Tag Archives: Rome

Saturnalia

Roman winter began with Saturnalia, which would have begun last night. Saturn being the father of Jupiter, the glowing Patriarchate of the oft-warring gods, suddenly greeting one another, at the day of the solstice, during Saturn’s own Festival, is so auspicious you don’t need to be an Etruscan priest to point it out. To avoid offending the gods, and to mark the Observance, here is a link to the free online book of The Ancient City, by Fustel de Coulanges.

Click to access AncientCity.pdf

Two years ago I made an evocative video of Roman winter during what would have been Lupercalia, the end of the winter festivals in the last week of February. I repost it here mostly because I want to watch it. It features my lovely Views of Rome in snowcover, plus the great Roman music of Respighi. https://drive.google.com/file/d/13VMmqb_hKgkY5W3vni6zy3GDEtMVJRUv/view?usp=sharing

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ancientrome:

“It is precisely because the story of Romulus is mythic rather than historical, in the narrow sense, that it encapsulates so sharply some of the central cultural questions of ancient Rome, and is so important for understanding Roman history, in its wider definition.
The Romans had not, as they assumed, simply inherited the priorities and concerns of their founder. Quite the reverse: over centuries of retelling and then rewriting the story, they themselves had constructed the founding figure of Romulus as a powerful symbol of their preferences, debates, ideologies and and anxieties. It was not, in other words, to go back to Horace, that civil war was the curse and destiny of Rome from its birth; Rome had projected its obsessions with the apparently unending cycle of civil conflict onto its founder.”

— Mary Beard, SPQR (via violaeade)

Myths of foundation are central to the process of civilization. A city’s identity as a commonalty of stakeholders helps it attract immigrants, deepens commercial connections, and generally builds a society that grows and prospers together. That process is helped mightily by a potent and expressive foundation myth.

Fatamorgana, in Studio City. This unassuming shop on Ventura near Laurel Canyon is the only other Fatamorgana in the world, outside Rome. ‘Nuff said, New York. See ya later, San Francisco.

The name, of course, refers to a mirage or delirious illusion, such as might be “made” (facta) by “Morgan” (i.e., Le Fey). The gelato served here is arguably the best, and most authentically Roman, in the world.

The original of this gelateria is in Trastevere, the historic working-class section of Rome. Locals argue that, what with all the Euro-jet-setters, Bit-coin tycoons and OPEC millionaires bidding up the real estate in the center of Rome, Trastevere is the only really Roman part of Rome left, meaning, with actual Romans and all. Larry Freedman, Sue Luftschein and I were taken to Fatamorgana during our revelatory Food Tour of Trastevere, and got the facts about gelato.

Fatamorgana’s gelato is made the old-fashioned way – no fillers, no soy, no gluten, no carageenan, no gelatin, no preservatives or emulsifiers. The gelatiere told us that f it looks all whooshed up into a big puffy ice-cream pillow spilling out of the freezer pan, your gelato is not authentic. Real gelato should be realistically flat in the pan, not pouffed-up like meringue. Authentically, it must contain only milk, cream, sugar, egg, water, and whatever flavorful fruits and herbs.

With flavors like basil-walnut, or Kentucky chocolate (with real tobacco), this is, in our View, the very best frozen treat in LA.

The Valley Village View

Welcome to the blog of writer and musician Andrew Martin. Here I'll post original photographs and observations as I encounter the history and culture of the San Fernando Valley, the City of the Angels, Alta California and the far-flung Pacific Rim… but mostly the Valley.

Tag Archives: Rome

Saturnalia