Giordano Bruno

After visiting Campo De' Fiori several times and referring to the statue of Giordano Bruno as "the statue in the center of the square" on more than one occasion, I decided to do some research and find out more about it, and I'm glad i did. To summarize Dr. John J. Kessler, Bruno was the forgotten philosopher. He was born in Nola, Italy in 1534 and throughout his early adolescence he preferred to go against the grain. He studied to become a priest with the Monks of St. Dominco and began to question the teachings and push them farther. He asked questions that could not be answered and began to get in trouble for it. He ran away and for the next 3o years called several countries home. He had an extended stay in England though, and Henry II was one of his chief patrons. He studied and emulated the works of Aristotle and Copernicus and wrote about the unimaginable size of the Universe. His works suggested that a Universe of infinite size could not be controlled by a single God and that science does not explain revelation, two cornerstones of the Catholic Church.
Eventually, some speculate, that Bruno grew homesick and wanted to return home to Italy. This was obviously a foolish choice as at the time Italy and Rome in particular was the home of the Holy Roman Empire. That same year, 1593, charges were brought against him before the Inquisition in Venice. Rome, and the Vatican saw this heretic as a way to make an example of those who deny the teachings of Jesus Christ and had him sent there. From 1593 to 1600 Bruno was imprisoned and nothing is known of what happened to him during this time as the records from the Catholic Church, if any exist, have not been released.
Finally after a German writer Schoppious wrote about Bruno, Bruno was brought before the Inquisition again. He was given the opportunity to recant and refused. He was brought before the Grand Inquisitor on February 9, 1600 and received the punishment of death by burning at the stake. In response to the sentence Bruno is reported to have yelled and said "Perhaps you, my judges, pronounce this sentence against me with greater fear than I receive it." This didn't scare them and on Feburary 17, 1600 Bruno was burned alive in Campo De' Fiori.
During the revolutions that brought about the unification of Italy in the mid 1800's Bruno was "rediscovered" by his countrymen and his readings and his death was used as a symbol of strength against the Vatican. His statue was erected in the place of his death facing directly toward Vatican city. A kind of middle finger to the pope and the Inquisition that took his life and nearly erased him from the record books.
I found this story fascinating. In high school no one had ever told me the story of Bruno. We never really learned of his philosophy, only the more notable figures and scientists that led the renaissance such as Galileo and Copernicus. Bruno, though, influenced an entire population to stand up and Unite for the first time. Now that I know the whole story about Bruno I appreciate his statue much more and not as the place where young Italian guys try to pick up girls that walk by.

http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/john_kessler/giordano_bruno.html

Colosseum during Rush Hour

Today, Tuesday, we walked by the Colosseum on the way to a tour of two incredible churches, San Clemente and San Giovanni in Laterano. As we made our way back to the classroom from these churches at around 12:30 p.m. I got to witness one of the more entertaining aspects of the day, the swarming of the Colosseum by the stereotypical tourist. Disclaimer: before I start making fun of these people, please realize that I completely understand how incredible the Colosseum is and how worthy it is of the amount of attention it is given, and this is a generalization. With that said, some people/groups are hilarious. The typical tour group consists of about 20-40 slightly overweight middle-aged white people. Each group is led by a person holding a metal stick that has a handkerchief at the end of it and all are listening to portable headsets so they can hear the tour guide over the sound of vendors, traffic, and Polizia yelling at them to get the hell out of the street. As they walk the streets near the Colosseum they all have the most blank stares on their face as they listen to the ramblings on of a by the hour tour guide who realizes that the slower they walk the more money they will make. As the guides point at the incredible arches of the Colosseum, the group turns their back to the traffic they are blocking and everyone acts surprised when a motorbike scoots by nearly taking a fanny pack out in the process. Finally the group gets in front of the colossal structure and being so relieved to not have to worry about traffic begin chatting with each other in whatever their native language is completely ignoring the history directly behind them.

