The work will be funded by private money from ‘Italian shoe magnate’ Diego delle Valle. Eighteen months after first getting the green light to restore the Colosseum and despite bureaucratic glitches and an investigation by the Court of Auditors and Rome’s public prosecutor, it looks like Diego Della Valle, chairman and chief executive officer of Tod’s SpA, will finally be able to see work begin on the historic amphitheater. A press conference to kick off the project, solely sponsored by Tod’s, will be held July 31 at the monument.

The mayor declared this ‘a great victory for Rome and for culture’ and it would appear that there have been no modifications to the originally submitted plans and schedules. There are six distinct building sites/projects, each of which is expected to take 24 to 36 months each to complete – three will be running alongside each other at a time. So that means 4 to 6 years of work, it would seem.

At no time has there been any mention of any part of the Colosseum being closed to visitors, so take the opporunity to discover the Colosseum and the rest of the Ancien City with one of our Tours.

his would confirm Benedict XVI’s tendency to never leave the College of Cardinals overly weakened, in case of a possible conclave. Benedict XVIwas 84 last April; he carefully guards his energies and is continuously monitored by his medical team (who found some of his numbers inching too high over the past few weeks, and advised him to start eating a special diet), so it’s reasonable to think that his reign will continue. But he is still well past 80 years old, with a spotty medical history.

The maximum number of voting cardinals (that is, those who are not yet 80) is 120. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the number of voting cardinals will be 105 by the end of the year – within six months. That number will drop to 99 by June 2012, and 92 by the end of 2012. This is why it is extremely likely that Pope Ratzinger will distribute a certain number of berrettas, the traditional headgear of short-term cardinals.

Also because of the most recent Consistory of 20 November 2011, he left several names, countries, and continents on the waiting list. The biggest question mark is over some excellent names and dioceses. For example: New York, Turin, Florence, Toledo, and Quebec. It was the Holy See’s running policy (though not always respected) not to make the head of a diocese a cardinal if his predecessor, no longer governor of the diocese itself, is not yet 80 years old and therefore excluded from the list of those who might choose the next pope.

In Italy, this policy is not always respected. When a new Archbishop of Genoa - Angelo Bagnasco – was appointed, he received the berretta even though his predecessor, Tarcisio Bertone, was well under 80 (and still is) and worked in the Vatican as Secretary of State to Benedict XVI. However, in the last batch of cardinals Giuseppe Betori, Archbishop of Florence, was not elevated to cardinal, even though his predecessor Ennio Antonelli held an important position in the Vatican. An analogous situation is that of Gerard Lacroix, Archbishop of Quebec - Marc Quellet, his predecessor, is the Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops. Similarly at Toledo, Braulio Rodriguez Plaza has a predecessor cardinal, Canizares Llovera, who is, however, at the Vatican leading the Congregation for Divine Worship. If the rule applied to Bagnasco and Bertone is judged applicable for them as well, it could trigger possible appointments. The situation of Cesare Nosiglia of Turin is more complex - the former Savoy capital already has a cardinal, Archbishop Emeritus Severino Poletto, who will be 80 years old in 2013. Meanwhile, it is quite likely that Timothy Michael Dolan, the pugnacious Archbishop of New York and President of the Conference of Bishops, will receive the berretta. It is true he has a predecessor in the diocese, Edward Michael Egan, who will turn 80 in April of 2012. And the sympathy with which Benedict XVI regards the American Church - and Dolan in particular – is well-known. The archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols and his predecessor Murphy O'Connor found themselves in the same position as Dolan and Egan. It looks likely that Nichols too will be receiving a biretta.

A nearly certain appointment in the next Consistory is that of Ricardo Ezzati, the Salesian Archbishop of Santiago, as well as that of Bechara Rai, the newly-elected leader of the Maronites in Lebanon. Another likely candidate is the Archbishop of Managua, Leopoldo José Brenes Solórzano. But not counting the Curia, where some old and new heads of departments await the berretta (a sure thing for Brazilian João Braz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life), Taiwan and Thailand expect a cardinal, and in Africa, some countries that are without a cardinal - Angola, Mozambique, Uganda, Ivory Coast and Cameroon – can have some uncertain hope.

The megamarket, which already has shops in north Italy, New York and Tokyo, has transformed the vast domed building into a food connoisseur's haven, with dozens of tasting stands and restaurants as well as culinary exhibitions and projects.

