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Initiatives

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Iniziative speciali

  • " MITREI E RELIGIONI"

dal 22 aprile, 2008
al 22 aprile, 2008
   
  ALLA SCOPERTA DEL LITORALE ROMANO
 
  IL PARCO ARCHEOLOGICO DI OSTIA ANTICA

 LE VITITE SARANNO EFFETUATE ...

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Events and news

  • Concerto Festa del Lavoro

dal 3 maggio, 2008
al 3 maggio, 2008

"CONCERTO DELLA FESTA DEL LAVORO"
Ostia Chamber Orchestra
Direttore M° Carlo Rizzari

PROGRAMMA

L.VAN BEETHOVEN
...

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Ostia


OSTIA: ROME'S LIDO


After the XVI century crisis, when Ostia was abandoned by its inhabitants, the Italian Government decided, in the late XIX century, to begin the reclamation works of the marshland, caused by the overflowing of the river Tiber.
The reclamation was performed by the Workers General Association of Ravenna. This association worked on the territory, where Ostia now stands, for seven years (from 1884 to 1891).
Thanks to these works, Roman citizens were given the possibility to discover a big part of their coast , abandoned for many years.

One of the reclamation results was the fishermans’ village, so called because inhabited by fishermen only, coming from Naples, who built some wooden huts on the sand and settled there.
Only in 1915 did Rome’s municipal council approve a plan, then carried out by engineer Paolo Orlando but the works were stopped when I° World War broke out, and then resumed in 1917 when about 500 Austrian prisoners of war were employed.
The works ended in 1924, when the Rome-Ostia Lido railway line was inaugurated.
This railway allowed to get to know better the growth of the Roman coast, and it was initially used by the Roman people as a mean to reach the sea. During II° World War the Rome-Ostia Lido railway was seriously damaged, above all when the German Army, beating a retreat , decided to prevent the Allies from using the railway for quickly reaching Rome.
When the war ended the railway was rebuilt and it regained its bridge role between Rome and its sea.


THE ROME - LIDO RAILWAY


After the reclamation, the creation of a railway which linked Porta San Paolo to Ostia began to be devised, but all the plans were rejected by the authorities, reluctant to fund the works, since Ostia was just a little deserted suburb during those years.


FROM NEW CRISIS TO A NEW REBIRTH


Ostia knew a period of great expansion during the 50’s and 60’s.
The town grew bigger and became one of the capital’s most populated suburbs.
Moreover, Ostia became a winter resort for Roman people who wanted to go to the sea. This expansion also led to the birth of a suburb to the west, known as New Ostia, in Rome’s outermost outskirts, where the problem of social alienation is always present.
From the 70’s to the 90’s Ostia suffered this distance from Rome, and after a period of deep depression it managed to re-emerge and regained its leading role as Rome’s seaside resort, a role that it has always had, since its birth.

Over these last years Ostia has had a great tourist and entrepreneurial development.
About 1 million people come here during the summer, and the number of companies being set up is constantly increasing.

Today it is possible to walk along its coast, full of many nigthclubs which offer entertainment and diversion, and go shopping in two of Ostia’s most important streets: via delle Baleniere and Rome’s Tourist Marina.


A NEW CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

Ostia is not just an entertainment place.
Today, Ostia also means culture, as it did many years ago (above all after the first world war ).
Its sea, its buildings and its outskirts, in fact, have always been a pattern and an inspiration source for the works of great directors and actors of Italian Movies, such as I vitelloni by Federico Fellini, Domenica di Agosto by Luciano Emmer, Brutti, Sporchi e Cattivi by Ettore Scola, Mamma mia che impressione starring Alberto Sordi.
All these films represented the italian situation after the war.
There aren’t only ironic comedies, but also dramatic films which testified the social alienation of Ostia.
These are the works by Pier Paolo Pasolini and Sergio Citti.
Today its heritage belongs to contemporary authors such as Nanni Moretti, Carlo Verdone, Daniele Vicari who have shown to the public the changes of Italian society since the 80’s.
The fact that Ostia is now a centre of cultural promotion is also due to the birth of events which want to enhance the cultural resources of the territory.

We could give many example to testify this: the first example is Cosmophonies, the international festival of music, theatre and dance which takes place every year at the Roman theatre of Ostia Antica archeological park; the Rome Prix promoted by the Cultural Association of Ostia, divided into three sections (Foreign Fiction, Italian fiction and non-fiction), with three special prizes dedicated to journalism, to show business, to Roman spirit, and an international prize for culture. Other events promoted by the territory are the Air Show (the Frecce Tricolori acrobatic squad exhibition followed by other flights of civil and military aircraft), and music, sports, theatre, artistic, commercial and exhibition events.
In the summer there are concerts, other events and the Clam Festival, which takes place at the Fishermen’s Village every September.


