The best things in life are free

The Romantic Vacation for Two to Italy sponsored by Carlino’s includes a free tour of the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica, but many churches in Rome exhibit major works by art masters you know, and they usually do not charge any fee to get in.

"One of the best things that can happen to you when you’re traveling is when you find a free hidden treasure that’s not in any of the guidebooks. "

For example, San Pietro in Vincoli has Michelangelo’s spectacular statue of Moses, and you can visit Santa Maria del Popolo to view their two Caravaggio paintings.  Also, consider making a special trip to Santa Maria della Vittoria to view Bernini’s “St. Teresa in Ecstasy,”

If you’re looking to relax in a reasonably peaceful sanctuary, the Trastevere neighborhood during the day should be at the top of your list.  Santa Maria in Trastevere is one of the city’s oldest churches, and San Luigi dei Francesi has three Caravaggios.   Also, take in the charming and delightful Santa Maria alla Minerva, the only Gothic church in Rome.  While you’re there, stroll the ancient cobble stone streets which are mostly car-free, and choose from one of the excellent restaurants that offer some of the cheapest food you’ll find in all of Rome.

After dark, Trastevere becomes the go-to place for young locals and travelers alike, so it transforms into a great place.  Stop off at a local café to sip a cappuccino, relax and lose yourself in the wonders of Rome.

About Carlino’s Restaurant:

Carlino's is the perfect place to socialize and dine on exceptionally prepared meals with professional service.

So relax, indulge yourself and let Carlino's make you the sumptuous Italian feast you've been craving.

Sincerely, 

Carlo and Wali

Carlino's Restaurant

204 Jericho Turnpike

Mineola, NY 11501-1701

Phone: 516-747-6616

http://www.carlinosrestaurant.com/

Rome’s Best Restaurant

La Pergola

Rome's Best Restaurant

Rome has some of the finest restaurants in the World.  If you are interested in Michelin star level dining in Rome, at the top of the list is the renowned restaurant La Pergola.

La Pergola is the home of world-famous chef Heinz Beck.  La Pergola has been recognized by Michelin’s Guide with the coveted three-star award and has earned five red forks, a symbol of great quality and address "worth the trip.”

La Pergola is one of those experiences which burn years afterwards in your memory. The foods will activate every taste bud in your mouth. Add to that the most beautiful view of the Rome and world class customer service and it becomes a must go.

When you enter the restaurant your eyes will be immediately drawn to its center where a magnificent seventeenth-century celadon vase is decorated with beautiful flower arrangements. You’ll also see fine paintings, a rare tapestry of Aubusson, porcelain from Sevres, bronze 18th century candelabra, fine Empire furniture and a large Emile Gallé collection of blown glass.

Make certain to make reservations well in advance and book on the balcony where the stunning views are the best in Rome.  Cigar lovers will enjoy the pleasure of a good selection of cigars available in their cigar lounge.  Here you can sit back and taste the most exquisite Italian wines or a vintage brandy.

The Roman Senate

Area Sacra, Site of the Roman Senate

Where Julius Caesar was assassinated

The Curia Hostilia, 85' long (N/S) by 75' wide (E/W), was oriented facing south. Because it was a templum, it was oriented north/south, as were the major temples of Rome. On the same axis as the church but southeast of it, was the Curia Julia. The old Curia Hostilia was dismantled. It was also the entrance to Caesar's forum.

The Curia Cornelia was a place where the Roman Senate assembled during ca. 80-50 BC. It was the largest of all the Curia (Senate Houses) built in Rome. Its construction took over a great deal of the traditional comitium space and brought the senate building into a commanding location within the Roman Forum as a whole.

This was the Senate House at the time of Caesar. Its location was moved by Caesar in order to diminish the Senate's dominance within the City and Republic.

In 80 BC Lucius Cornelius Sulla decided to enlarge the existing Curia to accommodate the doubling of senators in the Republic. To do this he had to demolish the old Curia Hostilia and the Comitium. It kept the name Hostilia.

