La Città Eterna

Since Charlene, Tommy and I have never experienced the splendors of Italia, Brad, who toured Italy years ago, created a fantastic itinerary for us. During all his preparations, he never told me how COOL Italy is. I mean, I already knew it was old, they eat a lot of pasta, the men are flirty and the Pope lives there. With all the movies, music and art about Italy, it’s hard to have a realistic or multi-dimensional concept of Italy. Maybe I’ve just heard bad versions of That’s Amore too many times. The real Italy is a rich treat for the senses and it left me wanting more.

Speaking of flirty men, I was a little disappointed when no one so much as whistled at me or yelled something inappropriate in Italian during our entire trip. I was not, however, disappointed with the pasta or wine, and almost everything we saw exceeded my expectations by far.

Roma

Rome is known as “the eternal city” and one can hardly wonder why. The civilization of Rome shaped world history in such a dramatic and lasting way. On our first morning in Rome, we struck out and soon found ourselves surrounded by ancient ruins on all sides. It’s baffling to see modern parking lots and office buildings adjacent to large sites where stately forums once stood. Countless structures and pillars still stand – 2000 years after they were erected.

At I Fori (the forums)

After wandering through many forums of ancient Rome, we headed to the Colosseum. In Italy, you see iconic spot after iconic spot. The Colosseum is about as iconic as you can get. Incredibly, only one third of the original structure is still standing. A real-life Italian archeologist gave us a tour and we learned a lot. Apparently the Colosseum is built on a site where Nero’s private lake used to be. At the very beginning of the 1st century, A.D., crazy emperor Nero transformed the center of Rome into his personal park. Shortly after Nero’s death, the new emperor reclaimed the center of Rome for the public and built the Colosseum as a place for public entertainment.

View of Colosseum. See that tree to the left? The trees look different in Rome. That was the first thing I noticed when our plane landed here.

Our archeologist guide pointed out that the movie Gladiator was not completely accurate. Shocking. Apparently, gladiators would fight each other, but never animals as well. Wild animals were fought by hunters in the morning shows at the Colosseum. The after-lunch shows were man vs. man. Each “team” of gladiators would have their own weapon/special tool of death. Gladiators might be prisoners, slaves or even free men who volunteered to fight to gain money or fame.

Inside Colosseum; historically sand (rena in Italian) would cover the wood floor in the center to soak up blood – this is how the word “arena” is derived

We later moved on to more peaceful sites in Rome. The Pantheon is one of those non-Christian places of worship that the Catholic Church appropriated for itself. The Pantheon is probably most famous for its bewildering ancient architecture. Also famous at the Pantheon is Raphael’s tomb.

One God . . . many gods . . . Does anyone else see the irony in this sign?

To me, the most enchanting site in Rome is the Trevi Fountain. Again, iconic and seemingly trite, but it was truly enchanting. The Trevi Fountain plays an important role in a famous film I love: La Dolce Vita. Tossing a coin into the fountain ensures that you will one day return to Rome.

Trevi Fountain

Moving right along . . . the Vatican. Man, do they have a lot stuff there. If all the sculptures, paintings and tapestries in the Vatican museums were sold, I think we’d have enough money to eliminate world poverty. But that’s beside the point.

Our visit to the Vatican involved walking through the countless galleries and corridors of the Vatican museums, then the Sistine Chapel, then St. Peter’s Basilica. I use the term “eye glut” to describe this experience. Everywhere we walked, there were detailed mosaics on the floors, massive painted frescoes or tapestries on the walls and gilded and carved ceilings. Every corner of every room was extravagant.

Mosaic floor
On a staircase
One of the many Raphael frescos in the Vatican

Just as total eye glut has begun to set in, you enter the Sistine Chapel. What can I say? We’ve all seen the unmistakable images from this chapel many times. It’s surreal to look at the real thing. And, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was restored just a few years ago; Michelangelo’s colors are almost too vibrant to be painted in the 1500s. All four of us had severe cases of “Sistine Chapel Neck” when we left.

Then we walked into St. Peter’s Basilica. At this point, we’re only capable of making grunts of amazement because we’re so overloaded. The Basilica seems much newer than our little Sevilla cathedral. I call it “little” because St. Peter’s is the biggest cathedral in the world and ours is only the 3rd largest. St. Peter’s also gets its name because the Apostle Peter is supposedly buried there.

The high altar of St. Peter’s Basilica

I wanted to assure that I would be as weak as possible by the end of my visit to the Vatican, so I agreed to climb the dome of St. Peter’s with Brad.

Me, after 320 steps

The heavenly views of Rome were worth the crazy climb. We saw distant mountains, the Tiber river and countless church domes all over the city.

One view from the top of St. Peter’s

After such a marathon morning, we decided to cross the entire city by metro then take a bus out to the Appian Way and the catacombs. I couldn’t miss seeing these! After leaving our bus, we began to climb the small hill toward the Via Appia (Appian Way). The setting was so peaceful. Via Appia looked exactly like the illustrations of it from my 8th grade Latin textbook. The small ancient “highway” was exactly how I’d pictured it. Evenly-spaced shadows cast by cedars that line the road and the warm light of the setting sun made the scene especially magical.

Via Appia

We took a tour of one of the excavated catacombs that is located just off the Via Appia. Only three out of 60 catacombs have been excavated. We saw a huge portion of one catacomb, and then we learned that there are 20 kilometers of tombs at that one location. There is a common misconception that catacombs were primarily used as secret Christian worship spaces. While ancient Christians did sometimes celebrate mass here, the catacombs were primarily used as tombs for Christians.

And what a lot of tombs there are! We walked down many dark, narrow corridors filled with spaces for bodies on either side. Several 3rd century popes were buried at the catacomb we toured, as well as many Christian martyrs. The bodies of the popes have been moved, but all the other bodies had disintegrated, so the tombs were empty. Some families had family burial “rooms” with painted frescoes and mosaics – some of which are still visible. Walking by graves of the earliest Christians, seeing Christian symbols carved into the walls (graffiti) . . . was very powerful.

The chi-rho; one of the most common symbols we saw carved in the rock walls of the catacombs

On our last morning in Rome, Brad and I visited a cathedral called Santa Maria Maggiore. The interior of this cathedral is subdued compared to some gothic cathedrals in Europe, but it’s still filled with sculptures, carved wood and gilded frescoes. Mass was being celebrated in one of the side chapels and several nuns and other people were sitting in prayer, facing the main altar. Brad and I sat for a moment near the back of the church.

Presently, we heard a bell ringing – signaling the approach of a priest. Then, a procession of 20+ bishops passed by and they entered a side chapel to the left. The procession was led by (we think!) a cardinal. The cardinal was in a red robe and hat, and the bishops were all in magenta robes. So Rome! Inside Santa Maria Maggiore, there were about a dozen confessional booths that were similar to those at St. Peter’s. At the top of each wooden booth was written the languages spoken by the priest who receives confession there. Italiano, Deutsch, François, etc. A small red light on the booth would be lit if the priest was currently in the booth.

I thought about my Catholic friends a lot while I was in Rome. Many Catholics visit Rome on a religious pilgrimage. After visiting the opulent St. Peter’s Basilica, where many popes are buried and immortalized in larger-than-life sculptures, it was strange to visit the catacombs and see the humble tombs of early popes. Christians were worshipping together in Rome long before the religion was divided into Catholic and Protestant. Going to the catacombs felt like a mini religious pilgrimage to me.

Whew! Rome exhausts even the most seasoned tourist. Our next destination, a small town in Tuscany, would be the retreat we needed.