Rome (Italy Post #7)

Rome is THE place to look at stuff. Carson and I are big fans of looking at stuff, so we were very busy. Around every corner we discovered a new piazza, a different old church, fenced off ruins, or a famous market. It was incredible how much history was there, almost unfathomable.

Streets up and down and left and right, turning skinny and then opening into a parking lot or courtyard. I have no idea how people find parking in Rome. Every spot always seemed to be filled.

Old church spires and basilica domes created an interesting skyline, one we saw from many angles as we travelled the city. Looking over them all was St Peter's Basilica. It seemed to loom over the streets, watching your every move.

We are not very religious, if you didn't know already. But we still decided to book a tour of the famous Basilica as it was built to be the biggest and most beautiful. The entire place was designed by many great artists who were hired over hundreds of years to demonstrate the strength, wealth and power of the church.

Surrounding St. Peter's square, 2 large covered walkways of big pillars curve around from either side, meeting at the church. Our guide described how this was to "embrace" weary travellers who came to the church, like arms as you prepare for a hug.

The size of the building was indescribable. As we waited in the front entrance and looked around, we realized that most of the churches we had previously visited all would have fit inside. Including their rooftops. This was once again a building where we couldn't stop looking around and shaking our heads.

Once inside, your mind can no longer grasp how large everything is since nothing is to scale. The saints, martyrs, and personified virtues were giant statues set into the walls, probably 6-12ft off the ground. A tall brass altar stood in the center of the church, nearing 10 stories tall, signifying that this was a Christian church. Again, it was 10 stories tall, WITHIN the church...completely mindblowing.

Gold covered everything, illuminating halos, borders and accents. All the walls were covered in large murals and altars for different saints, popes, virtues, etc. And every single one of them was a mosaic, made up of thousands of tiny, stones, so small that they all looked like oil paintings. Even on the ceiling! Previously, the church would have been lit by candles and every "painting" would have glittered and moved as the candles flickered. Eerie, but a powerful symbol.

On our tour, we also got to climb to the top of the Basilica. It was over 500 steps from the bottom floor, but an elevator took you to 320. They warned visitors of claustrophobia, as a skinny stairway winds its way around the dome, becoming shorter and narrower, creeping on an angle as you climb. Looking down from inside, you could see the detail of the ceiling, as well as how small the people were, like ants, especially compared to the statues. Once you reach the top, you're outside and surrounded by the city of Rome. You can spot more basilicas on the sky line, as well as large monuments.

One monument that Carson and I stumbled upon while trying to find our AirBnB was the Altar of the Fatherland and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We rounded a corner, after already passing churches, ruins and sculptures, to be stunned at the size of the building. It isn't really a building, more like a large, wide staircase decorated by statues that climbed towards giant pillars in a crescent shape.

Neither of us knew what we were looking at when we first saw it, but we went back a few days later to climb the steps and get a closer look at the carvings and sculptures. It was beautiful and haunting, built to honor a unified Italy.

Another monument we obviously had to book a tour for was the Colosseum and Roman Forum. The Roman Forum lay buried beneath the city until Mussolini decided to destroy the neighborhood above it to try and build a parade square in front of the Colosseum.

A temple within the Forum was still standing and had been converted to a church. The Christians disliked an enscription on the outside of the temple regarding a previous Roman Emperor and had tried to pull down the pillars, wearing deep cuts into the top. The pillars, however, were still buried beneath ground level, only to be uncovered with the rest of the Forum.

The Colosseum was a skeleton of what it once was, and our guide was very passionate about how impressive it used to be. Considering it only took 10 years to build, with 4 outer rings, 80 entrances, underground rooms and tunnels, over 80 trap doors with elevators, and many, many marble statues and steps, I agree. They used to host games for up to 100 days, so all citizens could attend, for free.

I think the most ironic part of the colosseum was all the parts that had been stolen over the years. Thousands of iron pegs had been used to hold the large stone blocks together and to peg up frescoes and marble. They had all been removed, hammered out of the blocks to melt down and use elsewhere. Yet the colosseum still stood on its own!

A lot of the marble and stone had also been taken from the arena to (ironically) build St. Peter's Square and Basilica, as well as a bunch of other churches in Rome. The pagan arena now holds up Christian churches...

Fountains and obelisks were also common throughout the city. We saw the Trevi Fountain (surrounded by millions of people), the 3 fountains in Piazza Navona, the Fountain of the Moor, the Fountain of Neptune, and the Fiumi Fountain, the Fountain of the Lions, and many many more. Obelisks were everywhere, either stolen from Egypt or copying Egyptian monuments. They're made of a single stone and are often very tall.

Something both Carson and I found fascinating was Castle Sant'Angelo, named after a statue of the archangel Michael. It was completely intact inside, with old rooms converted to house Popes, with old furniture and gold decor. Now, it's treated as a museum, with small models showing how it changed over time, from tomb to ruin to small castle to catapult fortified to large castle resistant to cannon fire. The building was almost 2,000 years old and still housed old cannons, catapults and even stone ammunition. Of course, there were old trap doors outfitted within different rooms as well. Spooky.

We saw more than I could possibly ever describe. Rome was beautiful, but very, very crowded. Any monuments we saw late in the evening were ones we could actually enjoy.

Thank you again for reading about my travels. Questions and messages are always welcome. Ciao!