Ancient Rome DVD

ROME CITY GUIDE: Estelle Bingham starts her trip to Rome touring the famous Forum, the hub of ancient Rome. Starting her second day she tastes as many different forms of espresso as possible before continuing her exploration of the city by visiting Michelangelo s beautiful Piazza Campidoglio, and the historic museums flanking the piazza. She then learns how to make a real Roman pizza, before strolling through charming Trastevere, and visiting the oldest church in Rome, Santa Maria. Her next day finds her watching a mass in St. Peters, trying on the latest in clerical... garb on some streets nearby, and visiting the home near the Spanish Steps where Romantic poet John Keats died. Taking a break from Rome, she goes on a day trip to Anzio, site of a famous Allied landing and victory during World War II. Back in Rome she visits the Piazza Navona before taking in the sumptuous sights of the Villa Borghese, one of the greatest private art collections in the world. She looks at the balcony where former dictator Mussolini exhorted the crowds, before visting the famous Colosseum. She takes another day trip away from Rome to go to a unique festival in Tuscany: a duck derby. On her last day in Rome she has lunch with a movie star, and visits the Pantheon, the resting place of Raphael. LITTLE BOOK OF ANCIENT ROME: For more than a thousand years the city of Rome stood on the banks of the River Tiber. Ruled by a succession of kings, consuls and emperors the most powerful city in the world sent out armies to conquer the entire known world. Whether the enemy was a Greek city state, a Celtic king, an Egyptian queen or an Eastern monarch they all fell before the all conquering might of the Roman army. Behind the military conquests stood a sophisticated civilization that boasted the finest culture that ever flourished. There were palaces of exquisite beauty, theatres of famed splendour and temples of lavish decoration. The Romans valued subtle literature, delicate mosaics and fine statues. Yet they also watched bloody gladiator fights, gloried in fake animal hunts and sent men to their deaths in chariot races. Although Rome dazzled the world with its power and splendour, it contained within itself the causes of its own destruction. Rome may have finally fallen to barbarians from Germany, but it had for years been teetering on the edge of disaster. Author and celebrated historian Rupert Matthews details the glory that was Rome - how it grew and why it fell. [show more]

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