We stayed in the core of old Rome, within walking distance of the key sights. In fact our hotel, the Albergo del Senato is facing the Pantheon, on the Piazza della Rotondo. While this is not the low budget place to stay in Rome, it is a very nice hotel, English-speaking staff which is always helpful, and a perfect location to start with your first visit.
We traveled to/from Rome on the fast train, FrecciaRossa part of Trenitalia. It was a great experience-- so nice and quiet and smooth. On the fast train, you can be to Rome in less than an hour. The train stations are well organized and easy to get around. There are several other classes of trains for getting around Italy. After this experience, I am sure we will be taking them more often.
Here are just a few highlights of Rome:
Pantheon
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| Pantheon - Meaning Dedicated to All Gods |
During the Christian era, the Pantheon was rededicated as a church and an altar and statues were added.
Around the outside of the Pantheon you can see the brickwork and supporting arch structure that the Romans are known for. The straight, strong walls still standing today are testimony to it's efficacy.
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| Side door |
Colosseum
Our guide was a scholar and very knowledgeable about the history. She works at the university half the year and spends the other part of the year when school is not in session, leading tours and such. I recommend this as the way to go if anyone wants to tour Rome. We overhead the public tour and saw the group on 25 people tromping past. Compared to the tour we had, it was very anemic.
So one thing she clarified about the Colosseum is that there were many types of games and entertainment that went on here. Originally, it was a lake and naval games were played here. Later it was drained and built up to accommodate a variety of games. Gladiators were paid competitors and not slaves fighting for their lives, although certainly at times that also happened. Many of the games were hunting sport games where the animals that were unleashed through the myriad of trap doors from below.
If you can imagine the Colosseum covered in marble, then you can visualize what it was like. Today very little marble remains. The marble was stripped from the ruins in the 1500s and much of it used to build the Vatican.
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| The people and busses nearby show you the size of the Colosseum |
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| Walkway around the periphery |
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| More examples of Roman brickwork |
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| Most of the 2nd and all the 3rd story are missing |
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| The maze of corridors under the main floor |
Forum
I always thought the Forum was a building but in reality it is an area of the old Rome where the markets, temples, courts, and social gathering places were. There is a lot of interesting information about the Forum and excavations are still going on. Here is a link that is a good introduction
The Roman Forum
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| View of the valley, "The Forum" |
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| Temple of Saturn |
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| Cemetary in forefront |
Area Sacra di Largo Argentina
Uncovered in the 1920s by a building project, this is another site still undergoing excavation. It has the remains of four different temples and what is believed to be the Teatro di Pompey where Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44BC.
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| Site of excavations |
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| Notice the many layers of Rome; this site was actually much lower than the current city |
Area Sacra di Largo Argentina | Rome | Italy | Ancient Rome | Historvius
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| Home of the No Kill Cat shelter |
Vatican
Vatican City is actually it's own country with it's own police, laws, taxes, army, hospitals, transportation, etc. The Pope is king and everything that lives and works there is screened for their dedication to the Catholic religion. That was a bit eye-opening to us and some of the Italians around us grumbled because they pay such a high burden of taxes and the people in Vatican City don't pay any. Hard to know or understand how that all works but we did not see any evidence of need or neglect within Vatican City, so apparently whatever system they use takes care of the people.
It is huge. We spent 5 hrs. there and barely scratched the surface. We toured the Vatican museum which is actually several multi story buildings plus courtyard, St. Peter's Basilica, and the Sistine Chapel. There are many other buildings we did not see. The artwork is fantastic. I would have loved to spend hours just staring at the beautiful frescos, the mosaics, tapestries and statues. But even on a private tour like we had, you are barely in one hall for 10 min. and there are still lots of people around so it is difficult to linger. And of course, the signs are all in Italian.
So if you visit Vatican City, get a private English-speaking guide and do your homework in advance so you know more of what you are looking at.
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| In Vatican Museum - Roman statuary |
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| Vatican Museum - one of the many awesome rooms with painted ceiling |
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| St. Peter's Basilica - Many rooms with vaulted ceilings all in mosaic |
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| Alter in St. Peter's Basilica |
Johnnie and I both struggled with the religious/spiritual side of Vatican City. It is an ostentatious display of wealth, beyond my imagination. The statues to the various popes (their mummified corpses are on display there -- some in glass cases) and the Virgin Mary are prominent; only one statue of Jesus and that one with him laying dead in Mary's arms.
In the Vatican Musuem are lots of statues of Roman gods, and it seems incongruous to us to have a Christian shrine with statues of other gods along side.
The Roman archeological sites (such as Pantheon, Colosseum, and Forum) were pilfered by the Catholic Church in the 1500s during the era of the building of the Vatican and brought to Vatican for display. Marble and bronze were pulled off the Roman temples and reused likewise.
The explanation of the design of the St. Peter's Basilica (various doors, ceremonies, special days of observance) and Sistine Chapel have lots of tradition and stories of miraculous sightings behind them; much of it without Biblical basis. I know that every church and denomination have traditions beyond strictly speaking what is in the Bible, but here we seemed to encounter more tradition than Biblically-based teaching or model for the way the church should worship.
So we thoroughly wondered at the marvelous artwork and architecture of Vatican but walked away wondering "What would Jesus think about all this?"
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