Even if there are a lot of other reasons as to why visit Rome, I will mention just the major ones.

1 Art

Masterpieces, architecture, sculpture or paintings of famous artists like Michelangelo, Bernini, Nicola Salvi, Bramante, Sangallo, Maderno are present in Rome. Rome has good museums like Villa Borghese Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Art (MACRO), Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, National Roman Museum, Capitoline Museums and Maxxi National Museum are some of the famous ones.

2 Architecture

Of all the 45 UNESCO heritage sites in Italy, Rome houses 12.  Pantheon, Coloseum, St Peter’s Square, Navona Square, Spanish Steps etcetera are some.

 3 Shopping

 Shopping in Rome depends where you do it. Garments in Via del Corso cost more than those in malls or stalls. As for stalls don’t hesitate buying a jeans for 10 euro or less it is a good buy.

4 Wine

Worldwide wine sellers are present in this city. But to enjoy the true Roman wines go to Enoteca (wine shops) and sip wine with porchetta (roasted pig).

5 History

Monuments, squares, roads, museums, Roman Catholic Basilicas, catacombs, Synagogue and more contain interesting history and architecture.

6 Food

Every region in Italy has its own traditional food. It is always better to try the local food. In Rome you can try some like baccalà (dried salt-cured cod), carciofi ( artichoke), spaghetti alla carbonara (pasta with a dressing made of eggs, small pieces of bacon and Pecorino cheese), bucatini all’amatriciana (tube-shaped pasta with tomatoes, diced salt pork, onions, red chilli pepper and white wine).

7 Culture

People come to this city for tourism, politics, business, religion, work, emigration etc. Spending a day in different parts of  Rome is nice. For example, the lovely Jewish Ghetto located near the Capitol Hill, Pigneto and Vittoria Emmanuele quarters inhabited by many migrants or Trastevere still dominated by Romans.

8 Automotion

Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini are best Made in Italy brands. Of course Rome is not home to any car company but showrooms to many more cars are available.

9 Budget Accommodation

Hotels or hostels are all year round available in Rome but it is advisable to book months before one gets here, the longer the booking date the lesser cost.

10 Religion

Vatican City -the political and religious center of the Roman Catholic- is believed to be situated on Apostle Peter’s burial place. The Vatican City is one of the most interesting places to visit.

For more info, contact: info@hoteldesartistes.com Ph +39 064454365

Adu K

Vermeer is the most famous name of a group of painters who worked during what is now known as the Dutch Golden Age of Painting.

The painter was born in Delft during the 17th century, and apparently he never left his home town. There is not much information regarding his personal life, that remains a mystery for the most part.

The most remarkable characteristics of his works are the calm they convey and the domestic situations they portray. Centuries later, the beauty of everyday life and people was acknowledged universally by artists (just think of Van Gogh and the Impressionists) and the calm that Vermeer taught us to appreciate  was used to achieve more mysterious and suggestive effects, like Dali and Magritte did.

The upcoming exhibition Vermeer and the Golden Age of Dutch Art, due to take place from October 2012 until January 20 2013 at the Scuderie del Quirinale Museum, is an excellent opportunity to know more about this master whose legacy is as great as his life is mysterious.

Don’t hesitate to write us to get more information about the city, or to check our website to get the best accommodation in the Eternal City at the most affordable rates.

Catacombs are believed to have been used as burial chambers, worship area and refuge by persecuted Christians/Jews starting from the second century A.D. Jewish catacombs, discovered in 1918, make part of the belowground graves enriched by frescoes.

The Catacombs in Rome cover many kilometers and some are four storeys below ground zero. They contain slots carved into walls, carvings, passageways, worship halls and/or frescoes. Paintings found in this below ground complex narrate biblical stories of both old and new testaments or simply religious symbols.

Catacombs of Domitilla, for example, spread over 15 kilometers of underground caves and are Rome’s oldest underground burial complex still containing bones.

Some of the catacombs in Rome are: Marcellinus and Peter, Commodilla, Generosa, Praetextatus, Priscilla, San Callisto, San Lorenzo, San Pancrazio, San Sebastiano, San Valentino, Sant’Agnese, Jewish and so on.

To visit the San Callisto, the most famous of all catacombs, take bus 218 from San Giovanni Metro A.

