As you enter the footprint of the Stadio Olimpico, it begins to look like a maze where multiple different sports become intertwined.
There are football pitches. There are rugby fields. There are various athletics tracks. There are tennis courts. And there are also a few swimming pools.
It is the home to Italy’s national swimming academy and centre of excellence, where young athletes hone their skills in the pool.
Just a few hundred yards away inside the Olimpico, it was Scotland who were drowning in their own ineptitude.
As the heavens opened and Gregor Townsend’s side spent the next 80 minutes splashing around in the puddles, their Six Nations ambitions were washed away.
Make no mistake, this was a horror show for Scotland. It is a result which piles more pressure on a head coach whose tenure has, very clearly and undeniably, run its course.
Gregor Townsend was already under severe pressure going into this year’s Six Nations
Scotland’s players troop off in Rome after getting their campaign off to the worst possible start
Tommaso Menoncello is hailed by his jubilant team-mates after scoring Italy’s second try
They say that all roads lead to Rome. But it is Scotland who are now surely at the end of the road with Townsend.
His continued employment as head coach is now becoming a hindrance to progress. The whole thing has gone stale, stagnant — and stuck in a state of regression.
Townsend cannot possibly claim that this team are moving forward under his leadership. Any claims to the contrary serve only to insult the intelligence of supporters.
He is finished as head coach. Done. Finito. It looked that way back in the autumn — and nothing that happened in this defeat to Italy changed that perception.
Scotland are only one game into the championship. Yet, already, they are now in a dogfight to avoid the wooden spoon.
England are due at Murrayfield next weekend. The wounds of this defeat won’t heal any time soon. The Auld Enemy, rejuvenated and in good form, may twist the knife further still.
The conditions were awful. Under the bleakest of leaden skies, the rain was biblical and made it nigh-on impossible to throw the ball around or play any proper rugby.
Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu is stopped in his tracks by Italian dynamo Alessandro Garbisi
But Scotland cannot use that as an excuse. It’s just a cop-out. They made a terrible start, conceding two tries in the opening 15 minutes, before the worst of the weather had arrived.
That gave them a mountain to climb. But they were a shambles. The lineout, in particular, was an abomination.
Ewan Ashman will take a while to recover from this. His reputation as Scotland’s first-choice hooker took a severe beating.
Time and time again Ashman made a mess of his throwing, with the ball sailing over the head of his intended targets with alarming frequency.
Scotland had plenty of time to get their lineout calls nailed down. It was Ashman’s wildly inaccurate throwing that was predominantly at fault.
With a Scotland lineout in a state of total disarray, you can bet your bottom dollar that Maro Itoje and Co will be licking their chops ahead of next week’s trip to Murrayfield.
After losing to Italy in such feeble fashion on the opening weekend, that game against England now becomes a horrible fixture for Townsend.
There will be fresh calls for him to be sacked on the back of this. A growing demand that he should be relieved of his duties at the end of the championship.
Italy will be dreaming of a successful Six Nations campaign after getting off to a winning start
Once again, his team failed to deal with in-game adversity after that poor start. He has now become a busted flush as head coach.
His continued presence around this group of players, many of whom perform far better and with greater clarity at club level, is now actively hindering Scotland’s chances of progression.
His bosses at Scottish Rugby need to wake up and smell the espresso after this defeat in Rome. His time is up.
Scotland are sleepwalking towards a World Cup in 18 months’ time with a lame duck as head coach.
If the powerbrokers within Murrayfield fail to recognise that, then we are all in far more trouble than we ever thought possible.
He is out of ideas. Out of time. And will soon be out the door to join Newcastle Red Bulls.
