Word: rome
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...have probably run into these would-be modern-day Roman gladiators, or more precisely, they have run into you. Last I checked, they were demanding 20 euros to pose next to them for a photograph outside the Coliseum, holding-the-sword not included. (See 10 things to do in Rome...
...Rome's city government has had enough. It has tried for years to crack down on the city's freelance gladiators - and has now decided that the best way to do that is to give travelers a more realistic experience. Umberto Broccoli, the recently named head of archaeology for Rome, is pushing ahead with a proposal to recreate gladiator battles in or near the Coliseum. Dressed in original costumes and carrying actual swords and tridents (unlike the plastic and aluminum toy replicas used by the current hustlers), well-trained gladiator actors will be choreographed to perform historically accurate battles like...
...with Russell Crowe unavailable for auditions, Broccoli told the Rome-based La Repubblica daily that he may be forced to turn to the unruly amateurs who lurk around the Coliseum. "We shouldn't fear vulgarity when recounting ancient life," he said. "The gladiators were vulgar, sweaty, smelly, cursing folk. Why not show them as they really were...
...Francesco Rutelli, the former Rome mayor and Italian Culture Minister who now heads the city council opposition, is not impressed. Rutelli says Rome's current center-right administration's ideas for expanding culture are just rehashed, low-brow plans to make a quick buck. "Gladiators at the Coliseum? Compliments for originality," he quipped. "They must have had a think tank of Nobel laureates working in secret to come up with this...
...change will become official when a Jan. 13 flight from London Heathrow to Rome Fiumicino takes off. The plane making the trip will have the familiar red and green stripes on its tail, and the crew will sport their old uniform pins. But this will be the "new" Alitalia, under private ownership, merged with upstart competitor Air One, and now partly owned by its French-Dutch rival. No more Futurist paintings to be sure, but perhaps Alitalia once again has a future...