LOCALS’ ROME
The day off
One site that keeps drawing Elisa back, even in her
downtime, is the second-century Villa dei Quintilii.
On weekends she’ll cycle along the Appian Way to
this mansion, which was once so grand it inspired
a covetous emperor to kill its owners. Today, all
that remains is a red-brick skeleton, sprawled over
a garden full of droning cicadas and pomegranate
trees. Look closer, though, and intricate marble
floors hint at past palatial elegance, as do the statues
in the villa’s museum, including a forlorn-looking,
nose-less Zeus. ‘Every time I come here, I think
“how is it possible that there are so few people?”,’
says Elisa. ‘Often the only visitors are archaeologists
at work.
‘In Rome, we’re always continuing to excavate.
Even if you’ve been somewhere before, come back
five years later and there will be new things to
explore.’ As more of the city is unearthed, some
museums are running out of space to display their
ever-extending collections. Elisa loves to visit
Centrale Montemartini Museum, a former power plant
in an otherwise unremarkable neighbourhood of
high-rises, which is now used to exhibit the overspill
of the Capitoline Museums. ‘The mix of modern and
ancient is incredible. It is so unexpected to enter a
generating station and find this classical world.’
In this industrial setting, hunting scenes play out
on well-preserved mosaics; Venus is juxtaposed
against a compression pump, while a delicate
frieze is displayed opposite a cabinet of wrenches.
In the atrium-like main hall stands the colossal
arm of a statue that would have measured eight
metres in its entirety: the hand alone big enough
for a fully-grown adult to lie across. Unlike the
always-busy Capitoline Museums, from which it
draws its treasures, this gallery is so quiet that often
the only sound a visitor will hear is the gentle hum
of the air conditioning.
Across town is another peaceful spot where Elisa
likes to spend her days off: Via Margutta. Despite
being one of the locations where Roman Holiday
was filmed and where La Dolce Vita director
Federico Fellini lived, this narrow, ivy-clad street
draws few tourists. On warm evenings, well-heeled
women and well-coiffed men amble by on bicycle
or foot, stopping to chat with the boutique and
antique shop owners standing in their doorways.
Midway up the street a grimacing stone fountain
softly gurgles. ‘It’s just behind the Spanish Steps,
one of the world’s most touristy places,’ says Elisa.
‘But this is a place to get away from the crush.’
Oarcheoroma.beniculturali.it/en/archaeological-site/
villa-quintilii; entry US$6.50
Ocentralemontemartini.org; Via Ostiense 106; entry US$7.90The day job
Among the Forum’s chaos of ruins, a rose garden is watched over by a row
of mostly-headless female statues. ‘This was the House of the Vestal Virgins:
priestesses whose task was to keep a sacred flame permanently alight,’
explains Elisa Valeria Bove, an archaeologist and guide. ‘I’m not sure there
were many virgins in the city at that time, though,’ she jokes. ‘Do you know
where the word fornication comes from? Fornix means arch in Latin – that’s
where the ancient Romans would get it on.’
It’s one of the more light-hearted insights Elisa has gleaned during her 13
years in the city: time spent studying archaeology to PhD level, and taking
part in numerous digs (including at the Forum). She now shares her
knowledge through her tour company Never Ending Rome, helping visitors
gain a deeper understanding of the classic sights for which the city is justly
famed. A typical day with Elisa is peppered with anecdotes, such as the fact
that gladiators, far from being chiselled Russell Crowe lookalikes, were
actually shaped like sumo wrestlers, as more fat offered better protection
against the blow of the sword.
‘Rome is a lasagna, with each era of the city laid on top of the last,’
says Elisa. ‘Seeing it through an archaeologist’s eyes can help you peel
back the layers.’
O neverendingrome.com; private tours from US$165 for three hours, for up to 10 people‘ROME IS A LASAGNA,
WITH EACH ERA OF
THE CITY LAID ON TOP
OF THE LAST’
ELISA VALERIA BOVE ARCHAEOLOGIST AND GUIDE