L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 18 L'Italo-Americano O n t h e 2 1 s t o f A p r i l , R o m e t u r n e d 2 . 7 7 3 years old, but this was a very strange birthday indeed. No one was around her streets c e l e b r a t i n g , t h e r e w e r e neither aperitivi nor strolls at the Pincio with your loved ones, enjoying these first bright days of Spring. A s a n y o n e e l s e , t h e Eternal City had to cele- brate at home. Mind, thou- gh: that didn't mean there were no celebrations, rather, they moved from squares to TV screens, from the street t o s o c i a l m e d i a . M a y o r Virginia Raggi explained it well, the day before the birthday: "This is a difficult moment for Rome, for Italy and for the world. We'll get back on to our feet, as our h i s t o r y s h o w s w e a l w a y s did." Deputy mayor Luca Bergamo added that "this birthday could be remem- bered as the symbol of an i n c r e d i b l y c h a l l e n g i n g period, but that led us to a d i f f e r e n t , b e t t e r s o c i e t y . However, it'll all depend on how aware we'll become of the fact each one us depends from the moral and material w e l l - b e i n g o f o t h e r s . " A birthday that becomes a life lesson. E n d o r s e d b y t h e # n a t a l e d i R o m a 2 0 2 0 , #laculturaincasa and #iore- stoacasa hashtags, celebra- tions included a monologue by actor and comedian Max Giusti, delivered from the Campidoglio terrace, a spe- c i a l b i r t h d a y m e s s a g e b y Ennio Morricone, fol- lowed by a performance of the Archi di Santa Cecilia and, always thanks to the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, a series of amazing concerts, recorded and aired on the radio and on national TV. And then, there was the historical rendezvous the city has, every year on this day, with the astronomical m a g i c h a p p e n i n g i n t h e Pantheon, the place at the heart of the Dies Romana s i n c e t h e t i m e s o f t h e Empire. Here, every 21st of April since time unmemora- b l e , a t m i d d a y , t h e s u n enters through the oculus (the large opening in the Pantheon's dome), its light inclined in such a way to hit t h e b u i l d i n g ' s e n t r a n c e door. Thanks to that, the Emperor visiting the — at that time pagan — temple would bathe in light while walking in. Magic? Not real- ly: just calculations and the smart of Man. If you'd like to see it for yourself, just check the Mibact Youtube channel. So, it's been 2.773 years s i n c e t h e f o u n d a t i o n o f Rome. But who founded it? We are all familiar with t h e l e g e n d o f t w i n s , R o m u l u s a n d R e m u s w h o , f e d a n d r a i s e d b y a wild she-wolf that was to become the symbol itself of the city. The two were the children of Rhea Silvia, dau- ghter of the rightful king of Alba Longa Numitor, usur- p e d b y h i s o w n b r o t h e r Amulius. Rhea Silvia concei- ved her two sons with Mars, t h e g o d o f w a r . A m u l i u s , who believed they could be a danger to his rule, ordered his henchmen to kidnap and a b a n d o n t h e m a l o n g t h e Tiber to die. But they survi- ved. A she-wolf nurtured them and raised them as her own cubs, until Faustulus the shepherd took them in. Eventually, they two rejoi- ned their grandfather and helped him return to the throne by killing their great- uncle Amulius. At this point, the twins expressed the desire to built a n e w t o w n i n t h e p l a c e they were raised by their adoptive family, but deci- ded to entrust the choice of the right spot to divine deci- sion, which they believed — as it was traditional in those times — to be shown by the flight of birds. Remus, who stood on the Aventine Hill, was the first to see six vul- t u r e s . S h o r t l y a f t e r Romulus, who was on the Palatine, saw twelve. Remus believed the moment of the s i g h t i n g c o u n t e d , w h i l e Romulus believed the num- ber of the birds was more important. A bloody fight ensued, where Remus even- tually ended up dead, possi- b l y b y h a n d o f h i s o w n brother. Now, this type of legend could have been enough for Republican Rome, but