Road Construction

At home, in upstate New York, aside from school being out and grilling becoming popular, summer means road work. It is typical to see a road crew on every busy street at least one point in the summer in an effort to fix pot holes, repair pipelines that may have frozen etc. Today in Rome I saw a crew of three of four men doing "road work." Unlike at home where it is typical to see steamrollers, enormous dump trucks, and a crew of thirty to forty, here in Rome the crew had brooms, shovels, a wheelbarrow and a small van that was filled with sand. When I first came across the crew I wondered why such little equipment then i turned the corner and saw a pile of cobblestones and realized why. In order to repair anything under the surface of a street a crew has to first dig up several hundred cobble stones, repair what needs to be repaired and then manually replace each stone. The gaps are filled with sand and then pounded into place with a mechanical hammer to make certain they are secure. In this kind of heat I doubt the list of applicants for this job is very long.

German Beer

It may come as a surprise to everyone reading this, but yes i do occasionally indulge in alcoholic beverages. It may be the fact that I am a college student, go to Penn State, have an entirely Irish and German family tree, or a combination of the three, but whatever the reason for this trip I'm glad that can appreciate a good beer when I come across one. At school the beer scene is Natural Light and if you are really feeling crazy you might splurge on Yeungling. Drinking such a beverage in Germany, though, would be sacrilegious. Everywhere we went we were served different local beers that have between two hundred and three hundred year histories. Many places beer is cheaper than water bottles, although I would recommend equal portions of both, if that's what your into. Much like the bud and bud lights of America, there is a light and dark version of every beer in Germany. The light version of German beer though is still darker than anything available in a domestic beer in the States. After the food and beer that was available in Germany I think I will have to make a trip to Munich and Oktoberfest at some point in the not too distant future.

German Language Barrier

The biggest difference that I found between Rome and Germany, other than the obvious layout of the city, were the people and their communication skills. In Rome almost no one speaks English, and if they do it is broken and very difficult to understand. When you try to speak Italian though to a native speaker, they love it. Italians instantly put a smile on their face and try very hard to communicate with you using hand gestures, facial expressions, and nods. In Germany though, I got the impression that absolutely everyone spoke English, some better than others but everyone nonetheless. Furthermore, if you tried to speak German (which only one of the 4 of us traveling could do with any sort of assurance) the people would completely disregard it and speak to you in English anyway. I didn't like this that much. I think that half the fun of being in foreign places is the difficulty of being an American. As Americans we are so used to having things handed to us on a silver platter and when we have the difficulty of understanding someone else's culture, to me, it is refreshing. Other than that, everyone was very nice and helpful to us while we were there.

German Food

I have grown up eating variations of all food types including German. Since I am one quarter German in heritage some of the food that I had growing up was distinctly German, like sausage and sauerkraut. Once in downtown Frankfurt, though, I realized that the German cuisine I had grown up with was a far cry from what I was about to experience. We toured the city and ate about 5 meals a day because we wanted to eat as many native German meals that we could. The three varieties of German food that stood out the most were the sauerkraut, bratwurst, and schnitzel. Bratwurst was avaialable on many street corners and at tent vendors that popped up in markets all over the city. These sausages were prepared as if they were American hot dogs but were much different in taste, and dare I say much better. The schnitzel was more of a restaurant style meal. It is always breaded and fried and served with lemon. The portions were large and I ate all of it. Finally, the sauerkraut. I never thought that I would admit to enjoying cabbage of any variety, but this stuff blew my mind. Sauerkraut tasted incredible but like most of the German food that we ate, it was a little tough on the digestive system. Happy eating!

German Countryside

This weekend we traveled to Frankfurt, Germany. There was a whole lot that was different about this place from both home and Rome. The first thing that I noticed though was the countryside. Since we landed at an airport that was an hour and a half bus trip from Frankfurt we got a great opportunity to see the German landscape. It was completely covered in green and yellow. There were vast fields of green and many were covered in what seemed to be dandelions. This kind of reminded me of upstate New York, but instead of large mountains there were slow rolling hills and valleys that covered the landscape. A beautiful country.

Magic!

At Campo De Fiori, there is no shortage of entertainment or things to do. One of these forms of entertainment is an exciting magic show put on by a man wearing a sad excuse for a tupe and a big smile. He is a prop magician, card tricks are obviously below him, and his props are lugged around in a large green bag. Sometimes his props work and other times they don't. I'm not sure if the people watching him are amazed by his magic or amazed that he thinks he is tricking anyone. I tend to think it is the latter. The best part of the show though, comes at the end. After the oo's and ahh's are dulling down the magician goes in for the big finish. He looks around points at his head and pulls his hair off!! Truly amazing. Again he thinks no one could have possibly known he was wearing a piece. He then uses his magical hair to collect any amount of change that people are willing to give. I gave him an E for effort and went on my way.

