Symbols and trivia of Rome
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rome is commonly identified by several proper symbols, including the Colosseum, the she-wolf (Lupa capitolina), the imperial eagle, and the symbols of Christianity. The famous acronym SPQR (Latin: Senatus PopulusQue Romanus, "The Senate and People of Rome") recalls the ancient age and the unity between Roman Senate and Roman people. The SPQR letters are are ubiquitous in the city, as they can be found inscribed on manhole covers, city lights, waste baskets, and even walls and gates.
Rome is called l'Urbe ("the City" as an antonomasia), Caput mundi (literally "head of the world"), Città Eterna ("eternal city"), and Limen Apostolorum (literally "threshold of the apostles").
The town's colours are golden yellow and red (garnet): they stand, respectively, for Christian and Imperial dignities.
- Rome traditionally had two city-specific bank holidays: April 21 (date of the mythological founding of Rome in 753 BC) and June 29 (day of Saint Paul and Saint Peter, patron saints of the city); currently, only the latter remains a bank holiday, although the former is still celebrated with cultural initiatives. Other locally important dates are December 8 (the Immaculate Conception) and January 6 (Epiphany).
Rome was once surrounded by the toll-free ring-road called The Grande Raccordo Anulare (commonly shortened "Il GRA" or "Il Raccordo"), which is 68 km long. This beltway has since been outgrown by the city, and the city has other districts well beyond it. Examples are Casalpalocco, Mostacciano, Infernetto among others.
The she-wolf is another common symbol of Rome. It has been adopted by Siena in the Middle Ages, and it is the origin of the current emblem of the Contrada della Lupa, one of the seventeen participants in the Palio di Siena.
Some proverbs and quotations about the Eternal City:
- When in Rome, do as the Romans do - in reference to the Romans's different custom of celebrating Easter.
- All roads lead to Rome (Italian: "Tutte le strade portano a Roma") - in honor of the effective Roman road system starting with the Via Appia.
- Rome wasn't built in a day.
- Roma locuta, causa finita. "Rome spoke, case closed", on the superiority of the Roman tribunals and curia in canon law.
- "I found Rome a city of brick, I left it a city of marble" - attributed to Augustus.
During its long history, Rome has always had a scarcity of native inhabitants, so by tradition a "true" Roman is one whose family has lived in Rome for no fewer than 7 generations: this is the original "Romano de Roma" (in romanesco, the local dialect of Italian). Some noble Roman families however can still trace their lineage to the ancient patricians and senatorial houses.
For Protestant preachers, Rome was a new Babylon, the whore of the Revelation. For the Northern federalist party Lega Nord, Rome is the symbol of the allegedly parasitic Italian central government, crystallized in their slogan Roma ladrona ("Thief Rome").
- Stereotypically, Romans tend to dismiss those who live in the countryside around the city as ignorant hilly-billies. The word "burino" (Latin "burinus") is traditionally used by Romans to refer to them with this deprecative meaning in mind, but its original Latin meaning is simply "someone who uses a plowshare" ("bus" in Latin). This is considered a hironic, mild insult, but people from the rest of Lazio may still take offense at it.
- Rome sports the highest number of cities named after it in the rest of the world: there are 44 "Romes" on the planet (most of them in North America).
