La notte de musei

Last weekend, Saturday night, every museum was opened for free access to the public and remained open until 2am. We left the house around 11pm, and walked to the famous museum, Musei Capitolini. The line was huge, and since it was so late the security guards cut off the line saying only a certain number of people were allowed in. While some dramatic Italians argued with the security guards, we saw their distraction as an opportunity to slide into the line of people still allowed in. We were literally the last people who were able to enter. I would normally think this was bad karma, but I can’t tell you how many times some old Maria has cut in front of me at the grocery store with a full cart, or some Italian business man has cut in front of me at the bar saying “Scusa eh?!” So, the museum was amazing. We saw the original “Lupa” statue, which describes the mythological story of how Rome was created. Romans are extremely proud of this statue, and story. Sean has formed an obsession with this (ugly) statue, and has even considered getting a tattoo of it, so seeing it in person was big deal. The story is of the twins, Romolo and Remo, who were ordered to be thrown into the river, but were rescued by a “she-wolf” (la lupa) who cared for them and fed them so they became strong enough to start building Rome. Romolo killed his brother after he insulted him and that became the birthday of Rome. Romolo is considered to be the first king of Rome. We also saw a few paintings by the famous Caravaggio and stayed in the museum until closing time at 2am.