Rustic Eating - Ferrara Italy

A rustic lunch of considerable quality enjoyed in the beautiful walled town of Ferrara, Italy. 

The following main course was the regionally famous pumpkin and sage ravioli (Cappellacci di Zucca). The best and most enjoyable meal I have ever had in the old country. 

As part of a month long honeymoon from Venice to Syracuse, the old walled city of Ferrara was a stand-out memory for this Emperor. 

Such a chilled University town with loads of old history and culture. 

I very much hope to return one day. 

Christmas Feasting

The Emperor has derived much enjoyment from the recent holiday season.

Sumptuous and delectable banquets have been prepared for the enjoyment of the Imperial Court.

[The Emperor's own Christmas dinner - prepared by his own hand - was received with high acclaim by the Court]

Large scale entertainments were provided at Imperial expense for the entertainment of the masses.

The Imperial residence was adorned with all the pomp and finery that the season dictated.

Seasonal gifts and presents were exchanged throughout the palace and polite society.

Nero and Horse Racing

 

[Imperial Horse Racing at the Christmas Market - Edinburgh 2012]
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"From his earliest years he had a special passion for horses and talked constantly about the games in the Circus, though he was forbidden to do so. Once when he was lamenting with his fellow pupils the fate of a charioteer of the "Greens," who was dragged by his horses, and his preceptor scolded him, he told a lie and pretended that he was talking of Hector. At the beginning of his reign he used to play every day with ivory chariots on a board, and he came from the country to all the games, even the most insignificant, at first secretly, and then so openly that no one doubted that he would be in Rome on that particular day. He made no secret of his wish to have the number of prizes increased, and in consequence more races were added and the performance was continued to a late hour, while the managers of the troupes no longer thought it worth while to produce their drivers at all except for a full day's racing. He soon longed to drive a chariot himself and even to show himself frequently to the public; so after a trial exhibition in his gardens before his slaves and the dregs of the populace, he gave all an opportunity of seeing him in the Circus Maximus, one of his freedmen dropping the napkin from the place usually occupied by the magistrates."

 

Suetonius, Life of Nero, 22

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Lamp Postmodernism

[Obscure stickers appear on Edinburgh lamp posts]

Stay vigilant citizens. 

What a Relief!

Rude's The Departure of the Volunteers of 1792 (or "La Marseillaise")

 

The most famous of the four reliefs on the faces of the arch flanking the opening, this emotional composition depicts the French people rallying against enemies from abroad.

 

These citizens, both nude and in classical armor, are roused to patriotic fervor by the Roman goddess of war, Bellona, who has also been identified as a personification of Liberty.

 

This grouping so aroused spectators' patriotism that the work became known as "La Marseillaise," the French national anthem written in 1792 - the same year as the departure of the volunteers.

Who could resist the call to protect the new Republic from its monarchist enemies of the people?  

 

To Be An Emperor: Advice of Machiavelli

[Head of Augustus, Louvre Museum, Paris]

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"A prince therefore need not necessarily have all the good qualities I have mentioned, but he should certainly appear to have them. I would even go so far as to say that if he has these qualities and always behaves accordingly he will find them harmful; if he only appears to have them they will render him service. He should appear to be compassionate, faithful to his word, kind, guileless, and devout. And indeed he should be so. But his disposition should be such that, if he needs to be the opposite, he knows how. You must realise this; that a prince, and especially a new prince, cannot observe all those things which give men a reputation for virtue, because in order to maintain his state he is often forced to act in defiance of good faith, of charity, of kindness, of religion. And so he should have a flexible disposition, varying as fortune and circumstance dictate. ... he should not deviate from what is good, if that is possible, but he should know how to do evil if that is necessary."

[Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, XVIII.5 ]

Modern Art

And indeed there were not ....

The above instillation may well have constituted the only light relief (literally a relief made of lights) that the Emperor experienced in a recent and lengthy day-trip to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

"Not a big fan of modern art?", I hear the gallery whisper ... "Eh ... Nope" whips back my urbanely sophisticated response. 

See: http://www.nationalgalleries.org/visit/introduction-118

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"Do you call the man leisured who arranges with anxious precision his Corinthian bronzes, the cost of which is inflated by the mania of a few collectors, and spends most of the day on rusty bits of metal?"

Seneca, Dialogues, On the Shortness of Life, 12