When in Rome

Rome is a city continuously built on top of itself that provides an amazing landscape of history, charm and magic, and it did not disappoint.

A long time in the making, my lengthy trip to Italy finally began. I flew out of Madrid to Rome where I met my friend from Butler and fellow Kappa, Zara, along with her friend from home, Julie. After dealing with my flight landing in an airport different than that on my ticket, I finally made it to the hostel where I reunited with Zara after four months of separation. It was so nice to see a familiar face and a good friend from home.

Inside of the Pantheon

With so many things to see in Rome, we left the hostel with no particular destination in mind. We had all of Friday afternoon and evening, with no specific plan so we just wondered the streets to see what we would find. We were casually “roaming” the streets and stumbled upon the over-crowded Trevi Fountain. We decided to return to this site the next night, to see it lit up and with less people. A couple more blocks led us to the Pantheon, which means “all of the gods”. The original building was constructed in 27 BC by Marcus Agrippa, Caesar Augustus’ son-in-law. The structure seen today was built in 120 AD after a fire destroyed the original. The famous dome of the Pantheon has influenced many other historic buildings such as Florence’s Duomo and St. Peter’s Basilica. The temple used to be a place to worship all of the gods and then in 390, the Christian God became the only legal god in Rome. The amazing dome with the thirty-foot opening in the middle provides a mystical worshipping area, since it has been a church for over 1400 years. The pantheon also houses tombs of Italy’s kings Victor Emmanuel II and his son Umberto along with the artist Raphael. The pantheon was an extremely interesting structure and no picture does the building architectural justice.

We strolled the streets a little while longer, passing the Roman Forum and Colosseum, and decided to return to our hostel since we had an early wake up call.

Knowing there would be an extremely long line for the Vatican museum and Sistine chapel, we bought out tickets ahead of time through online. We gathered with a group outside of the entrance as if we were a tour, but once inside the museum we were left to our own itinerary. The Vatican museum is a poorly organized and overwhelming collection of amazing art, sculptures and other miscellaneous pieces. In the beginning we took our time to appreciate each item such as artworks by Raphael and Leonardo, but towards the last 10 rooms we just wanted to be in the Sistine Chapel. Once in the Sistine Chapel we were greeted by the harsh “Shhhh” and “No photo” of the guards, but were then left to admire Michelangelo’s remarkable work. In 1508 Michelangelo obliged Pope Julius II and agreed to paint the chapel on the grounds he could paint the room his way. He worked on a six-story scaffolding for four years until the project was complete. The ceiling contains the nine scenes of Genesis, with the famous Creation of Man in the middle and the Last Judgement on the wall behind the altar. One could sit on a bench in this room for twenty-four hours and still find interesting details they had not seen previously.

St. Peter’s basilica provided a breath-taking moment as well by its sheer size and beauty. I would have enjoyed sitting in this basilica for a little while to take it all in, but the immense amount of visitors and lack of benches did allow this to happen. St. Peter’s also houses some interesting pieces such as Pope John XXII's coffin in a glass case and Michelangelo’s famous Pieta of Mary and Jesus’ dead body. When I return to Rome, I will commit a full day to the Vatican City, climb into St. Peter’s dome and at least try to arrange a tour of St. Peter’s grave.

Sara, Zara, Julie outside of the Vatican

Inside the St. Peter's Basilica

The rest of the afternoon we walked along the river and grabbed some tasty pizza in the Jewish ghetto. Then we headed to the Gianicolo viewpoint, which can be left off of people’s sites to see in Rome. It provided a lack-luster view of the city, and was not worth the long walk to get there. We decided to give our feet a rest and took a power nap to allow us a productive evening. Refreshed and ready-to-go we enjoyed a pasta dinner at a quaint, local restaurant owned and run by a married Italian couple. The food was tasty and the atmosphere was enhanced with a man playing the accordion outside. That was truly an “Italy” moment. We then headed to the Trevi Fountain, which was extremely better in the evening. The crowd had died down a little bit and we were able to make our way to the front, snap some pictures and make a wish in the fountain; as they say, “When in Rome”.  The next destination was the Spanish Steps, which is just 135 steps that link two plazas, with a church at the top. Here we sat for forty-five minutes and enjoyed the atmosphere accompanied by some wine. It was the perfect ending to an amazing day.