Mark Twain's Colosseum

A lot of my inspiration for choosing the Colosseum as a destination to blog about came from the movie Gladiator. This film depicts Rome and the Colosseum as it would have appeared in the first century A.D. It shows the actual event of going to the Colosseum to be entertained by blood and death. After reading Mark Twain's description of the Colosseum and the reviews that he thinks would have been commonplace, I got the sense that he could have inspired the creation of Gladiator. Using words Twain was able to give me the sense that I was actually there and had seen the event that he was criticizing. This experience will be complete when I go back to the Colosseum and get to explore the space inside for myself.

Plants in the streets

Walking down a New York City street the scenery is that of glass and steal and seeing any type of plant life would be cause for celebration. Here in Rome though plant life and buildings are symbiotic. Each street in Rome has a different feel and appearance and many of them have abundant plant life. Seeing vines and flowers on the sides of buildings is a welcome sight. It makes you feel less like you are in a city of 4 million people and more like you are in your own home town. Along with the wild vines that cover sides of building there are small gardens on nearly every available balcony. People here seem to enjoy having things like fresh vegetables and natural flowers close by. This is a far cry from the typical Penn State balcony that may contain a grill, a "foldy" chair, and drunk kids.

CINQUINA!!

Last night my roommates and I got bored. You would think that in Rome that was impossible, but after a long day of walking and riveting discussion of timeless pieces of literature, coming back to an apartment that has no T.V. or internet is, sadly, a little bit dull. So we did what any other 20 year old college students would do in this situation, we went and played Bingo. We entered a room to glances and glares and glares of "Americano," but that didn't matter we had our game faces on and were ready to win some Euro. A man that looked in charge pointed us to a table that was occupied by two ladies. Big surprise, they didn't speak a word of English, so asking them how to play this Italian version of bingo was a little bit of a chore but we got the gist of it pretty quickly. We were given our bingo cards that had 15 numbers on them. If you get 5 of these numbers in one row then you yell Cinquina! and you win the cinquina minimum (in our case around 10 Euro). After someone gets cinquina they keep calling numbers until someone fills their card and yells Bingo! and that person wins between 50-150 Euro, depending on the number of players. A simple game and for one Euro a card it seemed like a bargain. After 5 games and Neanderthal like communication with the two women next to us (who we speculated were adult performers of some sort) something amazing happened. On card number six my roommate Jared who must have pleased the Gods earlier in the day, hit Bingo on the biggest pot of the day. He won 137 Euro and life was good. We celebrated with a plate of French fries and we returned for round two a few hours later where I lost my remaining 10 Euro. Money well spent.

Pantheon vs. Arlington National Cemetary

Class today got me to thinking about a possible comparison between the Pantheon and a monument in America. The one that made the most sense after today's discussion was Arlington National Cemetery. I feel that both spaces are a holistic representation of a culture's history as well as a place for individual recognition of people deemed worthy. The discussion of Raphael made me think of Jackie Kennedy. Not just anyone can be buried in the Pantheon and there are qualifications that need to be met in order to end up at Arlington. Both Raphael and Jackie Kennedy made it their dying wish to be buried in these historical places and both made history by being granted that wish.

Soccer match at Campo

Yesterday there was a Roma soccer game. The Roma team was away so naturally the entire city had to find an alternate way to watch the game. In America the answer to this dilemma is to go to a sports bar and enjoy a few beers in a large indoor area with a choice between 30 or more flat screen HDTV's to choose from. In Rome a popular place to watch the game is at Campo di Fiori. This square was transformed into a the mecca of Roma Soccer for those 2 hours that the game lasts. Unlike the American counterpart the bars that Roma fans attend are tiny. The one that I went to to watch the game had enough room inside for about 20 people. The rest of the audience was crowded outside standing or sitting on stools at tall tables. At this one bar there were about 150 people crowded around a 20-30 inch TV. There was a combination of cheering when Roma came close to scoring and Jeering when the other team committed a foul or a foul wasnt called. At the end of the first half a few men near the front of the crowd began a chant that turned to a song. Soon the whole 150 people joined in this cheer hoping to guide their team to victory.

