I drive the 360 km from Modena to Rome through a heavy downpour. The bad weather obscures what would normally be a spectacular view as I pass through the hills of Tuscany and Umbria. The A1 highway is jammed with truck traffic. Anyone venturing into the left lane is liable to be run down by headlight-flashing Italian speed demons — surely the world's fastest and rudest drivers. The situation only gets worse when I enter Rome.
The city is impossible to drive in. A Rube Goldberg one-way system invariably sends you in the opposite direction from where you want to go. The traffic is bumper to bumper with no apparent right-of-way rules. Countless motor scooters buzz between the boxy little Italian cars like swarms of insects, fouling the air and creating a head-splitting din. Then suddenly, you're driving past the Colosseum, breathtakingly illuminated at night, and you're ready to forgive everything.
In some ways, Rome is a modern, cosmopolitan city. The sidewalks are full of people, young and old, shouting into cell phones and gesticulating. McDonald's is everywhere — including the Piazza del Pantheon and the Spanish Steps. International clothing chains, Foot Lockers, fast-food joints and electronics outlets have invaded the famous Via del Corso, crowding out traditional cafes and shops. Yet the modernity's only skin-deep. There are no skyscrapers and, at least in the city center, few modern buildings. Apart from the dome of St. Peteršs, the skyline of Rome is defined by quaint rooftop gardens that bristle with potted plants, olive trees and rusting TV antennas.
The soul of Rome still lies in its antiquities — the Colosseum, the Forum, and the hundreds of other archaeological sites and museums that draw millions of tourists each year and remind Italians of who they are. Paradoxically, perhaps, Italy is betting heavily on the future of antiquity. "I describe myself as a small minister of a cultural superpower," says Culture Minister Giovanna Melandri, 38, in her near-perfect English. "Being a culture minister in Italy is like being oil minister in Saudi Arabia." And she is proud to say that, during her two years in office, the culture ministry "has been transformed from a marginal administration into one that counts. We have invested a lot of public money in restoring and giving back to the public masterpieces that had been under seemingly endless renovation. In the last three years, seven new museums opened in Rome alone."
It is remarkable how old things can take on new life in Rome. The Colosseum, that magnificent amphitheater built in the first century to stage gladiator combats, executions and other forms of popular entertainment, came back to life last summer by hosting its first public spectacle since the year 550 A.D.: a series of ancient Greek tragedies performed by, among others, the National Theater of Greece. In order to do that, it was necessary to build a wooden catwalk and stage over part of the old killing floor, which was long ago excavated to reveal the labyrinth of underground tunnels and chambers that once housed gladiators and wild animals.
Another ancient site to undergo a revival is the Domus Aurea, Nero's extravagant palace that once occupied much of Rome and that, according to Tacitus, the eccentric emperor "plundered his people to build." Built on the Oppian Hill to replace an earlier dwelling that was partially destroyed by the fire of 64 A.D., the Domus Aurea was later filled with earth, and its upper floors razed, to build Trajan's baths in the second century A.D. Though the ruins were rediscovered in the 15th century, a full-scale excavation did not take place until the 1760s. After more then a decade of restoration, the Domus Aurea was reopened to the public last year for the first time in two decades. Though most of its precious fittings — marble facades, gold-leaf facings, mosaics, gems, statues and fretted ivory ceilings — were removed by Trajan and later plunderers, modern-day visitors are dazzled by the dimensions of the vaulted brick structure, its architectural complexity, and the vestiges of the decorative frescoes and mosaics that remain. With a little imagination, one can hear the footsteps, music and laughter that echoed through these spaces nearly two thousand years ago. Since its doors reopened in June 1999, the Domus Aurea has become Rome's must-see tourist attraction, drawing an average of 1,000 visitors a day.
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A Brief History of the Higgs Hunt
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