Making my wish

Trevi Fountain illuminated

Sitting on the Spanish Steps

View from the top

Another packed day was ahead of us on Sunday with our first stop as the Colosseum. We ordered our tickets ahead of time for this as well, which allowed us to bypass the line and head straight into the Colosseum. This ticket also provides entrance to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. After seeing the Colosseum in textbooks and movies for numerous years, it was amazing to finally see it in person. It is a true architectural masterpiece, but the thing that struck me the most about this site was everything that went down there in the past. After doing some research, I was surprised to learn how much of a theatrical spectacle the events held here were. Props were shot up through the eighty different elevator shafts, and elaborate scenes such as African jungles or a Greek temple were the backdrops for gladiator battles. Constructed in 72 AD, this stadium could hold an audience of 50,000 and it is amazing how much of it remains today.

Zara and I

The Roman Forum sits right beside the Colosseum since it was the political, religious and social center of Rome. It was by far my favorite site we saw due to its extreme historical significance and the authentic ruins just strewn over five acres. It houses numerous temples, the old Senate building, a basilica, and the rock on which Julius Caesar was killed in 44 B.C. I pictured the men in togas walking in and out of the Senate building, pedestrians strolling through the elaborate basilica and the plaza encompassed by marble statues. Imagining these things provided a real look into the purpose of these structures that seem to be just props out of a movie. I downloaded Rick Steve’s Audio Europe app and he had a detailed guided tour of the Roman Forum. He painted a picture of what it was like 2,000 years ago when all of the ruins were in their original form. It also allowed me to grasp some historical context while sitting amongst the ruins.

Where the plaza was in the Forum

The remains of the Temple of Saturn

Rick Steve’s had mentioned a church called St. Clementine in his podcast on Rome (also found in the previously stated app) that intrigued me, so that became the next destination. My initial thoughts on the church was that it was nothing special compared to other churches we had wandered in, but a 3.50 euro ticket got me into an archaeological site below the church. Below the present-day basilica, built in the 1100s, is a fourth century basilica with remnants of paintings on the walls. Another staircase down immerses into a first century structure was a republican era building, possibly the imerpial mint of Rome. It was extremely interesting and time warping to transcend through twelve centuries within two staircases. This one church is simple proof that Rome is a city built on top of itself and there are many undiscovered treasures throughout all of the city.

The remnants of Augustus' house.

With a little bit of time to kill we headed towards Palatine hill that, according to Roman Mythology housed the cave in which Romulus and Remus were found by the she-wolf. Therefore, it is believed the original Romans lived on this hill. It is home to more ruins and beautiful views of the city overlooking the Roman Forum and Colosseum, along with the Circus Maximus, ancient Rome's chariot racing stadium.  We also found the remnants of a Palantine house, which is believed to be Augustus’s old house. There were so many ruins on this hill that it was hard to grasp what each one once was.

With so many sites to see and hidden treasures, Rome is a city I can always go back to. It was a great feeling to be in touch with such a huge part of history, and to finally grasp what I have read about in books over the years. It is definitely a must see city for any lover of history.

Tips:

1.     Live up the phrase “When in Rome”. Eat pizza for breakfast, enjoy gelato at least once a day, sometimes two, drink wine overlooking the Colosseum. Do all the things that you can only do and are perfectly acceptable to do “when in Rome”.

2.     Book your Vatican tickets ahead of time to avoid the never-ending line.

3.     Try to work your trip so that you can be in Rome on Wednesday, when the Pope has general audiences.

4.     I recommend our hostel Legends. It was close to the Termini train station, clean, and a 15-minute walk to all of the major sites. 

     Other photos:

An artist painting in Piazza Novana

The Roman Forum

My amazing eggplant and Margherita pizzas

View from the Tiber River

Inside the Vatican Museum

Michelangelo's Pieta