After the Curia Hostilia was again destroyed during riots at the funeral of Publius Clodius Pulcher in 52 BC, It was rebuilt by Faustus Sulla, a descendant of L. Cornelius Sulla, and took the name Curia Cornelia.

The Curia was converted into a temple by Julius Caesar during his redesign of the Forum in 44 BC . During or after the construction of the first Imperial Forum, the building was finally torn down and replaced with the Curia Julia (which still stands).

The Roman Senate founded in 753 BC was a political institution in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in history. It survived the overthrow of the kings in 509 BC, the fall of the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC, and the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD. The Roman Senate (Senatus) from the latin Senex (for elder or council of elders) was a deliberative governing body. The Senate didn't propose legislation, magistrates with the Senate, such as Consuls, did.

The body of the senate considered the proposals, and approved or vetoed the various laws. The Senate and the Roman People (SPQR, or Senatus Populusque Romanus), described the distinction in class between the Senate and common people. The Roman People consisted of all citizens who were not members of the Senate.

Domestic power was vested in the Roman People, through the Committee of the Hundreds (Comitia Centuriata), the Committee of the Tribal People (Comitia Populi Tributa), and the Council of the People (Concilium Plebis). Actual legislation was secured in the various assemblies.

Despite its lack of actual law making power, the Senate held considerable authority in Roman politics. It was also the Senate who held the authority to nominate a dictator (a single leader who acted with ultimate authority and without fear of reprisal) in a state of emergency, usually a military one. In the late Republic, attempts to stop the spiraling pattern of dictatorships, the Senate attempted to avoid the dictatorate by resorting to a senatus consultum de republica defendenda, or the senatus consultum ultimum. This was the declaration of martial law, and empowered the 2 Consuls, essentially, with dictatorial power in defense of the Republic.

The number of senators in Rome was initially a direct correlation to the number of tribes represented. In the earliest days of Rome traditionally under Romulus, when Rome consisted only of one tribe, the Ramnes, the senate consisted of one hundred members. Further incorporation of various tribes, such as the Tities and Luceres, increased accordingly the number of Senators to 300. Proposals throughout the Republic increased the senate roles to 900. With the accession of Augustus, the permanent foundation for senate numbers appears to have been fixed at 600, but this number also fluctuated throughout the empire at the whims of the emperors.

Members of the Senate were chosen from among eligible equites, and selected by Consuls, Tribunes and later by Censors. Those selected by censors or other magistrates to fill seats from among the equites had no right to vote or to speak on the Senate floor. Senators earned the proper dignity and nobility to vote and speak on the floor by virtue of holding various offices such as Consul, Praetor, Aedile, etc

Among the senators with speaking rights, a strict order defining who could speak and when was established, with a patrician always preceding a plebeian of equal rank. The speaking order was similar to that of the seating arrangement, in which the princeps senatus held the first chair, followed by the consuls, censors, praetors, aediles, tribunes and finally, the quaestors.

Voting in the Senate could be taken by voice or show of hands in unimportant matters, but important or formal motions were decided by a quorum, or an actual physical division of the house to either side of the floor. In these cases even non-voting members were allowed to take places on either side of the issue, lending their support to a particular cause or motion, or to fulfill their client obligations.

Senators also carried certain privileges and were subject to accompanying restrictions. All senators were entitled to wear a senatorial ring (originally made of iron, but later gold)) and a tunica clava, a white tunic with a broad purple stripe five inches wide (latus clavus) on the right shoulder. A senator pedarius (or a nonvoting senator) wore a white toga virilis (also called a toga pura) without decoration.

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Carlino's Restaurant Spotlight is published weekly by Carlino's Restaurant.  http://www.carlinosrestaurant.com

Carlino's Restaurant is the perfect place to socialize and dine on exceptionally prepared meals with professional service.

