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Side business in Rome…

Hello again from Rome, where summer has been now hitting us in full !

Opportunity knocks at the door all the time. Consider 1.200 euro cash flow per day with no cost and almost no risk (unless police gets you).

Now think about a summer afternoon in Rome, your promenade is interesting but it is quite warm all around so you would like to refresh yourself going to the beautiful Trevi Fountain. Of course you are not the only one. There seems to be thousands of people and as legend says, they throw a single coin over the shoulder to guarantee they will come back to the Eternal City.

Let me just guess what you are planning :

Option 1- You want to take a dip ? Just like in the famous Italian movie La Dolce Vita, when a beautiful Anita Ekberg happily splashes around the Trevi Fountain.

OR

Option 2 – And allow me to say you would not be a pioneer by having such an impure thought -

The Trevi’s most famous coin thief was nicknamed ‘d’Artagnan’, a 50-year-old Roman who raided the fountain for more than 30 years before the law cracked down on him in 2002 and banned him from the square.

The musketeer, whose nickname derived from his long, sword-like magnet, gained worldwide news coverage with his tricks including a front-page slot on the New York Times.

At the peak of the tourist season, he was reported to have scooped out an impressive 22 kilos of coins from the fountain in just fifteen minutes.

The police eventually caught him and sadly for us, patrols have since been increased in the very Trevi area so you would need to be supersonic to get away with it…

About the Trevi Fountain : Not only ambition attracts crazy people to the monument. The Fountain has also lured imitators of screen beauty Anita Ekberg, who made a legendary dip into its waters in the 1959 Federico Fellini movie La Dolce Vita. In 2007 , a youth risked his life by diving from the highest part of the Baroque monument headlong into its shallow waters.

The Trevi Fountain in Rome, designed to replace an older fountain dating back to the 1450s, was created by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Pietro da Cortona in the 17th-century and is one of the main atractions of Rome.

Read about  the Trevi Fountain that turned red : Lady in red !

If you plan to stay over in Rome for a few days, before packing do not miss out our Rome Hotel Summer Specials  in our Hotel Des Artistes Rome

and book now..

Nowdays pasta is all around the world, you could say it’s global, let’s put the question: Where does the pasta come from? Is it so italian as many people think?

The legend says that Marco Polo introduced the pasta to Italy after his exploration of the East in the 13 century. But we can trace pasta back until the fourth century B.C., an Etruscan tomb showed a group of people making what appears to be pasta. Further yet the Greek mythology suggests that the Greek God Vulcan invented a device that made some kind of… spaghetti! 

In 2005 a big discovery was made: a 4,000-year-old bowl of noodles has appeared at an archaeological site in western China. Possible proof for the argument that China invented before Italy? "These are definitely the earliest noodles ever found," said Lu Houyuan, a researcher with the Institute of Geology in Beijing.

Now we understand why there are different theories on the matter, basically the following opinions (quotations of mentioned before Lu  Houyuan): " Chinese people say that Marco Polo brought noodles from China back to Italy and Italians say they had noodles before that". The chinese group that made the discover declared: ‘‘All this has been based on documentary material, on personal accounts and menus. But we’ve been unable to find any actual material, until now."

Despite that discovery, some people are inclined to say no to a ‘‘chinese born pasta’’ this, for a simple reason: Once you have begun to make flour, and bread, it seems an obvious next step to make a firm dough, roll it out, and dry it to produce something — pasta — that will keep very well, much better than either flour or bread. Therefore bit’s more likely to think that pasta has been discovered independently more than once in the course of history.
Moreover, Arabs were already making spaghetti at Trabia, in Sicily, in 1150, long before Marco set out, some others said.
As for ravioli, they’re mentioned in documents predating Marco Polo’s trip. So they didn’t come from China.

So at last the theories are many, but the truth is one, no matter who or when, who invented pasta gave us a great tasty legacy, and that taste is the real mystery.

Once you will visit Rome, do not forget to eat in a very famous restaurant Le mani in pasta in Trastevere, where you will be served typical roman pastasciutta al dente at reasonable price.

Chess is the oldest skill game in the world.

It has been played during centuries reflecting somehow the way people lived. The game itself changed during this long period of time. Some are bold to say that some changes in the world has been inspired by the game. In the 18^th century a famous chess player called Philidor declared that ‘’The pawns are the soul of the chess’’. Few years later the French Revolution happened. Coincidence?

There are many similarities between chess and war strategy, for example the principle observing that an attack from the centre should be respond by an attack from the sides. Simulation strategies and the knowing of the operational set described by Sun Tzu in the Art of War, can be perfectly matched with the features of the game.

Not only war and politics but also art is reflected in this magic and mysterious game. In the 19^th was played the so called Romantic Chess. It was full of emotion, sacrifices in search for beauty as the supreme goal beyond the result, a romantic conception of life.

What if we go even further back in time? If you look at the way a chess board is set up, you will realize that chess is a history of medieval times in miniature. The different chess pieces on the board symbolize a picture of medieval life with its many ceremonies, grandeur, and wars.

No one really knows for sure in which country it originated, or when.