SPORT AND ENTERTAINMENT


During these last years the Roman coast has developed to meet the requirements of people who don’t only want to visit museums and archeological excavations, but want also to spend some moments of physical and mental relax, linked to the many opportunities that the territory offers.
There are many sports one can practise at the equipped beach front: sky surfing, beach volley, beach soccer, sailing and five-a-side.
Moreover, by night, you can spend fantastic evenings at the wonderful nightclubs on the beach

.Both by day and night, especially in spring, the coast is full of people searching for emotions and sensations that just the friendliness of Ostia’s people can give.

Therefore, tradition, culture and above all entertainment are good reasons for spending some days in total relax with your family or your friends on the sea shore, in the shade, under the sun and under the stars.


AUGUSTIN - THE PATRON SAINT OF OSTIA


Augustin was born on 13 November 354 A.D. in Tagaste (Numidia) and after a restless youth, was converted to Christianity in Milan where was baptized by the bishop of Milan, Ambrogio.
When he went back to Africa, he led an ascetic life and was appointed bishop of Ippona.
During his ministry he wrote many works which helped him contribute to the explanation of the search for faith against the doctrinal mistakes of his age.
Augustin died when Ippona was being besieged by Vandals. He is considered one of the four Doctors of the Roman Church.
He is the patron saint of those who search for God and appears in the iconography, full of God’s love.
His most famous works are The Confessions, The Soliloquies and The comment to saint John’s first letter.


Saint Augustin was proclamed patron saint of Ostia when the Holy See accepted the proposal on 21 February 2004 (the proposal was signed by cardinal Franciscus Arinze, prefect of the Divine Worship Congregation and of the Sacraments Discipline): “SANCTUM AGOSTINUM, EPISCOPUM ET ECCLESIAE DOCTOREM, PATRONUM AND CIVITATIS OSTIENSIS.”
The formal deed was consigned to the president of Rome’s XIII municipality Davide Bordoni by Monsignor Paolo Schiavon, bishop of Rome’s Diocese, and is registered at the city hall.
The official proclamation of saint Augustin as patron saint of Ostia by the Holy See’s greatest ecclesiastic organization is undoubtedly one of the most signifiant moments in the history of Ostia, which promoted an event to celebrate saint Augustin, just beginning in November 2004, when celebrated his 1650th anniversary.
This was possible thanks to Davide Bordoni and the Saint Augustin organising committee, which cooperated with Rome vicariate and the local prefects.
We particularly thank the Augustinian Fathers, who authorised the presence of the holy corpse of the saint, proceeding from the Basilica of Saint Peter’s in Cielo D’oro, at the official ceremony, held at Ostia’a town hall and attended by the highest institutional, military and clerical authorities.
Saint Augustin, Doctor of the Church, bishop, philosopher and thinker, father of modern theology, is today the patron saint of Ostia.
The coast town in fact had the honour of giving hospitality to Aurelius Augustin, when he returned from his trip to Africa in 388 B.C. in a place which today corresponds to the Tiber mouth, near the area of Ostia Antica excavations.
Here he spent one of the most signifi ant moments of his mystic life with his mother, saint Monica, whom he looked after until her death. We had the opportunity to reflect on the importance of this particular event in March 2003 when Joseph Ratzinger, at that time cardinal (currently Holy Father Benedict XVI), highlighted the meaning of saint Augustin’s experience even in relation to the new discovery of cultural and religious identity of the territory.


THE STAUTE OF SAINT AUGUSTIN


The work dedicated to Saint Augustin was done by Augusto Ranocchi a world-famous sculptor, conscientious interpreter of human relations with the faith.
The statue was created by the lost wax melting technique and is in sculptural bronze (BZN7), a copper, plumb, tin and zinc alloy.
The masters of the artistic foundry, who carried the work out (The Domus Rei in Rome), managed attentively the several phases of the creation and above all wanted to respect the original model created by sculptor in clay.

The statue is 2.6 metres high, weight 5.5 quintals and has a travertine base of a height of 1.80 metres and of a weight of 10 quintals.
The statue represents the saint ( Tagaste 354 - Ippona 430 ) in his youth, more or less at the age he was when he went to Africa and then returned to Ostia ( 388 A.C.) when, at the age of thirty, he was converted to Christianity.

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