Ancient Roman-ian?

[Nonfatman]

Tomorrow night, Tull play at the Theatre in Ostia Antica, the ancient Roman port city that has been excavated over the past 70 years (with still more ruins being unearthed). How cool would it be to see Tull tomorrow night in this ancient theater?



Ostia is one of the most interesting places to visit in Rome, it is an entire city that has been amazingly well-preserved by the river silt which buried it over the past 1600 years, since the fall of Rome. However although it is probably almost as extensive as Pompeii and Herculaneum, it is not highly trafficked at all, and many tourists are unaware of it. If you are ever in Rome you must check it out. Take the subway (I forgot which line) to the Pyramide station -- see the Egyptian pyramid while you are there -- and then take the railroad to Ostia, a 20 minute ride.

Jeff

[Nonfatman]

Some more photos of Ostia Antica:

Another view of the ancient theater, where Tull are playing tomorrow night:



Ancient latrine (which won't be available for use tomorrow night, so go easy on the beer):



Headless statue of a guy who must have just gotten out of one of the pools at the local baths:



I will post some more photos of Ostia today and tomorrow, because there are just so many great ruins there. It's really a must-see on any trip to Rome.

Jeff

[TM]

Jul 13, 2010 10:59:13 GMT -5 Nonfatman said:

Some more photos of Ostia Antica:

Another view of the ancient theater, where Tull are playing tomorrow night:



Ancient latrine (which won't be available for use tomorrow night, so go easy on the beer):



Headless statue of a guy who must have just gotten out of one of the pools at the local baths:



I will post some more photos of Ostia today and tomorrow, because there are just so many great ruins there. It's really a must-see on any trip to Rome.

Jeff

LOL! Very good!

What a great venue to see Tull. Even if you're surrounded by statues of men who had just gone swimming in very cold water.

[Nonfatman]

Thanks, Paul. I would really love to be there. We saw Ostia when we went to Florence and Rome on our first honeymoon. Our second honeymoon was two weeks later, when we returned from Italy and then went up to Buffalo to see Tull at the Erie County Fair, because I missed Tull at the Beacon while we were in Italy.

Ostia was the best part of the trip, because it is just outside Rome and has more extensive ruins. In Rome, the only ancient ruins are public buildings and the imperial forums and palaces on Palatine Hill. But Ostia was an entire city, with pubs, theaters, baths, shopping malls, apartment buildings, etc., very much like Pompeii.

It should be a cool show tomorrow. The ancient theater was built in the first century B.C. and is larger than it looks....it holds 3000 spectators:



Jeff

[Nonfatman]

Some more photos of Ostia Antica, the ancient Roman port city where Tull performs tonight! Imagine spending the entire day visiting this excavated ancient city, followed by seeing Tull at the ancient theater there at night!

These were ancient shops, where merchants sold their wares, almost like a shopping mall, really:



These mosaic tiles of a nautical theme are from the floor of either the Temple of Neptune, or perhaps the Ostia baths, not really sure which:



I am pretty sure that this is one is a block of apartment buildings:



I don't know what these buildings are, perhaps public buildings or offices of some kind:



Jeff

[Nonfatman]

As you can see, Ancient Rome is something I get pretty excited about. These are fascinating "then and now" photos/depictions:

Firemen's barracks now:



And how they would have appeared in ancient times:



I am fairly certain these are the Ostia baths as they look now:



Compared to how they would have looked back then:



Okay, I'll stop now....thanks for indulging me.

Jeff

[Chea]

The venue is beautiful. It is one more reason to go to see Tull in such wonderful place. I heard only two or three Fans from our Forum living in Rome will go, instead Sad... M.

[Nonfatman]

Jul 15, 2010 8:46:48 GMT -5 Chea said:

The venue is beautiful. It is one more reason to go to see Tull in such wonderful place. I heard only two or three Fans from our Forum living in Rome will go, instead Sad... M.

Yes, and tonight's venue is great too. The Fortezza da Basso, a sixteenth century pentagon-shaped medieval castle in Florence, which was commissioned by Alessandro Di Medici:



Although the Roman ruins in Florence are completely buried beneath the medieval/renaissance-era city, there are some very well-preserved ruins from ancient Roman times in Fiesole, which overlooks Florence, and is one of the best vantage points to see beautiful Firenze, noteably the Il Duomo and the Tower (I forgot the name) which is part of that same, very famous church in the center of the city.

Here is the view of Florence, where Tull play tonight, as seen from Fiesole. While on our honeymoon, we took pictures of each other sitting on the wall in this exact location, with Il Duomo in the background:



The Fiesole ruins include a Roman amphitheater, which like the one in Ostia is also still in use today. While it is not small, it's not quite as large as the one in Ostia, and I think it would probably be too small for Tull:





Jeff

[Chea]

I' ve just read a post from the only Fan from the It Forum in the audience at the Rome concert. J.T played the same Monza's set list.
The ancient venue is beautiful, but credated some little problems. The acoustic in wan't very good, so Ian prefered to play flute without amplification, simply standing in front of the microphone.
Maybe due to that little problems at the beginning of the show, it continued particularly well. M.

[Nonfatman]

Tonight's venue is at a Baroque-era patrician villa near Venice, called the Villa Contarini. Inside the villa is the Antifeatro Camerini where Tull will be playing this evening, under the stars.





Now I can understand why Ian loves touring so much, getting to visit such beautiful and interesting places.

More information and photos of Villa Contarini here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Contarini

Jeff