The Ancient City Of Rome | The Greatest Cities in the World | TRACKS

this is an old old city rome was already a teeming metropolis about 3 million people when London and Paris would be our villages but how do today's Romans live with 3,000 years of history right on their doorsteps today the ancient ruins of roman empire from the mayor jumble of the Middle Ages and the holy mysteries of Catholic Rome coexist with the relatively new Rome Rome the capital of the Italian people and to find out how this extraordinary layer-cake works I'm going to experience a typical 24 hours in the life of the city and into people [Music] [Applause] [Music] well here we go it's 6:00 in the morning we're about to plunge into the most complicated confusing fellating city that I that I have ever been in I've hitched a lift from a farmer food has been coming into Rome at the crack of dawn to sell at market for nearly three thousand years I'm on the original City commute and what a city on our way we happen to negotiate Rome's giant rant about the Colosseum was built to seat 50,000 people that's ten times London's Albert Hall and it's 2,000 years old it's a reminder that here the present is simply the extension were very long past but Rome is much more than a museum by the time I jump off it's 8 a.m. I'm in the CH intro story Co or historical center and every step I take seems to summon up someone else's life apparently beneath my feet are the remains of these stables for the charioteers for the Circus Maximus behind me over there you can catch a glimpse of a palace built by Michelangelo and I'm walking into the Campo de Fiori which was effectively used as sort of auditorium for torturing heretics today it's a market the traders the shoppers passes by and idlers in this place are the real Link to the Past they've inherited the passion and the appetite of living here they are the real spirit of Rome but do they still possess that same ineffable superiority that helped create this once all conquering bandit city the modern Roman certainly drives as though he's in a chariot race it's the motion Rome is the most dangerous driving city in Europe there were 21,000 serious collisions last year that's nearly 60 per day [Music] the Piazza Venezia is the hub of the modern city in this chaotic whirlpool of crazed motorists and camicazi pedestrians I've come to witness a very Roman solution to the mess the sublimely imperious figure of traffic policeman Gianluca folly [Music] here is Roman majesty Authority and grace and trumpets and whistles with a single outstretched hand Gianluca can halts the most impatient driver [Music] it's all done with what I'm going to discover is a very Roman sense of correctness of being just so [Music] after another faultless performance Gianluca is relieved from the podium you are like a musical conductor yes in the orchestra I'm very fond of music yes Gianluca insists on showing me how he marshals his orchestra the hand is relaxed it yes marquita relaxing it's off to sweet yes keeps with fluid fluid swetha yes I know and Google only goes rolling so if they're coming through works like this but longer [ __ ] okay start to have the slight lip just to make a little bit of a pop in home okay okay all right well bad that okay I'd like to take John Luke is place of man podium but I think I'd only add to the collision statistics here it's not difficult to understand that there are more cars per person in row than there are in any other city in the world over in the far corner of the piazza they're trying to control this addiction by building a third metro line groans underground metro opened in 1955 and so far it's only managed two lines the reason is because whenever they dig down things turn up buried layers of ancient Roman streets they wanted a station and they found an archeological site these modern looking walls are actually two thousand years old and albedo the metro tunnel is already down there somewhere the problem is getting to it 30 stations are planned ten of them have been halted by major fines like this one this is immersive over schedule as far as archaeologists Giovanni Ricci is concerned in the metro will have to what's down here is far more impressive than what's on the surface and Giovanni is like a little boy in a sweetshop come through here this is very this is very good this is great look at this look imagine if you were just digging around and you suddenly found this this is the original floor the original Roman floor marble floor and if you carried on digging nothing which you don't want it and the name the oratorio then just more and more than law and yep it's endless so could I take a piece of this home no if you do yeah maybe so the Romans want their new metro system but they also want to preserve their fantastic ancient artifacts and when they discover things it's not like we're doing britainís with a couple of old bricks you know Tony Robinson has an orgasm it's nothing like that they just cover a vast complex and buildings and steps bits of marble pottery monuments you name it it's just an archaeologists dream even if it's a nightmare for the Metro builders and in the meantime the madness keeps growing because little madness is part of the Roman Way it's called horrible [Music] I need breakfast this is where the real Romans go they're mad about coffee too the counter is always crowded because the coffee is not just good it's served correctly this is it's not a lingering it's not for hanging around with your computer there are absolutely no seats this demanding almost severe is duplicated in a thousand bars across the city Romans wanted soap and just Coffee was originally seen as Satan's drink the pope frowned on it until he tried it now it's one of the essential pillars of the city coffee and the other way would be