Thursday, February 24, 2011

Rome Vacation Rentals For Cheap

Rome Vacation Rentals are a great way to visit the beautiful, historic city without having to pay expensive hotel rates. Of course, that's only if you're willing to stay in a tiny studio apartment with hardly any amenities. If you want to stay in a fancy villa like the Appia Antica, you're going to have to pay through the nose. It will make luxury hotel rates seem like chump change. What if you want more than that though? What if you want to be able to experience the majestic Villa di Fiorano for just a short while and see what it's like to live like a king?
Fortunately, there are ways to stay in the fanciest Rome Vacation Rentals for less than you would pay to stay in a 3 star hotel, but it requires a little flexibility on your part. One option is to try to snatch up the last minute deals that become available and leave that night, though that's hardly the right way to start a vacation. Instead, you need to find the rental owners directly and make a deal through them. This is not nearly as hard as it seems, and could land you a week in a Roman Castle like the Monteporzio Villa, for the same rates you would pay for a studio apartment rental.
The key is to avoid rental agencies, because they have maximum profits in mind. Their goal is to make a ton of money at your expense, and they'll share a portion with the owner. However, by using sites like Facebook, you can very easily locate the owner and cut out the middle man. Since they do not lose any money in the deal, they have no problem allowing you to stay in their large home for the same amount they would be paid by the agency. The result is that you get to choose from the most amazing Rome Vacation Rentals like the 6 bedroom Campo de' Fiori, which comes with a mesmerizing balcony view of Piazza Cinque Scole.

Friday, February 18, 2011

10 Interesting Facts About Rome, Italy

The modern city of Rome, as legend goes, was built on seven hills. A city that is accustomed to foreign influences, it is known for it architectural treasures. There is a lot more to Rome than we know. Here are some interesting facts to give you an insight into the Roman culture, its history and treasures.
1. The birth of the Eternal City, Rome, which was founded in 753BC, is celebrated every year by Romans on the 21st of April. Celebrations include fireworks, gladiator shows, traditional Roman banquets and parades.
2. The Pantheon which was built in 27 B.C. by Marcus Agrippa is the only monument belonging to ancient Rome that still remains intact. What is even lesser known, is that it entombs Italy's king Vittorio Emanuele II, and his successor, Umberto I.
3. A park in Rome is named the "Park of the Monsters." Not because it is a haunted place but because it is full of grotesque figures like a crude Hercules slaying an Amazon and an ogre's face with a mouth so big that people can even walk through it!
4. The Baths of Caracalla although in a bad state now, were once in their prime days spread across 27 acres and could handle 1,600 bathers at any given time. Built in the 3rd century, they are the largest survivors of Rome's imperial era.
5. Rome has a museum which is entirely dedicated to pasta. The Pasta Museum is a one of its kind around the world and showcases different pasta-making machines, as well as paintings related to pasta by contemporary artists.
6. St Peter's Basilica inside Vatican City is the largest church ever constructed.
7. Rome's Coliseum, a huge amphitheatre which could seat 50,000 people is one among the Seven Wonders of the World.
8. The Monumental Cemetery of the Capuchin Brothers has used the bones of over 4,000 Capuchin monks, some skeletons fully intact, to create symbolic works of art in its series of chapels.
9. The Vatican Museums is a huge museum complex with over 1,000 museums and galleries like the Gallery of Tapestries and Etruscan and Egyptian Museums that are full of masterpieces collected by the successive popes. It is the world's largest museum complex.
10. St. Peter's Basilica was a structure that stood for almost 1,000 years until it neared collapse and was rebuilt by 1500s and 1600s. It is an overwhelming structure which displays the work of some of Italy's greatest artists like Raphael, Michelangelo, and Maderno.

Monday, February 14, 2011

The Irony of Rome and Her Builders

The meaning of the word 'procrastination' can only be found in the dictionary of Mr. Lazy Bones. Those who have the energy and time to do something useful in life but keep postponing are not worthy of given opportunities to dine with achievers. The reason is that, they have the same opportunities to achieve certain things like others do, yet turn down such chances at the expense of their fortunes in life. In sport, they postpone their time of training for trivial assignments that can never bring home a trophy for their team. In studies, they postpone their time of reading and replace it with other activities that will never give them success in exams. In religious spirituality, they postpone their time of prayers and instead, hook up doing things that will never bring them heaven. This goes on and on and on. But the basic fact is that, even champions train to participate in further tournaments, yet sometimes they end up not retaining it. So why procrastinate instead of doing what will bring you success in life and make you great in history.
I come to discover over the years that there are two kinds of procrastinations. The first is the one that a person keeps saying I will do it latter and end up never to do it before deadline or sometimes in life as the case may be. This kind of procrastination is the worst that can cripples one in a life time. This is because; it fades the strength of a giant and brings him or her to an unexpected defeat in battles that he or she has every advantage on. They keep doing it latter till they never do it at all. The second kind of procrastination is the type that a Nigerian will say "half bread is better than none". But it is not any better than the first one discussed above. In this second procrastination, a person starts a beautiful project but never completes it. The beautiful ideas are there; the energy to work and fully accomplish the best result of the ideas is also available. However, the sustaining spirit or passion to keep the project going until it reaches the finishing level is not there.
Some individuals who fall in the category of this second kind of procrastination sometimes console themselves with the popular saying that, 'Rome was not built in a day'. They forget to know that, if Romans had all the resources needed to build Rome in a day, they would have probably done it. So if one has the time, energy, and other resources needed to do something better in life within a stipulated period of time, he or she should not place or equate him/herself in the position of Romans. Those who start without finishing are not any better than those who really never start at all. Again, if the project does not worth finishing, why even start it? On the other hand, if you can do it now, why push it latter? Every programme postponed by an individual due to procrastination meets another programme which reduces its strength. Procrastination achieves every thing but nothing. Plan your programmes and work diligently towards them. You will be surprise that the result will be great.