His real name is probably Menelaus (the Greek king of ancient times who was married to Helen before Paris kidnapped her and took her off to Troy) or possibly Ajax, a hero of the same Trojan War. But for centuries, the Romans have called this rather battered, third century BC statue, Pasquino after one of the city's first outspoken dissidents, some say a tailor who lived nearby, some a local school teacher, some say a Vatican insider, who signed that name to diatribes and satirical poems hung around the statue's neck that expressed criticism of the Pope, who until 1870 was, after all, also the city's temporal and non-democratic ruler.

Thus began a tradition, made more or less obsolete by modern newspapers, of Rome's "talking statues" of which Pasquino, now given some much needed spit and polish by stone restorers, was the most famous. It also is the source of the word, pasquinade, which means a satirical lampoon generally posted in a public place.
The story goes that the statue, dug up during street works near to what today is known as Palazzo Braschi, was erected in April, 1501 on the southwest side of what today is called Piazza Navona by Renaissance cardinal Oliviero Carafa, who must have thought he was being clever by establishing an annual ceremony in which the statue was draped in a toga to which the educated could attach epigrams in Latin.

 Much to the  Holy See's annoyance, the Roman populace, at least those among it who could write, began to use the statue as a sounding board for dissent. And whenever this got so irritating to the pontiff of the moment that he would declare the piazza out of bounds to passersby, dissidents would transfer their attentions to other "talking" statues such as Marforio, Madame Lucrezia, Il facchino, Il Babbuino and Abbot Luigi.

Rome’s municipal government has approved a plan for increases in some taxi fares in the Eternal City, including the price-fixed tariff to the city from Fiumicino and Ciampino airports. The new regulations will also simplify taxi fares and facilitate the suspension of taxi licences in the event of improper behaviour by drivers. The new rate schedule,  which will take effect only after various city commissions and district bodies have their say in the matter would raise to €45 the current fare to the city from Fiumicino airport and to €35 the fare from Ciampino. The cost for a taxi ride to the Mediterranean port of Civitavecchia would be €120.

In general, the cost of short distance trips and those inside five kilometres from Rome’s historic center woud be increased whiled lower those applied for longer journeys. It would abolish a  the two euro surcharge currently in force for fares starting from Rome’s Termini station and a second fare system that kicked into operation after a certain distance, making it relatively easy  for unscrupulous drivers to cheat. The new plan also provides for a 10% night discount for women travelling alone and requires the basic fare schedule to be printed on the side of city taxis.

The 150,000-square-feet (14,000-square-meter) complex was at the center of an ancient village called Falacrine, Vespasian's hometown.

Even though there are no inscriptions to attribute it for sure, the villa's location and luxury make it likely it was Vespasian's birthplace, Coarelli said. "This is the only villa of this kind in the area where he most certainly was born,'' the archaeologist said in a telephone interview from Cittareale.

The 1st-century residence featured ''a well-preserved huge floor, decorated with luxurious marble coming from the whole Mediterranean area,'' he said.''It's clear that such things could only belong to someone with a high social position and wealth. And in this place, it was the Flavians,'' the dynasty to which Vespasian belonged.

The four-year excavation, which also turned up other ruins, including a necropolis burial ground, was carried out by a group of Italian and British archaeologists.Vespasian, whose full name was Titus Flavius Vespasianus, brought stability to the empire following turmoil under the extravagant Emperor Nero and a civil war among his successors.

Born in A.D. 9 into a family of low-tier country nobility, Vespasian rose through the army ranks, becoming the general in charge of putting down a Jewish revolt in Judea.After being acclaimed emperor by his troops in A.D. 69 and eliminating his rivals, Vespasian found Rome facing a deep economic crisis and still recovering from the fire that consumed it under Nero.Using riches plundered from Jerusalem and proceeds from increased taxes, he launched a major public works program and started building the Colosseum -- the most ambitious and best-preserved of his projects.

A stand-up cappuccino for €1.50????? This is what a reporter for the Rome daily, La Repubblica, paid at the La Fontana café on Via del Corso when, soeaking in English, she ordered a cappuccino, .60 cents more than what Italian customers were being charged for the same foamy brew. Down the block at the Caffè Ram, she reported, the same thing happened only the cappuccino was a "bargain", €1.20 against the real price of .90.

At the Squisito bar in Via del Tritone, she wrote, the cash register had a special key for coffee and cappuccino when ordered by foreigners and, again, an espresso cost 20 cents more if the client appeared to be a non-Italian. The same sad story was encountered at a series of other bars and cafes in central Rome, in one of which the owners had even come up with supposed small, medium and large sizes for cappuccino and cafes Starbucks style but totally unheard of here and should lead you to take to your heels.

The day after the article appeared, the barmen at Ombre Rosse, where I often have my morning coffee, were talking aboutthis system of double-pricing, furious and ashamed that colleagues of theirs were adopting such stratagems to fleece foreign visitors. So there is no need to conclude that this happens everywhere in Rome.

But lately the city has been getting a bad press. A Japanese couple recently went to the police when a once well-respected restaurant, Il Passetto, a stone's throw from Piazza Navona, charged them an incredible 597 euros for a normal dinner and, adding insult to injury, arbitrarily stuck a 115 euro tip onto the bill. This episode led the Tokyo daily, Asahi Shimbun, to publish a piece from its Rome correspondent entitled: «Turism in Italy; a rapid decline». Perhaps because of their language problems - very few Japanese speak Italian and not that many speak good English either - they seem to be a frequent target for unscrupulous restaurant managers and taxi drivers. But they are not the only ones. Of course, some of this can- and does - happen anywhere. But it's pretty risky behaviour in a country in which tourism in more or less the single largest industry.

