In a word ... Heritage

O my gawd, Marge, all these ruins and run-down buildings. And the rough streets. They’s impossible to walk on.

Cobblestones, Ethel. They weren’t meant for high heels.

That’s crazy. Doesn’t everyone wear high heels these days, Marge?

Not anymore, Ethel.

And that round building over there with the holes in it. It looks like it was bombed by the Germans in the last war, Marge.

That’s the Colosseum, Ethel. And the Italians and Germans were on the same side in the last war.

They were, Marge? They were, Ethel.

What are we doing here so, for Chrissake, Marge ? Our daddies fought against them in the last war.

Because our grand daddies came from here, Ethel. And that building there, the Colosseum, was built almost 2,000 years ago.

You cannot be serious Marge. You mean they’ve left it like that for all that time. And those big blocks and bits of pillars? Have they no pride in this city?

Those blocks and pillars, Ethel, are the remains of ancient temples and the Forum where the business of ancient Rome took place.

Did you say the Colosseum, Marge? Jeez. There where they fed Christians to the lions?

Yes, Ethel.

Why are they preserving such an awful place, Marge? And it’s pagan too. It should’ve been levelled thousands of years ago. It’s an eyesore and for almost half of creation, Marge.

Half of creation, Ethel?

Yeah, Marge. Since God made the world 5,000 years ago.

How do you know, Ethel?

Pastor John says it’s in the Bible.

Did Pastor John tell you Ethel that only for the Romans we might never have had Christianity? All this around us here is part of who we are, you know.

That’s a shocking thing to say, Marge. We owe our Christianity to Jesus not the Romans.

Yeah Ethel, but when Emperor Constantine became Christian it was a whole new ball game.

It was another of God’s great miracles, Marge. Gawd, don’t you ever wish more of these Italians spoke American. It’s so hard to even get a cup of coffee.”

Heritage, meaning "evidence of the past, such as historical sites, buildings. Considered collectively as the inheritance of present-day society." It originated in Middle Ages English. Derived from the Old French iritage, eritage, heritage, which in turn came from the Latin heriditare.