Italy - A Visit to Vatican City

Day three in Rome dawned bright and sunny, again.  We were getting lucky with this beautiful weather on the last day of March.  In like a lion, well we weren’t here in the beginning of March so I don’t know about that, but out like a lamb would be the case for us in Italy. 

Every morning we were in Rome Eric would quietly sneak out of the hotel room early in the morning while the rest of us still slept to capture some beautiful pictures of the city as the sun came up.  

Such a photographer he has become, needing to catch just the perfect light for his photos,

and I am so very thankful.  This particular morning he was drawn back to the Roman Forum which we had visited the day before.   

The sleepy morning sunlight hit the ruins and brought them to light in a different way than we had seen the day before. 

I love the contrast that he sometimes captures with his camera.  Not just the color contrast, but also the mix of old with new, such as the photo above.  These ancient ruins, some 2000 years old, mixed with big bright yellow balloons.  Oh the things these columns have seen over the many, many years.

Today we would be heading to Vatican City, the smallest internationally recognized independent state with a population around 840 and ruled by – I think we all know the answer to this one – the Pope.  Within the walls of Vatican City are some of the world’s most famous cultural sites and that is exactly why we were going there, to visit the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica.

St. Peter's Basilica as seen from a bridge over the Tiber River.

As we approached the walls and great columns that would lead us into St. Peter’s Square, we couldn’t help but notice the colorful guards outside the gates.  

Because Vatican City is an independent state, it is guarded by Swiss Guards who are young Catholic men with Swiss citizenship who have completed training with the Swiss military.  Their dress is obviously what catches your attention, very renaissance in appearance, and it makes you wonder if this is all for show.  It’s not.  Remember, many years ago now there was an assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II right here in St. Peter’s Square.  Although they try to ignore the hundreds of visitors who can't resist taking their pictures each day as if they are merely decorations, these guards know how to fight if they need to. 

Standing in front of St. Peter's Basilica looking back over St. Peter's Square.

St. Peter’s Square – as with so much in Rome, it’s just so very impressive.  We’ve visited a lot of plazas since we moved to Europe, but never one like this.  It is huge – simply gigantic.  Ringed with massive Tuscan colonnades four columns deep, it’s intended to give you the feeling of being embraced by “the maternal arms of Mother Church.”  It certainly does, despite its grand size.  

Imposing looking statues tower overhead in every direction you turn,

from high above the colonnades, 

and decorating the top of the great Basilica.  

I’ve seen photos of the Pope standing on the balcony high up on the front of St. Peter’s Basilica addressing the people.  Now I've seen it in person and it's tiny in comparison to the grandeur that surrounds you in St. Peter's Square.  There is a simple small stage set up on the stairs leading to the Basilica, and rows and rows of empty chairs in a cordoned off area.  Tomorrow morning, as he does every Wednesday when he is in residence here in Vatican City, the Pope will be addressing a huge crowd in this Square, bestowing the Papal Blessing or Apostolic Blessing on those who have made the pilgrimage here.  It’s tempting to come back tomorrow to see the Pope. 

Our first stop would be St. Peter’s Basilica and as we had anticipated, the line to get in is long, so long that you probably wouldn’t believe me unless you’ve seen it yourself.   Below, you can see the long line of people spreading out before us - this is only half the line of people waiting to get into St. Peter's, and the photo was taken after we had been standing in line for several minutes. 

The curvature of the great colonnades that outline St. Peter’s Square lends itself perfectly to maintaining an orderliness to this crazy long line.  

Patiently we waited.  It took exactly an hour for us to reach the front of the line and that hour went by fast despite what you may think.  The weather was gorgeous, as were the surroundings.  There is just so much to look at in this great Square.  And what great people watching.  You can image the diversity that Vatican City draws.    

I can’t say there is one most impressive feature of St. Peter’s Basilica because it’s impressive in its entirety, being one of the two largest churches in the world.  Its nave is the length of two football fields and can hold 60,000 standing worshipers.   

Its marble floor is impressive.  

Its walls are impressive.   It’s ceiling and many domes, the largest of which was designed by Michelangelo, are impressive. 

