Rub A Tub Tub

Here's the headline from the Smithsonian newsletter:

 Italy Bans McDonald’s Drive-Through at Ancient Roman Baths Site

This is an ongoing story in Italy. McDonald's has 54 restaurants in Rome, which is almost as many as we have Walgreen's within a two mile radius over here.

But friends, Romans, and countrymen are not that wild about seeing McDeluxe wrappers all over the historic grounds in their town.  In 2017, Mickey D opened a shop right beside the Vatican, as Cardinal Elio Sgreccia called the opening of the “mega sandwich shop” a “disgrace,” and also claimed that the special sauce was not special at all, but merely some Thousand Island dressing from Lidl.

“It would be better to use those spaces to help the needy of the area, spaces for hospitality, shelter and help for those who suffer, as the Holy Father teaches,” the Cardinal said.

So now, after fighting about it for years, Italy’s highest administrative court has put the kibosh on McDonald’s plans to build a drive-through restaurant beside the ancient Roman Baths of Caracalla. In the ruling, the court mentioned "the importance of protecting cultural heritage," in the apparent belief that a McFlurry does not represent the food of ancient Rome, even if served by a teenager wearing a toga.

The baths date back to 216 AD and are heated by underground wood-fired ovens. Emperor Septimius Severus started the work on the bath center, which features hot and cold baths and outdoor swimming pools. Bathers could take a cold bath (the frigidarium), a warm bath (the tepidarium), or a hot bath (the caldarium), after which they could stretch out on the floor (the linoleum). The baths were decorated with marble and mosaics, with beautiful sculptures for all to enjoy, and were available constantly until the Ostrogoths brought the Gothic War to Rome (537 AD). 

The Roman Baths (convenient chariot parking in rear)

Those doggone Ostrogoths always wreck everything! We had a family of them living near us, but they couldn't get along with their neighbors and often we caught them trying to dump Liquid Tide in the fountain around the corner. 

But even after the war trashed the baths, the design of the Baths of Caracalla remained an inspiration for pool builders. Students of architecture believe they inspired the design of some Renaissance architecture and Penn Station in New York, with its coffered ceilings and Corinthian columns, but no diving boards or showers.

By the way, if you want to have fun for a few minutes, look up "coffered ceiling." The first site I came to said that means a "ceiling with coffers."

Sometimes I think they're just toying with us.