Barbarian invaders cut off the ancient aqueducts A surprisingly feature of Rome is the great number of fountains spread all over the city, a richness that does not exist in other Italian cities. The abundance of water comes from the ancient roman aqueducts which supplied private houses, public fountains and hundreds of baths. The Popes who ruled Rome during the centuries restored the ancient aqueducts cut off by the barbarian invaders and created amazing monumental fountains; the Fountain that stands out among them is certainly the Trevi Fountain, the most impressive and famous fountain of Rome, a great expression of baroque art. The almost unknown architect, Nicola Salvi, who built the Fountain in the 18th century, created a sort of Triumphal Arch leaning on the façade of a big palace through which water flows and gives life to a waterfall. The idea was to represent the triumphal arrival of water in Rome from its distant source; The Fountain is actually the monumental ending of an aqueduct.

cardinals considered those nudes as immoral Most of the characters painted by Michelangelo in the Last Judgement were naked, probably because dressed people refer to a particular historical period, on the contrary here, Michelangelo wanted to communicate the dramatic destiny of man at the end of his life, something that concerns the whole humanity. As the characters were not conceived as ideal bodies, cardinals of those times considered those nudes as immoral and obscene. Moreover, some of those characters had their back oriented towards the altar, and that couldn’t really be accepted by the cardinals. Nothing happened for most than twenty years, Michelangelo was too famous and his reputation protected him and his fresco. But some years later, with the new and severe spirit of the Counterreformation, cardinals imposed their point of view and forced Daniele da Volterra, a pupil of Michelangelo, to cover the genitals of everybody, so he became famous as the painter of underpants.

Conflict between soul and body. Most of the characters painted by Michelangelo in the Last Judgement, the fresco situated behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel, communicate restless and suffering. Men and women are almost deformed by their muscles, and their bodies are contorted and twisted. When Michelangelo painted the last Judgement he was sixty years old and he didn’t believe any longer to the renaissance idea of a man maker of his destiny and, lastly, of his happiness. He believed that life was tragedy and the only way to live in harmony was in God, after death. Michelangelo saw man as a conflict between soul and body. Soul was the divine side and body was his prison, the material side. Michelangelo’s characters are so restless because their soul tries to escape from the limited body towards God.

Do all roads lead to Rome? The ancient road network built by Romans played an important role in their expansionist policy, thanks to that it was possible to move rapidly legions through the vast Roman Empire. But the well known expression that all roads lead to Rome is partially true. Actually, what is really true is that Rome born in the place where two important ancient roads were intersected. They are the road of salt, the way that people coming from inland cities used to travel to get some salt to the sea, and the river that runs through the city, the sacred blond Tiber, that Greek sailors used to go up during the summer to sell their goods. That crossing was an important ancient market place that slowly became the eternal city of Rome.