We walked toward the Colosseum and began our day at Palatine Hill. It was built around 900 – 830 BC. There are ruins of imperial palaces. Marc Anthony lived here. Essentially, we’re talking an ancient gated community. One guy had a race track in his “back yard.”
Near the Palatine Hill stands the Arch of Constantine. It was build in AD 315. Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity. The story goes that Constantine attributed his victory in AD 312 over his co-emperor Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge to a dream. In the dream, he was told to mark his men’s shields with the first two Greek letters of Christ’s name (chi-rho). Most of the reliefs on the Arch, however, were from earlier pagan monuments.
On to the Colosseum. It opened in AD 80 and seated 55,000. We’re told that the Latin word, ‘arena,’ means sand. The wooden floor was covered with sand to absorb the blood. Below the floor was a network of halls, hoists, and cages.
Roman Gladiators were originally soldiers in training, but their combat became a sport. Slaves, prisoners of war or criminals were forced to fight men or wild animals. They say that at the “inaugural games” over 9,000 wild animals were killed. As we walked through the internal corridors, it reminded us of walking through the corridors in today’s football arenas. What did they do for tailgate parties?
We took the subway from the Colosseum over to Vatican City. We hired a guide to take us through the Vatican. We arrived early and had time to eat at Caffe Vaticano, directly across the street from the entrance. We ate an eggplant / tomato / mozzarella cheese sandwich. Rich continued the search for the world’s best tiramisu while Sally sampled the cannoli.
Teresa was our tour guide. She showed us the Vatican Museum, St. Peter’s Basilica, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Square, Bernini’s Canopy (inside the Basilica), and the burial sites for various Popes, including Pope John Paul. Many were quite ornate. Pope John Paul’s is elegant in its simplicity. A large group was gathered around the area praying, crying, and paying their respects.
Pictures really don’t capture the incredible museum, the interior of St. Peter’s, or any other part we saw. (There are no pictures allowed in the Sistine Chapel or in the burial area). Seeing Michelangelo’s paintings in the Chapel was a treat.
One humorous anecdote that Teresa told us: All of the statues and paintings were of nude men and boys. The Lutherans and Protestants complained to the Vatican. The Vatican knocked off the private parts and added fig leaves. Over the famous paintings and frescos, hired artists added draped coverings over the groins. Teresa says people joke about where the Vatican stores all the penises.
In the square, they were preparing for a canonization ceremony that week. According to Teresa, the area with the banners is where one sees the new Pope, but is otherwise rarely used. Every week when the Pope is in residence, he addresses the great crowds from an upper floor window. If you look real close, you might be able to see him peeking through the blinds.
Guarding the Vatican are the Swiss Guards. Teresa believes the uniforms may have been designed by Michelangelo, but we’re not able to confirm that.
After our 3-hour tour, we headed back across the river toward the Pantheon before it closed at 7:30 pm. The dome is equal in radius to the height of the cylinder, giving it perfect proportions to the building. The only light enters through the oculus at the top of the dome.
We ate dinner at Café Gelateria Pasticceria in the Piazza del Pantheon. We shared an antipasto sampler. Rich had the lobster with pasta and tomato sauce. Sally had the chef’s tortellini with bacon, mushrooms and tomato sauce. Of course, we had to have our daily serving of gelato for dessert with a double cappuccino. We were exhausted after a long day and the walk back to the Sofitel Roma seemed to take forever. It didn’t help that in our exhaustion, we got turned around and retraced our steps a few times.
Next stop: Take the train to the east coast seaside resort located in Riccione.
