rome blog

Throw a rock in Hollywood and you will probably hit someone who has admitted to having a Sex Addiction. The standard line is ‘I’m seeking treatment’ but exactly what is involved in sex rehab?

There are so many potential jokes here, it’s not even fair: A gradual withdrawal? Electric shock treatment every time porn is viewed? Admitting you’re powerless over keeping your pants on (quite an annoyance when trying to choose a cereal in aisle four)? Being locked in a room with sexy naked people and having to sweat it out?

Actually, it’s pretty much like every other recovery program. There is a lot of talking in group sessions and one-on-one with counsellors. No, by the way, that ‘one-on-one’ pun was not intended. The talk usually revolves around how terrible your parents were and why it’s all their fault that you have to sleep with lots of people. There can also medication. Anti-depressants usually – to cope with the come-down and to balance out your moods. Like most anti-depressants, these are not always effective, as they don’t only block sadness, they block all emotion. Not everyone feels comfortably number – for some it’s distinctly uncomfortable, and the pills are usually only good as a short-term solution.

Weirdly, behaviour-replacement is part of the therapy. Most addicts know that it’s not enough to simply eliminate the addictive behaviour: It must be replaced with something else. This is fine when we’re talking about taking up chewing gum to stop smoking, but what can sex be replaced with? Any woman can tell you that chocolate is a good choice (the chemical in chocolate – phenylethylamine – is the same chemical your brain releases when you are in love, and when you achieve orgasm) but it’s not always practical. The image of someone flirting with a sexy stranger in a bar then rushing into the alley to scoff ten Snickers Bars just doesn’t really work. Maybe the nuns had it right: Prayer and cold showers. Not such a tempting option, but really, what else is there!

Sex addiction is supposedly like any other compulsive behaviour: A defence mechanism against low self-esteem or confusion in a stressful world. Like gambling, shop-lifting, or drugs, the sex addict is chasing the short-term ‘high’ that is experienced when orgasm floods the brain with feel-good neurotransmitters. They are also hooked on the illicitness of chasing sex outside of their committed relationships. Adrenaline is addictive too, and the thrill of possibly getting caught is part of the ‘high.’

Arguably the toughest part of any 12-step treatment program is the tenth: Taking Responsibility. This is the part that no-one really likes to do, in any situation. Looking into the eyes of the people you have hurt, admitting that all of it was through your own bad choices, and taking on whatever they are feeling. This is where many sex addicts drop out of rehab. It’s simply too humiliating – never underestimate the power of denial.

‘Graduation day’ is anything from 14 to 30 days after entering the program. Relapse is pretty high at around thirty one per cent. By the way, masturbation doesn’t count – if that were included, we’d be looking at 99 per cent and upwards. Relapse counts as anything that goes against the rules in the addict’s relationships, or anything that is done from a motivation of selfishness, rather than lust. The argument that lust is one of the most selfish motivations there is has yet to be solved!

You don’t have to be a sex addict to rent Apartments in Rome with your beloved – you just have to be ready, willing and able!

Nowadays prostitution is illegal in Italy. Behind the sex slaves who work on the streets there are different criminal organisations, mob families from southern Italy and also from Eastern Europe.
In the ancient Rome the situation was very different. Certain areas of Rome were full of brothels servicing any type of clients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Many of these brothels were even run by public institutions.

The whorehouses for the upper classes were mainly located close to the palace, near the Circus Maximus and Emperor’s palace. It seems that in this zone the wife of Emperor Claudius, Messalina, used to attend the most famous brothels under the nickname of Lycisca.

However, most of these whorehouses, called Lupanaria (from Latin lupa: she-wolf, prostitute), was located in the Suburra, a miserable slum filled with the poorest members of Roman society. This area was found around the blocks that today surround Piazza Navona, the ancient Domitian Stadium.

Sadly we have no concrete traces left of these places, because of the new buildings and also because this area mainly consisted of wooden constructions we have not stood the test of time. According to legend, part of the ruins of the Domitian Stadium, which we can still see in the crypt of the church of St. Agnes, included the rooms of some famous Lupanaria, where prostitutes from all around the Roman Empire were offered their special services. In this same place St. Agnes had to suffer incredible tortures and her martyrdom. A few centuries later, Marquise De Sade, during his Italian journeys, will describe this sight as one of the most interesting of his travels…”a magic spot, where you can breath a sensual and sinful atmosphere”.

