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Italy

Blessed Be Your Commute: City Of Rome Issues Pope Francis Metro Ticket

You can ride Rome's public bus and subway system by validating your biglietto of His Holiness from his balcony pose.

Worldcrunch

ROME - Holy subway! The company in charge of metro, rail and bus lines in Rome, ATAC, will release one million tickets on Wednesday to celebrate the election of Pope Francis.

The commemorative tickets cost 1.50 euro (the same as a standard ticket) and will be available in 200 locations around the city. The image on the tickets was the moment the Argentine pontiff first stepped on the balcony at St. Peter’s after being selected.

Rome Mayor Gianni Alemmano noted that Papa Bergoglio used to travel on the metro in Buenos Aires and perhaps he might do the same in Rome. Hmm?

El Papa Francesco I viajando en metro... HUMILDAD... twitter.com/rioneroL/statu…

— VNZ (@rioneroL) March 24, 2013

Even though the tickets are commemorative, ATAC wishes to remind everyone that the tickets must be validated on journeys. No dispensations.

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food / travel

Pasta v. Fascists: How Italy's Staple Dish Became A Symbol Of Resistance

Pasta may not be considered controversial today, but it played an important role during Italy's fascist years, particularly in one family's celebration of community and liberation.

Photo of the Cervi family.

Photo of the Cervi family, whose seven children were shot by the Fascists on December 28, 1943, at the Reggio Emilia shooting range.

@comunisti_alla_ribalta via Instagram
Jacopo Fontaneto

ROME — Eighty years ago — on July 25, 1943 — the vote of no confidence by the Grand Council of Fascism, leading to Benito Mussolini's arrest, set off widespread celebrations. In Campegine, a small village in the Emilian province, the Cervi family celebrated in their own way: they brought 380 kilograms of pasta in milk cans to the town square and offered it to all the inhabitants of the village.

The pasta was strictly plain: macaroni dressed with butter and cheese, seen as more of a "festive dish" in that period of deprivation. As soon as the Cervi brothers learned about the arrest of Mussolini, they procured flour, borrowed butter and cheese from the dairy, and prepared kilos and kilos of pasta. They then loaded it onto a cart to distribute it to their fellow villagers. Pastasciutta (dry pasta) specifically regards dishes with noodles that are plated "dry", not in broth. That would disqualify soup, risotto, ravioli...

Even though pastasciutta is the most stereotypical type of pasta today, it had a complicated relationship with the government during Italy's fascist years.

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