Under the Trevi Fountain

Another underground wonder in Rome

The Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain) is probably the most famous fountain in Rome.  Its name comes from the “tre vie” (three streets) that intersect here. The films Three Coins in the Fountain and La Dolce Vita have popularized it on an international scale.

Finished on a design in the late Baroque style of the Roman architect Nicola Salvi in 1762, the work is a tribute to water. The composition is dominated by an imposing Neptune on a cart formed by an enormous shell, pulled by two horses. The triton on the left tries to control his agitated horse which symbolizes the stormy ocean, while the one on the right blows through a shell while guiding his horse easily, representing calm waters. The sense of movement and enormity is amplified by the small square that the structure occupies.

The Trevi Fountain

The custom of throwing a coin over your shoulder into the fountain, to assure your return to Rome, is celebrated and photographed at all hours of the day and night by people from all over the world

The visit to the basement of the Trevi Fountain is a less known but at the same time incredibly suggestive tourist route. It is well known that everywhere in Rome you can find ancient domus, aqueducts and archaeological finds. The site under the Trevi Fountain is a prominent example of this and deserves to be visited.

Buildings under the fountain

 The Vicus Caprarius, “the city of water”

The term “City of Water”, used commonly to define the archaeological area of Vicus Caprarius beneath the Trevi Fountain is due to the element that without doubt characterizes the area and the site. It was discovered between 1999 and 2001 during the renovation of the former Trevi Cinema.

Thanks to the excavations carried out together with the superintendence of the archaeological heritage of Rome, a building complex of the imperial age was brought to light, including canals that carried water from the Acqua Virgo to the luxurious domus of the area, in which water still flows from the Lucullan countryside at a depth of 9 meters below the level of the road.

The antiquarium

To frame the archaeological site there is the antiquarium, that is the exhibition of all the finds that have been found over the years during the excavations. There are over 800 coins dating back to between the 4th and 5th centuries AD, as well as everyday objects, including terra-cotta figurines, African pottery, and mosaic tiles. 

Pottery found in the area, with coins

What makes this hidden gem particularly special, however, is the water that runs through it. At Vicus Caprarius, visitors will find pools that still fill with water, thanks to the Aqua Virgo, one of the 11 aqueducts of ancient Rome. This aqueduct is also the one that feeds into the Trevi Fountain, meaning the water you see in Vicus Caprarius will eventually make its way to the fountain for tourists to throw their coins in.

The excavations brought to light an imposing distribution tank, (the castellum aquae) and the water, which filters through the ancient masonry of the Archaeological area, continues to supply the pipes in lead and the pools of a luxurious residence.

The wall structures found, characterized by a brick facing and conserved until a height of about eight meters, are attributed to an insula, a housing block divided into several independent units that were transformed, in the middle of the fourth century, into a stately domus.

 

Tickets for this archaeological site are only four euros (about $4.08 USD). For more information on how to visit, check out the official website. There are numerous companies that provide tours, but you can also go on your own.

Visiting Europe? What to know about ETIAS

What to know about Schengen zone, Europe’s ‘border-free’ travel system and ETIAS

What is the Schengen travel zone?

Often referred to as the “crown jewel” of European integration policies, the Schengen zone is the European Union’s passport-free travel space. It was first established in 1985 with the abolition of passport controls and the creation of a shared visa policy in Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. With the inclusion of Bulgaria and Romania, it encompasses 29 countries without internal border controls. That means travelers, whether international tourists or European residents, can move freely between member states without having to worry about extra visas, immigration control or mandatory ID checks.

With the recent addition of Romania and Bulgaria, and the addition of Croatia last year, the Schengen area includes every country in the E.U. except Ireland and Cyprus. Four non-E.U. countries are also included: Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.

What are the travel benefits of Schengen countries?

International travelers who are visa-exempt or who have obtained a Schengen visa are free to move between member countries as tourists for up to 90 days within a 180-day period. This means that someone who is authorized to visit Romania, for example, is then also able to visit Croatia and France without another passport check.

The Schengen zone helps save travelers time and money, because there are no extra visas or passport checks when they travel between member countries.

What do Americans need to enter Schengen countries?

Americans can enter the Schengen zone with a valid U.S. passport for up to 90 days within a 180-day period. Longer stays, such as those for school or work, require specific visas from the country where you plan to spend most of your time.

While additional travel between Schengen countries would not usually require additional passport checks, the U.S. State Department recommends that travelers keep their passport with them while traveling, in case of temporary border control changes.