a sin I'd rather conscious about fun I've been good over my coffee perhaps a little too long these three people who was standing here have had coffee and Dawn I'm sorry I have an appointment with a man who's going to show me it's 11:00 in the morning and already 30 degrees thankfully in Rome there seems to be a fountain on every street corner cool clear water even though drinking it is an acquired skill Rome was born in a gorge on a river the typer which once provided all the water that was needed until Rome got huge and the river became too polluted to use the solution was to pipe in water from distant sources the provision this water became synonymous with power its abundance is celebrated with the spurting and gushing of more than a thousand public fountains as one writer put it the Greeks may have had their arts and their philosophy and their plays but we Romans had eleven aqueducts and some are still in working order as always the real business of Rome takes place behind closed doors and underground Explorer Adriano Morabito as the keys this spiral staircase is 18th century but the Aqua virgin a below was built 19 years before the birth of Christ I do this it was blocked when the Empire fell but as Rome rose again a thousand years later it was brought back into use and it still flows it is an incredible piece of engineering isn't it given that they were working without motorized machines and any kind and only by looking at these things and exploring these you understand what was the peak that was reached by the Romans and the Roman Empire along with the other ten aqueducts the walls of the aqua virgin a mermaid water type with a form of concrete invented by the Romans when it came to repair them centuries later the technology to make this concrete had been lost and other ways of sealing them had to be found the Aqua Virginie carries water 21 kilometers from the hills above Rome all the way to the very center of the city so where are we now we are now in the final chamber of the Virgin aqueducts in this Center of wrong but something outside has caught my eye all the great aqueducts in their journey with AM Ostra the show of some kind and now I want to see what's on the other side of this wall [Music] well there we are it's the Trevi Fountain three coins and the founder paying a tribute to the water is actually as old as Rome's Seven Hills they once threw six nice clean old men into the bath that became a coin in a fountain and now thanks to Hollywood with three coins today the fountain is awash with money I've arrived as the water borders on one of its regular cleanups the ancient Romans were right water is wealth and they're cashing up it reminds me of Las Vegas it makes about 80,000 euros a month and the lucky winner is the Italian Red Cross [Music] central robe is like sort of chaotically arranged antique shop it's full of treasures but it's very very confusing it's easy to get completely lost and getting lost is one of the best things you can do within minutes I stumble across the VHS starry a whole street of shops you can only find in Rome catering for a very specific title customer if you're a chap in the Catholic Church then you're encouraged to dress up but if you're a woman then something sober is obviously called for oh that's right that's everything for a portable mass yeah so that you can go off and administer wherever you are in the world and carrying a little suitcase if you've ever wondered what a priest carries in that briefcase this may be the understatement this one the deluxe version even has two battery operated candles once they've done their shopping this is where all the Nana's priests and bishops are probably heading the Vatican City is the headquarters of the Catholic Church and is technically now the smallest country in the world but it has shrunk to that status until 1870 the Pope governed half of Italy as ruling head of state he organized every part of the city of Rome for over a thousand years from the late 16th century the Pope's rebuilt large areas the metropolis in an architectural style known as the Baroque a central religious theatrical showmanship in frozen stone in time they also straighten the streets cut out new piazzas and even introduced gas lighting the Catholic Church still underpins this city like wires in a corset it even sets the time [Music] I'm on the Janicki ylim Hill now with what must be the most perfect view of Rome but I'm not actually here I'm not actually here to see that I'm here to see the monster had apparently eased you to come out any any second the monster is howitzer cannon in ancient Rome a day lasted 12 hours regardless of how long daylight lasted when the Pope's came along they too wanted to be the timekeeper so they set the clock the army still carry out their edict and that's midday according to the Vatican this practice of issuing a daily time check goes back to 1847 when Pope I owe the 9th decided Christianity needed to be synchronised having broadcast the time to the city this is the sound of Rome's 900 or so churches responding but at this church time stands still Santi Quattro karate is truly a secret side of Rome it's home to a contemplative order of Augustinian nuns and these are the final moments of their midday mass aside from prayer they worship these nuns spend their lives in complete and utter silence this is the mysterious and otherworldly side of the Roman Catholic presence I think about what I've just experienced there's something very close to this soul of Rome very very beautiful very very old in its tradition and witnessed it well I just mean one other person with the service / silence returns and now I'm going deeper into this secret world the heart of this church is a medieval cloister and sister Mary Lena has been allowed to suspend her vows