Roma -La Città Eterna

Part of my program in Florence includes a weekend trip to Rome with my Renaissance Art History class. I was a little weary signing up for the class at first, but it has proven to be one of my favorite classes. My Austrian teacher, Katherina, is energetic, funny and so passionate about what she does. The other day before class, she bought us all caffè, and two weeks before, she invited us all to dinner at her house! Anyway, Rome. AMAZING!!

We took the high-speed train from Santa Maria Novella train station at 1:40pm and arrived at Roma Termini at about 3:20pm. Hotel Gioberti was only about 50 meters from the door of the station. (Dang! I’m already starting to use the metric system without thinking!) We dropped our bags off and we were on our way to our first church. After about four churches, and a stop to throw a few coins in the Trevi Fountain, we made our way to the Peroni Brewery. Katherina had been telling us about taking us to the brewery for weeks and we were all looking forward to it. It’s no longer a working brewery, but serves only Peroni beer and great food! Once again, I had to eat Roman specialties, so for an appetizer, I got a fried pumpkin flower, something I had had a few years ago at my relative’s house in Vallemaio. After going through a couple of pitchers between Chris and I and a few others, we all walked back to our hotel to rest up before going out again that night. 

La Fontana di Trevi

"Whoever drinks beer, lives 100 years"

Chris, Dray and I decided to find a local bar where other American students go, like in Florence. We started to see lots of signs for a bar called Trinity College as we wandered around the streets of Rome at night. Standing in front of the Altare della Patria, you can look down one street and see the Coliseum all lit up. Rome is so much bigger than Florence! Where my apartment is in the city center, nothing is more than a ten-minute walk at the most. In Rome, we walked for a good 20-30 minutes before we came across the bar, which wasn’t too far from the Pantheon. After enjoying ourselves for a few hours, we were beat from walking all around Rome, and decided to call it quits.

In the morning, we started off by taking the metro from the train station to the Spanish Steps. Since there are no paintings or great works of art on the steps, (except for Bernini’s Barcaccia at the bottom) we walked right on by to Santa Maria del Popolo to see some original Caravaggio paintings. Next was Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, which was built on top of (sopra) a temple to the Roman goddess Minerva. It is the final resting place of St. Catherine of Siena (except for her head which is in Siena) and Fra Angelico, a Dominican painter, as well as a few popes. 

We next went to the Pantheon, which was originally built as a temple to all the Roman gods in 126 AD, and turned into Saint Mary and the Martyrs minor basilica in the 7^th century. After almost 2,000 years, the Pantheon is still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. It’s trademark 31ft oculus is the only source of light and ventilation to the whole building. The Pantheon also holds the tomb of Raphael as well as the kings of Italy, Victor Emmanuel II, Umberto I, and a memorial to Victor Emmanuel III who died in exile. Walking in front of the building in the piazza, gives the illusion of the building being much smaller than it really is. As you walk in, the huge round room opens up around you as the single beam of light being cast onto part of the coffered ceiling, moves ever so slowly, highlighting different niches which once housed statues of Roman gods. 

In front of the Pantheon

Inside the Pantheon, with view of oculus

We were then finally free to go on lunch anywhere we wanted. Chris and I went down a couple of small side streets off of Piazza Navona and found an awesome place to eat outside. For my main course, I had Saltimbocca alla Romana, meaning jump in the mouth. It’s veal covered in prosciutto and sage and is another Roman specialty. We caught up with a few of our friends and took a walk to Castel Sant’Angelo, a giant brick former papal fortress on the banks of the Tiber. Chris and I had a sudden urge to leave the country, so we walked down the street, and entered La Città del Vaticano, Vatican City, the smallest country in the world. After roaming around Rome a while longer, (pun intended), we met back with our class at Piazza Navona to look at the Fontana del Quattro Fiume which represents the four major rivers in the world known at the time. 

Castel Sant'Angelo on the Tiber River

St. Peter's basilica

Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi in Piazza Navona

We continued our journey through the Eternal City by visiting the center of government, Piazza del Campidoglio, designed by Michelangelo, which backs up to Altare della Patria, a monument dedicated to Victor Emmanuel, and nicknamed by Italians as, the ‘typewriter’ and the ‘wedding cake’. Right behind the three main buildings is the perfect overlook of the old Roman Forum, the ancient ruins of the city of Rome, including the tomb of Julius Cesar and the prison cells for the Apostle, Peter and Paul. Walking down the street, we finally make our visit to the infamous Roman landmark, the Coliseum. The engineering ingenuity of the colossal building is amazing; 80 entrances, a retractable roof, a labyrinth of tunnels under the stage, the possibility of flooding for mock ocean battles, and so much more. Actually, the word ‘arena’ comes from the Latin word for sand, which is what covered the floor during bloody battle scenes for easy clean up.

Piazza del Campidoglio

Foro Romano. Notice the Coliseum behind me.

Coliseum with Arch of Constantine

After being bombarded with gypsies trying to sell us souvenirs, we moved onto the church, S. Pietro in Vincoli, St. Peter in Chains.  The chains are two different sets that bound Peter in Jerusalem and in the Mamertine Prison in Rome. When Pope Leo I received the chains from Jerusalem, he compared them to the ones from Rome and they miraculously fused together. The chains are kept and viewable in a glass case under the main altar. The main reason we went to S. Pietro in Vincoli was to do my art history presentation on the Tomb of Pope Julius II and the Moses Statue done by Michelangelo. Everyone in our class had a different piece of art scattered throughout Rome that we had to do research on and present to our classmates onsite, something you can’t really do in a classroom in Virginia. The Moses, the focal point of the tomb, is said to be Michelangelo’s favorite sculpture, and when he was done, hit the statue on the knee with his hammer demanding it to begin to breath, for all that it needed now was life. Although you cannot get very close, they say there is still a chip on the knee where Michelangelo hit Moses with his hammer. 

The chains of St. Peter

As it was a Saturday evening, Stephanie, my fellow CCMer and I knew we wouldn’t be able to get to mass the next morning with the mad rush of things we had to do for class, so as everyone else dispersed throughout Rome for the night, we went in search for a church to go to mass. After about two seconds, we found one! Who would have guessed it would be that easy!

The next post will be all about the next day, Sunday, and our trip to the Vatican and the Vatican Museums.