Greetings from Rome: Research, Sights and Other Fun Stuff

These first couple of months in Rome have been hectic. I've attended various seminars and events, worked on tasks related to my fellowship, and of course done my own research. There's been a lot to do on my spare time as well. Even when I don't have anything planned myself, someone else in the institute will come up with things to do together. We've done day trips, excursions around the city, dinners, opera, movie nights and so on. There's so much going on that I haven't had the energy to participate in everything.

View from Gianicolo hill

At the same time when I arrived, an introductory course of ancient and medieval Rome started at the institute. I was responsible for a small part of the program of the course when I gave a lecture on ancient epigraphy and guided the students at the epigraphic museum Museo delle Terme. We also often spent our spare time together with the students and other residents of the institute. It became a habit to have dinner together at a restaurant on Saturday evenings.

Dinner at Ai Marmi, Trastevere

The pandemic has finally lifted so much that the institutes in Rome again hold events for scholars and for the public. In September we visited the Swiss Institute, where their fellows presented their research. I in turn presented my PhD research at Villa Lante in October in a seminar for scholars from the Finnish, Norwegian and American institutes. The residents in the Nordic institutes met at an event organized by the Circolo Scandinavo.

Presenting my research at Villa Lante
(📸: Jenni Junnila)

In the middle of all that's been going on here, I've managed to work on my own research as well and have started to find a good routine. Most of the time I work in my own room at Villa Lante since I have most of my research material on my laptop and much of the relevant research is online. I've also been reading and collecting literature at the library of the American Academy which is close to the Finnish institute here on Gianicolo hill. Because of the pandemic, however, each external visitor is only allowed two visits per week and you have to make a reservation online in advance.

American Academyn kirjasto

Although I've been in Rome many times before there's always something to see and new tourist attractions open for visitors all the time. I've made a long list of places I want to see during my year in Roma, and aim to visit at least one of them each week. So far we've had trips together with the other residents to Ostia Ancita, Villa Farnese at Caprarola and a vineyard near Frascati, among others.

Villa Farnese, Caprarola

I want to make a special mention of the visit to the Principe Pallavicini vineyard. We received a brilliant guided tour by British Michelle who has lived for decades in Frascati and works as a sommelier at the estate. First we visited the vineyards where we learned about the cultivation of vines and the process of wine making, and after that we had a wine tasting at the estate's own wine restaurant. The highlight of the tour – at least for me – was the visit to the wine cellar of the vineyard, which is connected to a Roman cistern that apparently was part of the Claudian aqueduct. The aqueduct may have served the ancient Roman vineyards of the Frascati region. The connection between wine making and ancient history is really tangible in the cistern.

Wine tasting

The Roman cistern at the vineyard

Here in Rome we've visited churches, museum and galleries like proper tourists. You always find new things even in churches you've visited many times, such as the quite modest tomb of Christina, queen of Sweden, in the crypt of Saint Peter's basilica, which hadn't noticed before. On the other hand, I visited Galleria Doria Pamphilj for the first time. It's an unbelievable collection of gilded decorations, crystal chandeliers and works of art.

Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome

In addition to these sights we've had the opportunity to enjoy some performing arts. In early October we got to listen to music by Uuno Klami, a Finnish composer, at Villa Giulia. Eero Kesti played the viola and Esa Ylönen the piano. Last week we saw the opera Giovanna d'Arco by Verdi at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome. Finally we can enjoy such performances live again!

Esa Ylönen and Eero Kesti play Uuno Klami at Villa Giulia.

Last Saturday I saw another opera, this time as a film version. This was an interesting adaptation of the Barber of Seville by Rossini. The opera was filmed at the same opera house where we saw the film, but in the film the music hall was empty except for the performers. The empty stage, the boxes and the floor of the hall were used as the set of the opera. There were many references to the corona pandemic in the opera. For instance, when count Almaviva is looking sick, the other performers put on face masks and the conductor took his temperature. This scene can be seen on Youtubessa. I really liked this interpretation of the opera. The use of the hall as the set was clever and the singers were excellent. (The whole opera can be seen on RaiPlay, but only in Italy.)

At the Teatro dell'Opera

I still have a lot on my to-do list. A museum exhibiting ancient Roman boats found near the Fiumicino airport has recently opened to the public after a closure of some 20 years, and soon the brand new Museo Ninfeo will be opened. I also plan to make trips to Villa di Livia in Prima Porta, Villa D'Este in Tivoli, and the temple of mithra in Marino, and visit many places in Rome that I haven't seen before.

In November I plan to visit Pompeii and the archaeological museum in Naples for research purposes. I've requested special permissions to see some places and archives that usually are not open to the public. I'll probably visit Pompeii a few times during this year because there is so much to study there. Of the wall inscriptions once found on the walls of Pompeii only a handful still exist, but I need to check many of the places where the material of my research was found. I plan to visit some of the other sites around Pompeii as well.

You'll hear more about this trip in later blog posts. Now I need to go and work at the library of the American Academy again.