Well, I’m adjusted to the Italian time change. We didn’t have to do anything until noon today, but we had breakfast from 8:15-9:00.
I took a trip to the nearby supermarket to get some snacks for the day and went back to my room to go through my pictures from the first day.
The media and education groups split up for the afternoon, with our group venturing to the American University of Rome for a lecture on Italian media. It was quite the hike, as we had to climb some hefty stairs on our journey up a couple of hills.
We listened to a lecture from Andrea Bini there on the history of Italian media and the current state of it in the country. Most powerful politicians in Italian history have a connection to some form of media. Benito Mussolini, for example, was a journalist before he started his political career. Bini called Mussolini the “first modern editor-in-chief.”
It’s all a big family, he kept saying. Most of the famous journalists in Italy are relatives of other famous journalists or politicians. It’s not what you know in this country, it’s who you know (or what family you’re born into).
We spent a lot of time looking at who owns the largest media companies in the country. Most newspapers in Italy aren’t making a decent profit, but their owners are less concerned about selling copies then they should be, Bini said.
Instead, they’re focused on controlling their message. Companies in Italy often have ownership stakes in newspapers in order to control their image. On the television side, there are only two main owners producing a majority of the content.
The overarching theme of his lecture: Politics, power and the media should not be friends, but they are in Italy.
After our visit at the American University of Rome, we took a public transit bus to the Colosseum. It rained lightly for the first time on our trip and did so throug
hout our tour.
Pictures don’t do it justice.
That was my first impression of the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls when I visited those two landmarks. There is so much history there, as there is throughout Rome, but man, the place is incredible. It’s huge – and still standing.
After our tour, we ventured to the Roman Forum, which was the center of life for the ancient Romans.
Finally, Allison, Robin and I went with our tour guide Mateo to scout our location for an exciting adventure we’re all taking on Thursday. More on that later in the week.
The last two days were packed with history and adventure. I would honestly be satisfied if that was the whole trip, considering how much we’ve done. But it’s not, thankfully, and tomorrow we continue with the Vatican and an exclusive dinner.