Although a visa is not currently required for U.S. citizens to visit Schengen countries, it’s going to change a little bit in 2025.

Travelers from the United States and other “visa-exempt” countries to Europe may soon have to apply to enter through the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS). The application would be required of any traveler planning a short-term stay or combination of stays (up to 90 days within a 180-day period), and would be filled out online at least a month before the desired travel date. The application will cost travelers 7 euros, or roughly $8, and will last three years.

While the E.U. has not yet announced a specific date when ETIAS verification will be implemented, the latest timeline projects the program will start in mid-2025.

Are there any limits to travel in the Schengen zone?

While the Schengen zone was created to be a space free of internal border controls, some countries now implement temporary border controls, largely with the purpose of controlling and limiting migration from non-European countries. Recently, that has included Germany, Italy, Austria, Denmark, France and others.

These temporary border controls mean travelers may be stopped and asked to show identity documents, such as a passport.

Just as there are no permanent restrictions for sea or air travel between Schengen countries, there are also no restrictions for land travel among the majority of Schengen countries. This means that travelers driving or taking a train from Italy to France, for example, would not have to show their passports or stop at an immigration checkpoint.

The only exceptions to this rule are Romania and Bulgaria. Though this restriction means the countries don’t yet enjoy the full benefits of being Schengen and E.U. members, leaders of both countries expect to expand Schengen entry to land borders sometime this year.

Colossus of Constantine recreated

Constantine’s colossal statue on display on the Campidoglio

In the fourth century AD, the Roman emperor Constantine commissioned a nearly 43-foot-tall statue of himself for his basilica in the Roman Forum. After his victory over Maxentius in 312 AD, believing that his success was due to the Christian God, Constantine stopped the persecution against the Christians and the following year, with his Edict of Milan legalizing Christianity, he allowed them to practice their religion openly. He also had the first church of Saint Peter’s built in Rome, moved the capital to Byzantium, now Turkey, and called it Constantinople, today Istanbul.

Today, the emperor’s legacy remains, but the statue has crumbled. All that survives are ten incomplete marble fragments of his head, hands and other body parts. The head and most of the other fragments of the colossal statue were discovered in 1486, in the ruins of a building not far from the Colosseum, and relocated to the Palazzo dei Conservatori by Michelangelo when he was working on the Capitoline piazza in 1536–1546. A tenth fragment was found in 1951. Nine of those ancient fragments — including a monumental head, feet and hand — are permanently on show on the courtyard of the Capitoline Museum.

Parts of the original statue in the courtyard of the museum

 

The original colossus was partly marble for the head, chest and limbs while the hidden structural elements were wood, covered with draped clothing made of bronze. Constantine was shown seated in the style of the more ancient statue of Jupiter in the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline. It may have even been reworked from that statue of Jupiter.  After the Fall of Rome, the statue was looted for the gilded bronze draped around the body and broken up.

It is now possible, with the latest technological advancements, to produce a replica. A team from the Madrid-based digital preservation nonprofit Factum Foundation spent three days using photogrammetry, a 3D scan with a camera, to record the fragments in the Capitoline courtyard. Over the course of several months, the high-resolution data became 3D prints, which were used to cast replicas, made of acrylic resin and marble powder. Those were then integrated with other body parts — the ones Constantine was missing — that were constructed after historical research and discussions with curators and experts. A statue of the emperor Claudius as the god Jupiter, now at the ancient Roman altar known as the Ara Pacis, was used as a model for the pose and draping, which was originally in bronze. 

The recreated statue

 

The full-sized reconstruction of the colossal statue of Constantine that once stood in the Basilica of Maxentius in the Roman Forum has gone on display in the garden of the Villa Caffarelli Garden, just behind the Palazzo dei Conservatori on the Capitoline Hill where the surviving fragments of the original statue are exhibited in the entrance courtyard.

The finished reconstruction is more than 40 feet high. The statue will remain in the Capitoline garden until at least the end of 2025, officials said. Where it will go afterward, and whether it will withstand the ravages of time better than its fractured original, remain open questions.

The Variety of Lasagne through History

Baked layered goodness

After pizza, lasagne is probably the food most associated with Italy.  It is prepared and enjoyed around the world and full of regional variations. But the origins of lasagne go back beyond even Roman times. (Note – “lasagna”, in the singular, is a southern Italian variation of what northern Italians call “lasagne”, in the plural. Americans have mostly adopted the spelling lasagna in cookbooks and menus.)