It’s artwork is impressive, containing many sculptures by well-known artists, maybe the most famous being Michelangelo’s Pieta, which depicts the body of Jesus laying on his mother Mary’s lap following his crucifixion.  This great sculpture has stood behind bulletproof glass since 1972 when it was attacked by a mentally disturbed person wielding a hammer.  

And then there is St. Peter’s baldachin, the bronze canopy that stands over the high altar in the picture below.  Directly below this grand structure is said to be the tomb of St. Peter himself, one of the Apostles of Jesus Christ.  Wow!

After visiting St. Peter’s Basilica, we found our way to the entrance of the Vatican Museums where the immense collection of art the Popes have assembled over the centuries is on display.  Many of the rooms inside this busy Museum are pieces of artwork themselves, the last room you visit being by far the most famous, the Sistine Chapel.  We’ll get to that in a moment.  But before I go any further, I need to explain that we only have this one photo below to share with you of the Museum, a piece of a beautiful mosaic floor.   

This wasn’t your typical art museum with huge cavernous rooms.  The Vatican Museum feels more like a maze that you are trying to find your way out of with the last clue being the Sistine Chapel.  It's a hodge podge of different rooms of different sizes with some courtyards thrown in here and there.   And it was very, very busy.  It was hard to take pictures.  As we got deeper and deeper into the Museum following the arrows pointing the way, we found ourselves in a rapidly growing river of people, a swiftly moving river I might add.  You see, everyone had the same destination in mind and this was the only route through the Museum that would get you there – the Sistine Chapel. 

By the time we reached my favorite room in the Museum, the Gallery of Maps which is a very long and narrow room (120 meters longs - that's longer than the length of a football field) and where the walls are covered in beautifully hand-painted blue and green topographical maps showing the regions of Italy (painted in the early 1580s by Danti), the current of moving people was so thick and strong it was hard to stop.  Eric and I each had a good grasp on one of the girls so as not to get separated.  Sadly, it was almost impossible to take a photo.  We literally had to go with the flow and soon we were on a narrow staircase heading down, at the bottom of which we stepped through a small doorway and found ourselves gazing out over the room that is the Sistine Chapel.  The large rectangular room is decorated from floor to ceiling with paintings of biblical scenes, almost as if it’s a huge picture book of the Bible.  While there is an altar at the front, it was almost lost to me amongst everything that was going on in this room.  The paintings are amazing and overwhelming at the same time.  The ceiling, painted by Michelangelo some 500 years ago, is a series of pictures from the Book of Genesis.  Behind the altar, the entire wall it taken up by Michelangelo’s The Last Judgment which depicts the second coming of Christ, the fate of people being decided by the hand of God.  And the crowd – the entire floor was covered with people gazing in all directions.  It was loud despite repeated attempts by the guards in the room to maintain the quiet that is expected of visitors to chapels and churches.  “Quiet please.  No photos.  No videos.”  When I think of the Sistine Chapel now, I hear the voice of the guard that repeated this phrase over and over and over again.   

Despite all the distractions, it’s a magnificent place.  As I stood trying to shut out the noise and commotion around me, I thought of the cardinals meeting here in the Sistine Chapel to choose the next Pope, the color of the smoke rising from this very room indicating to the world that is watching outside that a new Pope has been chosen.   I know that without all the guards, tourists (like me) standing shoulder to shoulder and constantly shuffling in and out, and the noise, this would feel like a completely different place, and where better to hold the papal election. 

As we left the Museum and Vatican City, I couldn't help but to keep glancing back over my shoulder at St. Peter's Basilica.  

We headed across a bridge adorned in statues (the Romans know how to make fancy bridges too) with the imposing structure of Castel Sant'Angelo looming over us in the background.  The clouds moving across the sky above this gigantic structure made it seem as if the Castel was moving, like a massive ship that was bearing down on us.   Castel Sant'Angelo is now a museum but has served many different purposes over Rome's long history.  It was originally commissioned by the Emperor Hadrian some 2000 years ago as a mausoleum for him and his family, but it's also served as a military and papal fortress, residence and prison.  We did not go inside but if we ever return to Rome, this incredible structure will probably be on the agenda.

