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Ludovicus

Roma Eterna alla Disneylandia

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From ABC news (Australia):

 

"With the ruins of ancient Rome, the splendour of Vatican City and countless Renaissance art treasures, what does Italy's capital lack to attract tourists?

 

The answer, according to the mayor's office, is a Disneyland-style theme park.

 

"The model is Euro-Disney in Paris," said Deputy Mayor Mauro Cutrufo, announcing plans to build a vast ancient Rome theme park just outside the city which he says could be up and running within three to four years.

 

The park would provide family-friendly attractions to show visitors what life was like in the Rome of 2,000 years ago.

 

To be built on an as yet unspecified 1,000-1,200 acre site, it would put a Roman twist on rides like Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean, in which visitors float on boats through a fantasy pirate world.

 

"You would relive scenes from the Colosseum, from ancient Rome, gladiators or maybe Julius Caesar or other things," a Rome city official said, ..."

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/14/2335965.htm

 

 

What an unfortunate plan. Real history is too much of a bother. Pay money to have some fake history served up to you. This disaster of an idea speaks volumes about the new mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno.

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In the number of times I visited Disney World in Florida in all its permutations, I thought it was a huge waste of time. Still the young ones do enjoy it. (I made sure we visited KSC each time we visited DWO). But maybe there is a place for this at Las Vegas, Nevada. A whole lot of that city is based on the splendor of Rome; there's Caesar's Palace for instance with the theme of the Roman Empire. I would never go there for the gambling, but I might for some well done scenery, architecture, even some entertainment, and enjoy it too. It seems only adults go to Las Vegas, but that could be enlarged upon too.

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there's Caesar's Palace for instance with the theme of the Roman Empire. I would never go there for the gambling, but I might for some well done scenery, architecture, even some entertainment, and enjoy it too. It seems only adults go to Las Vegas, but that could be enlarged upon too.

 

You won't find any well done scenery, architecture, etc. at Caesar's Palace in Vegas. I've been there, and it's just a glorified shopping mall -- with a big tacky fountain full of animatronic statues that come "alive" every hour, like a cuckoo clock. Ugh.

 

When it comes to fantastical ancient Roman theme parks, I think I would much prefer to visit RomanWorld as depicted in the 1973 sci-fi/horror movie Westworld.

 

Roman dinner parties, orgiastic romps around the peristyle, robots disguised as Roman slaves to cater to your every wish and fantasy... It looked like fun.

 

Until the robots went all Spartacus on the paying customers. :(

 

-- Nephele

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But "It's A Small World" would be so fun! (not)

 

So I'm guessing that after that would be an Ancient Greece/Athens park, Ancient Egypt...yikes. At times capitalism needs a reboot.

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But "It's A Small World" would be so fun! (not)

 

So I'm guessing that after that would be an Ancient Greece/Athens park, Ancient Egypt...yikes. At times capitalism needs a reboot.

 

 

I agree. Alemanno's idea is a stinky one. And how many archaeological sites will they disturb as they construct this SPQRland of thrill rides and hyped re-enactments? It will be as unreal as Busch Gardens Old Country.

Edited by Ludovicus

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Guest Patterik

This could be done right if they wanted to. If it was tastefully done it could be fantastic.

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This could be done right if they wanted to. If it was tastefully done it could be fantastic.

Cheers to you Patterik!

I personally wouldn't care if it had 'depth' or 'reality'; I would like the 'visuals' even if it was only 1/8th inch thick or was just smoke and mirrors as long as it was tastefully done. In Vegas for instance, the whole family could go; and while mom and dad visited the casinos the grandparents and the grandkids could visit 'Roman Fantasyland'. hehehe...

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It's tacky as hell, and I certainly hope they don't bulldoze over bona fide archaeological sites to build it.

 

But what if it does add significantly to Italy's coffers, and they can use some of the money to better preserve actual historical sites like Aurelian's wall or the town of Pompei?

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It's tacky as hell, and I certainly hope they don't bulldoze over bona fide archaeological sites to build it.

Perhaps the local planners will save Italy and the 'would be developers' from themselves. Many developers wish that short-circuiting had happened thus leaving their

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This could be done right if they wanted to. If it was tastefully done it could be fantastic.

I agree with this point. If done right, it could be educational and fun, and encourage families visiting the city to view the sights with the benefit of having seen exciting reconstructions of the real things. The downside could be that tourists spend money seeing this thing, and I shudder to think that they do not even bother seeing the actual antiquities. Just as, in the same manner, I sigh when people visit 'Euro-disney' for the weekend, and totally by-pass Paris itself.

Edited by Northern Neil

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I really don't know what to make of this. On the one hand it sounds interesting, but on the other it just comes across as being tacky and a little bit odd. I can just imagine guys dressed in cartoonish Julius Caesar costumes ala Mickey Mouse, with trireme shaped rollercoaster carriages and who knows what else.

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Just returning from Rome, I find the ideas of a Roma Aeterna Fiberplastica even more absurd. Throughout the City, what you most often see is a layer cake of a metropolis. Republican and older layers are exposed juxtaposed with Empire, Byzantine, and Renaissance strata, each enriching the others stories AND US: The preserved first-century Roman street under the Basilica of San Clemente with 2nd century pagan and Christian residences, the 4th century church sitting on top, and finally the beautiful worship space of the 12th century all make up a single experience, the whole story of the Basilica of St. Clemente, a whole delicious cake.

 

"The park would provide family-friendly attractions to show visitors what life was like in the Rome of 2,000 years ago," reports ABC.

Why a theme park of Rome of 2000 years ago? Why not one of Constantine's Rome? Why not St. Gregory's? To isolate a single layer of the City would be to dumb down what is essentially Rome, an ancient, yet living past. And I haven't even touched on the temptations to embellish and distort a single layer for the sake raking in the almighty euro.

Edited by Ludovicus

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Why a theme park of Rome of 2000 years ago? Why not one of Constantine's Rome? Why not St. Gregory's? To isolate a single layer of the City would be to dumb down what is essentially Rome, an ancient, yet living past. And I haven't even touched on the temptations to embellish and distort a single layer for the sake raking in the almighty euro.

Unfortunately, dumbing down makes something more broadly appealing, and therefore more lucrative. I think we will find in this theme park of 'Rome 2000 years ago' elements of Roman history from the founding of the city to the sack of Alaric. Horatius defending the bridge will probably be in there, along with abundant depictions of Romulus, Remus and the wolf. Turn a corner and there will probably be some sort of shooting gallery based loosely around the Aurelian walls, with barbarian horsemen to shoot. Giant heads of Constantine, made from polystyrene, will abound.

 

Most of the unthinking public regard everything in the Roman period as happening 2000 years ago. On a local BBC TV programme aired several years ago, a 4th century find was featured. The archaeologist being interviewed had to several times stress that the find was 1600 years old, in answer to repeated dumb questions such as 'These are coins from 2000 years ago?' or 'Was this a busy street, back then 2000 years ago?'

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