Compared to other European capitals, Rome’s subway is far less developed. For years, Rome’s 2.8 million citizens relied solely on two scant subway lines that fell short of meeting the city’s transportation needs. The two lines don’t even connect and they do not come near to the historical city centre. Being one of the oldest cities in the world, the construction of a subway poses many difficulties. Rome is built upon a labyrinth of tunnels, catacombs, vaults, and ancient sewer systems.

During the construction of the first two subway lines in the 1950’s, each excavation exposed archaeological remains and the construction had to be stopped to allow the local archaeologists to check their significance. Alternate routes had to be thought-out and determined if the discovery proved valuable to the history of the Romans.

After years of funding shortfalls and decades of debate, work began on a third subway line. Now that the third subway line is under construction, it has been marked as an “archaeological survey” from the very beginning and great care is being taken. This new line will run through the very heart of the ancient city. It will be 24 kilometers (15 miles) in length and 25 to 30 metres (80 to 100 feet) below ground.

Finally, after many centuries, archaeologists are working together with construction workers to excavate beneath Rome’s central Piazza Venezia, only a few hundred yards from the Roman Forum.
Almost immediately, excavation revealed some spectacular finds. Just below the surface, excavators discovered building remnants from the renaissance that were torn down in the late 19th century.

They dug one layer deeper and this exposed Via Flamina, a medieval road that once traversed the city. And one layer below that, they discovered a herringbone pavement from the 8th century.
Beneath the Piazza Venezia and near the ancient Forum, workers discovered a sixth-century copper factory. The early factory consisted of small ovens used to work on copper alloys. Small copper ingots discovered at the scene were sent for analysis.

Also discovered were the foundations of a 16th century Renaissance palace, a Roman tavern, and a medieval kitchen complete with pots and pans used to heat sauce.

Even though 38 active digs now line the subway construction, most of the digs have not reached the earth strata that date back to Roman times, where plenty of surprises may yet await discovery.

With every new discovery, officials must decide whether to remove, destroy, or preserve the artefacts and/or site within the subway’s structure.

Officials deemed a Roman tavern from the Middle Ages acceptable for destruction, but they eliminated an entire subway stop near the Pantheon from after workers found the base of an imperial Roman public building. This will force tourists and citizens alike to walk further to reach the new, relocated subway stop.

Further along the tunnels, workers found a “looter’s hole.” During the Middle Ages, builders would tie themselves to a rope and drop down into a well-like shaft to roam the underground to collect bricks, rock, or marble from earlier centuries to use for new construction.

There isn’t an inch of Rome that doesn’t have some artifacts below the street. In 300 A.D., one-and-a-half million people inhabited Rome. If they were to bring to light everything they and subsequent generations owned and built, the streets of Rome would all have to be eliminated and the entire city preserved as an archaeological dig.

Like the Roman ingenuity of ancient times, Romans today have found a way to preserve the old while creating the new.

For more interesting articles about Italy or to visit the home page of author Mirella Patzer, visit http://www.mirellapatzer.com and http://bestofitaly.blogspot.com

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I say ‘modern’ with good reason. For much as we might bracket underfloor heating with the technology of today, it is amongst the oldest heating techniques we know of. We’ll leave the old-fashioned heap of burning wood aside from that assessment. The Romans, being among the most technically advanced cultures at the time, found themselves invading colder countries than they were used to. Acclimatised to the ripe indulgent stare of the sun back home, invading a dismal place like 1st century England brought much discomfort. Rome’s greatest minds thought long and hard to solve this problem.

By basically propping up their villas on large numbers of small columns, they created unseen space underfoot. Then, setting fires at specially designed apertures, the heat and smoke from the fires would heat the air. This continual warming from beneath kept the Romans snug as a bug in a rug despite predilection for cold clothes like togas and leather skirts whilst trying to bring theater to Wales.

Modern under floor heating is thankfully, a bit more up to date but uses the same idea. Heated elements under the floor – typically hot water pipes – circulate heat beneath your feet and thus make your home that bit less chilly.

A modern heating system has great advantages over other options. Most pertinently, most other sources of heat are generally mounted on the wall, like radiators, wall-heaters etc. Firstly, this means that they are raised off the floor. As heat rises, this means that your toes – which are susceptible to feeling the chill – never get the benefit. Secondly, much heat ends up heating the bricks instead of taking the chill out of the air. While your bricks are nice and warm you might be waiting an age to feel any warmth at all.

