Remember the adage, "All Roads Lead to Rome!" Well, that may have been true, but likely they didn't have this much luggage when they traveled!
Before we start with the pictures, we need to frame the blog with a (very) short history of Rome. (John, feel free to scroll down the first picture!)
The Etruscans conquered the Latins about 600 BC. They brought with them the ability to design arches, aqueducts, and such finery as gold tableware and jewelry. This ultimately really gave the Romans a leg up. The Etruscans ruled until the Roman revolt, around 510 BC, and by 250 BC were vanquished, and DNA testing suggests they settled in the Tuscany area.
Meanwhile the Greeks seem to have settled in the southern part of Italy.
After 510 BC, Rome was governed by elected Senators. You may remember Julius Caesar. During this time, they conquered lands stretching from England to Egypt, Turkey and Morocco. During periods of conflict, Generals were given absolute power, but generally only for 6 months at a time. After his last great conquest, Julius Caesar was named Dictator Consul for 10 years. However, that did not work out so well for him. Remember the Ides of March - the day he was killed! Leadership was a bit tricky even back then.
They were ruled by a series of emperors after that, some good, some not so much! (Politics are not so different today, some would say!) During this period, many of the famous structures such as the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Forum, and Circus Maximus were built.
Religion during this time consisted of astrology, magic rites and a whole variety of house gods - Pagan worship. Christians however were persecuted. The Pagan religion was gradually replaced when Emperor Constantine embraced Christianity in A.D. 313. By A.D. 390, the Christian God was the only legal "God" in Rome.
Constantine was not all that interested in Rome, so he moved the capital of the empire to Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey). This led to the eventual downfall of Rome, as it no longer was the Jewel of the Mediterranean. It was effectively left to the Popes!
With the Popes left functionally in charge, much of the ancient Roman structures were destroyed or recycled into church structures. It is said that, "So enthusiastic was the papal destruction of Imperial Rome, it is a genuine miracle that anything is left."
We think of Italy, with its long history of Rome, Venice, Florence and so forth. However, it was actually only united as a country in March 1861, only SIX years before Canada (1867)!
Fast forward after World War I, when Italians suffered rising unemployment and wild inflation. Enter Benito Mussolini who was declared the new government leader on October 28, 1922. To define the division of power between the Italian government and the Pope, he granted political, territorial and fiscal authority to the micro-state of Vatican City (only 0.2 square miles). Because of Mussolini's support for the Spanish Civil War, it sealed the Axis Alliance between Italy and Nazi Germany and thereby drew them into World War II as part of that Axis Alliance - ultimately the wrong side.
After WWII, the US provided aid to rebuild the Italian economy under the Marshall Plan. As a result, Italy became one of the world's leading industrialized nations (think Fiat, Ferrari, Olivetti, Lamborghini, etc.).
And of course, they are now part of the European Union. My father-in-law will say, enough of the history lesson, so let's move on.
OK already --- back to the travel blog.
After a wonderful flight in Business Class with Swiss Air, (the seats had a back massage feature and mood lighting), we arrived in Rome.
First stop was the Vatican to get our Wednesday audience tickets.
Here was our first good look at the Vatican.
Now, these bronze doors, along with the rest of the Vatican State, are protected by the Swiss Guard. This man stood between Sonya and her tickets, so up the stairs she ran (after taking the picture of course), to get the tickets. "NOT SO FAST"! They turned us away saying, "come back the afternoon before to collect the tickets". Even the Vatican changes procedures and forgets to update their website!
We signed up for a Hop On Hop Off bus for a grand overview of the famous Roman sites.
But while waiting for our bus, Sonya just couldn't wait to get her camera in gear with a few street scenes.
At and in the vicinity of every major attraction, there are either Police, as shown above, Carabinieri (national military police), or the Esercito Italian (military).