A delicious cheesy lasagne right from the oven

The concept of lasagne can be traced back to ancient culinary traditions: in Ancient Greece, there was a dish known as laganon, made from flat, unleavened bread dough sliced into strips. While this wasn’t lasagne in the modern sense, it introduced the fundamental idea of layering ingredients. In Greek culture, laganon simply meant layers of pasta and sauce, though it referred more to the method of preparation rather than the ingredients. The millennia-old history of lasagne is also supported by archaeological evidence: remarkable 4th century BC Etruscan frescoes in the Tomba dei Rilievi near Rome depict the basic tools and ingredients for pasta-making and banquets where a version of lasagne was enjoyed.

When this concept reached the Romans, they adapted it into lasanum, but initially this word described not the food itself, but the cooking pot in which it was prepared; then, over time, the name of the dish gradually began to be associated with the food prepared in the lasanum rather than just the pot itself. The Roman version of lasagne was akin to a baked casserole, incorporating their culinary preferences and ingredients, and it was more about a hearty, oven-baked meal, rather than the pasta-based dish we are familiar with today. While lasanum did lay the groundwork for the layered concept of lasagne, it was still quite different from our modern dish, as it lacked key ingredients like tomatoes, which were introduced to Europe only after the discovery of the Americas. 

A lasagne similar to the early version, without tomato

During the Middle Ages, lasagne began to take a form closer to what we recognize today. One of the earliest documented recipes resembling their modern incarnation is found in the 14th-century Neapolitan cookbook, Liber de Coquina (The Book of Cooking), which is an incredible source for medieval culinary practices and the gastronomic preferences of that era. Its lasagne recipe marks a departure from the Roman-style casserole dish, moving towards a layered structure more familiar to us, because it involved layering sheets of dough, akin to pasta, with cheese and spices. However, it’s important to note that this medieval lasagne was still distinct from the version we enjoy today. A key difference was, still, the absence of tomatoes. Plus, the ingredients used in medieval lasagne were a reflection of the diverse culinary influences in Italy at the time: for instance, the use of raisins and spices was likely inspired by trade with the Middle East and North Africa. These ingredients provided a sweet and spicy flavor profile, quite different from the savory taste of contemporary lasagne.

Over time, as culinary practices evolved and new ingredients became available, lasagne continued to develop and, of course, the introduction of tomatoes to Italian cuisine was a game-changer, leading to the creation of the tomato-based sauces that are integral to modern lasagne.

Lasagne alla bolognese

Variations

The regional variations within Italy contributed to the diversification of lasagne recipes, with different areas developing their unique takes on the dish. In Emilia-Romagna, particularly in Bologna, we find the internationally renowned lasagne alla bolognese: this version is quintessentially Italian, featuring flat, broad sheets of pasta layered with a rich Bolognese sauce, known as ragù. This slow-cooked meat sauce, which usually limits or omits the use of tomatoes in favor of a meat-centric flavor, is harmoniously blended with creamy béchamel sauce and topped with a generous sprinkling of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. The region’s abundant agricultural produce and renowned dairy products explain the use of these rich ingredients, creating a lasagne that is both hearty and refined. Moving south to Campania, the lasagne alla napoletana offers a more elaborate and festive take on the dish. Here, the layers of pasta are intermingled with local sausages, small meatballs, ricotta cheese, hard-boiled eggs, and Neapolitan ragù, which is rich in tomatoes and echoes the region’s own love affair with this fruit as well as its hearty culinary traditions. Usually prepared for Carnevale, the festive season before Lent, this version is a celebration of abundance and truly captures the exuberant spirit of Naples.

Lasagne al pesto with pine nuts

In the coastal region of Liguria, lasagne al pesto presents a delightful change: in place of meat sauces, this variant is characterized by layers of pasta coated in a fresh, aromatic pesto, which is made from the region’s famed basil, along with pine nuts, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Pecorino cheese, garlic, and olive oil. Occasionally, potatoes and green beans are added, bringing a fresh but filling dimension to a lasagna that is lighter than its meat-based cousins, but showcases the fresh flavors of the Mediterranean to the full.

