Et Tu Azzurri!

Italy Wins the World Cup and Rome Stages a Celebration that Would Make Caesar Proud!

Ancient Roman generals who conquered far-reaching parts of the world were celebrated with spectacular triumphal processions. In Rome, the more things change, the more they stay the same. And so, last night, Italy's World Cup soccer champions - the Azzurri (or the Blues) - re-entered Rome with a massive celebration that would have made Julius Caesar green with envy. Generals like Julius Caesar began their triumphal parades in Rome's Campus Martius, an open field that served as a training ground for the ancient Roman army. The Azzurri, who spent the past weeks laying low their fair share of international opponents, did exactly the same thing. They newly crowned champions began their victory parade at Palazzo Chigi in the central Campus Martius.

There they were received and congratulated by Rome's new Prime Minister, Romano Prodi. Official ceremonies out of the way, the Azzurri eschewed the ancient generals' four-horse chariots, and instead mounted a blue, double-decker, open-top bus that moved them slowly down the Via del Corso, a road first laid in 220 BC. Hugh crowds thronged the streets, cheering at the top of their voices as the laurel-wreathed football champions proudly displayed their hard-worn spoil of war, the World Cup trophy.

All eyes were on the Azzurri as their bus left the Via del Corso and made its way through Rome's city center, Piazza Venezia. Sky-cams showed the spectacular scene as hundreds of thousands of fans ran alongside the Azzurri-mobile. Jammed wall-to-wall in every street and piazza, the mass of spectators gave the illusion that the city streets were sparkling and waving under the streetlights. The enormous crowd slowed the victory bus to a crawl, but a good-natured police force locked arms to form a human chain, clearing the roads and allowing the Azzurri to make their way past the same ancient theaters and temples that Julius Caesar himself would have seen when he celebrated his three-day triumphal procession in 46 BC.

While Caesar's procession ended on Rome's Capitoline Hill, the ultimate destination of the was the Circus Maximus, the Eternal City's ancient chariot-racing stadium. Some 250,000 ancient spectators once fit in the massive grandstands that surrounded the Circus; last night 500,000 modern soccer fans packed into the space. As the Azzurri's bus rounded the corner of the Circus Maximus and the new national heroescame into sight, the roar of the crowd was deafening. Red, white, and green flags waved wildly. Loudspeakers blasted the oh-so-appropriate musical theme from the 1959 movie, Ben Hur. And as the bus crept toward a newly-erected stage, its 500,000 fan entourage pressed for space in the already-full stadium.

Taking triumphant leave of their horsepower driven chariot, the Azzurri assumed positions on a stage facing the Palatine skybox - the place from which Roman Emperors once cheered their favorite chariot racers. The arrival of each player provoked roars of adulation from a crowd wearing red, white, and green wigs and decked out in Italian flags folded to make togas, capes, and turbans. As a million-voices belted out Queen's victory anthem, We Are the Champions, and tri-color fireworks lit up the sky, it became clear why Rome is called the "Eternal City." It was a celebration that Caesar would have loved.

Et tu, Azzurri? In Rome, the more things change the more they stay the same.