To make sure you don't get fleeced, remember to check the prices on the restaurant's menu, or in cafes, the prices posted on the wall. As for taxis, don't let your driver take off without putting on the meter and don't believe him if he quotes a flat price. The only flat price in Rome is for the airport, which costs 40 euros.

Five hundred and fifty years ago (in 1455) the Renaissance painter known today alternatively as Fra Angelico or Beato Angelico (the Blessed Angelico), died in Rome at the age of 60 and this city's Capitoline Museums is celebrating the anniversary with a major exhibition - the largest in Italy since 1955. Guido di Pietro was born in 1395 in the Tuscan town of Vicchio and at the age of 22 took his vows in the convent of San Domenico in Fiesole and as a Dominican monk was given the name Friar Giovanni of Fiesole.

At the time of his vows, Friar John was already painting and the exhibition, subtitled, "The Dawn of the Renaissance", traces the various phases of Fra Angelico's career from his late Gothic works, through his work as an illuminator of monastic manuscripts and on to the blossoming of his full Renaissance humanism. It puts on view such major works as the Paradiso, the Cortona Triptych, two of the panels from the Armadio degli Argenti from the San Marco Museum in Florence (and which bowled me over at age 18!) and the famous Annunciation from San Giovanni Valdarno.

There are decorated Codex, altarpieces and parchments. And, additionally, the exhibit includes some Fra Angelico works never before shown to the public such as the Zagreb altar step, which shows the Stigmate of St. Francis and the Martyrdom of St Peter, the Dresden Annunciation which was reassembled in the 16th century, and part of the Annalena altarpiece, which is now in Zurich. Two side panels of a 1430 triptych, The Blessed and The Damned, go on view for the first time, having been purchased years ago by an American collector.

The exhibition, which opened on April 8th (I was out of the country and was unaware of it) lasts through July 5. The museum is open daily, except Mondays, from 9:00a.m. to 8:00p.m. and tickets cost €6 for Fra Angelico alone and €9 if you want to visit the rest of the museum complex as well.

To be published May 13 in Wanted in Rome
Today's tourists spread out evenly through Rome's historic center, crowding areas such as Piazza Navona, the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Trevi fountain, until recently Via Veneto and, of course, Piazza di Spagna. But in the old days, for visitors - especially those foreign - it was the latter alone, and the streets fanning out from it, horizontally towards Piazza del Popolo and vertically towards Via del Corso, that was considered to be the heart of the city. "There is nothing like it anywhere else,", was the comment of French writer, Henri Stendahl, who visited Rome in the early 19th century.

ANSA) - Rome, March 6 - An eagerly awaited exhibition celebrating the father of the Renaissance, Giotto, and his groundbreaking impact on 14th-century art has opened in Rome. The 3.3-million-euro show at the Vittoriano boasts over 160 works of art, including 20 panels, exploring the life and times of Giotto di Bondone (c.1267-1337).

The Thursday inauguration of the exhibition, presided over by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, was attended by leading figures from the world of Italian art, who praised the breadth and value of the works on display. ''This exhibition is a once-in-a-century event offering a multi-faceted overview of a crucial period in the history of European art,'' commented Florence's Art Superintendent Cristina Acidini. ''Giotto set out from Florence and, as Dante did with the Italian language, unified Italy's art world''. Art historian Francesco Gandolfo described the exhibition as ''a real head-turner'' and said it offered some ''complex food for thought''.

The exhibition features wooden sculptures, illuminated manuscripts, goldwork and paintings by a variety of key figures from the 1300s, including Simone Martini, Giovanni Pisano and Arnolfo di Cambio.But the highlight of the show is the selection of Giotto's own fragile, 14th-century panels on loan from major museums around the world, several of which have been restored for the show.

''This event does not simply commemorate Giotto's work, it aims to approach the master from a fresh point of view,'' said Architectural Heritage Superintendent Roberto Cecchi.

''There are so many aspects to Giotto that we still know little about, such as his interest in architecture, and the exhibition will contain some appealing ideas for future studies''.

Although renowned for his skill at life drawings at a time when stylised Byzantine art dominated, much of Giotto's life, travels and training remains shrouded in mystery.He was born in Tuscany of a father named Bondone, studied with Cimabue, one of the greatest painters of his day, and completed his greatest masterpiece, the decoration of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, in around 1305.

However, the year and precise place of his birth and his family's background remain subjects of dispute, as does the order in which he completed his works and even their attribution.The exhibition sets out to address these uncertainties among others, looking at conflicting views and tracing his voyages around Italy through the impact of his art.

''The exhibition analyzes the master's presence in Italy's greatest cities, from Rome to Florence, and from Naples to Milan,'' said the event's curator Alessandro Tomei. "'First-hand evidence has disappeared but historians have reconstructed his trail through documentation and the influence his work had on his contemporaries. ''Where Giotto went, artistic expression changed for good,'' he concluded.

Giotto e Il Trecento (Giotto And The 14th Century), the exhibition runs in Rome's Vittoriano until June 29.

photo:Christ between St John the Evangelist, the Madonna, John the Baptist and St Francis, (1310-1315) from the North Carolina Museum of Art.