Welcome to the biggest place in the world dedicated to Italian food. Make it a stop between the Colosseum and the Vatican Museums Guided Tour.

Lungo il Tevere Roma, tra Ponte Sisto e Ponte Palatino, nota ai più come Tevere Expo, è uno degli appuntamenti più frequentati e conosciuti dell' estate romana. Ogni anno l'evento si rinnova e a partire dal mese di giugno fino alle prime settimane di settembre intrattiene cittadini e turisti con un'eterogenea serie di eventi gratuiti.

The Roman tomb of the Scipioni, a family of war heroes and generals, the most famous being Scipio Africanus who beat Hannibal, opens to the public again after twenty years of restoration.

The Roman tomb of the Scipioni, belonged to one of the most ancient and famous patrician families of the Roman Republican Age, the Cornelii Scipiones, a family of war heroes and generals, the most famous being Scipio Africanus, who beat Hannibal, is set to open to the public again after twenty years of restoration.

The tomb was dug out of the tuff bank at the beginning of the third century BC and consists internally of a square room with four large pillars at the center spared by the tuff that divide the room in four galleries. The sarcophagi were placed within spaces dug out specially for them along the walls and the pillars. The sarcophagus of the founder of the family Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, consul in 298 BC (whose original is now in the Vatican Museums), is situated at the end of the central corridor in front of the entrance. Around the middle of the second century the tomb was enlarged by digging out a smaller single room next to the first one. The external facade also dates back to this period. It consists of a high base with a moulded frame and is surmounted by a prospect of six semicolumns that framed three niches, where the statues of the poet Ennius, Scipio Africanus and Scipio Aemilianus were probably placed.

The base was decorated with paintings of historical scenes and a stylized wave motif. Traces of the decorations remain. Three arched doors open on the same base: a blind door (now replaced by a passage that leads to a medieval calcar that has partly damaged the tomb), a central door that led into the more ancient tomb and a door on the right (the only one still preserved) that accesses the more recent tomb. When the Cornelii Scipiones family died away at the beginning of the empire, the tomb was reused shortly in the Julian-Claudian Age (beginning of the first century AD) by their heirs the Cornelii Lentuli that used some of the loculi for cremations.

The tomb, which originally lay under a temple,  was discovered by chance in 1614. A new discovery took place in 1780 by the owners of the land where the tomb is situated.

The Scipio family held high political and military positions, but its most famous member, Scipio Africanus, is absent from the tomb.

The general, who was hailed for defeating Hannibal to end the second Punic War against Carthage, was later accused of stealing public money and he left Rome for Liternum, in the modern-day region of Naples.

The epitaph on his tomb outside Rome says: "Ungrateful fatherland, you will never have my bones."

The redevelopment works have made the public access route easier as well as safer, by replacing the metal support structures installed during restoration works carried out during the last century. There are new reception services and information panels illustrate the archaeological remains.

From 2012, on an experimental basis, the area will be open to the public with guided tours by booking only.

Mass of thanksgiving

 It has been decided that during the year following the Beatification of John Paul ii, that is, until 1 May 2012, it will be possible to celebrate a Holy Mass of thanksgiving in certain places and on certain days. The responsibility of establishing the day or days as well as the place or places for gathering the People of God for this purpose belongs to the Diocesan Bishop. Having considered the local needs and pastoral benefits, one Holy Mass in honour of the new Blessed may be celebrated on any Sunday during the year or on another day of the week designated in numbers 10-13 of the Table of Liturgical Days.

Similarly, in religious communities, it is the responsibility of the Superior General to establish the days and places of such celebrations for the entire religious community.

As far as regards the celebration of Mass, besides the permission to sing the Gloria, the appropriate collect is to be prayed in honour of the Blessed; the other prayers, as well as the Preface, the Antiphons, and the Readings, are to be taken from the “Common of Pastors: For a Pope”. If the celebration falls on a Sunday in Ordinary Time, appropriate texts for the First Reading, Responsorial Psalm, and Gospel may be taken from the “Common of Pastors”.

Inserting the new Blessed into local liturgical calendars

The annual celebration of Blessed John Paul II is to be inserted into the liturgical calendars of the Diocese of Rome and all the Dioceses of Poland as a “memorial” to be observed on 22 October.