Next stop - the gelato shop.  What?  No pictures?  No, we have no pictures of this gelato experience.  Maybe by the third day in a row  of enjoying the yummy treat, taking pictures of it was getting kind of old.  Or maybe it's because this gelato experience didn’t start off so good.  The girls wanted cones, so even though it was against my better judgment as a mom, we let them get one.  When in Rome, right?  (Ha, ha, ha - I cannot tell you how many times we said that while actually being in Rome and we all giggled every time.)  Need I say what happened the moment we stepped out the door.  Back into the gelato shop we went with a now empty cone to buy another, but when the lady behind the counter saw the empty cone and the tears streaming down one little girl’s face, she quickly grabbed it from Eric, piled it even higher with strawberry gelato and swooshed us out the door, refusing to take our money.  We would experience kindness like this over and over while visiting this beautiful country.  

Dinner on our little terrace at the hotel on our last evening in Rome - I have to share this with you because it was one of my favorite.  A quick stop at the little grocery store down the street and we emerged with the most delicious and simple meal:  handmade ravioli topped with fresh pesto (that I could have just eaten straight out of the little container with a spoon - oh wait, I did!), a wonderfully fresh salad mixed with soft, creamy cheese and a simple dressing of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, bread with prosciutto, olives and wine.  Mmmmmm - so easy and so amazingly good!

After dinner, we took one more walk around Rome.  We headed up the street from our hotel towards the bell tower we had been looking at from a distance for the past three days but never actually passed.  I can't remember which church this was, but it was just as stunning as the rest of the churches in Rome (and there are a lot).  The inside was closed up for the night, but the girls had fun running around in the plaza outside the church.  And Eric had fun photographing them too.  

In the end, Rome was even more extraordinary than I had expected it to be, and I had high expectations before visiting here.  Everything from the remains of the Roman Empire dating back 2000 years ago to the modern day architecture is just so over the top impressive it's hard to put into words.  And with this beautiful golden city set in the Mediterranean landscape as the backdrop - well, I hope the pictures and my descriptions have done it justice.  If given the chance, we would visit again in a heartbeat because there is so much we didn't get a chance to see during our three day visit.   Rome - hopefully we will meet again.

 

 

Italy - The Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum

Inside the Colosseum

Monday morning, our first full day in Rome, started with breakfast in our room.  Can't beat that!  The places we stayed at while in Italy were some of the most unique we have ever experienced.  We didn’t seek unique out on purpose.  It just sort of happened.  Our main concerns when searching for a place to stay had been location (we wanted to walk to most of what we would see and do), size (needed to sleep four people in one room), price (we were in Italy for two weeks so we needed to watch the spending), and last but not least, it needed to be a decent place.  The hotel in Rome fit the bill and definitely fell into the unique category as well.  Remember, this use to be a convent which when converted it into a hotel makes for some rather unique rooms.  While the hotel itself was small (maybe four or five rooms total), our room was huge,

Mom and dad's side of the room - gotta love a king size bed!

with an almost too high to be comfortable ceiling and some strange nooks and crannies, and included a small kitchenette area and little terrace.  

The little kitchenette and the doors that led out to the terrace.

 I would not describe it as cozy, but it was eclectic, very clean and the beds were comfortable.  

Ellie and Leah's side of the room.

And an added bonus was that every morning promptly at 8:00 am there was a light knock on the door as the hotel staff delivered a delightful breakfast of fresh pastries (oh those sweet croissants were delish), sweet breads, yogurt, little toasts with an assortment of jams and Nutella, fruit, orange juice, and last but certainly not least, two frothy cups of cappuccino. 

After breakfast, we headed out the door and down the street.  

We passed this man using his windowsill as his desk and who can blame him when such a beautiful city with such beautiful weather are right outside his front door.

And this woman getting a café opened up for the day to welcome all those hungry and thirsty tourists and locals.  This is why we like to walk as much as we can when we visit new cities, to catch glimpses here and there of local life going on around us because after all, not everyone in Rome is on vacation.

Today's destination – the Colosseum and it’s lesser known sister properties, the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill.  The Colosseum wasn’t far from our hotel so it didn’t take long to walk there, but that wasn’t actually our first destination.  We were first heading to Palatine Hill.   

