Ohmigoodness, this is happening, I'm going to Rome.
When I am honest with myself, Rome was the number one destination. It was hard to pick an absolute, as I was going to so many fabulous places, but Rome surpassed them all. I studied classics at high school and university, and Rome holds fascination for it's classical and religious history, saturation of art and culture, and it's huge influence on international culture and development. We wasted no time either, heading out on a huge walking tour as soon as we touched down. It was a BIG day, considering I spent the morning haring around Florence, and the afternoon traipsing over the ancient
city.
We started at the Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti (Spanish Steps) which is the widest stairway in Europe, and filed through the narrow alleys of Rome. It awed me, they way I would just fall out of a narrow street, and, casually, there would be something in front of me that I had read about a million times and seen in a thousand pictures. The first was the Trevi Fountain. I was looking left, and then glanced right. "Wow that looks amazing - kind of like the..wait...oh my god." I was so used to a big build up - entrance ways queues, signs. But Roma is littered with so many incredible things, it is unnecessary.
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| Throwing my 2 coins in the fountain - unusually romantic for me - one to ensure I return to Rome, another to inspire a new romance. 3 would have meant marriage or divorce - not keen for those right now! I could also have drunk from a fountain that would restore virginity. Didn't do that either. |
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| Pretty sure this day is the best ever... |
The Pantheon jumped out at me as the Trevi Fountain did. Commissioned by Marcus Agrippa as a temple, it is famous for its massive free standing dome and occulus (circular skylight), that even 2,000 years after it's construction, is still the world's largest un-reinforced concrete dome, held together by sheer physics. Awesomely, the height to the occulus and the diameter of the interior circle are exactly 43.3m each. The sarcophagus of Raphael is also entombed inside the Pantheon.
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| The whole tour group, at this stage (people came and went at different parts of the tour) |
One of Rome's most famous architects and artists is Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Succeeding Michelangelo, he led the emergence of Roman Baroque and was a favourite of his contemporary Popes. The papacy commissioned the majority of his works including the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi or "Fountain of the Four Rivers" in 1651. The fountain overflows (hehe) with imagery, the most important of which is the ancient Egyptian obelisk that sits on top of the convergence of 4 rivers. These rivers represent the four major waterways of the four continents through which papal authority had spread: the Nile representing Africa, the Danube representing Europe, the Ganges representing Asia, and the Platte representing the Americas.
Just off the Palazzo Pamphili we were taken to a gelato shop that is made of dreams. We paid pittance for towering obelisks of frozen deliciousness.
With bellies full to bursting we continued towards busier and bigger streets until, in the distance, I could see it. If Rome was my number one destination, the Colosseum was my number one landmark. It peeked out from between trees, far off at the end of a main road and I was fixated on it to the point of distraction until we stood at it's base. I managed to spare a glance for the impressive ruins of the Roman Forum, but not for long.
The next morning we got up at an even more insane time than usual, and headed off to Vatican City. By this stage I was on such a high, constant level of excitement I felt like I was a bit drunk. We were required to have a guide to see us around the Vatican, and we had struck gold. Fiona had an extroverted passion and enthusiasm that was extraordinarily over the top, but infected you with the same sense of wonder and excitement, which I needed so early in the morning. Almost (ALMOST) better than an espresso.
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| Our effervescent guide taking us through the artwork of the Sistine Chapel. |
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| St Peter's Basilica peeking over the trees. |
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| Laocoön and His Sons. This 2000 year old statue was discovered in 1506 by the Vatican and due to it's phenomenal quality, the extraction was halted until Michelangelo was present to oversee it's progress. At the time, Laocoön's right arm was missing, and many studies have been made of his anatomy to help suggest what the position of the arm originally was. Most notably Michelangelo surmised it should be in it's current state, and Raphael judged it would be outstretched in a more heroic gesture. |
After seeing the most notable pieces of the incredible collection of the Vatican, we moved down the Passage of Maps and into the Sistine Chapel. It was jam packed with tourists, and despite signs and officials everywhere insisting on silence, pretty noisy. But once I truly stepped inside I barely noticed anything. On my trip so far, I had finally been exposed to some of the best examples of art the world has, but nothing even came close to what my eyes feasted on now.
The Sistine Chapel features art by Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio and others. Under the patronage of Pope Julius II, Michelangelo painted the chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512 and The Last Judgment (back wall) in 1535–1541. Michelangelo was reluctant to take on the commission, being famed for sculpture, but the final frescoes are seen as one of Michelangelo's finest achievements.
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| A commercial picture of the Sistine Chapel, with 'The Last Judgement' on the far wall and the famous 'Creation of Adam' in the centre of the ceiling. |
Following the route that a newly elected pope would take, we moved from the Sistine Chapel to St Peter's Basilica. Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano has had numerous designers including Bramante, Michelangelo and Bernini and is one of the largest churches in the world. It is the traditional burial site of Saint Peter, one of the apostles and the first Bishop of Rome (the first ever Pope), though these tombs are actually underneath the church in the catacombs, (if they are real at all - speculation is rife, and the Church is famous for it's obtuse and closeted answers) along with many other popes.
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| A Swiss Guard - the uniform is credited to Michelangelo, though many people (myself included) doubt that he ever has as little taste as this, despite it following the fashion of his time. |
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| Look at St Peter's, everyone! |
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| Branching off from the main, Maddy and I sought out some lunch, craftily settling on the same restaurant that Fi, our guide went to, and subsequently had one of the best lunches of the trip. |
Maddy and I planned to go to the Colosseum after lunch and had heard a sneaky way to get in from our Vatican guide. Getting a ticket for the Roman Forum, which
includes entry to the Colosseum (for the same price as entry to the Colosseum) we would be able to use the secondary queue and skip the line. Dubious, we made our way to the Forum and found the ticket office. The line had 3 people in it. Using broken Italian and English we confirmed what our guide told us, and made our way through the Forum, towards the ancient monolith.
The Roman Forum are the ruins of several important ancient government buildings. During the height of the Roman Empire it was the centre of Roman public life: the venue for public speeches and elections, criminal trials, and gladiatorial matches. It is located in the small valley between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, the first of which which legend states as being the birthplace of Rome. It was the home of the Roman Senate and has the remains of buildings built in the 8th century BC.
Arriving at the Colosseum for the second time, we approached the 'ticket holder' queue feeling a little bit like we were cheating. Nonchalantly we strolled past the winding line of tourists that had been waiting hours, flicked our ticket at the turn style and marched on in.
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| Like a P.I.M.P |
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| HAHA SUCKERS! Still hardly able to believe our luck, the people in the queue gave us dark looks as we celebrated. |
The Colosseum of Rome is the largest elliptical amphitheatre ever built by the Romans, and the concrete and stone structure is considered one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and Roman engineering. Construction began in 72AD and was finished during the reign of Emperor Titus in 80 AD. It could seat 50,000 to watch the gladiatorial contests and performances revered by the 'Roman Horde'. It has survived the last two millennia despite being ravaged during the crusades, used as an iron and stone quarry, a military fortress and several earthquakes and still stands at the same height as it did in the first century.
Rome met my expectations, and I really don't think I can give it much higher praise - it was a place of my dreams.
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| Bought this original artwork on a little street, cost me a fair price too, for a street vendor, and managed to lose it on the bus, at some point. This trip really was not a success story for expanding my art collection. |
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