We landed at a street in Testaccio filled with discoteca. Each club was like Johnny O’s on one of the busiest nights in Ithaca – a large crowd pushing forward and two large bouncers. I headed over to one called “Albi” with a group of 3 girls and 4 guys and, using my collegetown experience, attempted to get everyone in. I shoved my way to the front of the line with my group following, and immediately made eye contact with a bouncer who introduced himself to me as Simon. Simon then asked how many people were in my party - here I had to do a little bit of lying - and I told him I had half as many ragazzi with me. So when he lifted the cord to let me in I aggressively stood right next to him and pulled everyone through with a smile saying “e lui e lui e lui e lui…!” (and him and him and him and him). Success! We paid the cover and headed to the third floor where we found an open balcony dance floor – this club was pretty cool/huge I will say.
The dance floor was hopping. Three gigantic (like talking Kevin Garnet height) and very handsome young men made their way over. Compared to all the other Italians they stood out like sore thumbs because they were so freaking tall! They told me they were soldiers from Sicily – I am a skeptic so I thought this was BS – and for the duration of the evening I enjoyed watching them break out their best moves and belt out lady gaga songs.
Sunday was uneventful… just homework, quiz preparations and a few coffee breaks. I had my first cappuccino (it was only a dollar!), which was delicious. Bright and early Monday morning it was time to progress past the first week studies of the foundations of Rome to the growth of the city itself and outside influences – namely, the Etruscan peoples who inhabited the area just north of Rome. I find myself enthralled with Etruscan culture – especially the material remains. Why are the Etruscans important to me, a young classicist/art historian? They occupied distinct individual cities in a geographical region north of Rome between the Tiber River and the Arno River (essentially modern day Tuscany). The earliest settlements in this region (consisting of some gatherings of basic huts of wattle and daub) existed alongside villages south of the Tiber in the region called Latium where Rome is located. The northern settlements developed into actual city-states much earlier in the game (i.e. about one hundred years before Rome and other cities in Latium), and therefore this region influenced Rome when it began to develop into more then a collection of huts on a hill.
Etruscans were very urbanized and had an advantage due to their abundance of mineral based natural resources (i.e. iron ores etc); they were a hot commodity on the international economic playing field. Not only did they export items (for example to locations further south in Italy), but they also imported from far places like Greece and Turkey. The Etruscans matter because 1) they brought back home other cultures as a result of their international economic prowess and 2) they spread Etruscan culture southwards to Rome.
Most Etruscan items have been uncovered in burial grounds located outside major cities. These grounds contain the best-preserved remains of Etruscan culture, for most Etruscan urban centers were built over during Medieval times. The Etruscans loved their necropoli (burial grounds), and the more ornate/grand the tomb, the better and more well off the deceased in that tomb. This week we had the opportunity to visit two very distinctive Etruscan necropoli – one at Tarquinia, which is famous for the beautiful and well preserved frescoes that adorn the walls of its princely tombs, and another at Caere (modern day Cerveteri), which is famous for its unique, massive tumuli (mound tombs that look like hobbit houses). The necropolis at Tarquinia was phenomenal. About twenty excavated tombs scattered over a massive hill are open to tourists, and after about an hour of lecturing, we explored the tombs on our own and completed a small descriptive assignment. Alex and I headed through the necropolis, down the long staircase into the heart of our first destination: the Tomb of the Gorgon. After descending deep into the earth we came to an abrupt ending (it was completely dark at this point) with a sort of glass window. Like usual, when figuring things out for the first time in Italy, we had no idea what to do because of a lack of signage. After about five minutes we discovered a small green button on the right wall of the narrow corridor, pressed it, and then presto; the room lit up before our eyes. Looking right at us on the back wall was a painting of a massive grotesque head with snaky hair, wide-open eyes, and a yucky tongue sticking out. The tomb itself was a singular chamber with two side rooms. On the sidewalls the artist rendered three women in paintings like those we had seen in Pompeii and later Roman art. The artist – most likely a Greek who had moved to the area and been commissioned by aristocrats – rendered their bodies in a clear black outline, and filled in the lines with bold hues. Their skin was a dark nearly chestnut tone, their hair a dark brown, their clothes a light blue/white. They seemed to be organized in a procession/ceremony.
We explored the Tombs at Tarquinia for the rest of the morning, took a brief trip to the Tarquinia museum that housed sarcophagi and goods uncovered in the tombs (a lot has been lost due to looting in previous decades), returned to the bus and headed to go to our next site: Cerveteri.
At Cerveteri, we stepped into what looks like a hobbit village from the Lord of the Rings: a bunch of massive mounds covered by vegetation in the middle of the woods. Alex has been teaching popular colloquial acronyms used at Penn, and it was at this point in time that I finally correctly used one when I stated, “THIS PLACE IS SO BL.” “BL” I have learned stands for bootleg – and is an adjective meaning archaic/obsolete, especially in terms of organization and upkeep. There were stray cats running around everywhere and there was no great organization like that at Tarquinia.
After the usual brief site orientation our instructors unleashed us to explore the area. I didn’t enjoy this necropolis as much as the other students at the centro – my classmates were climbing in and up and down and around into uncharted areas and clivi (little niches in the walls filled with cobwebs). Thankfully Scott, the professor in charge, took me under his wing and led me to what he called “tomb awesome,” basically the biggest and baddest tomb of the forest village. It was pretty awesome. After descending down a very large flight of steps (the temperature in the tomb was about fifteen degrees less than outdoors, that’s how deep were talking) we found a large spacious room with three smaller (yet still large) rooms in the back for sarcophagi. This entire tomb belonged to the Magnelli family – and housed multiple generations of inhumed bodies.
We returned to the centro late, had a standard dinner, and I passed out after completing some Greek homework. The next day was nice – no class until 4:00 so I slept in! Greek was fun – we translated passages from various historians who gave theories about where my new friends the Etruscans came from (for example one dude Herodotus thinks that they are actually Turks who were left their native land because of amine). I made it through another class with the brilliant boys thankfully – it took some over preparing, but well worth it. That brings us to today.
This morning we set off on a field trip to the Villa Guilia just outside of Rome, which the Pope Julius IV originally built as a Villa for himself. It is now a Museum that houses a wide collection of Etruscan artifacts. The professors set post in various rooms, and for about an hour and a half we rotated through the museum to each station and heard lectures about artifacts. My favorite of the day was professor Serfass’ stop at the Tombo Degli Spousi – the tomb of the spouses. It is a massive terracotta sarcophagus with a ornate top on which two life-size sculpted humans embrace each other. During our free time, I headed to the Etruscan Jewelry display center, which included pieces found in the female sarcophagi. Each piece is so ornate, intricate and nearly all gold and full of gems. Stylish Bangle bracelets, dangly earrings, cameos, and simple necklaces gleamed before my eyes. Those Etruscans certainly did have style!! It is clear that the Etruscans valued aesthetics and beauty. I have fallen in love with Etruscan Jewelry!
Week two is over. The trajectory for this weekend: an Art History field trip to the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel tomorrow morning, an adventure to the Jewish ghetto on Saturday morning for Yom Kippur services with a few observant friends, and a fabulous break the fast at night. Love and miss you all so much. <3<3
Isabella.
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