Luckily for the interested, installation is no longer a big engineering job. You can just ‘get a man in’, but also lots of self-installation tools that let the average Joe fit it themselves. So don’t fear the onset of winter chill – start looking into getting underfloor heating.

Erroll lives in Britain’s coldest house. Perishing even in summer thanks to its colossal brick stone walls, it plummets to approximately -67 with freezing regularity in the winter. Fortunately, he has tremendous underfloor heating systems installed, and consequently still has the use of all of his toes.

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Roman architects designed a central heating system called a hypocaust. The word, hypocaustum means “heat from below.” The raised floors were held up by short pillars and spaces beneath them and inside the walls were heated with the hot smoke and air from the fire chamber. Walls were fitted with ceramic box-shaped tiles that served as flues to channel the burned air and smoke to the outside, as well as to warm them. The more warmth needed, the closer to the hypocausts they were located.

It was a pretty expensive and labor-intensive method, so hypocausts were reserved for public baths and upper class villas. In about 25 B.C. Sergius Orata figured out how to cut down on the overhead by putting the male and female bathing rooms close to the hypocausts and right next door to each other.

Korean traditional architecture uses an Ondol. This underfloor heating method depends on direct heat transfer from a wood fire maintained underneath a thick floor made of masonry. From the central firebox or stove area, usually accessible from the kitchen or master bedroom, a system of horizontal channels spider out underneath the structure. A chimney on the opposite side of the building from the firebox ensures a decent draft system.

One of the Korean twists is that while traditional masonry is used for the channels and to support the thick floor, they added an additional layer of something impervious to smoke and fumes, such as layers of stone slabs, clay and oil paper. The system works well and is in used today in many of their buildings, notably in an orphanage.

When American missionaries discovered small children sleeping on pallets and babies sleeping in boxes on the floor, they went to great lengths to obtain thousands of cribs. Even after their arrival, the well-meaning folks were baffled to find the children were still sleeping on pallets and babies were still in boxes on the floor. Only after considerable questioning did they figure out that it was the best way to keep the little ones warm since the floors were warmed in the traditional manner.

Today’s furnaces and forced air ventilation systems provide the latest in safe, efficient central heating. Filters ensure that pollutants from the outside are kept at a minimum and the closed heat production part of the system either confines or eliminates any potentially toxic substances.

We’ve come a long way, but the level of comfort we enjoy today stands on the shoulders of some pretty smart cookies who lived a very long time ago.

Bardi Heating and Air conditioning specializes in Atlanta furnace repair and maintenance. They are a local, family owned company with a name you can trust. Bardi hvac technicians are equipped to handle repairs on any brand of equipment any time of day. To learn more their services please visit http://www.Bardi.com.

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Reading books and listening to CD’s is a very long drawn out learning process and even the most studious of people can find it hard going. Going to college is another option. If you’ve got the spare time and a local college that runs courses you may choose to learn there. These courses generally run for a couple of hours per week for the school year with breaks at term’s end. College is a good way to learn but you still have to have the motivation to attend after a hard day at work.
So what is the alternative?

Why not take a holiday specifically to learn the language?

Italian is the language of love, and the country is one of magnificent beauty so why not encapsulate both aspects and take a learn the language holiday to Italy.
The locations are varied, learning holidays are held all over the country so it’s up to you to choose what else you’d like from your holiday other than learning the language.

Depending on the season you could go to Milan or Turin in the winter and do a little skiing, in the spring time go walking in the mountains or in the summer just go sight seeing. Italy has so much to offer the tourist apart from the obvious city locations. Why not learn in the beautiful old town of Alghero on the magnificent island of Sardinia You can relax by the pool, go to the beach, walk in the mountains or visit the archaeological sites scattered around. All these activities can be fitted in around classroom time.

The class room time generally also includes Italian culture lessons on such things as Opera, art and Italian history all of which will help you understand the make up of the language.
Generally class sizes are small and divided into ability levels. You should have no worries about being put into a class of fluent speakers if you can’t utter a single word of the language.
Usually students are accommodated in private homes, student apartments or hotels for as long as they are enrolled on the course.