Since the terrorist incidents in Europe, their presence is meant to be both a show of force and reassurance for the more than four million tourists that come to Rome every year. We noticed several tourists stopping the Polizia with map in hand for directions. Generally most obliging - except "no photos". Oops - Sonya missed that warning! Well, at least we felt very safe, with their presence most everywhere.
Above is a view of the Vatican by day from one of the many bridges crossing the Tiber River ...
and one by night. In either case, it is a beauty.
While on the night tour we met a couple from the Yorkshire area of UK, Julie and Phil, with whom we would end up sharing much of the next day touring the Catacombs of Saint Sebastian. Sorry, no pictures here, as photos are not allowed in these catacombs. It was a fascinating tour though, as the catacombs are carved out of what were once rock quarries for the Rome area. The word catacombs comes from the greek words kata (near) and kymbos (cavity - for cave or quarry). The land above the quarries was unstable for building and no one wanted to buy it, except for the Christians who realized they could use the underground tunnels to bury their dearly departed.
By law, people had to bury their dead outside the walls of Rome. This area, just beyond the walls along the Appian Way (a story for another day perhaps), was used extensively by Christians to bury their dead at a time when Christianity was not in favour in the Roman Empire.
Our guide indicated that there were more than 12 kilometers of tunnels at Saint Sebastian (and what a rabbit's warren it was - we could have been lost for days within them), containing various sizes of catacombs, from a very small hole in the wall to underground chapels, where well to do families buried their dead. The latter were very ornate with fresco paintings covering the walls and ceilings. In total there are 400 km of catacombs.
Back on the Hop On Hop Off Bus, we made our way to the Baths of Caracalla. These were the second largest baths in Rome, with the building covering more than 100,000 square feet, or larger than a Canadian Football field including end zones! For soccer fans, it is almost two soccer pitches large. Much of these incredible structures were built by slaves as the Romans, while great conquerors of far away lands, were pretty lazy once they got back home to Rome. In fact, the population of Rome was estimated at one million with half the population being slaves.
Next off to the Basilica of Holy Mary of the Angels and Martyrs.
This church was designed by Michelangelo. It was his last architectural work, done by him at the age of 86. It was built within the ruins of the ice house of the Roman Baths of Emperor Diocletian . Now, Diocletian was not a nice guy, as he sent many Christians to their death. So, Michelangelo thought it would be fitting to turn his monument into a Church honoring those martyred.
The church inside is beautiful. As with many structures, no picture can really do it justice, but the above shot gives a bit of the sense of majesty. The funerals for many, if not most, of the soldiers who die while on duty are celebrated in this church.
After visiting the church, we said goodbye to our new found friends Phil and Julie and moved on to prepare for - the night tour of the Colosseum floor, underground and second level.
This tour actually started at the Piazza Venezia, the central hub of Rome at the base of Capitoline Hill. We were lucky enough to climb to the top of Capitoline Hill for a glimpse of the Roman Forum (Fora Romana), shown here below.
This area was were the day to day life of Rome occurred. The many ruins, give you a sense of how central this was to the population. You came to the Forum to shop, get caught up on the news and generally gossip.
From here we marched down the street, created by Mussolini to move his troops, to the Colosseum, about 1/2 kilometer away.
Speaking of Mussolini, below is a picture of what was his headquarters while he ruled. Now Mussolini described himself as an anti-politician and coined the saying "drain the swamp" and promised "To Make Italy Great Again". Sound familiar. From this window he declared war.
The Colosseum is actually a nickname for the structure, as it was known as the Flavian Amphitheatre. The term Colosseum comes from the massive size of the structure, i.e. colossal in size, hence Colosseum.
Here is a shot of the Colosseum by day.
This one by night.
The scale of the place is vast. It is 150 feet tall, with 3.5 Million cubic feet of travertine marble. It took 200 ox-drawn wagons 4 years to bring the stone from Tivoli. They stacked the stone blocks into the shape of an arch, temporarily supported by wooden scaffolding. They wedged a key stone into the top of the arch, thereby keeping the arch from falling and also supporting the weight above.