there was no way it was sufficient to explain the birth of an Empire. And so Augustus, first Emperor of Rome, had the poet laureate of his time, Virgil, to pen something a tad more grandiose about the foundation of the city: and that, ladies and gentle- m e n , i s h o w t h e A e n e i d was created. After all his journeying around and all his wars and adventures, Aeneas, hero of the Trojan war and son of Venus, set- tled in Latium where his son Ascanium was to found the town of Alba Longa. And so, the legendary circle closes. The point is, what's true in all this, is there anything historical about Romulus, Remus and the foundation of Rome? Well, the sources through which the story came to us are all historical: Livy's Ab Urbe Condita, Dionysius of H a l i c a r n a s s u s ' R o m a n Antiquities and Plutatch's Life of Romulus. Yet, histo- rians of those times were not the same as historians of today, as history tended to be romanticized to make it more palatable to readers a n d l i s t e n e r s ; i n o t h e r words, history was there, but you had to scrap off all the extra details and embellish- ments to find it. It appears t h a t y e s , R o m u l u s a n d Remus did exist and that they were the children of an A l b a L o n g a ' s p r i n c e s s , h o w e v e r , t h e y m a y h a v e been conceived during an assault Rhea Silvia suffered at the hand of one of her sui- tors. While it is likely they were abandoned along the Tiber and that they were raised by humble people, the she-wolf was probably intro- d u c e d a s a n a l l e g o r y f o r F a u s t u l u s ' w i f e A c c a Larentia, who had been a prostitute — commonly, they were associated with she- wolves in Rome. You may wonder why we are so sure about all this. Well, further sources tell us LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE Happy birthday, Roma! And another two thousands of these years CHIARA D'ALESSIO they engender '"exhausted T cells" of our immune system (note: immunotherapies to de-exhaust'our immune T cells might prove effective against CoViD-19 - time will t e l l ) , a n d t h e y c r e a t e a cytokine storm that, among other things, activates an alternative pathway of blood clotting forming clots in the lungs, heart and brain (note: c o n t r o l l i n g t h i s c y t o k i n e storm might be effective in preventing the pulmonary embolism, heart attacks and s t r o k e s r e p o r t e d t o k i l l CoViD-19 patients – indeed, Italian doctors successfully contained CoViD-19 deaths largely using heparin, a clin- ical protocol some NY hos- pitals said yesterday they will try – finally!). I n b r i e f , i n f l e c t i o n b y Influenza and Corona virus are distinct: the one is in l a r g e p a r t s e a s o n a l , t h e other is (most likely) not. Case in point, the second (larger) wave of the SARS p a n d e m i c i n T o r o n t o o c c u r r e d i n J u l y / A u g u s t 2003. Certainly, a second wave of CoViD-19 will hit the US if we "re-open" too soon or too fast, as certain States are doing (cf., Georgia). Should this second wave occur in the Fall or Winter months, coinciding with the seasonal f l u o f F a l l 2 0 2 0 / W i n t e r 2021, that will be beyond worse: it will be tragic, espe- cially for our elderly who are at increased risk for both the flu and CoViD-19 (over 30% of all CoViD-19 deaths in the US have occurred thus far in elderly residential facilities, n u r s i n g a n d s e n i o r c a r e homes, and assisted living retirement communities). We can control the flu by getting our yearly vaccine: do! We can control a second wave of CoViD-19 by disci- plining ourselves to physical distance and quarantine for a few more weeks: do! ...we will all be better for it. D o t t . F r a n c e s c o C h i a p p e l l i , P r o f . E m e r . UCLA Center for the Health S c i e n c e s F o r c o m m e n t s , questions or the Italian ver- sion of these few thoughts, please contact: chiappelli. research@gmail.com Continued from page 16 Continued to page 20 Rome has just turned 2.773 years old (Photo: Dreamstime)

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