As for the liturgical texts, the Collect and the second reading of the Office of Readings, together with its Response, are to be inserted into the “Proper of Saints”. The other texts are to be taken from the “Common of Pastors: For a Pope”.

With regard to other local calendars, any request that the celebration Blessed John Paul II be observed as an Optional Memorial is to be submitted to this Congregation by a local Conference of Bishops when it involves an entire territory, a Diocesan Bishop when it involves an individual dioceses, and a Superior General when the request pertains to a religious community.

Dedicating a church to God in honour of the new Blessed

An indult of the Apostolic See is needed to dedicate a church in honour of Blessed John Paul II (cf.Ordo dedicationis ecclesiae, Praenotanda, n. 4) unless a celebration in his memory has already been inserted into the local calendar; in this case the indult is not necessary and the memorial is elevated to a liturgical Feast in the church named for the Blessed (cf. Congregatio de Cultu Divino Sacramentorum, Notificatio de cultu Beatorum, 21 May 1999, n. 9).

All things to the contrary notwithstanding.

From the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 2 April 2011.

From April 12, Rome’s most controversial emperors, Nero, will be the star  of an exhibition hosted in the Colosseum and in the areas of the Roman Forum/Palatine that he created before and after the fire of Rome – July 18, 64 AD. Until September 18.

Commemorating Nero is like commemorating Adolf Hitler. He was condemned as a monstrous embodiment of evil because St Peter and St Paul were killed in Rome during his reign. Victors write history and the Christians won against pagan Rome, at least until recently. But not only Christians condemned Nero. He was considered cruel and impious by leading pagans.

The contemporary polemicist Suetonius, who described the emperor as pretty, blond, blue-eyed, big-bellied, spindly legged with a squat, pustular and smelly body, added that ''if anyone confessed to secret vices, Nero forgave him all his other crimes''.

In recent years, revisionist historians have pointed out that Nero, who became emperor at 17 and reigned for 14 years until AD68, was moderate and popular at first. They deny Nero was responsible for the week-long fire that destroyed Rome in AD64 while he allegedly fiddled at his seaside villa.

Nero blamed Christians, crucifying and burning some of them covered with pitch so they became night-time torches. He then founded an efficient fire brigade and rebuilt Rome.

Polemicists may have exaggerated Nero's excesses. The Nero exhibition will try to redress the balance but it will be hard to deny that in his last years he was mad, bad and dangerous. He had his mother and stepbrother killed, among other atrocities.

Perhaps his problem was that he was a failed artist.

Seeking recognition as a singer and poet, he entered singing contests. But Nero had less talent as a singer than as a sadist. When he was hunted down after the Senate condemned him as a public enemy, he allegedly said before committing suicide: ''What an artist dies in me.''

The Nero exhibition, one of a series on Roman emperors, will be held on Neronian sites in the Roman Forum, such as the ancient Senate house, the  Temple of Romulus, the Palatine Museum, the long portico of what was one of Nero's residences and the Colosseum, where exhibits will cover the great fire of Rome and include charred wooden  remains.

In fact, Nero's successors built the  Colosseum as an entertainment centre to replace the artificial lake of his enormous Golden House and to obliterate his name.

Instead, with time and Hollywood's help, the Colosseum mistakenly became associated with Nero and the image of him slaughtering Christians there.

Rome is a marvellous and complex city, rich in monuments, piazzas, churches and works of art and requires a great deal of time to visit completely.  Hence, we advise you to contact an authorised guide to help you make the most of your days in the capital. Guides can give you essential information, curiosities and stories about Rome and its surroundings.

Each authorised guide should carry a badge issued by the Provincia di Roma. If not, question why as many improvised guides offering limited service are operating illegally.

Beware of these “ciceroni” who often operate around the most visited sites or via internet sites that offer packages including a guide. Instead, contact authorised guides websites or the communal or provincial structures responsible for supplying guiding and entrance services.

From April 16th to 25th.

If you’re going to be anywhere in Italy during that week, you will not have to pay for STATE museum tickets! However, you still need to reserve your entry to the Vatican and other typically crowded museums; you will pay only a reservation fee. Private, church, and city/comunal museums may or may not participate in the initiative.

Should you need further iknformation about guided tours in English during this week, please write to us.