silence to talk with me I actually don't understand much of what she's saying but this doesn't seem to stop her for someone who spends her life in silence she certainly enjoys talking there are 28 closed orders of nuns they're an essential part of a city they seldom see and that rarely sees them mara Lena explains that the cloister is somewhere for the contemplative to walk and to think to give sunlight and nature but most of all it's a window up to where the sisters thoughts and prayers should be constantly directed except that is there enjoying a good old Chad Chris hey Darla joy yeah la felicidad [Music] on a more worldly note it's time for lunch all over the city cafes and restaurants are getting ready but I shall be joining them because I'm going to cook my own this is Testaccio one of the finest fresh food markets in the whole of [Music] very nice beautiful cooking coach Danielle Odell bozo has been shopping here for years this is the best one we're going to cook up a typical Roman lunch and Danielle is going to make sure we get our hands on first-rate ingredients the centerpiece of our meal is going to be often leftover entrails and internal organs of a butchered animal but in Britain would end up in some sort of pasty or sausage the upsell of the beef traditionally this was the food of the poor but here in Rome awful is highly valued in its own right this is the interior of the baby Beel this testing which still full of meal let's say two months baby very small so it's a pity anyway Roma people they eat it there's no attempt to soften the reality of what we're buying here quite the reverse the freshness of this korra teller that's the heart lungs and liver of this young lamb is with our shopping bag full Daniela suggests we cook lunch in the nearby apartment of her friend marsala well prepared awful is more than a favorite it's correct a proper Roman meal and March Alistair Archie knows exactly how it should be done her family has run a restaurant in Testaccio for generations we warned about the arteries running through it or see we're having that as well it's a baby the baby veal stomach is so tender and fresh it needs a needs to be shown the frying pan and already it's cooked and Amanda Rob Union oh dear oh man of Robbie oh yeah a pro is a really Roman know this is really Roman what I believe how you like you write delicious absolutely delicious and in the restaurant that the family rises yes and people still eat our fond reading awful and food that in we never see in restaurants in in London at all no now did not they'll still have this the typical chatter here she has the just do this kind of food I hope I passed the test When in Rome eat as the Romans do you know what I need after this annulus a good long sleep in the heat right it's after lunch the Rome reveals itself as a true southern city [Music] for some a siesta is the only way to get through the day in the middle of the afternoon they go steadily clambering up it's trying to get above 40 degrees today and there's still a stampede of tourists charging up and down between the major sites but the restroom just shuts up shop no siesta for me though my path is gonna take me to the middle of the modern city and the greatest survivor of the Roman age the Pantheon built as a temple to all ancient gods it boasted the largest unsupported dome in the world for over a millennium but what's worse fascinated me is something much smaller a little decorative detail of the bag of the building these sublime marble carvings known as egg and dart you don't have to be an expert to stand in awe of the capabilities of the Romans each of the eggs of that cornice is so deep it's carved writing imagine doing that not just once but hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times without making a mistake [Music] Rome is still a city of cross and I've come to see two of the best the dekimasu family have been running their marble studio for generations I'm their latest apprentice I'm gonna help Danielli finish off the classic frieze of egg and dot and I mean finish off in the best sense of the word [Music] I've always wanted to try this but it's only when you have a go that you realize how incredibly difficult carving marble actually is [Music] [Music] okay now can you tell which one I did see I quite like that there's one with character there perhaps a little bit more rough-hewn than the others but you can see the character of the person's working on that the elemental symbolism behind the egg of life and the dart of death takes you back to the very origins of Rome this was a city not a country a fighting town that took over the rest of the world and its rulers knew it that's why they built massive show-off theaters huge circuses and ever bigger temples on their homepage ostentatious decoration is deep in the soul of Rome every later ruler envy those emperors and the last major figure to do so was fascist dictator Benito Mussolini fight those before him Mussolini wanted to impose his own personality on this city began in 1935 s posits Sione una vez al a Roma or EU r was Mussolini's attempt to emulate the grandeur and dignity of ancient Rome some 8 kilometers to the south [Music] if you look hard enough you can spot direct references to the ancient city the floating roof of the palazzo they call Gracie is a nod to the Pantheon's famous dome and the Palazzo della chavita italiana is more commonly known as the square Colosseum for obvious reasons unlike the original who the name of EU arse creator Benito Mussolini fits the number of columns and stories precisely this was no accident [Music] I've joined Stefano and Barozzi who's come to photograph some of the recent restorations to the building yes listen II love the idea of having the Empire back so like in a good old car he wanted to