For the Jewish Catacomb, get off at Metro B Policlinico and walk to Villa Torlonia.

For more detailed info about catacombs or elsewhere in Rome please stay in Hotel Des Artistes and you will enjoy complete instructions at reception.

Adu K

The ghetto was projected to lock up and control the Jews. In 1555 A.D. life for Jews in Rome began to get shoddier and agonizing.

Pope Paul IV on 14^th of July 1555, decreed the Cum nimis absurdum papal bull  to confine the Jewish minority which at that time were 2,000. The bull degraded the Jews of their personal freedoms as property ownership and imposed economic restrictions. Absurdly the bull ruled out that the Jews may not presume in any way to play, eat or fraternize with Christians. The oppression continued for 315 years until its abolition in 1870 (reunification of Italy).

At present, though the ghetto has undergone changes from its original look, it is still quite attractive area full of restaurants, bakeries and shops.

Major tourist attractions in the ghetto are: Portico di Ottavia, Ponte Fabricio (originally called Jews’ Bridge), Jewish Museum of Rome, the Synagogue of Emancipation and Santa Maria della Pietà.

Largo 16 Ottobre 1943 is a square in remembrance to the suffering of the ghetto’s residents during the second world war. At that time, Nazi soldiers threatened the Jews to bring forth 49,90 kg of gold in 24 hours or transfer them to concentration camps, the demand was met with the help of the Romans. But later the Jews were taken to the concentration camps.

The fascinating ghetto is located on the east of river Tiber, facing the Vatican. It is, easily accessible by buses and tram and though surrounded by churches, the ghetto still has fragrance of Jews among the nations.

our blogger: Adu K

The 14th edition of Settimana della Cultura (Culture Week), which provides free admission to museums and offers guided tours around a variety of cultural sites in Rome and across Italy, takes place from 14-22 April.

Some of the Rome attractions include the cinematic costumes from the collection of Fondazione Annamode on Via Vittor Pisano, a visit to the house museum of writer Alberto Moravia on Lungotevere della Vittoria, the new collections at the National Etruscan Museum at Villa Giulia, and guided tours of Porto di Traiano near Fiumicino.

Not all of Rome’s museums or institutions are participating fully in culture week however. The National Museum of 21st-century art joins in only from 17-19 April, with reduced-price tickets. The Borghese Gallery charges a fixed rate of €2 a ticket throughout the week while the Planetarium and Museo Astronomico are excluded entirely.

For full details of Settimana della Cultura tel. 060608 (09.00-21.00) or see www.beniculturali.it.

Meanwhile from 4 May the Vatican Museums open their doors every Friday evening from 19.00-23.00, with last admission at 21.30.

The late Friday openings run until 13 July, and then from 7 September until 26

October. Now in its fourth consecutive year, the popular initiative attracts an audience of mainly Roman residents as opposed to tourists.

Our blogger: Joseph

22-04-2012/22-04-2012
Palalottomatica – Rome
 

Though basketball is not as popular in Italy as in the U.S., Italy has a score of NBA players who make a difference in a basketball game. No matter the popularity, Harlem Globetrotters will exhibit in Rome.

Harlem Globetrotters is an exhibition basketball team. Since 1926 the team accomplished 20,000 exhibition games in over 110 countries.

The show is full of acrobatic dunk, regular game, street basket, dribble show, theatre, comic basket and more.

Kids love this kind of shows wholeheartedly. In Harlem Globetrotters’ show some children may have the opportunity to play with the basketball stars. Amazing experience children will never forget.

Moreover, Emporio Armani Milano’s Coach Sergio Scariolo, has notified that the Harlem Globetrotters’ Italian Tour 2012 is also a solidarity occasion.

Shot Events promoters, has decided to dedicate part of the Italian Tour 2012 to Fondazione Candido Cannavò. This in turn will contribute the abet to Minibasket dei Bambini giocato in Carrozzina (literally: mini-basket children players wheelchair).

Tickets vary from Euro 3.5 to 40.50. For more info visit: http://en.romeguide.it/

For fair accommodation, easy & fast transport to and fro the Palalottomatica click: www.hoteldesartistes.com

Our blogger: Adu K

You probably know this photo that depicts an afghan girl, and you may know that it first appeared on National Geographic but you probably don’t know who’s the author of the photo: his name is Steve McCurry and an axhibition of his breath-taking work will be on display in Rome.

