A highlight of our stay in Rome was our visit to the Palazzo delle Esposizioni where we saw the exhibition Vita Dulcis: fear and desire in the roman empire. The curators and creators of the exhibition Francesco Vezzoli and Stéphane Verger comment on why the nature of Roman Empire is such a compelling subject for story tellers and in particular film makers.
In a series of 8 rooms different aspects of the period are dealt with: the Empire as a conquering force, and the cult of the fighter be it gladiator or common soldier, in another room the role of women was examined, in another, the nature of the afterlife and death, and in another of course the lasciviousness that was depicted in films such as Satyricon.
The curators select aspects of the ancient Roman society by combining contemporary art, artworks from the various branches of the Museo Nazionale Roman, and the depiction of Roman history in the cinema in the 20th century. In each room all of these elements are present
In the final room Vezzoli's film Trailer for the remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula was screened. It is a satire on the nature of sword and sandal films: it is not a trailer, however the satire was not immediately obvious to everyone. An edited version is on Youtube Trailer for the remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula (the quality on YT is not great)
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