make the big Imperial statement as far as he was concerned ancient Rome should never have gone away absolutely but Mussolini fell from grace before his fantasy Rome was ever completed and like so many before him who tried to clean up this city Mussolini came to a sticky end [Music] back in the ancient forum it's 4:00 p.m. well Cellini wanted to tidy up this place too he ran a road through the middle of it to try and restore its grandeur except that it was never that ordered to begin with even at its height 2,000 years ago Rome was already full of the ruins and detritus of 500 years of history at that point along came someone with plans to control the traffic and rebuild derelict buildings what happened next is quite a famous story about 2053 years ago in the morning the 15th March 44 BC a man left his new house just over there on the other side of the forum and got into a litter because he was feeling slightly unwell and was carried along here to his death his name was Julius Caesar Julius Caesar was due to appear at the Senate that day but was tricked into stopping off here of the theater of Pompeii now a permanent archaeological site in the middle of the bustling city within the hour he would be dead so this giant wall here was the back of an enormous theater and it was right in here that Caesar was assassinated Shakespeare got it wrong he wasn't killed in the forum he was killed here at a meeting of the Senate one of the reasons that they assassinated Julius Caesar was not just that he wanted to make himself dictator but when he was dictator he intended to tidy this city and anybody who wants to sort out Rome now 2,000 years later most of central Rome is a world heritage site which means it's even more encumbered by the weight of its history today Rome is run by the mayor from his impressive offices in the Piazza del Campo de Leo I want to ask the man how you go about running a city like Rome today without getting assassinated his aides believe there's a chance he might see me after his five o'clock meeting and they show me straight in there he is mayor Gianni Alomar no Caesar in a flannel suit he's not a lamagno is from the right end of the political spectrum and famously got elected for promising to tear down one of Rome's rare modern buildings he was apparently more likely to uphold the status quo than challenge it in the past many people many from starting with Julius Caesar have thought I can tidy up Rome I can do organize Rome is that a good idea a lot is you were going to grande problema a sense ok question should have you completely Raimondo it is a problem it is actually the most complicated city in the world a Commerce a pasado de Roma it's right of course as I've seen everywhere Rome's past is creating problems for the city but it's also the glue that holds the place together unlike Caesar I suspect Gianni a la mano probably has every chance of surviving his tenure in power that was quite intriguing actually because it was just like going into any political but it's Britta listicle meeting house there were lot of a standing around with phones and everybody watching very intently but they were just a little bit better dressed then you get anywhere else mayor Gianni may out dress even New Labour but he showed me an essential political truth about road here politics just like police seem the traffic or building the fountains is as much about style as anything else to find out what lies beneath I must visit the Oracle Rosalina de la show runs the only female shoe shine in the whole of Rome if not the world she claims to polish the most powerful men in Italy then given that her shop is next door to the presidential whose insurance true and what are you using there what is that Stan it's a secret okay well I'm not as attractive as rosalina but by taking the left sheet I'm hoping it'll give her the opportunity to chat and maybe be a little indiscreet and do you talk with your client about his worries and his concerns and his day and so you are also a mama to your crime so you know the daughter the papa yeah I see do you hear secrets many secrets many secrets yes so it must all remain a secret even the recipe for shoe polish this is definitely shinier Rome is a deeply conservative city and you can't easily infiltrate its traditions I do know though well I'm going next shiny shoes count for nothing it may not look like it it certainly doesn't smell like it but I'm still in Rome I'm less than five kilometers from the Colosseum and I'm here for the sheep's version of the six o'clock commute the Java spicy Papa but after the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 ad the population of this town plummeted from over a million to just 20,000 people during the medieval era cows grazed in the forum vast tracts close to the city became established as agricultural land to this day farms like this one at cafe Ella Park infused the city with a rustic feel nearly 40% of the municipalities road is actually proper farming man it's like city farmer for kids to go along and I machine I mean and now we've got to get on with milking this Farms 1200 chute [Applause] okay getting the suckers on to the right bitter the Sheep seems to be the major challenge okay [Music] [Applause] Oh [Music] oh okay the sheep provide around 400 litres of milk a day and the only family turn it all into delicious pecorino cheese it's not a gimmick my cheese is so good it's all sold locally just as it would have been 500 years ago I'm introduced to know what Roman gesture by mamma it simply means delicious [Music] in the centre of the city at 7:30 in the evening and the working day has come to an end [Music] la pastor Giada is the Italian tradition of dressing up and taking a long slow walk through your town having someone to gossip with is an essential part