Word of mouth has been reaching me about the marvels of Reate, our newest developed region in Rome. Well, after Tante's nagging at me to drop the wine and the mystery scroll and get moving, I finally did the tour of Reate.

Omigawsh. This hood is extraordinary, and I think we Romans could use it as a model of how properly to develop a hood for maximum fun AND maximum history! As far as I can tell, two of the leaders who've just knocked this one out of the park are our own noble M. Fabius Furius, with the help of Mauricius Fabius. Guys, my applause may mean little, but I'm sending BOTH of youse a cart-load of Falernian, and all others I can find who've helped develop Reate. And please note who else deserves my (never-ending thanks and) wine!

There are things to do. There are fascinating homes to see (check out Cato's home, kept as a monument to him - the tour is as good as anything you'll find!) Check out the kinds of industries, the kinds of homes. Read the articles and histories and stroll the grounds and check out the pictures. But I think what particularly fascinates me is this - it has always been tough, doing AW 'hoods, in finding a balance between writing about it as modern history buffs (i.e., we know what happened) and writing about it as if you ARE A ROMAN seeing the districts of the Reate area as normally as we'd go visit Kansas City. The writers have hit that balance on the head, and you find yourself reading about it with the same sense of history, say, that Pliny the Younger would have.

It's an extraordinary achievement and I highly recommend it to all Romans!

Cicero's home (and tour!)

Reate