So relax, indulge yourself and let Carlino's make you the sumptuous Italian feast you've been craving.

Sincerely,

Carlo and Wali
Carlino's Restaurant
204 Jericho Turnpike
Mineola, NY 11501-1701
Phone: 516-747-6616

Rome By Night

The old saying "When in Rome do as the Roman's do" is good advice. Rome is such a lovely place to stroll and the Romans are out in numbers to enjoy the summer nights.

One place to experience this local nightlife is at Piazza del Popolo, once Rome's northern gate. Every night crowds of Italians stroll and shop, with their teenagers working hard to be cool as they wander about the piazza. 

The obvious destination from there is Piazza di Spagna, which is full of people day and night with its piazza and its famous steps - which attracted Goethe, Joyce, Byron, Shelley and Keats. Piazza di Spagna is largely its own enclosed universe, which feels even more insular at night, with a vertical exit signaled by the illuminated Fountain of the Barcaccia, a fanciful fishy barge, up the Spanish Steps to a glowing obelisk in front of the double towers of the church of the Trinità dei Monti. 

For a more literal sense of the Roman night as theater, go south to the Trevi Fountain. This is one place that cannot be missed as art, spectacle and cultural icon. In front of your eyes Oceanus stands gleaming mightily as he tames the waters, a metaphor for the great feat of the aqueducts that brought water to the city. But inside many minds, no doubt, runs the famous night scene in Fellini's "Dolce Vita" of Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni stepping into the fountain. A dip, though, even if you look as great as they did, will land you in trouble, no matter how hot it is. 

There is much to do at night, with perhaps the most spectacular activity being the most costly.

For 250 euros (about $400 at $1.60 to the euro) you can visit the Vatican Museum in small groups led by personal guides after hours. Galleries packed to a slow shuffle by day are, at night, emptied like drawing rooms of dreams. The Sistine Chapel is shared by as few as a dozen others, and no one yells if you take a picture. It's the time to go because unlike the daytime tours, You'll have it all to yourself.

Somehow the world's most famous chapel plays its part in defining the contrasts of Rome that are sharpest at night: the ceiling is Creation, and so newborn light and hope; the Last Judgment on the wall, torment and death.

If the price for a private tour too steep - a free stroll around St. Peter's Square is altogether different on a summer night. By day, the piazza is hot and clogged with long lines for the free look at St. Peter's Basilica. By night, the cobblestones of Via della Conciliazione, stretching to Bernini's colonnade and Michelangelo's dome and the obelisk dragged to Rome by the emperor Caligula, are all quiet, empty, luminous. 

You can even check if Pope Benedict XVI is awake by looking for lights from his bedroom in the two top right windows facing the square in the Apostolic Palace, and contemplate what a shame it is that the Vatican has abandoned its most dramatic nighttime spectacle: for years on Easter, the complex was lighted with thousands of small paper lanterns, to apparently spectacular effect. 

The setting may not be as showy, but a nighttime visit to the Janiculum Hill is no less magical. It is the most spectacular view of Rome - an organic and unimaginably wide panorama from the bright marble of the Vittoriano monument at Piazza Venezia to the dome of the Pantheon to the big bronze angel watching over Castel Sant'Angelo. 

Though many restaurants and shops close in the summer, especially in August, the city makes up for it by opening many famous sites for concerts, movies and the like. Among the best is Castel Sant'Angelo, the stout half-barrel near the Tiber, built as the Emperor Hadrian's tomb, then in the Middle Ages transformed into a castle conveniently close to St. Peter's (via a hidden passageway in the Vatican walls) when troubled popes needed refuge.

Castel Sant'Angelo normally closes in early evening, but in the summer, it is opened for concerts, readings and late-night dining. A temporary beach, with actual sand, is laid down next door. The view from the top including a terrace designed by Michelangelo, is stunning, with the Vatican's dome on one side, all of Rome's center on the other and the river below.

