Every summer Rome comes to life with a festival of music, performances, sports and exhibitions. Most of the events are outdoors and often feature famous performers. This summer Ben Harper, Duran Duran and Madonna will all be making appearances in Rome at various venues. Classical music is also a big draw, with opera performed at the Baths of Caracalla and other sites. Estate Romana (Estate means "summer" in Italian) takes place from June 1st through September.
As you can imagine, building a subway line through one of the world's most archaeologically crowded cities is not easy. The new Metro Linea C which began construction last year is expected to be completed in 2015 after years of careful research, excavation and construction. Each time they break ground, new discoveries will be made, new routes will have to be chosen, and history could potentially be rewritten. The construction of the new subway, while unfortunately resulting in quite a bit of destruction, will enable archaeologists to see what lies beneath the Medieval and Renaissance city. Read the article in April's Travel and Leisure and stay tuned for what are certain to be exciting revelations!
The emperor Augustus has always been enigmatic. Anthony Everitt attempts to shed light on Augustus the man-his motivations, his relationships, his desires. Alas, even though we have many contemporary accounts of Augustus' life, the dearth of sources who were on intimate terms with the emperor keeps him in the shadows. If you are at all interested in the fall of Republican Rome, then Anthony Everitt's attention to detail will intrigue you. You will find many references to famous Roman writers and even to Augustus' own (impersonal) autobiography, the Res Gestae. My only complaint is the lack of footnotes and citation within the text directing the reader to those ancient authors to learn more. The end of the book does include a source list by chapter for reference. Augustus
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