It was closed! And the Colosseum. And the Palantine Hill, too. They were still closed five days after the "Blizzard of 2012" dumped one centimeter of snow on Rome! I guess we can understand the reasoning. The temperature hasn't risen much above freezing despite the wonderful sunshine and the shaded places remain icy. Salt would melt the ice but at what price to the 2000 year old stuctures? So for safety sake Rome's most iconic sites remain "chiuso."
We did the next best thing. The Museo della Civilta Romana is just a metro ride away near the end of the B line at EUR Fermi. This area of Rome was designed by Mussolini as a model city, what everyone could aspire to in a Fascist regime where the trains run on time. And even today, it wouldn't be a bad place to live. It is only a euro metro ride from downtown Rome, it is clean and there are actually parking places.
Most of the things on exhibit in the Museo della Civilta Romana are copies from around the empire of originals now housed around the world, even Trajan's Column. There was also an exhibit from Azerbaijan showing the country's long history and culture including its famous carpet. For some reason the place was freezing, so cold we donned our hats and gloves.
But the gems of the museum are the models of Roman sites from Turkey to North Africa. And the best, the model of all models, is the 100 square meter model of Rome, circa 300 AD. The view from above is like looking down from a helicopter or Google Earth. Begun in the 30s the model took 35 years to create and who knows how many man-hours. We spent a goodly chunk of time with our map following the routes we have walked and picking out places we have been. Amazing! But we couldn't wait to get back outside to the warmth of the sun.