Carlino's Restaurant is the perfect place to socialize and dine on exceptionally prepared meals with professional service. 

So relax, indulge yourself and let Carlino's make you the sumptuous Italian feast you've been craving.

Sincerely,

Carlo and Wali
Carlino's Restaurant
 204 Jericho Turnpike
Mineola, NY 11501-1701
Phone: 516-747-6616

When in Rome Find the Hidden Treasures

Spotlight On Rome's Hidden Treasures

It has been said that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and so it stands to reason that you can’t see and do everything in this amazing city during your 8 days. You know by now that the Colosseum, Roman Forum, St. Peters, the Vatican and the Pantheon are must-see items.

And yet, there are treasures a bit off the beaten path that are worth a look. You want lasting impressions? Visit the church of Sant' Ignazio di Loyola, the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli and the church of San Luigi dei Francesi.　

Sant' Ignazio di Loyola is located in the city center off of Via del Corso and not far from Piazza Venezia.　Enter the church and view its impressive dome located near the front altar.　Take a few steps forward.　Guess what? The dome is an optical illusion painted on a flat wooden surface. Visitors often enjoy shifting positions in the church to understand at what point the dome begins to appear flat.

San Luigi di Francesi is located in the city center near Piazza Navona.　It is the French national church that was built in the 1500s and is the home of three famous Caravaggio paintings: the Calling of St. Matthew," "The Martyrdom of St. Matthew" and "St. Matthew and the Angel."

Santa Maria degli Angeli is located in Piazza Reppublica, which may be reached with Metro A. A fellow by the name of Michelangelo planned out this church along the ruins of the ancient Roman baths of Diocletian.　

The beautiful thing? These sites are free.

Spotlight on Rome is published each Tuesday by Carlino's Restaurant.  Visit us at http://www.carlinosrestaurant.com.  © 2011 All Rights Reserved.

Carlino’s Restaurant Italian Handmade Sausage Recipe

Carlino’s Italian Sausage (Made Fresh Every Day)

1)    Ingredients

i)     1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seed

ii)    2 teaspoons salt   1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper

iii)   1/2 cup red wine
iv)  1 tablespoon chopped parsley leaves

v)    2 pounds pork (2 1/2 pounds with bone), diced into 1/4-inch pieces

vi)  5 feet of 36 millimeter collagen casings (do not allow to get wet at any time)

vii) Shortening, to lubricate nozzle of stuffer

viii)        Special equipment: meat grinder with stuffing attachment or manual stuffer

2)    Directions

i)     Toast fennel seed about 5 minutes in medium sized, heavy sauté pan over medium heat

ii)    Constantly move fennel seeds around in pan until they start to turn light brown,

iii)   Set aside to cool.

iv)  Once cool, grind seeds and combine with salt, pepper, wine and chopped parsley in medium mixing bowl.

v)    Add pork and blend thoroughly.

vi)  Refrigerate for 1 hour.

vii) Grind the pork using the fine blade of the grinder.

viii)        Lubricating stuffer and stuffing attachment with shortening,

ix)  Load casing onto attachment, clipping end with a clothespin.

x)    Stuff meat into casings, trying to avoid air pockets.

xi)  After stuffing is finished lay out on counter and tie off end.

xii) Pinch and twist to form 4-inch sausages.

xiii)        Wrap in parchment paper and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours.

3)    To Cook:

i)     Sauté over medium heat in a heavy saute pan with 1/4-inch of water.

ii)    Bring water to boil, put on lid and cook for 10 minutes.

iii)   Remove lid and continue cooking over medium heat, turning every 2 to 3 minutes until golden brown.

iv)    Sausage should reach an internal temperature of 150 to 156 degrees F

Carlino's Restaurant creates its handmade Italian sausages daily using this family recipe passed down through the centuries.  Please visit us at 204 Jericho Turnpike, Mineola, NY to try Carlino's mouth watering sausages for yourself.

