The term Magna Graecia is used to indicate those regions in Southern Italy and on Sicily that were colonised by Greek migrants from the eighth century BCE onwards. The Greeks obviously did not stumble upon areas that were completely uninhabited. Everywhere they encountered other peoples, with whom they fought wars,…
The fact that the famous Alexander Mosaic was not visible to the public because of a much-needed restoration was, of course, a minor disappointment during my otherwise successful visit to the archaeological museum of Naples. Fortunately, this is certainly not the only mosaic in the museum. A mosaic that I…
The most beautiful frescoes of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (MANN) come from Herculaneum and Pompeii. The two towns were destroyed in 79 CE by an eruption of the Vesuvius, but the frescoes in the museum do not show any signs of this cataclysmic event that took place almost…
I still vividly remember my first visit to the archaeological museum of Naples. It was back in 1996 and I was still in high school. My class was enjoying the traditional trip to Rome, and excursions to Naples and Pompeii were also part of the programme. In those days the…
The Roman power station along the Via Ostiense was opened in 1912 and closed its doors in 1963. The station had been named after the economist and socialist politician Giovanni Montemartini (1867-1913), who had strongly advocated bringing public services into the hands of the municipality (municipalizzazione in Italian). After the…
In a previous post, I have already explained that the Palazzo Nuovo was designed by Michelangelo but only built in the second half of the seventeenth century by father Girolamo and son Carlo Rainaldi. The palazzo currently serves as the left wing of the Capitoline Museums. The entrance to the…
The Capitoline Hill, usually simply called “the Capitol”, has been inhabited for at least 3,500 years. According to the authoritative Atlas of Ancient Rome, a stable settlement came into existence here during the Middle Bronze Age, around 1600 BCE.[1] When in about 750 BCE this settlement was merged with the…
The archaeological museum of Milan is located directly next to the church of San Maurizio. Visitors enter in one of the cloisters, which is decorated with capitals and sarcophagi. They then go into a building dedicated to the history of Roman Milan. This is by far the most interesting section…
In a previous post I have discussed how Bibracte (Mont-Beuvray) was the most important fortified settlement (oppidum) of the Gallic tribe of the Aedui for about a century. Then, roughly between 20 BCE and 10 CE, Bibracte was abandoned. Its citizens left for a new city, founded by the Romans.…
Ancient Bibracte was an important fortified settlement (oppidum) of the Gallic tribe of the Aedui. According to the Roman general Gaius Julius Caesar it was their largest and most prosperous city.[1] This city was situated on a mountain called Mont-Beuvray, which reaches a height of over eight hundred metres. People…
The churches of Sassoferrato were beautiful and its museums interesting, but the real reason I wanted to visit the town was that in its vicinity the famous ancient town of Sentinum was situated. This was the site where, in 295 BCE, the Romans and their allies defeated a coalition of…
Just outside the built-up area of Fossombrone lie the remains of the town to which Fossombrone owes its name: the Roman colony of Forum Sempronii.[1] The colony was founded along the Via Flaminia, the important road that connected Rome with the Adriatic coast. At Fanum Fortunae (Fano) it swung north,…
The Bronzi Dorati are four gilded bronze statues which were presumably made between the 50s and 30s BCE. They comprise two Roman men on horseback and two Roman women on foot who all belong to the same aristocratic family. Since they can be counted among the most important archaeological finds…
In Antiquity, Trieste was known as Tergeste. It is not entirely clear who the original inhabitants were. Perhaps they were part of the Histri or the Celtic Carni, but it is also possible that they were Veneti. The name Tergeste (Terg-este) in any case seems to support the Venetic hypothesis,…
What a disappointment! I had hoped to get onto the ancient Via Latina from the Via Demetriade, but the archaeological terrain with the remains of the road turned out to be closed off with a fence. And that fence happened to be locked. I therefore took a couple of photos…
In the summer of 2018 I made a highly enjoyable walk along the famous Via Appia and published an extensive report about it on this website. Part of my walk happened to be a small piece of the less well-known Via Latina. Back then I already decided that one day…
The Museo Nazionale Romano opened its doors as early as 1890. The immense collection of the museum is currently distributed across four locations: the Palazzo Massimo and Palazzo Altemps, which have been discussed previously, the Crypta Balbi and the Baths of Diocletianus. The baths can be considered the museum’s original…
The Palazzo Altemps was named after the German cardinal Mark Sittich von Hohenems (1533-1595). The cardinal’s mother Chiara de’ Medici was a sister of Pope Pius IV, who sat on Saint Peter’s throne between 1559 and 1565. Pius IV will chiefly be remembered as the pope who presided over the…
The nineteenth-century Palazzo Massimo is currently the main seat of the prestigious Museo Nazionale Romano, which is completely dedicated to Roman civilisation. The museum has much to offer to visitors, basically too much for a single visit. This means it is virtually impossible to write a post about the museum…
Those who enter the village of Grand in the Vosges completely unprepared, will perhaps wonder how on earth it ever got its name. With a population of less than 400 souls, Grand is anything but grand. But the name Grand has nothing to do with the French adjective for ‘large’.…