On the island of Sardinia, lasagne ai carciofi reflects the island’s rugged terrain and pastoral traditions: artichokes, a staple in Sardinian cuisine, take center stage in this variant, often accompanied by pecorino cheese and sometimes local sausages or lamb. The artichokes lend a unique, slightly sweet, and nutty flavor to the lasagne, creating a dish that is both comforting and distinctively Sardinian. Finally, in Sicily, the lasagne al forno incorporates ingredients like eggplants, ricotta, hard-boiled eggs, and sometimes a sweet, spiced minced meat filling. This version speaks to the island’s complex history and diverse culinary influences, including Arabic, while the inclusion of eggplants and ricotta is typical of Sicilian cuisine.

 

Vegetarian lasagne

Modern variations include making lasagna as a vegetarian dish, layering a variety of vegetables, besciamella and cheese, with or without tomato, but no meat. It can even be modified to create a vegan version.

Lasagne’s history reaches back to ancient times, and like a culinary chameleon, it’s been reinventing itself every few centuries. From its early days in Greece and Rome to its medieval version, lasagne has proved popular, even before pizza ever tossed its first dough. Today’s version is versatile and adaptable and holds a premium spot on our tables.

A new treasure for tourists in the center of Rome

Ancient Roman temple complex, with ruins of building where Caesar was stabbed, opens to tourists

Visitors can now walk through site near where Julius Caesar was killed. 

Rome has opened the centrally located archaeological site in Largo di Torre Argentina to the public for the first time following a major development project sponsored by luxury jeweler Bulgari.

Largo Argentina

 

Information in English and Italian traces the history of the ancient site down through the centuries, from the Republican age to the imperial and medieval times, up to its rediscovery last century with the demolitions during the Fascist period.

The so-called sacred area at Largo Argentina is best known as the scene of Julius Caesar's assassination. Behind two of the temples is a foundation and part of a wall that archaeologists believe were part of Pompey's Curia, a large rectangular-shaped hall that temporarily hosted the Roman Senate when Caesar was murdered.

One of the resident cats

It is also home to a popular cat sanctuary where volunteers care for approximately 130 cats, many of which are disabled or ill. There is an organization that feeds and cares for them as well as provides an extensive spay and neuter program.  The cats roam freely around the lower level of the ruins. 

 Walking through history

Now, thanks to the works funded by Bulgari and overseen by Rome's superintendency of cultural heritage, visitors can "walk through history" on raised paths around the site.

The elevated walkways offer close-up views of the four Roman Republican temples, including the circular monument to the goddess of Fortune, and the remains of Pompey's Theater.

 

Walkways allow close inspection of the site

In addition, there are two new exhibition areas in the portico of the medieval Torre del Papito and in the rooms below the street level on Via di S. Nicola de' Cesarini. The spaces have been set up with a selection of finds from the excavations and demolitions from the last century, including fragments of epigraphs, sarcophagi, architectural decorations and two heads of colossal statues representing divinities once venerated at the site. 

Exhibition area in Torre del Papito

The four temples, originally designated by the letters A, B, C, and D, front onto a paved street, which was reconstructed in the imperial era, after the fire of AD 80.

Temple A was built in the 3rd century BC, and is probably the Temple of Juturna built by Gaius Lutatius Catulus after his victory against the Carthaginians in 241 BC.  It was later rebuilt as a church, the apse of which is still present.

Temple B, a circular temple with six columns remaining, was built by Quintus Lutatius Catulus in 101 BC in fulfillment of his vow at the Battle of Vercellae. The temple was devoted to Fortuna Huiusce Diei, "the Fortune of This Day."

Temple C is the most ancient of the four, dating back to 4th or 3rd century BC, and was probably devoted to Feronia the ancient Italic goddess of fertility. After the fire of AD 80, this temple was restored, and the white and black mosaic of the inner temple cella dates back to this restoration.

Temple D is the largest of the four, dates back to the 2nd century BC with Late Republican restorations, and was devoted to Lares Permarini (Lares who protect sailors), but only a small part of it has been excavated (a street covers most of it).

 

A view of the area from above shows the four temples

Rome superintendent Claudio Parisi Presicce said "a very important area has been returned to the city, allowing everyone to admire a cross-section of history spanning more than two millennia."

Bulgari and Rome

The Bulgari brand, which was founded in Rome in 1884, has funded several important restorations in the Italian capital in recent years, including the Spanish Steps.

The opening of the area sacra at Largo Argentina comes two weeks after Bulgari inaugurated a five-star hotel beside the Mausoleum of Augustus in Rome's historic center. 

 

Adapted from an article on the Wanted in Rome website