CCR Walks: A New Look at an Ancient People - January 20, 2024

Pleasure-loving gourmands? Pitiless pirates? Mysterious migrants? The learned Emperor Claudius was intrigued by the Etruscans and in more recent centuries they fired the imagination of Jesuit polymaths, adventurers, tomb raiders and princes, as well as writers such as Stendhal and DH Lawrence. A new exhibition at Villa Giulia regarding the port city of Spina at the mouth of the Po River allows us to examine long-held beliefs, clichés and new discoveries regarding the most remarkable of Italy’s pre-Roman people.

When: Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024

Time: 10 a.m start.; 9:30 for coffee or 9:45 to check in.

Meeting Place: Near the National Etruscan Museum. Participants will be informed by email of the exact meeting point.  

Cost: €10 for members and €15 for non-members.

RSVP: canadarome@gmail.com ATTN Peter by Jan. 18, 2024. You are financially responsible for your reservation.

CCR Walks: Santa Maria della Pietà and the Urbs Picta - October 16, 2021

A little-known park with rare and exotic plant species, the Parco di Santa Maria della Pietà is home to Rome’s former insane asylum, which was dismantled through the work of Franco Basaglia and like-minded pioneers They changed mental health policy in Italy in radical ways. The haunting urban graffiti of the project Urbs Picta by artist Tina Jodice recalls the asylum’s amazing history and that of the people who live(d) and worked there.

When: Saturday, October 16th

Time: 10:00 a.m. (9:45 if you would like to meet for coffee before the walk starts)

Meeting Place: Confirmed participants will be informed by email.

Directions: Please note the event is outside the centre of Rome and you should check online for the best route. One possibility is to take Metro A line to Valle Aurelia, transfer to the Valle Aurelia Train Station (a two-minute walk), and then take one of the regional trains four stops to Roma Monte Mario.  From there it will be approximately a five-minute walk to the meeting point.

Cost: €10 for members and €15 for non-members. There will be an additional cost for radio transmitters.  

RSVP: canadarome@gmail.com ATTN Joe by Wednesday, October 13, 2021. You are financially responsible for your reservation.

CCR Walks: Façades - October 27, 2019

What is Rome’s colour? Burnt ochre or the light colours of the Baroque? As occurs during a wonderful choir performance when a few solo voices suddenly stand out, the city’s landscape is the result of more than the sum of its parts. How does one go about curating its unique cityscape?

Please join us as we take a look at Rome’s buildings and learn about their façades and the techniques and building materials used to create them. We will also explore the issues facing the owners, legislators, and conservators entrusted with protecting this architectural and cultural legacy.

When: Sunday, October 27, 2019
Time: 10 a.m.
Meeting Place: Piazza Venezia area; exact location will be provided to registered attendees.
Cost: €10 for members and €15 for non-members.
RSVP: canadarome@gmail.com ATTN Joe by Wed., Oct. 23rd. You are financially responsible for your reservation.

CCR Walks: Campo Verano - November 10, 2018

photo: Lichtbilder/Reinhard Goldmann

In the Christian liturgical calendar, November is entirely devoted to the deceased. That's why it is dubbed the “Month of the Dead” which makes it an ideal time to explore Rome’s Monumental Cemetery, Campo Verano. Join us as we learn of the cemetery’s Napoleonic origins, its artwork and, above all, the interesting people who rest there, including saints, football players, war heroes, resistance fighters, writers, actors, and film directors. 

When: Saturday, November 10, 2018
Time: 10 a.m.
Where: In the vicinity of Campo Verano Cemetery; exact location will be sent to confirmed participants by email.
Cost: €10 for members and €15 for non-members.
RSVP: canadarome@gmail.com ATTN Joe by Thursday, November 8, 2018. You are financially responsible for your reservation.

CCR Walks: Sacks & the City - October 14, 2018

City elders slaughtered in their homes! Sacred places gutted and destroyed! Carts, laden with loot, upsetting their contents into the Tiber as refugees cower in the smoking ruins...

What was it like to live through Rome’s darkest hour? Join us as we follow in the footsteps of Rome’s invaders -- Celtic nomads, methodical Norman raiders, self-righteous fanatics and desperadoes of the Renaissance. From the sultry summer of 390 BCE up to modern times, the traces of these invaders have been woven into the texture of memory, myth and legend which swirls around the Urbs, the greatest city. Wait! Listen... maybe they still have something to tell us... 

The Sack of Rome in 1527, by Amérigo Aparicio, 1884

When: Sunday, October 14, 2018
Time: 10 a.m.
Where: exact location will be sent to confirmed participants by email.
Cost: €10 for members and €15 for non-members. 
RSVP: canadarome@gmail.com ATTN Joe by Thursday, October 11, 2018. You are financially responsible for your reservation.