It was built to hold an estimated 50,000 - 80,000 spectators. This rivals many of the college football stadiums in the USA and is bigger than all of the football stadiums in Canada.
Once inside, we were able to see the multiple sections of the Amphitheatre. If you look at the above picture, on the left side you will see what is actually the floor of the theatre. There is a massive structure underneath this (false if you wish) wooden floor. It even had a functioning elevator where the animals (notably the lions) were brought to the floor of the theatre from the bowels, which you see in the rest of the picture. Those walls below held up the floor where the fights (with animals, gladiators or both) were held. As we walked down onto depths of the floor we could sense what is was like for the Gladiators to await their turn to fight and likely death!
Here I am below the main floor of the theatre. Have a look at the size of the keystone above and in front of me. That has been there for two millennia! Pretty impressive to say the least!
Here are more views of the floor of the theatre.
You can see the walls below the main floor, where much of the business end of the theatre went on. It gives you an appreciation of how much is done behind the scenes in order to put on a show of any kind.
A little hard to see, by night. so we have a second view taken during the day!
What a long day! By the time we got back to our suite after 11 pm that day, we were on the go for 14 hours and had put in more than 20,000 steps and 25 flights of stairs. Our dogs were barking!! (Our feet were throbbing if you have not heard that expression before!)
So, why was the Colosseum built and what went on at this grandiose place? It was built for pure entertainment. As I said, the Romans were lazy when in town and had slaves looking after their every need. So, to keep them happy this was free entertainment - starting with the animal fights, then the executions, and then to finish the day off the gladiator fights. Blood, guts and gore!
The next day, we were lucky enough to be able to attend a concert performed at the Church of the Capuchin Monks. We got there early, so we wandered around.
As readers will know, Sonya's favourite style of photography is people, and she found this monk apparently deep in contemplation. Perhaps he was reflecting on the words of some ancient scripture.
Intrigued by his depth of focus, she wandered around the church to get a better view of what he was reading. Lo and behold, she spotted a smart phone tucked inside the desk drawer - was he reading scripture or was he catching up on the latest social media??
Alas, we will never know, as he put the phone away when Sonya approached. We will never know whether he was chastened by being caught checking his phone, or he was in fact finished his spiritual readings for the day. After all, what better way to carry all of your reading with you, than by smartphone!
We then had a tour of the crypt, where the Capuchin monks have taken the mortal remains of their brethren and arranged them into an art form. It contains the skeletal remains of 3,700 bodies believed to be the brethren of monks.
No cameras were allowed, so I grabbed a shot from Google for you to get the idea.
The tour of the crypt was most intriguing and our guide, Marcello, explained how the monks see their physical body as a vessel for something much greater (their spirit). Hence the use of the skeleton parts as art is not considered macabre at all, but an expression of devotion. It is a bit eerie at first, but this passes quickly. After the crypt tour, we sat in the church for the concert.
The music done by four voices (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Basso), was nothing short of beautiful.
This chorus is clearly well practiced and they delivered a flawless performance of unaccompanied voices. Our group gave a well deserved standing ovation at the end of the performance. I managed to make a short a video of them singing.
The video is a bit grainy as it was shot while they were singing in darkness, with the only light coming from the lights on their music stands. Click on the triangle in the middle of the video to watch it (you may need to click it a second time once it loads). You may get some stuttering depending on the speed of your internet connection.
On Thursday morning, we joined the Roman Guy tour of the underground San Clemente Church, the Catacombs of Domatilla and the Appian Way (Appia Antica).
