Roma: a walk through the eras

One of the most wonderful aspects of visiting Rome is the clash of different areas one can notice. The city dates back to the eighth century BC, and it is filled with remains from different historical times. In only one day, just using one’s own feet, it is possible to have a glance of what the center of the city looked like during the Roman Empire, to cross the maze of side streets which dates back to the Middle Ages, to have a gelato in front of the Renaissance buildings close to the Tevere, to go up the stairs of the Vittoriano, the Italian Nation’s altar. Walking around Rome is like walking through different eras, it is like being a time traveler. This unique experience is something the students had a first-hand experience of. In the last days, we went to see the Augustus Forum, which was built in the 2BC. Now it is hard to understand how this square used to be, as we can only see some columns and some brick walls where a huge temple used to be standing. Sometimes, though, technology can help us. This is the case here. The city of Rome has created a laser show to describe how the forum was built, what it looked like and what happened to it after the fall of the Roman Empire. The students had the opportunity to be teleported from the present to the Augustinian time, a time in which Rome was filled by marble temples, well decorated fountains with refreshing water and glorious monuments celebrating the main victory of Rome and of its leaders. The day after, the PLs took the students to the Leonardo da Vinci’s exposition. This great artist is mostly known for his paintings, but he was also a great engineer. The exposition we saw was focused especially on this aspect. The students had the chance to test some of Da Vinci’s machine using some models that were created for these reasons. They could test a spring Leonardo invented, a working carillon, a toothed pulley, among other machines. Believe it or not, at the end of the exposition we also walked on top of a underground pond dating back to 43 AC! To be fair, I have to admit that there was a balustrade that allowed us to walk on the pond!