Special Event: Meet the Author Matthew Kneale - October 6, 2018

It isn't often that a history book garners as much buzz as "Rome: A History in Seven Sackings" by Matthew Kneale. The CCR Book Club has made special arrangements for the author to meet with us to talk about the making of his book. Matthew lives in Rome and expresses his love of this city in a unique story-telling style that is warm, humorous, and engaging. This event will take place in a historic location near Piazza Venezia that is not normally open to the public.

For those of you who would like to read the book, it is available on Amazon. Although it's written in a very entertaining fashion, it's quite long; it's the history of Rome, after all, so start reading soon! All Canadian Club of Rome members and their guests are welcome to attend. Space will be limited and reservations will be required.

When: Saturday, October 6, 2018
Time: Arrive by 1:50 p.m.; a brief tour of the monastery will start at 2 p.m. sharp, followed by Matthew Kneale's talk.
Where: Monastery of Santi XII Apostoli (near Piazza Venezia); details on the exact location will be sent to confirmed participants.
Potluck: Please bring sweets for 6-10 people (finger food, no kitchen preparation or heating) and/or chilled Prosecco to share.
Cost: Free; however, to thank the Franciscans for the use of their monastery, each individual is asked to contribute to their food bank by bringing canned goods, such as tuna, mackerel, salmon, meat.
Further info & RSVP: canadarome@gmail.com ATTN Luigi to coordinate your attendance.

CCR Walks: Garbatella Neighborhood - April 7, 2018

Garbatella, now a hip neighborhood, has a turbulent past. At the start of the last century, when it was first built, it was populated by newly arrived immigrants to Roma Capitale and became a hotbed of dissent during the Fascist period and of leftwing anti-government opposition during the postwar years. Its distinctive architecture also marks it as one of Rome’s few urban planning experiments in popular (public) housing, inspired by “Garden City” models and 20th century modernism. During the course of the walk, we will look at the many strands of Rome’s recent history and ways in which the past has been recorded in official and non-official ways in this highly distinctive, edgy neighborhood.

When: Saturday, April 7, 2018
Time: 10 a.m.
Where: Near the Garbatella metro station; exact location will be sent to confirmed participants by email.
Cost: €10 for members and €15 for non-members.
RSVP: canadarome@gmail.com ATTN Joe by Tuesday, April 3, 2018. You are financially responsible for your reservation.

CCR Walks: Whose Past Is It Anyway? Monuments As Weapons - December 3, 2017

Every nation struggles with "Confederate heroes" of its own kind. Rome has had to contend with less-than-exemplary emperors who set up baths, basilicas, and other buildings stamped with their names. Taking a walk through the centre, you're likely to bump into some controversial popes' statues or Mussolini's more recent attempts to place his mark on the city. What does a city or a nation do with these monuments when the bloom is off the rose and history looks at these individuals in a different light? Come wander with us through the centre of Rome as we contemplate the sensitivities surrounding some of these monuments. 

When: Sunday, Dec. 3, 2017
Time: 10 a.m.
Meeting point: Near the Ara Pacis; exact location sent to confirmed participants by email.
Cost: €10 for members and €15 for non-members.
RSVP required by Thu. Nov. 30, ATTN Joe at canadarome@gmail.com. You are financially responsible for your reservation.
NB: Please bring correct change.

CCR Walks: Bernini and Borromini - November 12, 2017

Follow in the footsteps of the ultimate courtier, Cavalier Bernini, as his carriage rumbles past the haunts of his youth, and the great man remembers his architectural duel with his most bitter rival, the great Francesco Borromini. This walk strings together some of the churches which saw this rivalry soar skywards, as each tried to outdo the other, and thus succeded in transforming Baroque Rome into a stony tribute to the two mens' genius.

When: Sunday, Nov. 12, 2017
Time: 10 a.m.
Meeting point: Quattro Fontane area; exact location sent to confirmed participants by email.
Cost: €10 for members and €15 for non-members.
RSVP required by Thu. Nov. 9, ATTN Joe at canadarome@gmail.com. You are financially responsible for your reservation.
NB: Please bring correct change.

CCR Walks: Ramblings on the Palatine - October 1, 2017

Following the summer break, we take up where we left off in the spring… and head to the heart of the ancient city, which has inspired countless artists, poets and writers as the cradle of a whole civilization: the Palatine Hill, where, we are told, “it all started” (and, in many ways, where it all ended). We will focus in part on the exciting discoveries which have been unearthed in recent years and which shed new light on today's ivy-covered ruins nestling among the pine-trees.

When: Sunday, October 1, 2017
Time: 10 a.m.
Meeting point: To Be Announced
Cost: €10 for members and €15 for non-members; FREE admission ticket (also valid for the Coliseum) because it will be the first Sunday of the month.
RSVP required by Thu. Sept. 28, ATTN Joe at canadarome@gmail.com. You are financially responsible for your reservation.
NB: Please bring correct change.

