We all believed that the revolving restaurant, the Top of the Needle, built at the 500 foot mark of the 600 foot high Space Needle in Seattle and that opened on the 22^nd of May 1961, was a world first, didn’t we?  Wrong!  It may well be an American first but it seems that it wasn’t a world first and the intrepid Italians have done it all before! At the end of September it was discovered that the Roman emperor Nero may well have been the father of the world’s first revolving restaurant on top of being one of the cruelest emperors of all time. Archaeologists, working in Rome,  recently made a discovery that reminded us, yet again,

how brilliant the Roman engineers were. At the end of September, archaeologists discovered “what they think are the remains of Nero’s extravagant banquet hall, a circular space that rotated day and night to imitate the Earth’s movement and impress his guests. The room, part of Nero’s Golden Palace, a sprawling residence built in the first century A.D., is thought to have been built to entertain government officials and VIPs, said lead archaeologist Francoise Villedieu. The emperor, known for his lavish and depraved lifestyle, ruled from 37 A.D. to 68 A.D. The dig so far has turned up the foundations of the room, the rotating mechanism underneath and part of an attached space believed to be the kitchens, she said. “This cannot be compared to anything that we know of in ancient Roman architecture,” Villedieu told reporters during a tour of the cordoned-off dig. She said the location of the discovery atop the Palatine Hill, the rotating structure and references to it in ancient biographies of Nero make the attribution to the emperor most likely. The partially excavated site is part of the sumptuous residence, also known by its Latin name Domus Aurea, which rose over the ruins of a fire that destroyed much of Rome in A.D. 64. The purported main dining room, with a diameter of over 50 feet (16 meters), rested upon a 13-foot (4-meter) wide pillar and four spherical mechanisms that, likely powered by a constant flow of water, rotated

the structure. The discovery was made during routine maintenance of the fragile Palatine area, officials said. Latin biographer and historian Suetonius, who chronicled his times and wrote the biographies of 12 Roman rulers, refers to a main dining room that revolved “day and night, in time with the sky.” Angelo Bottini, the state’s top official for archaeology in Rome, said the ceiling of the rotating room might have been the one mentioned by Suetonius, who wrote of ivory panels sliding back and forth to shower flowers and perfumes on the guests below. “The heart of every activity in ancient Rome was the banquet, together with some form of entertainment,” Bottini said at the dig. “Nero was like the sun, and people were revolving around the emperor.” That part of the palace — which sprawled across nearly 200 acres (80 hectares) occupying parts of four out of Rome’s seven ancient hills — offered a panoramic view over the Roman Forum and a lake, later drained by Nero’s successors to build the Colosseum, Bottini said. Described by Suetonius as one of Rome’s most cruel, depraved and megalomaniac rulers, Nero often indulged in orgies and, fancying himself an artist, entertained guests with his own performances of poetry and songs. However, Nero did not enjoy the frescoed halls and gold-encrusted ceilings of his Golden Palace for too long. It was completed in A.D. 68 — the year the unpopular emperor committed suicide amid a revolt. MARTA FALCONI, Associated Press .

Rome is a magical, miraculous city that gives infinitely more of herself than she expects in return. No day is mundane and daily discoveries are something that Romans have become used to – they are even slightly blasé about it because they know that they live somewhere truly special and few Romans ever want to live anywhere else. The food, of course, is also magical and as all Romans know and visitors soon discover, nobody cooks as well as the Romans do and there is not too much that can beat a decently made Spaghetti alla Carbonara.  Like most recipes, the origins of the dish are not well known, suffice to say that it was created some time in the 20^th century and, naturally, there are many legends attached to it. Some people believe that the name comes from the Italian word for charcoal and was created to be a good meal for Italian charcoal workers but I have my doubts about that.  Spaghetti alla carbonara should be made with good quality pasta, guanciale or pancetta, organic egg yolks and pecorino Romano or parmesan (or a mixture of both) but if you want to taste it done to absolute perfection, go to Rome.

SPAGHETTI ALLA CARBONARA

The most important thing about this pasta dish is that you have to toss the pasta off the heat with the cheese, the eggs, the pepper and some pasta water. If you don’t add pasta water, the pasta will become a thick, sticky, disgusting mass and you’ll need to use a knife and fork to cut it.  Because the guanciale is usually quite salty, only add salt to the pasta water generously and then allow each person to add his/her own salt. You want a thin, smooth, silky, creamy sauce and adding cream is never even an option! This can be a tricky dish to make so follow these instructions.

Ingredients

• 500 g good quality Italian spaghetti (if you have to, you may use bavette)
• 4 jumbo fresh organic eggs, separated
• 250 g guanciale or pancetta, diced
• 3 tbsp Italian extra virgin olive oil
• 350 ml freshly grated fresh  Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano or both
• Freshly ground Black Pepper

Method

• Bring a seriously large amount of water to the boil and add salt generously – don’t go overboard but don’t just add a teaspoon – make it 3 level teaspoons.
• Beat the egg whites lightly just enough to break them and drop the egg yolks into a bowl.
• Now, combine the olive oil and guanciale (mix the olive oil and the guanciale together first) and then sauté in a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat until it has rendered it’s fat and is golden and crispy – take off the heat and set aside  - don’t drain the fat.
• Add the spaghetti  to the boiling water and cook until it’s just al dente (al dente means that it still has a bite – it doesn’t mean soft).
• Take out about 125 ml of the pasta cooking water and set aside and then drain the pasta.
• Pour the reserved pasta water into the pan with the guanciale and toss the pasta over the heat until everything is well mixed – about a minute.
• Remove the pasta from the heat now and add about ¾ so the grated cheese, the egg whites and black pepper to taste, and toss until thoroughly mixed (you need to add a good amount of pepper – one or two little gratings won’t do anything to the taste).
• Now pour in the egg yolks and mix everything very well – pull up the pasta towards yourself so that the yolk is incorporated.
• You may add the yolk at the same time as the egg white but doing it this way gives a creamier sauce or you may eliminate the egg yolks altogether – many Romans do but that means many more egg yolks and makes the pasta very rich.
• Serve immediately with extra cheese and a chilled bottle of Roman  Pinot Grigio.