McCurry hails from Newton Township, Pennsylvannia and came to the international attention with his coverage of the war in Afghanistan. Was precisely during that war that the famous photo was taken. McCurry then went on to become a successful photorreporter specialized in war coverage and a celebrity on his field.

The girl in the photo remained unidentified until 2002: her name is Sharbat Gula and after the war returned to her country and now has three girls; she wishes they will have the education she was never able to get.

But of course McCurry’s work is more than a photograph as you will be able to see attending the exposition that will be open until April 24 at the Macro Testaccio Museum (click here to get a map).

And don’t forget to send us an e-mail or check our website if you need information about accomodation in the city!

Our blogger today: Raul

The man who decided to go straight to the essential, aiming to reach the ideal composition. A vision that would take from shape and color that which is the very basis pointing towards the Truth.

Making out painting a direct trip with no stops in between only to reach the Highest. A dance of lines between the vertical (masculine) and horizontal (feminine) with only primary colors. No diagonals admitted , only the essence flourishing with what the artist himself called ‘’Neo’’.

Fascinated by Cubism Mondrian goes further in the pursuit  for the naked expression of reality. The Exhibition ‘’Perfect Harmony’’ is focused on that pursuit, a balance which shows things as they really are in Mondrian’s eyes.

In His own words: ‘’Nature (or what I see) inspires me, makes me, like any other artist, in an emotional state that causes me an urgency to do something, but I want to get as close to the truth and abstract everything from it, up to not reach the foundation (though only the outer foundations!) of things … I think it’s possible that, through horizontal and vertical lines constructed with awareness, but not with calculation, led by high intuition’’

THE EXHIBITION ‘’THE PERFECT HARMONY’’

WHERE:

At the Vittoriano (Piazza Venezia)

WHEN:

From 7/10/2011 To 29/01/2012..

VISIT TIME:

Monday to Thursday 9:30 to 19:30

Friday and Saturday 9:30 to 23:30

Sunday 9.30 - 20.30

ADMISSION:

Admission ticket € 12.00

Under the title Piranesi, Rembrandt of the Ruins, the Casa di Goethe in Rome hosts an exhibition of the engraver Giovanni Battista Piranesi, who lived and worked from 1720 to 1778. The Piranesi exhibition gives an excellent insight into what Rome must have looked like in the days of Goethe and focuses especially on his work “Vedute di Roma” (Views of Rome), which is represented with 35 reprints. The artist had depicted the ancient and classical monuments of the Eternal City in 135 sheets.The decay of the Roman ruins facilitates their placement in the surrounding landscape. Piranesi presents them as overgrown, inhabited by phantasmagoric figures and, at the same time, plunged into air and light.

Piranesi influenced Romanticism and Surrealism by his way to represent his engraving, much more than a neoclassic artist.

During the exhibition Goethe House presents for the first time a major permanent loan to Rechburg and Betzkoj Associates (RB), a pen drawing of 1787 attributed to JW Goethe, newly discovered, depicting a landscape with Italian monastery.

An exclusive exhibition has been inaugurated in Rome on April 2009 and will be opened till April 30th 2012,dedicated to the eclectic genius of Leonardo da Vinci, whose interests ranged over a wide variety of subjects: painting,sculpture,architecture,music,science,math,engineering,anatomy,geology,cartography,botany.

The show gathers the inventions of the great Tuscan master that have been deeply studied and made in wood, hand laboured with care and technically skilled by scientist and brilliant florentine craftsmen.

All the machines are fully operational and can be touched and set in motion for the amusement of all visitors: flying machines, like the precursor of the parachute, a bicycle, an hidraulic saw and many others inventions,

even an armoured tank created in exclusive for this show with its weight of two tons, and about six metres in diameter and three metres high.

The machines are grouped into 4 main sectors characterized by 4 elements of nature, water, air, earth and fire, to which add the category “mechanical elements” or mechanisms,.

The exhibition, inside the historical Palazzo della Cancelleria, next to Campo de’ Fiori can be an opportunity of a deep interactive experience to understand the genius of Leonardo da Vinci. The area can be easily reached from Hotel Des Artistes or Yes Hotel using the bus 64, from the Termini Station. Here you have a map showing the route.

Our blogger today: Lello