What is Palatine Hill you ask?  Good question because before I visited Rome, I didn’t know what it was either, so before I go any further, let me explain a little about the ancient Roman buildings and ruins that you can visit in Rome. 

A view of the Colosseum from Palatine Hill.

By far, the most well-known and recognizable of the Roman remains is the Colosseum, which was built around 2000 years ago to hold gladiator and other types of shows, public executions, etc. (let's not get into the gory details), but there are two other properties that are also credited to the Roman Empire that sit adjacent to the great Colosseum:  (1) the Roman Forum which was basically like the town center with government buildings, temples and other religious type structures, shops and marketplaces, etc.; 

A view of part of the Roman Forum from Palatine Hill.

and (2) Palatine Hill which is the center-most of the seven hills of Rome and one of the most ancient sites in the city with evidence that people lived there going back to 1,000 BC.  This was also the location of homes for several emperors during the Roman Empire era.  

Look at these beautiful statues we saw inside Palatine Hill.

One ticket gets you into all three sites.  By the time we reached the Colosseum, as we had been warned by our travel book and the internet, the line to get in was very long because it is the most popular destination of the three.  But, we had found out, you can also get tickets at Palatine Hill and usually, there is no line there because many people and tourist groups skip it.  We headed to Palatine Hill first and the information we had received was spot on.  No line and we were inside Palatine Hill within seconds.  

It would take us the entire day to tour all three properties.  The shear size of some of what the Roman’s built 2000+ years ago is amazing, and even though these sites and buildings have been ravaged over the many years by looters, earthquakes and mother nature, walking through the sites you still get an overwhelming feeling for what these buildings and public areas must have looked like back in their day.

 

The great city of Rome started on Palatine Hill.  

Many of the remains you see today on Palatine Hill were once grand houses for the aristocrats, including one that is believed to be the birthplace of Augustus, the first Roman Emperor.   

It’s quiet and peaceful up here on this Hill even though you are still in the city.  

Much but not all of it is in ruin, but it still looks like a postcard in every direction you turn.   

The grounds are beautiful, full of the majestic umbrella pines we would see all over Italy.   

No wonder the aristocrats chose this site for their residence because from up on Palatine Hill, you can look down into what was once the great center of city life, the Roman Forum. 

Another view from Palatine Hill of the Roman Forum with the Colosseum in the background.

It took us all morning to explore Palatine Hill (it’s huge).  We were hungry and needed to refuel before taking on the other two gigantic Roman sites so we headed down the street and found a narrow little shop selling pizza by the slice.   

Don't bother me with a picture.  I'm eating lunch.

There was room for about eight people to sit and lucky for us, we scored half of those seats so we could enjoy our pizza while resting our already tired feet. 

We somehow got pulled into a gelato shop on the way back to the Colosseum.  Darn those gelato shops!

After lunch we headed to the Colosseum, which is quite a sight to behold from the outside, so we all were excited to get inside and see what it looked like from there and again, I can’t think of any better word to describe it but WOW!   

The Romans really knew how to do big and extravagant.  No wonder this place shows up on the list of the New 7 Wonders of the World.   It's a bit strange walking into this great stadium because in many respects, it feels just like walking into an NFL stadium back in the states today - that same sort of "Man this place is huge and I am so very small but there is something really exciting about to take place here" sort of feel.  

Looking out from inside the Colosseum.

The entire structure was originally covered in marble, most of which has been plundered and reused in other structures around the city of Rome.  There are still signs of the great architectural work this Colosseum was though, such as the marble pillar pictured below that now lays on it's side.  Leah found it to be a good place to rest her head.

The Colosseum held between 50,000 and 80,000 spectators, and as I mentioned early, staged various types of grand shows from the reenactment of great battles to dramas based on mythology, but the most well-known events to occur here are no doubt the gladiator showdowns.  