Evenings may include cultural trips and meals out including specialties from local producers. You would generally spend evenings with the rest of your study mates but if you’d rather not then there is no pressure to conform.

Learning can be daunting at any age but as an adult the fear of failure for some people is just too much but on a learning holiday to Italy everyone is in the same boat, everyone is there to learn and make the same mistakes, and hopefully have some laughs along the way.

With so much to learn about and such a beautiful language to learn where else on earth would you want to learn the language of love other than the most beautiful and romantic country on earth, Italy?

Harwood E Woodpecker

I try to pass on my musings on life and experiences in a way that people may find interesting to read. http://www.cookery-school-italy.com

You may not always agree with my writings but I hope to inform.

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An Overview of the Past of Italy

When you think of Italy, it’s nearly impossible to not think of the past. It is rich and complex starting from before ancient Roman times, continuing on through the turbulence of fascism, and finally ending with today’s modern country. Italy has it all – mystery, intrigue, religion, beauty and character, and studying the past of this impressive country can help us all to understand the current culture of Italy.

The earliest recorded mention Italy comes from the Paleolithic era, which occurred over 200,000 years ago. Italy didn’t really become a fully formed area, however, until the first Greek settlers arrived in the country in the eighth century BC. The name Italy is said to have either come from the name Italus, who was one of the kings of the area, or the Homeric word that meant “bull”. By the third century BC, the Romans had taken over the entire area of the Mediterranean, which included Italy, and this boot-shaped land became part of the Roman Empire. This Roman era led to prosperity and peace for the land of Italy, and this was continued until around 400 AD.

The Germanic people became the rulers of Italy around 400 AD. They ruled for roughly 135 years until, in 535, Justinian reclaimed the area for Rome. For the next 1000 years, Italy became a fragmented group of city states, and the paths of the southern and northern parts of Italy differed greatly. In the northern area, the city states of Genoa, Florence, Milan and especially Venice prospered, both in areas of commerce and those of politics. The southern part of Italy, in areas such as Sicily, were taken over first by Muslims in the ninth century and then by the Normans in the 1050’s. The areas of Sicily and Naples were filled with turmoil, but they also produced the climate that fed the Italian Renaissance movement where artists such as Michelangelo produced stunning works.

By the 1600’s, the Hapsburgs had taken control of the area of Italy and were strong rulers of many city states. Their rule was opposed, however, and by 1861, Italy’s smaller city states had united to form a full country known as Italy. Victor Immanuel II became the first king of Italy, and the country continued under a monarch until 1946, when a republic was developed.

Since that time, the republic has continued without interruption with one exception. In the 1930s, Mussolini became the elected President, but was for all intensive purposes a fascist dictator. As you know, he was deposed as Italy was defeated in World War II. Since that time, the country has remained a republic.

Richard Monk is with FactsMonk.com – a site with facts about everything. Visit us to read more about Italy.

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My friend studied Fashion Design in Rome during one semester of her Undergraduate studies. Whenever she speaks of her overseas experience, she can’t help but get a huge smile. During her program, there was a fashion design competition, which she ended up winning and gaining great publicity and enhancing her resume. She is now teaching at an American University.

There are programs for everyone; the casual traveler that wishes to learn more about a specific subject, summer sessions, college credit sessions, high school programs, and, Graduate programs. The four main cities to consider for your overseas adventures are Rome, Torino, Siena, Florence, and Venice. Rome will obviously have the most programs available since it is the largest city and the country’s capital. The benefits of studying here include the multitude of historical sites you can visit, a vibrant festive atmosphere, and using its great location as a jumping-off point to visit other Italian and Mediterranean locations.

Torino was made famous by hosting the 2006 Winter Olympics and would be a great place to live and study during the winter months; if you like skiing, of course. Siena is located in the heart of Tuscany, Italy’s primary wine growing region. Living in this ancient city, you will feel as if you’ve been transported back into the ages while walking through the many beautiful piazza and courtyards. Florence is world famous for its Michelangelo’s David, the nightlife, and all around Italian charm. The city offers a cultural experience that rivals any program in the world. Venice, of course, is surrounded by the mystique of its romantic aura. Since the city is actually made up of over one hundred Islands and over four hundred bridges, to get to classes, there’s a good chance you might have to take a stroll along the canal or ride a water taxi as you people watch everyone strolling by.

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