You can't consider yourself civilised until you have seen the ruins of the forums and temples along the Via Sacra and contemplated where so much of the culture of our own world sprang from, writes LORRAINE COURTNEY
THE TRAVEL writer Georgina Masson never tired of declaring that “Rome is a palimpsest” – a manuscript used over and over so many times that it has become a historical layer cake.
Consider the Basilica of San Clemente, whose essentially 12th-century upper church, with its glorious apse mosaics, is only the top strata of a warren of superimposed buildings in which people have worshipped since the first century.
In the film Roma, Federico Fellini's anarchic homage to his adopted city, the US writer Gore Vidal tells the camera why he has chosen to live in Rome. "There is no better place than this city, which has died so many times and been reborn so many times, to wait for the end of the world."
Rome was mightily buffed up for the millennium. All of its museums were transformed, two new ones were created – the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme and the Centrale Montemartini – and in the old Capitoline Museums, on Piazza del Campidoglio, a confident hand sliced through the accumulation of centuries to reveal the past as new.
The bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on a high pedestal in the centre of the Campidoglio was replaced by a facsimile, with the original moved to a startling new room in the Capitoline Museums. Set low and surrounded by privileged emptiness under a wide skylight, the man and the horse are almost within reach, and glow with golden traces.
Jupiter, Jovis, was the frisky Roman god of gods, his domain power, his attribute the thunderbolt, his hobby the relentless siring of inappropriate children. His temple, laid 2,500 years ago and uncovered in 1998 beneath the Capitoline Museums, dominated ancient Rome from the Capitoline Hill.
A dark passage full of tombstones seems to be an unnecessary detour until you reach the end and find yourself in a long loggia with immensely high vaulted ceilings. This is the Roman records office, the tabularium. And a series of arches reveals a vista that was opened again just seven years ago.
There, framed by dark, rutted walls, you see the brilliant day-lit Roman Forum as though floating over it. People hang on to the metal railings, mesmerised. Just down to the left is the arch of Septimius Severus (which the French novelist Stendhal thought ill designed); ahead are the three columns of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, which was dedicated to the twin sons Leda bore Jupiter after he had come to her as a swan.
From here you can see the Via Sacra as it leads to the white arch of Titus, halfway up the Palatine Hill, and the parasol pines on the Palatine. You grab the railing and fly far into the ancient past.
Barbarity was Nero’s middle name. And this barbarity was expressed most acutely in his infamous spinning dining room, the setting for ancient Rome’s nastiest scenes of depravity. The dining room, which had a ceiling featuring fabulous frescoes of the sun, stars and signs of the zodiac, continually revolved, keeping time with the heavens. The Roman historian Suetonius recorded that “all the dining rooms had ceilings of fretted ivory, the panels of which could slide back and let a rain of flowers or of perfume from hidden sprinklers fall on his guests”.
After Nero’s death, work began to eradicate all evidence of the tyrant. Vespasian drained Nero’s lake, and Trajan used the brickwork as a foundation for his baths. All remained hidden until two years ago, when a group of archaeologists came across some extraordinary remains while digging on Rome’s Palatine.
They uncovered circular walls, a four-metre stone pillar and a series of large stone spheres. These spheres were most likely the swivels that revolved the floor; they may have been cranked by slaves or by an underground canal system. In February 2007 the Domus Aurea reopened for guided tours, allowing visitors a dazzling close-up look at Ancient Roman sadism.
Throughout Roman history anyone aspiring to power needed a legend to give legitimacy to their rule. And you can find the relics of one story at the Lupercal cave. The cave was first discovered by the emperor Augustus beneath his home on the Palatine Hill. It’s more than a mere cave. It’s supposedly the sacred cave where a she-wolf nursed Romulus and Remus. The brothers went on to found Rome at the site, on April 21st, 753 BC, but the legend culminates in fratricide.
Yet the monument was consumed by the ravages of time and came to light again only in 2008. It was rediscovered by the then culture minister, Francesco Rutelli, of the Democratic Party, at the moment that the restored House of Augustus opened to the public. But this time around the legend-based magic didnt work. Rutelli lost his bid to become mayor, and the Democrats were defeated in the general elections.
The cavern is about seven metres high and six metres wide. You enter to a vaulted chamber encrusted with gaudy mosaics and seashells. At its centre is a painted white eagle, symbol of the Roman Empire.
You see, Rome never changes and yet it changes all the time. Even its past is reinvented, in the original sense of being found again. And Rome is an infuriating place – not least because it is so necessary. You can’t consider yourself civilised until you have been there, seen the ruins of the forums and temples along the Via Sacra and contemplated where so much of the culture of our own world sprang from.
There’s always something to discover, and always something to observe, in this city of cities, where contemporary life weaves itself so effortlessly into a splendid historical backdrop.
