Rome and New York discover common origins

ROME AND NEW YORK DISCOVER COMMON ORIGINS

The history of the New York's firefighters begins in Trastevere.

At the beginning of the district of Trastevere, close to Piazza Sonnino,there are the remains of the Excubitorium, the roman firefighters' base where the VII cohors of Viglies worked. The place was built during the kingdom of the emperor Augustus ( year 6 AD ) who was the first to create a special squad called Militia Vigilum Regime, which can be considered the ancestors of our firefighters.

Ancient Rome is known to have had an organised firefighting service. About 7000 paid men, the 'Vigiles', were recruited as firefighters. It's most likely that a similar organisation was set up in all large Roman cities and colonies. It's known that the Romans used bucket chains – buckets passed hand-to-hand to deliver water to the fire.

Firefighting throughout the Roman empire and especially in its capital, is relatively well documented. By the second century BC there were already fire-preventing city regulations in Rome stipulating, among other things, maximum height of buildings and minimum space between them.

The motto of the Roman firefighters was " Semper Vigilans " ( Always Vigilant )

Recently some private citizens of Rome led by a young lawyer decided to stop the decay of the monument creating a civic commettee calling it " There is a roman under you ". This name gives you the idea of the richness of the underground monuments of ancient and medieval Rome.

The initiative bounced through the internet and the famous firefighters of New York, the heros of 9/11 sent a message to Rome to thank for the precious historical rescue of this humanity heritage.
The idea of the association of Rome is to compare and spread the history of the firefighters of today with the ones of the ancient times. Actually to visit this important archaeological site it's required to send a fax to the authorities, book and pay an entrance fee.
The majority of Rome declared to be interested to requalifying the all area transforming it into a pedestrian section of Trastevere.

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