CCR Walks: Ramblings on the Colle Oppio - May 28, 2017

Baths, princely mansions, luscious gardens and splendid statuary were once found on the Colle Oppio. Historical witnesses to these splendours included Pliny, Michelangelo, and the great 19th-century archaeologist Rodolfo Lanciani.  Our ramble on the hill will touch on these accounts as well as chart more recent findings during the past 15 years. Thanks to a special permit we will also inspect the so-called Sette Sale (Trajan-era water cisterns) and the Auditorium of Augustus’ famous friend, Maecenas, as we unpack the hill’s fascinating history.

When: Sunday, May 28, 2017
Time: 9:00 a.m. for coffee; 9:30 a.m. for the walk.
Meeting point: Near the Colle Oppio; exact location to be provided to those registered for this walk.
Cost: €10 for members and €15 for non-members.  There will also be an additional fee of €8 to enter the two special sites included on this walk.
RSVP required by Thursday May 25, ATTN Joe at canadarome@gmail.com. You are financially responsible for your reservation.
NB: Please bring correct change.

CCR Walks: Cola di Rienzo - March 18, 2017

Who was Cola di Rienzo? A rabble-rouser? A man ahead of his time? A humanist or an impostor?

This walk meanders from the banks of the Tiber to the Capitoline Hill, unraveling the many strands of his amazing tale, from his birth in an obscure inn to his mission to the glittering Papal court at Avignon, to finally becoming an inspiration as a Risorgimento hero in the 19th century, hundreds of years after his death!

When: Saturday, March 18, 2017
Time: 9:30 a.m. for coffee; 10 a.m. for the walk.
Meeting point: Via Petroselli area; exact location to be provided to those registered for this walk.
Cost: €10 for members and €15 for non-members.
RSVP required by Thu. Mar. 16, ATTN Joe at canadarome@gmail.com. You are financially responsible for your reservation.
NB: Please bring correct change.

CCR Walks: Underground Roman Beauty - the Via Livenza Hypogeum - November 6, 2016

Discovered only in 1923 when construction began for a building on Via Livenza and Via Po, the Via Livenza Hypogeum is a wonderful example of intriguing, vivid paintings suggesting the varied and cosmopolitan set of religious beliefs of Late Imperial Rome. Come discover this little known gem just outside the Aurelian walls and learn about the various theories on its origin. Visits to the hypogeum are by special request only, hence there will be a supplementary 4 euro entrance fee. 

When: Sunday, Nov. 6, 2016
Time: Special admission booked for 11 a.m. sharp.
Meeting point: 15 minutes before departure between Piazza Fiume and Villa Borghese; exact location to be provided to those registered for this walk.
Cost: €10 for members and €15 for non-members, plus €4 monument admission fee.
RSVP required by Thu. Nov. 3rd, ATTN Joe at canadarome@gmail.com. You are financially responsible for your reservation.
NOTE: Please bring correct change.

CCR Walks: The Protestant Cemetery - May 8, 2016

In 1716, Pope Clement XI granted members of the exiled Stuart court the right to be buried near the Pyramid of Caestius. Since then countless artists, diplomats, children, pastors, invalids, eccentrics and exiles, mostly non-Catholics, have been laid to sleep in the shadow of Rome's great Piramide Cestia. Come explore the so-called Protestant Cemetery and learn some of the many tales told by the silent tombstones, on a walk held to mark the historic cemetery 's 300th anniversary. 

When: Sunday, May 8, 2016
Time: 9:45 a.m. departure, 9:30 for coffee beforehand.
Meeting point: Exact location to be provided to those registered for this walk.
Cost: €15 for members and €20 for non-members, including a €5 contribution for the upkeep of the cemetery, which is entirely private and has no public funding.
RSVP required by Thu. May 5th, ATTN Joe at canadarome@gmail.com. You are financially responsible for your reservation.
NOTE: Please bring correct change.

CCR Walks: The Roman Settings of "Tosca" - April 16, 2016

“Passion, Murder, Betrayal, Death!”  Puccini placed his 1900 opera “TOSCA” a century earlier, in the Napoleonic Rome of 1800,  and he set its acts in three famous structures of the city:  the church of Sant’Andrea della Valle, the Palazzo Farnese and the Castel Sant’Angelo.

Join us as we explore these backdrops for the opera and discover their importance in this classic work as well as their place, and that of their surroundings, in Rome’s long history. Starting at Sant'Andrea della Valle we take this chance to look at the actual locations and their role in an unforgettable plot.

When: Saturday, Apr. 16, 2016
Time: 9:45 a.m. departure, 9:30 for coffee beforehand.
Meeting point: Exact location to be provided to those registered for this walk.
Cost: €10 for CCR members, €15 non-members.
RSVP required by Thu. Apr. 14th, ATTN Peter at canadarome@gmail.com. You are financially responsible for your reservation.
NOTE: Please bring correct change.