Visit us on the web at http://www.carlinosrestaurant.com/ for more information on Carlino's Restaurant.

The Sistine Chapel Tour

What do you think of when you hear the word “Rome”? Chances are the word evokes images of history - the Coliseum, the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican. When you win this opportunity of a lifetime, and decide what to see, near the top of the list no doubt will be the vaunted “Sistine Chapel.”

You may want to spend an afternoon here and imagine what it was like when Michelangelo worked here.

  

Key things to remember: the Sistine Chapel is at the end of a series of Vatican Museums that you must first go through in order to reach the Chapel.

The recommendation: Set aside no less than 90 minutes to see the Chapel. Since it is at the end of the museums, getting to the Chapel and going back to the exit takes time. On top of that, you must budget time for viewing the Chapel.

  

Entrance on the last Sunday of each month is free, but you can count on spending a decent amount of money on any other day.

Wear proper attire for your visit: shorts, miniskirts and sleeveless shirts are not allowed. This is a very important point to keep in mind, as they will refuse entry to those not dressed properly.

  

The drawing for the Romantic Trip to Rome for Two is only 10 weeks away.  Remember that each time you dine at Carlino's restaurant, you'll have another opportunity to win.  So please come and join us often. Who knows, you may be the lucky winner on your way to Italy!

 

Warmest regards,

Carlo Corteo
http://www.carlinosrestaurant.com/

Spotlight on Vatican City

Vatican City
The excitement is palpable today as we take a stroll through the Via della Conciliazione,  the route to Vatican City, a place like none other in the world.  Men and women, young children, middle aged and in their golden years,  pilgrimage here to experience the deep rooted spiritual connection common to those who have come before to bask in the glory.

Nothing demonstrates the profound spirituality of Christianity today more than this holy land that sits on top of a walled enclave of 110 acre within the city of Rome. 

Vatican City, established in 1929, is the sovereign territory of the Holy See and the location of the Pope's residence, referred to as the Apostolic Palace.

The Vatican is also home to St. Peter's Basilica, the indescribable majesty of the Sistine Chapel, and the priceless art collection of the Vatican Museums.  The territory which includes St. Peter's Square is reached through the Via della Conciliazione which runs from close to the Tiber River to St. Peter's.

The medieval Gardens, established during the Renaissance and Baroque era, are decorated with fountains and sculptures and account for more than half of Vatican’s territory. The Vatican obelisk was originally taken by Caligula from Egypt to decorate his circus and is its last visible remnant. The Gardens became the site of martyrdom of many Christians after the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64. Ancient tradition holds that it was in this circus that Saint Peter was crucified upside-down.

 In 326, the first church, the Constantinian basilica, was built over the site that was the tomb of Saint Peter.  The current Pope is Benedict XVI, born Joseph Alois Ratzinger in Bavaria, Germany.  The Pope resides in the Papal Apartments of the Papal Palace overlooking Saint Peter's Square.

Trevi Fountain

Spotlight on

Trevi Fountain

The Trevi Fountain, completed in 1762, is Rome’s largest Baroque fountain and the most famous fountain in the world.

The Fountain gets its name from being located at the junction of three roads (tre vie) and marks the end point of aqueducts which supplied water to ancient Rome.

The fountain’s sculptures represent two main stories. Taming of the Waters depicts water mixing with rock that fills the small square. Tritons guide a shell chariot, taming mythological sea horses. Urns spill water into a cup from which a snake drinks.  Above all this, sculptures illustrate the origin of Rome’s aqueducts.

Legend says that a visitor who throws a coin into the fountain is ensured a return to Rome. Another legend states that luck will follow anyone who throws three coins into the Trevi Fountain with their right hand over their left shoulder. Based on these legends, visitors throw about 3,000 Euros each day into the fountain which is used to fund food for poor citizens of Rome.