L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2025 www.italoamericano.org 14 L'Italo-Americano gods but also meant city- wide holidays filled with per- formances. The ludi circenses centered on races; the ludi scaenici on stage shows. Sat- urnalia in December is the best-known, remembered for role-reversal and gift-giving: slaves dined with masters, gambling was allowed, and people wore bright caps and clothes. Festivals worked both as release valves and as ways for the state to mark civic identity. Rome supplied plenty of common days off, which shows how leisure was managed as part of public life. What remains today Rome still reveals some of these habits in its ruins. At the Circus Maximus, you can trace the track between hills and, from the Palatine, you s e e t h e v i e w t h a t o n c e belonged to imperial specta- tors. The Colosseum anchors the story of gladiators, with museum displays explaining their world. The Baths of sites, often in waiting areas like baths or porticoes. Food and street life Just as it is today, dining was entertainment, too. The e l i t e h o s t e d c o n v i v i u m b a n q u e t s w i t h c o u r s e s , d i l u t e d w i n e , m u s i c , a n d r e c i t a t i o n s . B u t m o s t Romans ate more casually at popinae and thermopo- lia, taverns and counters serving hot food. Street fare r a n g e d f r o m b r e a d w i t h cheese or olives to sausages, stews, and dishes flavored with garum. Taverns com- bined food, games, and talk: dice and knucklebones were common, and landlords post- ed rules to keep order. In many ways, they were the equivalent of today's bars and diners, where eating and s o c i a l i z i n g w e n t h a n d i n hand. Festivals and holidays Beyond daily routines, the civic calendar provided peaks of shared leisure. Public festivals (ludi) honored Caracalla keep their sequence of rooms and engineering marvels, hosting music today as they did crowds in antiqui- ty. The Theater of Marcellus s h o w s t h e a r c a d e s o f a Roman playhouse adapted into later buildings, while Largo Argentina preserves the footprint of Pompey's theater. Excavated counters and jars in Ostia's thermopo- lia recall quick street meals, and scratched game boards on paving stones remind us how Romans filled waiting time. Across all these sites, the patterns are clear. Romans s e p a r a t e d w a t c h i n g f r o m doing, built vast venues for crowds, turned bathing and exercise into social events, ate out, played games, and marked the year with holi- days. The details may have changed, but the structure feels familiar: an early ver- sion of habits that still fill our w e e k e n d s a n d e v e n i n g s today. s c h o o l s , a n d p u b l i c t a s t e shaped the matches. Gladia- tors became celebrities; their names were scratched on walls, their likenesses carried on souvenirs, much as sports fans collect cards today. T h e t h e a t e r o f f e r e d lighter fare. Stone playhous- es such as Pompey's or Mar- cellus's staged drama, but c o m e d y , m i m e , a n d p a n - t o m i m e w i t h d a n c e a n d satire drew bigger audiences. Performers often came from h u m b l e b a c k g r o u n d s y e t could reach fame under elite patrons. Smaller-scale enter- tainment included literary readings, where authors pre- sented new work to invited listeners, an early version of a book launch today. The variety of venues, from grand stages to intimate recitals, kept performance central to city life. Baths, exercise, and games F o r d a i l y l e i s u r e , t h e baths were unmatched. A visit was routine, not luxury: Romans paid a small fee, u n d r e s s e d i n a c h a n g i n g room, exercised, and moved through warm, hot, and cold baths, with scraping tools, massages, and steam making up a standard regimen. Larg- er complexes like the Baths of Caracalla added gar- dens, libraries, and galleries, and even now host summer concerts. You didn't go to the baths to get clean, you went to socialize, do business, lis- ten to lectures, while decom- pressing from the stress of daily life. Physical exercise also m a t t e r e d . T h e C a m p u s Martius, an open flood- plain, hosted running, swim- ming, ball games, and mili- tary drills. Writers mention harpastum, a rough team g a m e w i t h a s m a l l b a l l ; trigon, a faster three-player toss; and the follis, a lighter ball game for young and old. Doctors prescribed certain games for health, showing an early link between fitness a n d m e d i c i n e . T h e r e w a s time for quieter entertain- ment, too: gambling or board g a m e s w e r e p o p u l a r , a s attested by scratched game boards for race and capture games found in excavation W h e n w e t h i n k o f a n c i e n t Rome, it's e a s y t o picture stern senators, burly warriors, and marble tem- ples. But Romans also loved t o u n w i n d , a n d t h e i r leisure, at least in part, can feel surprisingly familiar: t h e y p a c k e d s t a d i u m s f o r races, cheered stars of the stage and arena, lingered in public baths, ate in taverns, gambled, and celebrated holi- days with food and games. The details may differ, but the rhythm – watching, eating out, playing, and taking days off – remains the same we know and apply still today. The big draw: chariot racing at the circus S t r e t c h i n g b e t w e e n t h e Palatine and Aventine hills, the Circus Maximus was Rome's largest entertainment venue. Its main attraction was c h a r i o t r a c i n g , the sport most Romans followed w i t h p a s s i o n : t e a m s w e r e divided by colors – Blues, Greens, Reds, and Whites – and fans showed allegiance with – sounds familiar? – clothing, bets, and loud sup- port. Race days brought out crowds in the tens of thou- sands, and emperors knew generous schedules of races boosted public mood. Drivers were stars, switching teams for better pay, and their victo- ries were recorded on inscrip- tions. The atmosphere and the buzz at the Circus Max- imus were likely akin to that of a modern stadium. Blood sport and stage life If races fed excitement, t h e a m p h i t h e a t e r answered the appetite for blood sport. The Colosseum dominates memory, but near- ly every Roman town had an arena: gladiatorial bouts, ani- mal hunts, and public execu- tions made up the program. Seating reflected social rank: s e n a t o r s a n d e q u e s t r i a n s close to the action, citizens higher up, women largely in the upper tiers. The violence was real but also structured: f i g h t e r s w e r e t r a i n e d i n Crowds, stage, and steam: inside Roman entertainment CHIARA D'ALESSIO Romans of all social classes spent time at the public baths not only to get clean, but also to socialize (Image created with DALL-E 2) HERITAGE HISTORY IDENTITY TRADITIONS

• Cover