which has become the symbol of Rome. Animal lovers, be aware: according to modern historians the Lupa<\/strong> was in reality a prostitute. In Roman times \u2018Ladies of the Night\u2019\u00a0were also called lupae<\/strong> (female wolfs), the root of this word\u00a0can be\u00a0found in lupanare<\/strong>, the Latin name for \u2018brothel\u2019! <\/span><\/p>\n

To return to the legend: Romolo<\/strong> and Remo<\/strong> were later found by the pig herd Faustolo<\/strong>, who reared them as his own children.\u00a0On reaching adulthood,\u00a0Romolo and Remo took their revenge on their uncle Amulio by killing him\u00a0and reinstating their grandfather Numitore on the throne of Alba Longa.\u00a0As they\u00a0were unable\u00a0reign while their grandfather was still alive, they decided to build a new town in the area where they had grown up. Romolo wanted to found the town on the Palatino<\/strong> hill\u00a0and call it Roma<\/strong>, whilst Remo wanted to found it on the Aventino <\/strong>hill\u00a0and call it Remora<\/strong>. As they couldn\u2019t reach an agreement, they decided to wait for an omen to guide them. It was Remo who sighted\u00a0the first omen, which\u00a0arrived in the form of\u00a0a flight of six vultures, but later on in the day Romolo sighted twelve vultures! A fight broke out between the group supporting Remo and that supporting Romolo and, tragically, Remo was killed. <\/span><\/p>\n

On the 21st of April 753 B.C. Romolo ploughed the pomerium<\/strong> (the sacred furrow) which traced out the perimeter\u00a0of\u00a0the town that he would build on the top of the Palatino hill. He named the new town Roma<\/strong>, and hence\u00a0<\/strong>become the first king of Rome. <\/span><\/p>\n

This, with a few variations, is the legend told by ancient historians such as Livio<\/strong> and Plutarco<\/strong>.\u00a0A few years ago, Professor of Archaeology Andrea Carandini <\/strong>discovered an ancient city wall in the northeastern area of the Palatino hill.\u00a0This so called \u2018muro di Romolo\u2019 <\/strong>(Romulus\u2019 wall), seems to prove that the city was actually founded according to a preconceived plan rather than evolving at random.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 21st of April was designated a national festival in 1870 when Rome become the capital of the newly unified Italy, and since then it has always been celebrated with public events such as concerts and exhibitions. This year\u2019s celebrations will include a re-enactment of the\u00a0ploughing\u00a0of the sacred furrow\u00a0by the Gruppo Storico Romano<\/strong> which will take place at the\u00a0Circo Massimo<\/strong>. <\/span><\/p>\n

When I was in Rome for il Natale di Roma<\/em> a few years ago, Piazza di Spagna<\/strong> and la Scalinata di Trinita\u2019 dei Monti<\/strong> (the Spanish steps) had been decorated with a sea of flowers: it was magnificent!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, Tuesday the 21st April, Rome celebrated her birthday, and she\u2019s is not doing too badly given her age: 2,762! Rome\u2019s birthday is called il Natale di Roma: Natale comes from the Latin word\u00a0natus, which is the past participle of the verb nascere meaning \u2018to be born\u2019. Nowadays we only use the word Natale for…<\/p>\n

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