Chess in the street

In New York City chess boards are incredibly common around several small parks and people are always waiting for a match. In Rome though, as I was out exploring, I came across a few older men playing chess in the middle of their street. Scooters slowed and turned to avoid them and no one batted an eye. I drew the comparison between the first 5 feet of a roman street and a stoop of an apartment building in any of the boroughs of NYC. This is a place where privacy and the public domain meet. A chess match or social interaction is common in this place and getting hit by a vehicle is far from a chief concern.

Colosseum at Night

On Friday two roommates and I visited several famous places in Rome at night. The most notable place we went was the Colosseum. This was the first time I had seen the structure at all let alone at night. It was incredible. There were very few people in sight but every arch of the building was well lit as if it was the place to be at night. I was able to appreciate the structure in silence without the ambiance of tour guides and ugly American tourists (hypocritical? maybe). As we walked around we speculated as to the general routine of a "fight day." We wondered if the ancient romans had similar game day routines as we did at Penn State. Was there tailgating with jugs of wine instead of kegs of beer? Did people sport different colored togas for their favorite warriors? Did they cheer for the lion as much as we do? It was cool to think that maybe these people weren't all that different from us. I wonder what an ancient roman would think if they saw Beaver stadium. I'm sure that if they attended a football game they would be bored out of their minds and wonder when the tiger would leap out from a trap door in the field to eat one of the players, or better yet one of those bias big ten ref's.

Drinking Water

The drinking water here is surprisingly good. I have grown up on a lake and it is famously one of the cleanest lakes in the world. As a result I have grown up with very good drinking water. This water has spoiled me and coming to Rome I expected to be disappointed. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Not only is the water good, it flows freely through the streets of Rome at different "watering stations" and fountains. Today i saw a local resident fill his water bottle directly out of a fountain. I haven't been brave enough to try that yet but the I have visited "The Buddha" near our classroom several times a day to fill up.

Old Lady

When I first checked in at the Sede Di Roma, I was given a set of keys, directions to my apartment, and a paper telling me my room number and address. On that piece of paper it said that we had apartment number 14. After an hour of trying to use a key (that looked like it might have been used to lock St. Peter to a stone in a basement) to open door number 14, I decided to knock on a neighbors door and ask for help. I went downstairs and heard the sound of a T.V. coming from apartment 9. I knocked, and knocked again. Someone from inside said "Queine?" which i presumed meant "Who is it." So, I said "Brian, Soy Americano." Nothing happened, so I went back upstairs to try the door again. Ten minutes later i decided to try my luck again. I knocked on the same door and to my surprise an elderly woman wearing a nightgown and a robe came to the door. I did my best to explain that I couldn't get into my apartment and that i needed help trying. She looked at me like I was carrying the plague and without making a sound she slowly backed up, closed the door, and locked her door (which was a thirty second ordeal as she had close to 5 different locks). After this I called the Sede and they came only to discover that my room was #15 not #14 as the sheet said. I have since seen this woman on the streets and in my building several times. I say hello to her whenever I see her, this time in Italian and I think she is beginning to realize that I may not be a carrier of a fatal disease after all.

Expensive

Since the American dollar is in the toilet, money is pretty tight. So, when i ventured to the Spanish Steps and its surrounding stores all i could do was laugh. I walked by stores that i would never shop at for myself let alone a girlfriend wife, sister or mother. These included but are not limited to, Louis Vitton, Giorgio Armani, Prada, Gucci, and Dolce and Gabanna (spelling?). These stores are out of my budget and if I happened to stumble in a store like that not knowing they were filled with overpriced products that would probably see as much of a closet as they would an arm or shoulder, I would know by looking at the price tag that it wasn't for me or for anyone I could be shopping for. But one store in this 5th avenue-esque part of Rome made me wonder what the world not just Italy is coming to. The name of the store was "Expensive." Who shops there? Is it a status thing? Do we really need to know how much people spent for their ugly bags? It used to be that you saw an L and V overlapping each other on a piece of fabric and you knew it was either fake or expensive (i personally cant tell), but putting the word 'expensive' right on the piece of junk seems a little excessive. Next thing you know there will be a store called "HEY LOOK AT ME I SPENT WAY TOO MUCH MONEY ON THIS"

