Blogging from Narnia on September 22, 2019

Bloggers: Shawn and Sophia

Steps Taken: 13,000

Floors Climbed: 26

This morning we woke up in Ancona before we left to visit two very different Roman towns in the Apennine Mountains. First, we went to Spello, a city that thrived under the Emperor Augustus. The city boasts perimeter walls gifted originally to the town by Augustus and his arch commemorating his patronage still stands. After a well-deserved coffee stop, we made our way to the Roman Forum. There wasn’t much surviving at the forum, but we were able to understand where some Roman buildings used to be. After trying to visualize that which was not there, we attempted to find the inscription from Emperor Constantine, allowing a temple to be built in Spello for the gens Flavia. However, this was not as easy as it would seem. After a good deal of walking up and down the hill, we figured out where it was. The inscription was located behind locked doors in the mayor’s office. As it were, it was Sunday and the mayor was not in. A pity for those of us that love Latin, a thrill for those of us trying to up our step counter.

After our disappointment with the inscription, we were excited to discover the well-preserved remains of a Roman villa complete with an underground heating system and beautiful black and white mosaics. Before we made our way to Spoletium, we took a quick pit stop on the auto-strata for lunch where to our surprise we found fantastic gas-station food.

Spoletium took a series of at least ten escalators to get to, but once we reached the once ancient Roman colony we were blown away by the views. The museum was equally impressive where we followed the history of the town from its protohistory to the time of the Roman Empire. We even saw one of the earliest heads of the forever young Augustus. As we were leaving, we stumbled upon the arch of Drusus and Germanicus, the Forum Temple (now a church), and a Roman domus.

Now we are in Narnia where we are trying every wardrobe to see if we can find Aslan.