Rome Journal XII: Working the Steps

photograph by Hallie Cohen

Rome is great place to work the steps, whether you’re in recovery and working the 12 steps (for which there are programs of all sorts conveniently listed on line) or just trying to keep in shape. The Steppes are a different matter entirely. You’re not going to find too many of those in this city surrounded by hills—even though it was the famed she-wolf, a creature of the Steppes, if there ever was one, who nurtured Romulus and Remus. If you live on a hill like the Gianicolo you have a choice of steps which will take you down to the nearby Trastevere neighborhood. The only problem is coming back up after a heavy meal and wine. Rome doesn’t sport many high tech gyms like the ones you find in American cities, but the city is a walking gym. Having one of those step machines you find in American gyms would be redundant in Rome and also a joke to a population who take climbing in their stride. What’s so astonishing is how ubiquitous these steps are. You can’t get away from them and it’s apparent that in ancient times, there weren’t too many worries about wheelchair access—probably due to the fact that the life span of the citizenry was so markedly shorter that there weren’t worries about accommodating to those who weren’t able to climb up and down. There are, of course, a lot of famous Italian bikers, but when it comes to physical fitness you might think that New Yorkers one up Romans due to the huge variety of venues in which to work out. But in Rome fitness fanatics are not easily distinguishable from average people, since everybody has to do lots of step work to get from here to there.

Rome Journal VII: A Short History of Rome

photograph  of Bernini's "Statue of Pope Urban VIII" by Hallie Cohen

If you want a short history of Rome, say the equivalent of a diorama on a grand scale, go the Horatii and Curiatii Hall of the Musei Capitolini. There you will see frescoes by Guiseppe Cesari based on Livy which give you a Renaissance snapshot of the founding of Rome. The frescoes constitute a chronology. "Discovery of the She-Wolf" (1596) describes Faustolo coming upon the She-Wolf nursing Romulus and Remus under a fig tree. “Battle of Tullus Hostilius against the inhabitants of Veii and Fidenae" (1597-1601) depicts the early Romans defending themselves against nearby towns.  "The Battle of the Orazi (Horatii) and Curiazi (Curiatii)" (1612-13) shows a duel between the Orazi (Romans) and the inhabitants of another nearby town Alba Longa (the Curiazi). The “Sabine Women Abduction” (1638-9) shows the Roman’s stocking their city with women, the way we today stock ponds with koi. “Numa Pompilius institutes the cult of the vessel” (1638-9) is a hortatory work, showing the sacred fires being kept burning and finally “Romulus draws the line of 'square Rome'" underlines the classicism that would eventually be at war with an increasingly hedonistic society. The past is mediated by the present at least in the room where these frescoes were created. The gallery is presided over by two contemporaneous popes. On one side is Alessandro Algardi's bronze "Statue of Pope Innocent X" (as you will recall Innocent X was also the subject of Velasquez’s famed portrait and Francis Bacon's infamous Screaming Pope series). And on the other is the "Statue of Pope Urban VIII" by Bernini whose magnificence could easily divert the attention of any gallery goer. The large hands illustrate the grasp and reach of the divine. Talk about being manhandled.