of the process and I've met up with Julia Marti this time of night people come out it's cool again and they like yes that's the pleasure at the end of the day it's a question of seeing people yes see you places and people as well you're going to want to junior to tell me about the Romans we are more stylish I think you like things to be just so yes as they have to be in what one area so it when if I had a coffee just now you said you mustn't have a cappuccino nervous too late cappuccino is milk milk is for breakfast I see you would never order a cappuccino after a meal or in the middle of the afternoon if you do it you're not Roman you're not a rope no okay you are a Roman what do you mean by that because my father is Roman from several generations that make certain for Roman so you have to be in order to be a proper Roman yes seven generations of living in Rome exactly and now you you're no longer seven generational because my mom is ask any I leave chichi Leah and her tinted Roman blood Ben carry on with her I got a date with another lady and this one has got to be dressed just so too [Music] I think this is this is who or what I've come to me this is the Madonna they know an three and in a very short time after she's been dressed properly they're going to take her to meet Rome and the people of Rome and I'm getting with them but to do so I must become a temporary member of the local Masons as they are the Madonna's official couriers five hundred years ago the Madonna was discovered inside a wooden box washed up on the shores of the Tiber the fisherman who found her took this to be a miracle and from that moment on the statue has been honored every year with a ritual procession [Music] as we get further downstream it becomes clear how big and important an event this really is the crowds get larger the shouts of vive Maria get louder and ever more flowers are tossed into the water by the time we reach trust every it looks like the whole of Rome is looking down on us we pause for a moment seemingly to wait for the Sun to set on this superb city [Music] [Music] we've arrived on dry land now it's time to take the Madonna back to her people here entrusting because of the extreme weight the Madonna there are two separate teams us and we take it in turns to carry her through this quarters ancient streets when the bell rings we we stop and the brothers change over to give each other a rest whoop swimming and carrying on [Music] [Applause] even more striking than the spectacle of it all is the emotion on people's faces as the Madonna passes them by [Music] people step forward this you're holding the Madonna come forward to touch the hem two hours after starting our journey down the Tiber we arrive at our destination the Church of Santa Maria in trust every outside fireworks salute the Madonna's arrival and all the citizens of Rome seemed to be celebrating them back inside after a few prayers and some team photos were all allowed to resume our lives we ended here in one of the most beautiful one of the oldest churches in Rome in order to take part in something which was in its own way miraculous and extraordinary because of the strength of belief that you find here amongst the people who take part in [Music] it's after 11:00 and the streets are packed with revelers the night out starts much later here but then for many doesn't stop until dawn there are over a hundred sin miles in the home of la dolce vita but many of them aren't air-conditioned so in the summer cinema moves outdoors one of the coolest is here on type of island right in the middle of the city I've come to help projectionists Pietro Maki prepare for tonight's screening reminds me of doing my father's shows in my house you know when I was a kid well it's 11:30 time to start up the projector but the film will have a tough job competing with all the spectacle around me in the middle of the night Rome is wide awake it won't start coming down until around 2:00 in the morning and then I can finally experience one of the most quintessential of all Roman pastime I'm going on a late-night scooter ride with the Vespa Club of Rome Flavio how are you I'm very good how are you okay fine thank you this is nobody this is the club how beautiful salute a [Music] when in 1946 company owner enrico piaggio first clapped eyes on his newly designed vehicle he cried sambara una Vespa it looks like a wasp 60 years and 16 million vespers later it's still the best way of getting around this city [Music] now I've got the hang of it I want to ask club rider Flavio FINA what it is about the vespa that makes it so special you see is a one-piece only of still only one piece is not many many parts and that make the vest by unica in the world the night in Rome is drawing to a close there's time for a final ride past the city's great landmarks before making my way out past the colossal over ground that's where we started just 24 hours ago [Music] you know color Italian to say that Romans are arrogant aloof they say they moan a lot and they've always seen everything before just the way they talk I love the way they care about their city and all their traditions and love ro I think you could live here for 10 years and still only scratch the surface of this tournament in town [Music]

Channel: TRACKS - Travel Documentaries

Views: 141,647

Keywords: Roman architecture, TRACKS - Travel Documentaries, city life, city vibes, cityscape views, european history, famous landmarks, hidden gems, historic adventures, historical sites, history, iconic landmarks, international travel, julius caesar, must-visit destinations, travel, travel destinations, urban adventures, urban landmarks, urban travel, world heritage sites

Id: 2qmn8MDEGPE

Length: 46min 21sec (2781 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 16 2019