Indulging in Italy: Ancient Rome

“Ave Imperator, morituri te salutant
— Emperor we who are about to die salute you.”

As the hot summer sun bears down on the turn in the track at the Circus Maximus no relief can be found anywhere.

I hear the cicada’s chirping, like an echo from history as if the crowds are still cheering the chariot races on, but both the heat of the sun and the sounds of the cicada’s remind me of home and the contrast between the built history of Rome and that of Australia could not be more stark. Ancient Rome is a testament to an empire that not only ruled so much of the known world, but brought so much to the places it conquered.

By nightfall thankfully a summer storm has cooled the temperature down and that evening we meet our guide Rosa, an archaeologist, who takes us on our night tour of the Colosseum. From the floor of the Flavian Amphitheatre, the Colosseum’s original name, one gains a perspective on the ancient city of Rome that both inspires and terrifies with its beauty and brutality.

The next day we tour the Amalfi coast and I am struck by its natural beauty, around each bend in the road along this windy coastline — and there are many, appears another great photo as steep rocky slopes rush down to the sea, and tiny villages with colourful houses packed closely together cling to the rugged cliffs.

These sights occur so often that you almost become immune to the beauty of the coastline and her terraced villages after a while.

Lemons, lemons and more lemons. Lemons are everywhere, they adorned ceramic work and menus as prolifically as the trees dot the terraced landscape. You cannot visit the Amalfi coast and not enjoy some of their citrus delights, so we chose a delizie al limone, a heavenly light sponge cake with lemoncello custard, and wander down to the pier looking out over the coast to enjoy it. Later, during a roadside stop we partake of a refreshing a lemon granita from a roadside vendor before we reach the town of Positano.

It is here in Positano looking out over the Tyrrhenian Sea, that we enjoy an amazing seafood salad when she catches my attention. Sitting by herself a couple of tables across from us, an American tourist is desperately trying to engage with the staff as they rush by her to serve the lunch crowd. “Grazie” she says for the umpteenth time, and with a little too much enthusiasm, “I’m coming back” she hastily adds, not clarifying if it is to Chez Black she will return or to the Amalfi coast. This lady epitomises this region for me, like a beautiful Hollywood starlet trying to recapture her glory days and be noticed again — the Amalfi coast’s beauty is undeniable but is looking a bit tired.

We finally arrive at Pompeii are met by our tour guide who had me laughing from the beginning that I missed his name. With his “Show and go people” and “Walk and talk”, our third generation tour guide gave us the highlights of Pompeii as if the city was a bustling port town not an archaeological site. From a wine bar to public baths and then to the brothel with its fresco painted sex menu, we walked the cobbled streets of Pompeii not as tourists visiting an ancient city but more like Romans visiting a city in the empire.

“Omnes viae Romam ducunt — All roads lead to Rome”

This saying was literally true in the days of the Roman Empire, when all the roads radiated out from the Miliarium Aureum, a marker near the colosseum, so it appropriate from there we depart on our adventures to another Roman city — Constantinople or as it is called today Istanbul.