Transportation

These cars are wild, and so are their drivers. In the states if I see a hummer taking up more than one parking space I would refer to the driver with any number of derogatory terms. Here I feel that Italians think similar thoughts of anyone driving a car that has more 2 doors or is longer than 6 feet in length. There tiny cars are parked anywhere there is just a little bit of space and some places where cars don't belong at all, like sidewalks. Crazier than the smart cars, and models like it, are the motor scooters. I was warned about these scooter drivers and their lack of concern for pedestrians let alone stop lights and traffic signals. I didn't think much of it until I was nearly hit by one crossing the street. That will wake you up in the morning. One of the most entertaining aspects of the motor scooter drivers is their derby style free-for-all at every green light. This occurs when the drivers snake their way through the cars to get to the front of the pack and when the light finally turns its thumb to the metal and they are off. Don't get in the way.

Ancient mall

I knew a fair amount about ancient Roman history before coming to Rome, and i knew that they were an incredibly advanced culture, but i never thought about their material necessities. Across the street from the forum is an ancient market place that the guide book says is the equivalent of a present day shopping mall. Looking at the structure you can imagine what it would be like to be a Roman walking from store front to store front buying whatever it is Romans bought. What did they buy? Lets speculate: Statues of favorite gladiators for kids, fresh vegetables, fish, togas, leather sandals, Egyptian cotton, goods from other parts of the empire...makes you wonder.

Don't be a Tourist in the Campo

Thursday night all of us went to dinner in Campo Di Fiori around 9:30 p.m. We went to one of the first places we saw that could accommodate about 20 people. It was a small restaurant with a lot of seating outside, it didn't look like they had the capacity to feed all of us but they were positive that they could. We sat ordered our meals (I ordered a simple pasta with sauce and basil) and drinks and waited, and waited. 30 minutes went by and some of the first meals came out. These plates were simple pastas and pizzas that looked and smelled very good. 10 more minutes and 5 more dishes came out, still no sign of my food. This is when i remembered that Italians don't have the same concept of time that we do. Thirty minutes later my meal arrived, overcooked and partially inedible. I payed 7 euro, said grazie and knew i should stick to the restaurants that the locals go to and stay out of the Campo for dinner.

Defacating on the Streets

Early on in our first orientation meeting we were told not to be loud obnoxious drunks during our stay in Italy, and that if we were the locals would look at us like we defacated on their street. What we didn't know was that the streets are already filled with fecal discharge of a different kind. Walking down most streets in Rome you need to keep one eye behind you so you don't get run over, one eye roaming so that you can take in all of culture around you and yet another eye on the ground so you make sure to avoid the dog feces that is scattered from street to street. So far I haven't been hit by a car/bike and have been appreciating my surroundings at all times. Unfortunately my feet have found the poop before my "third eye" has. There are dogs of all shapes and sizes in Rome and they leave behind a little piece of themselves wherever they go. This isn't surprising as they are animals, what I do find surprising thought is the response of their human owner. I haven't seen one owner with a little plastic bag as they walk their dog and absolutely no signs that encourage such maintenance.

The Streets Of Rome

Streets here are a far cry from the fast paced streets of New York City. The first major difference between the streets of New York and the streets of Rome are the colors. In NYC you are surrounded by dark steel sky scrapers and buildings at least 20 stories high. In Rome the streets are no taller than 6 stories (as mandated by law) and range in color from

The Forum/Colossium

The ancient romans had a sophisticated hierarchy of politics, social life, and a well developed judicial system. These aspects of human culture all convened on one area in ancient Rome, the Forum. The space known as the forum was a cultural mecca. It combined business with political life and was the epicenter of all things Roman. Today the forum does not look much like a place to do anything but climb on rocks and maybe kick a ball around the grass that used to be a marble floor. But, if you put yourself in the shoes of an ancient Roman the space becomes the home of the Marc Antony speech and formation of a system of politics that inspired our own forefathers. Either way it is much more impressive than the forum I am used to in State College.

Campo Di Fiori

The first experience I had with the campo was at night. The open square contains about 8 restaurants with enough room to have 6 tables inside and the rest (maybe 8-12) outside. All these menus had the exact same thing so making the decision on where to eat came down to price. The biggest surprise of the night came after dinner at the local bars. It turns out that these "bars" aren't so local. Everyone in the establishment was a loud American while the young Italian guys scoped out the scene from the bottom of a statue in the center of the square.