20 October 2011 - Rome like Venice?

On October 20th, Rome was thrown into disarray due to the heavy rain since the early hours of the day, resulting in widespread flooding across the city.

At the height of rush hour many pedestrians found the capital's streets virtually impassable, with large amounts of people opting to take shelter in doorways. People walk past a paddle next to Rome's ancient Colosseum and near the most famous monuments.

Most of Pantheon Institute staff could not reach the center of the city and had to come back home; the school was strangely empty and classes were cancelled.

Trees were felled, subways were flooded and some roads crumbled. Private schools in Rome urged parents to keep their children home for the day, saying classrooms were flooded and roads near schools impassable.

Rome's agency for mobility reports that the many Metro A stations were closed due to flooding and some bus routes were diverted, in particular the northern periphery services.

Hours after the rain stopped, cars remained trapped in massive traffic jams on the outskirts of the city.

The mayor of Rome called for a state of emergency Thursday after a heavy storm caused flooding, traffic delays and the death of an elderly man."The intensity of the storm was unexpected," said Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno, who also activated a toll-free emergency hotline for people to report emergencies and request information.

Looking at the impressive pictures taken during that uncommon day, we hope not to repeat that experience again!!

Discover Italy... and taste it!!

Nothing says Italy like its food, and nothing says Italian food like pasta!

Pasta's origins are very ancient. It's said that they go back to the Etruscans, they used to prepare the first lasagna made of spelt (a kind of cereal like wheat, but far more resistant against bad weather and diseases). Later on, the Romans used to make a very simple dough with water and flour from which they made a kind of lasagna.

In Italy one can find pasta in a great variety of shapes and with many different types of sauces, furthermore you should consider also that each shape of pasta is typically matched with a particular sauce based on constincency and its ability to hold sauce.

There are several kinds of pasta, it seems to be 350 different shapes, even more counting regional differences. Shapes range from simple tubes to bow ties (farfalle, which actually means "butterfly"), to unique shapes like tennis rackets (racchette). Moreover pasta can be found in dried (pasta secca) and fresh (pasta fresca) varieties.

For Italian people it is very important that pasta is al dente, means literally “to the tooth” that is cooked so as to be firm but not hard.
It is estimated that Italians eat over sixty pounds of pasta per person, per year easily beating Americans, who eat about twenty pounds per person.

Considering the importance that Italians give to pasta, we decided that the prize for the winner of the September photo competition “Ancient and Modern in Rome” should have been a basket with a great variety of pasta: truffle pasta, paccheri, black sepia pasta, lemon pasta and chitarrine all’uovo. Congratulations to Daniel who was the winner!!! Have a look at his beautiful picture and at all the other photos on our website photopage.