Where to stay, where to eat and where to go if you're making a visit to the Eternal City
5 places to stay
Abruzzi. Piazza della Rotonda 69, 00-39-06-9784-1351, hotelabruzzi.com. The superb location is the Abruzzi’s selling point. Its rooms, which are fitted out in rich yellow and emerald shades, have breathtaking views of the Pantheon. Doubles from €195.
Casa di Santa Francesca Romana. Via dei Vascellari 61, 00-39-06-581-2125, sfromana.it. On a tranquil side street where Santa Francesca Romana worked many of her miracles, this former convent is now a hotel – with an inevitable churchy feel. Doubles from €119.
Hotel Teatro di Pompeo. Largo del Pallaro 8, 00-39-06-6830-0170, teatrodipompeo.it. This small friendly hotel occupies a palazzo built on the site of the ancient Teatro di Pompeo. Its pièce de résistance is its breakfast room, dug out of the ancient ruins. Doubles from €140.
La Residenza Napoleone III. Largo Goldoni 56, 00-39-347-733-7098, residenzanapoleone.com. Surely one of the most luxurious BBs in the world, La Residenza is named after an illustrious former resident. A sumptuous breakfast is served on Bulgari silver, and a butler will attend to your every whim. Suites start at €730.
The Inn at the Roman Forum. Via degli Ibernesi 30, 00-39-06-6919-0970, theinnattheromanforum.com. Opened in 2006, this hotel has rooms that are an elegant mix of rich fabrics and antiques. You can get an ancient Rome fix on the ground floor, where a crypt is being excavated by archaeologists. Curious guests are welcome to have a peek. Doubles from €150.
5 places to eat
Armando. Salita de Crescenzi 31, 00-39-06-6880- 3034, armandoalpantheon.it. This restaurant has all the hallmarks of authenticity: cork walls, indifferent artworks, a pretty stained-glass entrance and friendly service. The menu has classics like fettuccine all'Armando(with mushrooms, peas and tomatoes).
Dagnino. Galleria Esedra, Via VE Orlando 75, 00-39-06-481-8660, pasticceriadagnino.com. Stunning 1950s decor sets the scene for this corner of Sicily in the heart of Rome. Regulars come for crisp cannoli sicilianifilled with chocolate-chip ricotta and the shiny green-iced cassata, uniting all the flavours of the south: the perfume of citrus, almonds and fresh ricotta.
La Campana. Vicolo della Campana 18, 00-39-06-687-5273, ristorantelacampana.com. Service here is impeccable, and the classic Roman cooking is as reliable as the midday cannon on the Gianicolo hill. Alongside staples like spaghetti alla carbonaraare more recherche seasonal delights like vignarola, a spring soup of artichokes, fava beans and guanciale.
La Gatta Mangiona. Via Federico Ozanam 30, 00-39-06-534-6702. Rome’s best pizzeria? Quite possibly. Small but filling, the pizzas are a tad more gourmet than the Roman average.
Sora Margherita. Piazza delle Cinque Scole 30, 00-39-06-687-4216. This is something of a spit-and- sawdust trap that offers serious Roman Jewish cooking and quite the dining experience.
5 places to go
Centrale Montemartini. Via Ostiense 106, 00-39-06-574-8030, centralemontmartini.org.
Head here for ancient statuary, such as fauns and Minervas, Bacchic revellers and Apollos, all starkly white but oddly at home against the gleaming machinery of the decommissioned generating station.
Golden House. Via della Domus Aurea, 00-39-06-3996-7700. Nero’s glittering house, a bold exercise in ancient unrestraint, is now open to the public.
Ostia Antica. ostia-antica.org. Rome’s answer to Pompeii, and though it lacks the volcano backdrop it is every bit as impressive. Offices of shipping companies in the Forum of the Corporation have floor mosaics showing the commodities dealt in, while the public latrine must have been a great place to pick up the day’s gossip. Take the train from Piramide metro station.
San Clemente. Via San Giovanni in Laterano, 00-39-06-774-0021, basilicasanclemente.com.
This is a 12th-century basilica that functions as a three-dimensional Roman timeline. It’s basically a church above a church above an even older imperial building.
Esposizione Universali Roma (EUR). Detox from classical wonders by taking metro line B to EUR, the “model” suburb dreamt up by Mussolini and his fascist urban planners.
Shop spot
Narrow, bustling Via del Governo Vecchio is not only unspeakably pretty but also has the highest density of one-off fashion emporiums in Rome, offering everything from the classiest second-hand garments to elegant coats and embroidered wedding dresses.
Hot spot
Goa (Via dei Serpenti 19, 00-39-06-485-803) serves more than 500 wines. But its real speciality is distillati– dozens of fine grappas, whiskies and other fiery spirits. In the back room are pretty cast-iron tables, topped with volcanic stone and ceramics.