Many centuries ago chess was played in China, India, and Persia In the eighth century, armies of Arabs known as Moors invaded Persia. The Moors learned chess from the Persians, later invaded Spain, the soldiers brought the game of chess with them. And so the Spanish were playing chess, too. From Spain, chess quickly spread throughout all of Europe.

The pawns on the chess board represent serfs. There are more of them than any other piece on the board, and often they are sacrificed to save the more valuable pieces.

In medieval times, serfs were considered no more than property of landowners. Life was brutally hard for serfs during this era of history. They worked hard and died young. They were often left unprotected while wars raged around them. They could be traded, used as a diversion, or even sacrificed to allow the landowners to escape harm.

The castle piece on a chess board is the home, or the refuge, just as it was a home in medieval times. In chess, each side has two castles, or rooks, as they are sometimes called.

The knight on a chess board represents the professional soldier of medieval times whose job it was to protect persons of rank. Knights in a game of chess are more important than pawns, but less important than bishops, kings, or queens.

The bishop in the game represents the church. The church was a rich and mighty force in medieval times, and religion played a large part in every person’s life. It is no wonder that a figure that represented the concept of religion found its way into the game. A bishop was the name for a priest in the Catholic church who had risen through the ranks to a more powerful position..

The queen is the only piece on the board that represents a woman, and she is the most powerful piece of the game! Many people do not realize that queens in medieval times often held a powerful, position. The king was often guided by her advice, and in many cases the queen played games of intrigue at court..

The king is the tallest piece on the board, and is as well defended on the chessboard as in medieval life. In medieval times, the surrender of the king would mean the loss of the kingdom to invading armies and that could mean change for the worse. The king is the most important, but not the most powerful piece in chess. If you do not protect your king, you lose the game. 

Marostica Human Chess

If you visit Italy on the second weekend of September in even-numbered years, the little town of Marostica comes alive with the unique spectacle of a life-size chess game played out in the central square. The games are reconstructions of various historical world championship games, and are played out by authentically-costumed participants on an enormous chessboard, accompanied by fireworks, music and performances which complement the action.

Something to add to the list of mysterious cases and chess. The legend Robert James Fischer died unexpectedly during a regular health check at the age of 64. The exact number of squares in the board…

From May 23rd to June 08th the CinaviCina Festival is taking place in one of the  most fascinating city: Rome and the exhibits of art and culture and traditional performances of the world’s most populous country will be even hosted in one of the Renzo Piano ‘s pearl of architecture, the Auditorium Parco della Musica.

AUDITORIUM

The Auditorium’s construction began in September 1995. At north of Parioli District and at East from Flaminio District and just at south from the Olympic Village, the location was accurately chosen to foster a new dignity in this area. This intent is also underlined by the concept that this building wants to represent as both source of attraction and as source for everyday local use.

The Auditorium has three Music Halls named after Santa Cecilia, Petrassi and Sinopoli, which are immersed in a large park with trees with an impressive theatrical cavea, facing the Olympic Village.

THE IDEA

The CinaviCina Festival is jointly produced by the Fondazione Musica for Rome and the Centre of International Cultural Exchange, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China. The Fondazione Musica worked on this project for two years, trying to take the most of the Chinese culture, individuating the most preminent rapresentatives in all the creative fields: from traditional songs and dances to the theatre and the cinema, to cuisine, massage and kung fu. The Festival ‘s name takes origin from the movie of the Italian director Marco Bellocchio entitled “La Cina è vicina” (China is close), screened at the Venice Festival of the Cinema in 1967. Never as before China is felt “close” to Europeans like today, not only as a commercial partner and/or opponent as in first instance it has been for decades but even as a cultural identity with its own history and costumes.  This Festival wants to enlarge the cultural vision of China in Europe and help the intercultural exchange. Dialogue and knowledge can only strengthen the al comprehension of two civilisations that are so distant in many different ways. Highly appreciated by the Chinese Embassy in Italy, Sun Yuxi, who highlighted the importance for the relation among Italy and China.

PERFORMANCES

The Festival covers different kind of exhibitions and displays. We will be fascinated from the beginning and get to the mood with the Dongguan Shipai Lion Dancing Troupe, which opens the event and “Sticks” is the dance show of the Guandong Modern Dance Company. with Kung Fu will be the main key in the spectacle of the Gongfu MonkGroup of the Shoalin Temple (June 1^st and 2^nd), the Changqing Acrobatic Troupe will stun viewers with amazing acrobatic routines (May 28^th – 29^th). About music we will pass through the Mongolia Chorus accompanied by local instruments thanks to the Mongolia Youth Chorus and the Butterfly girls Band (June 07^th and 8^th) until the modern music exhibitions of the eminent composer Guo Wenjing (May 23^rd – 24^th).

If you plan to visit Italy during this period, and maybe are looking forward into opening an enterprise with Chinese counterparts, then do not hesitate to participate in this unforgettable initiative. Book you stay in one of the stylish hotels in Rome-YES HOTEL, from which you will easily reach Auditorium.

And, yes, China is near, China is here, in Rome.