Italian actress Paola Cortellesi honored by Rome’s mayor Roberto Gualtieri, January 16th, 2024

Rome-born Paola Cortellesi was honored by Rome’s mayor Roberto Gualtieri in the magnificent Julius Caesar wing of City Hall.

The 50 year-old actress was awarded the highest honor, the “Capitoline She-Wolf” award, for her outstanding career as both an actress and a movie director, in particular for her highly successful 2023 film, “C’era ancora domani”, which won three awards at last October’s Rome Film Festival.  Cortellesi also starred in that movie which has become a blockbuster (the 9^th highest-grossing film of all time in Italy).

Rome unveils its latest museum, the “Forum Urbis”, January 13, 2024

Rome has just unveiled its latest museum, the “Forum Urbis”, located on the Celian Hill (one of Rome’s famous 7 hills).  The museum is located right in front of the Palatine Hill (one of the other 7 hills and from where the word “palace” comes from) and just near the Coliseum.

The outdoor area of the “Forum Urbis” includes a varied collection of ancient artefacts while the indoor museum houses a very interesting transparent glass floor from which visitors can actually admire a gigantic map that consists of 150 different slabs of granite that date back to 203-211 AD.  Images from these slabs also include the adjacent Coliseum and the nearby gladiators’ barracks. 

The museum is open everyday and is free of charge (for the outdoor area.  For the indoor area tickets are 9.00 euros and 6.50 for Rome residents).