The present Basilica of San Clemente was built in the 12th century. When it was being built, those building it, believed that they were close to the area where the original Basilica of San Clemente was built, but it was more of a guess than any certainty. In 1857, Father Joseph Mullooley, an Irish Friar with insomnia heard water running in the sub basement of the church. He started digging in the basement of the church, and very soon, he found the ruins of the 4th century Basilica. The builders had gotten it right, and they had actually built right on the same spot of the original church! (In fact, the 4th century basilica was built on top of the ruins of another structure built in the first century!) The Ancient Romans were too lazy to clear away the debris after a fire or earthquake so they just built on top - layer upon layer. That is why there are very few underground parkades in Roman. Every time they try to dig they hit another ancient ruin.
Now these men were priests not archaeologists (in fact the study of archaelogy did not yet exist at the time), so they were somewhat like butchers performing surgery some would say, as they were just looking for a water leak.
OK, Paul what is your point? Well the point is that they found that the water leak was actually a spring running under the foundation of the church. The whole area of Rome is built on what was eons ago an active volcanic area. As the volcanoes erupted they laid down different levels of lava resulting in channels (lava tubes) between the levels. The seven hills (actually all of the hills in the area), are full of rivulets and springs that drain into the basin in the middle of all of the hills, where there is a very large underground lake.
In fact, the Colosseum is built in the low lake area and had to be pumped out during its original construction. This swamp condition, earthquake activity and neglect over centuries led to the collapse of the walls at the south end of the Colosseum.
Anyway, back to our tour. After we finished our tour of the San Clemente Basilica, we went to the Catacombs of Domitilla, once again outside the city walls, since burial was prohibited within the walls. Sonya was able to (somewhat surreptitiously) take a couple of snaps with her iPhone.
Our guide Michele (pronounced MeKayla) is explaining how the Catacombs were hewed out of old quarries that were no longer in use. We are in a small "chapel like" structure where a family would bury their dead. These are the largest areas.
Here you can see cavities along the wall where we were walking that would have had bodies buried.
Now most of us would have seen copies of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper fresco in Milan. In this catacomb, there is (almost miraculously) a fresco of the Last Supper has somehow survived the ages.
Despite a security camera watching us, Sonya caught a quick pic of the fresco. If you look at the top of the arch, Jesus is in the centre, and he is surrounded by the twelve apostles. You can see the aghast looks on their faces as he tells them that they will betray him. Note also that Jesus' face is obscured, as back in the 3-5 centuries, there was no clear agreement on the face of Jesus, so it was always left his face obscured. The two figures in the back of the alcove are Saint Peter and Saint Paul evangelizing.
Next, we took a quick trip down the road to have a look at the original Roman road (The Appia Antica) or the The Appian Way.
The road you see above has been here, intact, since around 300 BC. Man, those guys knew how to build roads! What can we learn from them for our roads today?
Well, as you can see here, they started with an incredible foundation. The first roads were built for the troops to go out and conquer the world and bring back the spoils of war, and then as commerce routes to continue trade with the conquered lands.
Next was a walk of Old Rome, starting at the Spanish Steps and finishing at the Campo di Fiori.
This shot is mid-way up the Spanish steps. As you can see we were in the thick of the tourist time. Next we were off to the Trevi Fountain to get a quick shot of us close to the fountain - or not!
As you can see, my thoughts are, "OK, we have seen the fountain and got the shot, let's get away from the hordes!" So off we go.
Now the Pantheon is something special to behold!
The Pantheon is now the Church of St. Mary and the Martyrs. It was commissioned in 126 AD by Hadrian and has stood their continually since that time. Originally, before it became a Christian Church, it was a Pagan house to worship all gods (Pan Theos, hence the Pantheon). The Christians were quick to take it over, bless it, and make it an RC Church - they seem to understand the first rule of real estate - "location, location, location". The dome is apparently still the world's largest non-reinforced concrete dome.
[];
I shot a short video of the inside to give you some perspective of the place. Turn DOWN your speakers, as there is a lot of ambient noise from the crowd, Once again, push the triangle in the middle of the video to play.
Joining our Insight group we are now en route to Sorrento. Until next time -
Arrivaderci Roma!
Paul & Sonya
