Tomorrow is the national holiday designating the birth of the Republic of Italy and commemorating 150 years of Italy as a united nation. This event marks the bringing together of separate territories of Italy which were at war politically and militarily, and eventually in 1870 ended rule by the papacy.

Some Italians could care less, but today I spoke with one who was very excited about it. He is the butcher I often go to in Monti on Via Panisperna, named Piero Sechiotti, who is a  ’prodi Monticiani’ or a proud resident of the neighborhood of Monti. I asked him what he was going to do for the holiday and he said he is holding a party at the piazza of the neighborhood, Madonna dei Monti. He talked about growing up in the neighborhood and how his family has lived there since 1705, when they were servants of the Borgia family which had a nearby palace.

He also spoke of growing up in Monti, and what he and his friends did when they were kids. He was proud to declare that he grew up exactly where Julius Caesar lived and that he spent his childhood exploring the subterranean caverns underneath the streets and buildings of the quarter. He had true fear in his eyes when he told me of the two friends when he was a kid, 14 year olds, who disappeared in the caverns and never returned again. Lost in some sort of underworld even though they were sought by all the neighborhood.

Possibly a sculpture of the young Julius Caesar

The bodies of his friends were never found, but the quarter has yielded many amazing finds. He told me that Veltroni had a whole underground area in our neighborhood cleaned up and opened up to the public during a special event, and said that I cannot possibly imagine the miles of corridors and passageways under neath the city.

He also spoke of the fact that his father hid arms in those caverns from the Nazis, and that before that during the risorgimento his family fought for the unification of Italy and arms were hidden there as well. He said his father was saved from execution because the Nazis could not find the hidden cache of arms they knew he controlled, because it was so well hidden below the city, that only the residents of Monti knew about. He also spoke of the giant rats and wells filled with underground passageways of water, where he suspected his friends disappeared through. The local people of Monti are filled with so many interesting stories and the neighborhood full of many layers of history. The celebrations tomorrow mark just one of those layers and it will be interesting to see how it unfolds.

Piazza Madonna dei Monti and the Gruppo Storico Romano teaching about ancient Roman warfare

Via Leonina where my butcher grew up

Our courtyard with an ancient sarcophagus and other ‘spoglie’ found on site at one time or another

The Monti neighborhood lies behind the great fire wall which was the border between the living quarters and the                                                                                                Imperial Forum

An Imperial era butcher who would perform the sacrificial killings of animals from the Ara Pacis

On Saturday I attended the American Academy for the lecture by Leonard Barkin in a series called the Jerome Lectures Unswept Floor: Food, Culture and High Culture, Antiquity and Renaissance. This series of lectures featured a fascinating presentation on images of food and wine from ancient Rome through the Italian Renaissance in writing and art .  Barkan is a professor of Comparative Literature at Princeton University. His lectures are incredibly developed, funny, and beautifully presented.

Saturday’s lecture called Foraging in the Text featured quotes from ancient Roman literature relating to food including Juvenal and Petronius and Renaissance artist Vasari. After the lecture we enjoyed an wonderful sit down lunch at the Academy and relished Mona Talbott’s delicious and healthy dishes before heading off on a bus to the Villa Farnesina. In the Farnesina we were able to take our time to note the incredible detail of Peruzzi’s frescoes and their whimsical nature with a scene featuring Cupid and Psyche and the Gods of Olympus in a feast, in fitting with the theme. The key feature that Barkan pointed out, are the hundreds of perfectly represented fruits, vegetables and tubers that adorn the painted pergola of the room. Each one is scientifically identifiable due to the intricate detail and observation of nature by the artist.

In the upstairs of the Farnesina is Peruzzi’s masterpiece of the Perspective’s Hall featuring trompe l’oeil frescoed walls that imitate views from an open colonnaded loggia. There is a fixed point in the room that makes the illusion work perfectly.  On the main floor we were able to admire Raphael’s Triumph of Galatea, one of his greatest masterpieces.

We next took the bus to the Porta Maggiore, one of the gates to ancient Rome that two important roads entered the city though, the Via Prenestina and Via Labicana.  This awe inspiring gateway served as a ceremonial entrance for processions as well as a conduit for a massive aqueduct. Tombs led up to the gateway, as they did every road leading into the city. We visited the only remaining one, the Tomb of the Baker. This tomb is famous for its dedication to a baker and his wife and features a frieze along the top showing the processes of bread making. Everyone was incredibly pleased by the day and the amount of information and inspiration that was given by Leonard as well as Corey Brennan, head of the Classics Department of the American Academy.

Elizabeth Minchilli has just written her new i phone App! Elizabeth Minchilli has been eating her way through Rome her entire life. She is the author of six books on Italian living, and contributes to over forty magazines and newspapers, including Bon Appetit, Food & Wine and The International Herald Tribune. She has appeared on Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie and KCRW’s Good Food. She writes about all the good stuff in Italy on her blog Elizabeth Minchilli in Rome.

Have a look at the crazy night-time video of the Gruppo Storico Romano who once a year turns the Circus Maximus, once the seat of Roman chariot racing, into a re-enactment of ancient times.