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The line
to pay respects to Giovanni Paulo (Pope John Paul II)Roma. With millions of pilgrims flooding into the city and taking the Metro to the same stop as the one nearest our hotel, we opted for a cab. Probably not the cheapest solution by any means. Many of the roads leading to our hotel which is located one block from Vatican City were closed to motor traffic so our cabbie took us the long way around. It beat the line for the overflowing Metro and we had an above ground tour guide.
We checked in, checked our tour book for places to eat dinner and then headed out to take a peek at the line of pilgrims, get a glimpse of St. Peter’s Square, and have a nice, relaxing meal. Instead, when we saw how quickly the line of people who were paying their respects to John Paul II was moving, we quickly jumped in. Appearances can be deceiving. The line only moved quickly for the first hour. After that, we’d be stopped for 15-20 minutes and then take maybe 10 steps forward. Other times, we’d move ½ block at a time. Regardless, the experience was inspiring - we met some folks whose devotion we just couldn’t even come
2 hours later
not much further, but the singing and chanting was great fun close to matching. An Italian family: father and three sons prayed the rosary as they stood and walked in line beside us. One young woman from The Netherlands took the train by herself just to pay her respects. She had no idea where she was going to sleep, or how long she’d have to stand in line, but she was thrilled to be one of the millions able to pay tribute. As we were shuffling along I noticed that the people next to me to looking back and pointing. It appeared that the line had been cut off several blocks behind us so I said to them “end of the line?” I got a quizzical look back so I continued, “Italiano? Englese? English?” to which a teenaged boy responded, “Yes, I speak English.” In speaking with them, we learned how they’d traveled from Poland by train, taken the Metro to the Vatican City stop and had run as fast as they could to join in the line of pilgrims. They’d been looking back and were ecstatic that they’d made it into the line, before it was cut off. This truly drove home the point that Paul and I were surrounded
2 more hours later
an hour after making through the archway, realizing the line ahead was at least 10 hours long, we gave up. by people whose devotion and faith, while inspiring in us great awe and admiration, far surpassed our own. Our motivation was not that of a religious experience, but to see St. Peter’s Square and Basilica and we started questioning what we were doing in line on our honeymoon.
But, the singing and the cheering and the chanting of “Giovanni Paulo” urged us on and we found great joy in being surrounded by people of such strong religious beliefs. The enthusiastic, joyful energy of all of those around us, the Polish flags being carried high and waving back and forth, the men with Solidarity neckerchiefs - all of these things made standing in line a worthwhile endeavor. We could see just a few blocks ahead where the line turned - what we didn’t know is that it turned AWAY from St. Peter’s and that we’d have to stand in line 15 or more hours before we would be inside St. Peter’s Basilica. At about midnight (4 hours after joining the line), we made the turn away from St. Peter’s and started discussing our options. After another hour, with no food in our stomachs and none in the backpack, seeing the
The Spanish Steps
not much happening during the day, but THE PLACE to be at night. line far, far ahead still leading away from St. Peter’s, we jumped ship. It was 1:00 am and the line had become very quiet and still; the energy had shifted from a joyful celebration to hushed, reverent anticipation and exhaustion. Without regret, we headed back to the hotel, grabbing a couple of decent panninis from a small shop along the way.
Late morning we headed out for our one day of sight-seeing in Rome before we’d have to leave for home. We bought 12 hour Metro passes and set off to find Trevi Fountain and to walk from there to the Colosseum. Just before leaving for Italy, we’d rented and watched most of La Dolce Vita with Anita Eckberg. I had my heart set on giving my best impression of her wading in Trevi Fountain, but the police stopped me before I could even step one foot into the water. Actually, she and I have almost nothing in common and I dared not even dip my big toe, but the fountain is beautiful, none-the-less, and we thoroughly enjoyed sitting and listening to the water, watching the other tourists and later wandering the narrow streets looking for il gatti di
roma (the cats of Rome). But, before we left, Paul threw the obligatory coin into the fountain to ensure our return to Rome.
Some information on the fountain: the Trevi Fountain marks the end of the Aqua Virgo - an aqueduct constructed in 19 BC. Currently the water in the Aqua Virgo comes from Salone Springs (20 km from Rome) and supplies the water for all the fountains in the historic center of Rome. The monumental baroque fountain itself was commissioned by Pope Clement XII in 1732. Nicola Salvi based the design on work started by Bernini and completed the project in 1762. Neptune, god of the sea, dominates the fountain. He rides a shell-shaped chariot pulled by two ‘sea horses’ each of which is guided by a Triton - a mythological figure with the head of a man and the tail of a fish.
From Trevi we meandered our way to the Pantheon which was constructed in about 118 -126 as a Roman Temple. The Pantheon was later consecrated as a Catholic church protecting it from demolition. One of the interesting aspects for me is how the spherical shape of the dome seems to fit so
Photo Guy Again
at Trevi Fountain well with the interior. It wasn’t until later that I learned that a sphere would fit perfectly inside the dome with the bottom of the sphere resting on the floor. In the center of the dome is an oculus through which the only natural light in the building enters - other than the doors - and through which a curtain of rain can fall when the skies aren’t quite so sunny. The floor is sloped to let the water drain out without causing any damage. The dome itself is an engineering marvel. The top of the dome is made from very light volcanic pumice, while the base is made from heavier, denser concrete. Until Brunelleschi designed the dome on il Duomo in Florence (see previous journal) the Pantheon’s dome was the largest in the world. The portico is supported by one piece granite columns - the biggest in Italy - shipped from Egypt on boats/barges designed and built around the columns themselves. The Pantheon is remarkably well-preserved and very much worth seeing - if only I could age so well!
The Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, the only Gothic church in Rome was just a few blocks away
Trevi Fountain
but no Anita Eckberg impersonation today so we made it our next stop on our walking tour. Inside we found more beautiful stained glass windows and frescoes decorating the vaults of the central nave. Innumerable iconographic paintings and sculptures also decorate the interior. Although much smaller in size than the churches we visited in Florence, the peaceful energy and beauty of this church were quite pleasant.
Continuing on toward the Colosseum we stopped at Piazza Navona for a look at what becomes a ‘hopin’ joint’ come nightfall. There are countless restaurants lining the piazza, but we were still full from breakfast so we missed out on what promised to be a wonderful, although quite spendy, midday snack. In addition to the trendy restaurants we found vast numbers of street art and artists and more fountains - this time done by Bernini - who started the plans for Trevi Fountain. In the center of the piazza is the Four Rivers. Four river gods make up the bulk of the fountain: the Nile whose head is covered because the headwaters of the Nile had not yet been found; the Ganges holding an oar; the Rio de lat Plata (Uruguay) leaning backwards, and the Danube. Although not nearly
as impressive in size as Trevi, the Four Rivers fountain is a nice place to stop and eat a ‘death by chocolate’ ice cream from Tre Scalini café. We passed, but I’m not sure why - it sounds so good now.
Back on the busy streets of Rome, we headed toward the Victor Emmanuel Monument built in honor of Italy’s first king to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Italy’s unification. We skipped the 250 step climb to the top and snuck in the back way - up Michelangelo’s stairway just behind the monument. We admired the 5th century bronze she-wolf statue (remember the story of Romulus and Remus?), found the style of drinking fountain the Romans call il nasone - the big nose; you plug the spigot with your finger and water spurts out a small hole in the top. It’s a good trick to know - otherwise you have to drink from cupped hands or stick your head under the running water.
Down the hill we entered the Roman Forum which was the heart of Rome during the 7th century BCE and lasting until the end of the 4th century. I wished
we had bothered with a guide or tour book as the ruins of the forum are difficult to interpret without. But, we still had a couple of more places that we wanted to see before they closed so we just wandered through and gawked picking out a few monuments from our Italy guidebook.
Some informative links Roman Forum Encyclopedia Listing of Sites in the Roman Forum Roman Forum with links to lots of other sites After wandering about for a bit on Palatine Hill - great views and lots of shady places to rest, we headed across the street to the 2,000 year old Colosseum (buy your tickets at Palatine Hill and you won’t have to wait in line) which got its name from the colossal statue of Nero that used to stand at the entrance. The Colosseum held 50,000 spectators, had teams of sailors that would hoist awnings over the stadium to provide some respite from the summer sun, and is where gladiators and criminals did battle to the death with wild animals that would be lifted from under the floor and suddenly pop up behind blinds in the arena. Present day reality tv in the U.S. pales by comparison, but only because the ‘action’ in the Colosseum
was witnessed first hand. With all the blood and gore of days past, I expected the Colosseum to have a ‘creepy vibe’ to it. Not at all. Perhaps it was just too difficult to visualize the seats and imagine the arena filled with spectators as there were no visible remnants to our untrained eyes. We did find a great book in the bookstore that offers overlays showing the present day form underneath a transparent sheet which shows both the Colosseum and the Roman Forum in all their glory.
With just a few hours of sight-seeing time left, we hopped on the Metro to catch a bus (we took bus #660 from the Colli Albani stop) to the Appian Way and the catacombs where Christians were buried from the 1st to 5th century. There are about 375 miles of tomb-lined tunnels in areas circling Rome - many as deep as 5 layers. Both Paul and I found the place more interesting and fascinating than any of the other places we’d seen in Rome. While there are no bones in the catacombs, there is plenty of Christian symbolism - the dove to represent the soul; peacocks to represent
immortality; a shepherd holding a lamb on his shoulders as the first portrayal of Christ as The Shepherd; and it was here that we learned Christians use a fish as a symbol of their faith. The first letters of: Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior - spell fish in Greek. Our guide was fantastic answering all of our questions and pointing out many interesting details along the way.
Information about the catacombes: Catacombe Back in Rome we boarded the Metro to the stop at the Spanish Steps and promptly headed the wrong direction, but ended up walking past many of the swankier hotels as dignitaries were coming and going as they paid their respects to the Pope. Other than seeing police escorted (sirens screaming) dark cars zipping by us and more police and security folks outside the hotels, we didn’t catch a glimpse of George or Laura - or anyone other government official or celebrity, but we find the best meal of our trip just a few blocks away from the Spanish Steps. Ristorante il Gabriello is about 3 blocks from the base of the steps - with your back to the steps go to the right until
The Red Group
We saw the Cat in the Hat Group, the crazy hat group, and many others, but I like the colored baseball caps the best you reach Via Vittoria (the restaurant is at 51 V. Vittoria). It is run by Claudio and his brother who cooks using organic products from his wife’s farm. There were so many pasta dishes - all of them sounding quite delicious - that it was hard to make just one choice. The service was fantastic and we each were quite full after just antipasti and pasta - not even any room for secondi (second course/main dish) or dessert. We stuck to our rule about ordering only in Italian, but even by this point our accents and pronunciations were still so bad, that our waitress answered in English. Even for our last meal we were unable to disguise our American-ness, but as always, our sincere efforts at speaking Italian were appreciated.
On the walk back to our hotel from the Metro, we stopped for one last gelato even though we were still full from dinner. We just couldn’t leave Italy without one last major sweet, culinary indulgence so we pigged out. Blood orange, green apple and banana. We had to choke down the last few bites, but it was worth the painful, bloated feeling of having eaten too much. Is
there a better way to leave Italy?
Hotel and Restaurant Links Hotel Alimandi Ristorante il Gabriello (Italian)
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