 
What you see above, the labyrinth looking structure in the bottom half of the picture, is called the hypogeum and was actually the backstage so to speak for the shows that took place inside this mighty stadium.   Back in the day, the hypogeum was covered by a gigantic wooden floor, which intern was covered in sand.  This was one colossal stage.  Why was it covered in sand?  Well, because it absorbs blood and is easy to clean up, or so we heard.  I have to be honest.  I had a lump in my throat as we were touring the Colosseum because some, and maybe much, of what actually took place here was not pretty.  It’s hard to comprehend that watching gladiators hunt down animals and kill them inside an arena was a great spectator sport, but given the fact that this place is so big, it must have been.  Or how about the fact that they hunted each other down.  Even better, right?   Or what about the slaves and criminals, who often times were probably convicted of fairly petty crimes, who were placed inside the arena to fight it out with gladiators, each other or wild animals.  See why I had a lump in my throat?  

Despite what took place here, the engineering behind this structure is quite remarkable.  The hypogeum below the great stage floor was where all the gladiators, animals and their keepers, stage sets, behind the scene staff, etc., hung out and got ready for their performance or contest.  Eighty vertical shafts in the hypogeum were used to hoist sets, animals and people up onto the stage floor.  There were even some very large hinged platforms that were used to hoist elephants and other unusually large pieces onto the stage.  Several tunnels connected the hypogeum to outside areas of the Colosseum and were used to bring animals, performers, and sets into the staging area.   There is no denying the architectural and engineering brilliance the Roman’s put on display with the Colosseum.  And the shows here must have been quite spectacular, if you had the stomach for them that is.

It was now midafternoon and we still had the Roman Forum to explore.  It sits right next to the Colosseum so we didn’t have far to go.  It’s a beautiful walk and maybe not all that different than it was for the Roman’s 2000 years ago with great marble columns towering overhead and the Colosseum in the background.  I'm sure there were vendors selling their goods outside the Colosseum, just as there are today, although what they were selling was very different (if I never see a selfie stick again, I will be a happy, happy person). 

As mentioned early, the Roman Forum was basically the center of city life back during the Roman Empire and covers a very large area.   

Much of what you walk through today is just the ruins of the great city center, but as with Palatine Hill and the Colosseum, the ruins leave you with a feeling of awe and wonder at what once actually stood here. 

As you can see by the brilliantly blue sky in the background, it was very bright out that day.

For centuries, this was the center of Roman public life, the site of famous public speeches, criminal trials, and great processions celebrating Roman military triumphs.  It was the location of the main marketplace.   

 The Roman Forum contained temples and basilicas, some of which are still in use today.

It was on a public speaking platform in the Forum that Marc Antony gave his famous funeral oration for Julius Caesar following his assassination.  “Friends, Romans, countryman, lend me your ears.”  And it was at the Roman Forum where Caesar’s body was publicly burned.

Some of the stories you hear about life in the Forum back during the Roman Empire just make you go hmmmmmm.  Like the story of the Temple of Vesta.  Vesta, in Roman mythology, is the goddess of the hearth, home and family.  During the Roman Empire, Vestal Virgins were bestowed with the honor (or maybe burden depending on how you feel about it) of protecting the sacred fire within the Temple that was not allowed to go out.  Selection of those who would become Vestal Virgins took place in choosing ceremonies (does this sound at all familiar to you Katniss fans out there?), where girls between the ages of 6 and 10 were chosen and plucked from their families to live in the House of the Vestal Virgins (see photo below) and sworn to 30 years of celibacy.  As it was believed that the health of the Roman state depended on the Virgin’s maintaining their chastity, if one was taken in by a cute, charming young Roman man and broke her promise, the punishment was to be buried alive because spilling a Virgin’s blood was illegal.  This is the actual story – I am not making this stuff up.  When I read this I was like whaaaaat?  But then I read that they actually put her in an underground chamber with a few days of food and water cuz that makes it all so much more pleasant, doesn’t it? Wow am I glad I live in today’s world and not back then.

The remains of statues in the House of the Vestal Virgins.  We would see many statues while in Italy with missing heads and arms.  Seems to be a weak point in their marble physique.

By the end of the afternoon, we were all touristed out (is that a word).  We headed back to our hotel to rest before finding some dinner.  

Many of the restaurants in Italy don't open for dinner until 6:30 or 7:00, so we had a little time to relax.  We found a quiet little restaurant (I don't think I need to specify Italian restaurant, right?) just down the street from our hotel. 

  

To be honest, the food was just okay, but it was cute and cozy inside, the wine was good, as was the company - a great way to end our first full day in Rome.