To get an exact idea of the look of the Roman Lupanaria, we can take as example, the very similar
Lupanaria which were discovered in better conditions during the excavations of Pompeii: very small rooms with stone beds, “decorated” with wall paintings showing sex positions and the specialities of the prostitute who was working in that room. Some of the clients wrote short graffiti phrases before leaving …among the others, we can read on the walls: “Hic ego puellas multas futui”(Here I fucked many girls), or “Myrtis, bene felas” (Myrtis, you suck well).

The sensual atmosphere of St. Agnes Crypt and other magical places of Rome are ready to be discovered. Don’t forget to book apartments in Rome for your short or long stay.

The Fluxus Biennale opened January 26th in Rome and will explore this avant-garde movement, which wormed its way into the 20th century art canon, over the course of the next two years.

George Maciunas, Lithuanian-born American artist, embodies the enterprising and ideological force behind this international community of the artists which declared the death of the artist and the arts in 1965. Dismayed by the modalities of the art world of the sixties, he and contemporaries that shared his vision embarked on a mission to destroy traditional concepts about art which established the apotheosis of the artist as a genius, and to protest the bourgeois elitism and intellectualism of avant-garde art.
Their goals were the following: To consolidate art for the masses, expose the artist as an impostor, and celebrate the absurd and the chaotic through the arts. The birth of Fluxus was convened with the law of total anarchy.

One of the first Fluxus activities ultimately positioned it as anti-art par excellence, and introduced the happening to the world. In 1963 Maciunas, who was then working as a graphic designer in the U.S. air force in Wiesbaden, organized and conceived the first Fluxus music festival, which left the audience completely perplexed. One of the most memorable performances were the “Piano Activities“, which lead Maciunas and his colleagues to “play” a piano – symbol of the Bourgeoisie – by destroying it.

The Biennale is held in Rome and was inaugurated in the auditorium Parco Della Musica with a retrospective exhibition focusing on Maciunas. The show encompasses a variety of works by the artist and highlights the most interesting components of his body of work, as well as his critical spirit and influence on other artists, both past and present.

Starting with this inaugural exhibition, the festival will explore the most radical and innovative avant-garde movements of the 20th century within the framework of shows, events and concerts. The main focus is on Fluxus and its subversive activities and artworks. The group turned the conventions of the art world upside down, with works like Maciunas’ “Piano Activities” or sixties-era “Cut Piece” by Yoko Ono a performance piece where she would kneel in front of an audience and have her clothes cut off piece by piece until her body was exposed completely naked.

If you are interested in experiencing a happening or becoming witness of one of the most interesting and fun artistic experiments of the 20th century, you shouldn’t miss this show. Go to Rome. Rent apartments in Rome and sink into the anarchy and chaos of Fluxus.

Leonardo da Vinci, we’ve talked about him a thousand times for good reason. This Italian renaissance genius was an active innovator in various different disciplines: painting, sculpture, anatomy, engineering, architecture and philosophy, among others.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) began his multidisciplinary career in Andrea del Verrocchio’s Florence studio, where other soon to be important renaissance artists like Botticelli or Ghirlandaio also studied. Perhaps we just think of his visual masterpieces like “Monalisa” or “the Last Supper,” but as we mentioned above it’s important to remember that the Tuscan genius also embarked other intellectual pursuits, both humanistic and scientific. He explored the human body via dissection of corpses, drew his discoveries, and together with Belgian physician Andrea Vesalio (1514-1564) is credited with establishing the fundamentals of modern anatomy.

This extraordinarily creative and talented mind couldn’t help but direct its gaze toward the future and begin to invent objects and machines that could be useful for humanity in all its activities, including war. Using the writings and drawings found in the “Davinci code” a group of experts and artisans have been able to construct models of these “machines of the future.”

Amongst the 45 models we can find some that are truly amazing and visionary, considering that Leonardo was working on his projects the fifteenth century: inventions prefigured include the parachute, the tank, the bicycle, a revolving crane and a hydraulic saw. You can find these and other inventions on display in Rome’s Chancelor’s Palace (near the “Campo dei Fiori”) and appreciate Leonardo’s genius for yourself. The interactive exhibit will be open until April 30th, and you can try the machines- nearly all of them are functional! However, we don’t advise depending on his version of the parachute, despite the fact that Leonardo had conceived of his prototype as a system that would allow a person “to jump from any height without injury”.

This exhibit is the ideal chance to introduce children to work of this unique creative genius. Rome the eternal city a place where it’s impossible to get bored, and there is something for everyone: art and history lovers, sports fans, shopping addicts, gourmands and ice-cream freaks. For lodging close to all these attractions, stay in Apartments in Rome.