Hotelrome.net Blog : A guide to news and events in Rome

Italian officials are on “alert” as severe winter weather threatened to swell rivers in some cities including Rome, prompting evacuation preparations.

Heavy rains and snow throughout Europe are prompting authorities to warn of avalanches, flooding and blackouts throughout the region. In Belgium, the first winter snow and the resulting electricity blackouts and ice on the roads caused two deaths and several injuries, news agency Ansa reported.

Rome was almost flooded at the weekend as heavy rainfall swelled the banks of the Tiber river, prompting emergency services to prepare to evacuate parts of the city, according to a statement from the region of Lazio, where the capital city is located. Should the water level rise to 16 meters from its usual 6-meter height, the river could overflow its banks, La Repubblica said, citing city officials.

In Rome, where the level of the Tiber rose above 14 meters, officials opened 5 metro stations to provide shelter for homeless people who live on the banks of the river, according to La Repubblica. Fireman started evacuating several hundred people from houses near the Tiber late on Sunday.

Art, History and the Religion of Rome in one day! A trip to Rome is incomplete without visiting the Vatican Museum and learning about Christian Rome. Marvel at the magnificent beauty of the Sistine Chapel before venturing out to exploring the ancient catacombs.

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More than 6.6 million people tuned into the debut of BBC Two’s historical epic series Rome, making it the most watched programme in its time slot.

Christopher Howse in the Telegraph said: “This might be too much like half-forgotten schoolwork for comfort and, as in all first episodes, there was a lot of indigestible introduction.”

Peter Paterson of the Daily Mail wrote: ” Despite the strident publicity that this 11-part serial is the real McCoy, presenting Rome as it actually was in 52BC with all the dirt and grime, though thankfully not the smell, this the not the impression I got from watching last night’s opening episode.”

But Nancy Banks-Smith in The Guardian did make a positive comment about the show, calling it a “meaty treat” .

Before transmission of Rome, the BBC defended the use of graphic scenes of sex and violence.

“You can’t understand that period of history unless it shocks you,” writer and co-creator Bruno Heller.

From: BBC News

The Pantheon is a building in Rome that was begun in 27 BC by the statesman Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, probably as a building of the ordinary classical temple type–rectangular with a gabled roof supported by a colonnade on all sides. It was completely rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian sometime between AD 118 and 128, with some alterations made in the early 3rd century by the emperors Lucius Septimius Severus and Caracalla. It is a circular building of concrete faced with brick, with a great concrete dome rising from the walls and with a front porch of Corinthian columns supporting a gabled roof with triangular pediment. Beneath the porch are huge bronze double doors, 24 feet (7 m) high, the earliest-known large examples of this type.
The Pantheon is remarkable for its size, its construction, and its design. The dome was the largest built until modern times, measuring about 142 feet (43 m) in diameter and rising to a height of 71 feet (22 m) above its base. There is no external evidence of brick arch support inside the dome, except in the lowest part, and the exact method of construction has never been determined.