ITALY, July 19, 2001
This was moving day once more, this time to Rome, and it required an early start, as we had about a 2 1/2 hour drive by bus. Our guide, Gloria Clementoni, lectured on Roman cuisine, the buildings we were going to see at the Roman Forum, and the Colosseum itself. Evenly placed between north and south, Rome is in the perfect position to be the Italian capital. The former heart of the Roman Empire, and still the home of the Papacy, the city is seen as a place somewhat apart from the rest of the country.
We had a stop along the way, as the bus, lumbering under the weight of all the acquisitions people had made at all of our stops, shouldered on towards the stunningly difficult non-stop traffic of Rome.
There are of course the classical features, most visibly the Colosseum and the Forum as well as Palatine Hill, but beyond these there is an almost uninterrupted sequence of monuments, from early Christian basilicas and Romanesque churches to Renaissance palaces and the fountains and churches of the Baroque period, which perhaps more than any other has determined the look of the city today. Various eras crowd in on one another to an almost overwhelming degree: there are medieval churches atop ancient basilicas atop Roman palaces; houses and apartment blocks that incorporate fragments of eroded Roman columns, carvings and inscriptions; roads and piazzas which follow the lines of ancient amphitheatres and stadiums.
Our first visit was to the Spanish steps, where we got out and dropped into a nearby restaurant Gloria had recommended for pizza by the kilo, in some very interesting and unusual combinations. We had mozzarella, tomato and basil pizza and a fabulous minestrone soup that knocked the socks off any other minestrone I had ever tried. Afterwards, we walked up the Spanish steps and met at the obelisk above. The whole time I walked, I thought of two movies: "Roman Holiday" with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, where she sits having ice cream in one scene; and "Besieged" with David Thewlis and Thandie Newton, a film by Bernardo Bertolucci about a pianist and his cleaning lady, set at an apartment overlooking the Spanish steps. Delightful!
Ticking off sites is not the point of Rome. However, there are some sites that it would be a pity to leave the city without seeing. One of these is the Colosseum, perhaps Rome's most awe-inspiring monument, an enormous structure that despite the depredations of 2000 years of earthquakes, fires, riots, wars, and plundering for its seemingly inexhaustible supply of ready-cut travertine marble blocks, still stands relatively intact as a recognizable symbol not just of Rome, but of the entire ancient world. It is not much more than a shell now, eaten away by pollution and cracked by the vibrations of cars and the metro, but the basic structure is easy to see and has served as a model for stadiums around the world ever since. Originally known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, it was begun around 72 A.D. by the emperor Vespasian. Inside, there was room for a total of about 60,000 people seated and 10,000 standing. Seating was allocated according to social status, with the emperor and his attendants naturally occupying the best seats in the house, and the social class of the spectators diminishing as you got nearer the top. There was a labyrinth below that was covered with a wooden floor and punctuated at various places for trap doors that could be opened as required, and lifts to raise and lower the animals that would take part in the games. The floor was covered with canvas to make it waterproof and the canvas was covered with several centimeters of sand to absorb blood. In fact, our word "arena" is derived from the Latin word for sand.
After this amazing introduction to Roman Rome, we walked to the Roman Forum, a rectangular valley running roughly east (the Colosseum) to west (the Capitoline Hill). The rocky path is the Via Sacra, and it leads from the Arch of Titus, past the Senate building and up Capitoline Hill. Imagine a conquering general returning from a war, bringing with him slaves, exotic animals, and loot of all kinds. He would continue up the Via Sacra to give thanks at the Capitoline's Temple of Juno.
The five or so acres that make up the Roman Forum were once the heart of the Mediterranean world and although the glories of ancient Rome are hard to imagine now, there is a symbolic allure to the place nevertheless. One large, cube-shaped building was the Curia, built on order of Julius Caesar as part of his program for expanding the Forum. The Senate met here, and inside three wide stairs rose to the left and right, on which about 300 senators could be accommodated with their folding chairs.
Nearby, the Arch of Septimius Severus was constructed in the early 3rd c. by his sons Caracalla and Gallus to celebrate their father's victories in what now is Iran. Next to the arch is the low brown wall of the Rostra, from which important speeches were made (it was said that Mark Anthony spoke from here following the death of Caesar). To the left of the Rostra are the long stairs of the Basilica Julia, built by Julius Caesar after he returned from the Gallic Wars. Next to the Basilica Julia, the enormous pile of rubble topped by three graceful Corinthian columns is the Temple of Castor and Pollox, dedicated in 484 B.C. to the divine twins of Dioscuri, who appeared miraculously to insure victory for the Romans in a key battle. Beyond here, and to me the most beautiful of the ruins, was the House of the Vestal Virgins, a 2nd c. A.D. reconstruction of a building originally built by Nero; four floors of rooms around a center courtyard, fringed by statues or inscribed pedestals of the women themselves, with the round temple of Vesta at the near end.
Opposite, near the Via Sacra, a walkway led to the Basilica of Maxentius, in terms of size and ingenuity probably the Forum's most impressive remains. And from here, the Via Sacra climbs to the Arch of Titus. Rising above the Roman Forum is the Palatine Hill, where Rome was supposedly founded.
By this time, as it was about 98 degrees, 5:00 p.m., and some members of our group were seriously wilting, we walked to where our bus was waiting and proceeded to our hotel, the Santina, where we finally alighted and took possession of our rooms and our luggage. As Nancy's husband Jim had arrived that morning and was staying at the Hotel Lirico nearby, he met us in the lobby soon after we arrived, and we ate at a restaurant at the Plaza de la Republica, close by our hotel. I had an excellent chicken salad, and we watched all the traffic at the traffic circle whirl around the circle, weaving in and out and yet somehow, miraculously, avoid killing each other in the process. There wasn't even any horn tooting--everyone just spun around the traffic circle and avoided serious consequences as best they could. Jim then showed Nancy his hotel, and he will be joining us for tomorrow's tour of the Catacombs, as well as for the farewell dinner. Lovely hotel for him and Nancy, who will be joining him tomorrow night, leaving me to pack and leave Rome on July 21. More tomorrow evening, as I recount these tales for the last time on this particularly Grand Tour! As ever, Sylvia
We had a stop along the way, as the bus, lumbering under the weight of all the acquisitions people had made at all of our stops, shouldered on towards the stunningly difficult non-stop traffic of Rome.
There are of course the classical features, most visibly the Colosseum and the Forum as well as Palatine Hill, but beyond these there is an almost uninterrupted sequence of monuments, from early Christian basilicas and Romanesque churches to Renaissance palaces and the fountains and churches of the Baroque period, which perhaps more than any other has determined the look of the city today. Various eras crowd in on one another to an almost overwhelming degree: there are medieval churches atop ancient basilicas atop Roman palaces; houses and apartment blocks that incorporate fragments of eroded Roman columns, carvings and inscriptions; roads and piazzas which follow the lines of ancient amphitheatres and stadiums.
Our first visit was to the Spanish steps, where we got out and dropped into a nearby restaurant Gloria had recommended for pizza by the kilo, in some very interesting and unusual combinations. We had mozzarella, tomato and basil pizza and a fabulous minestrone soup that knocked the socks off any other minestrone I had ever tried. Afterwards, we walked up the Spanish steps and met at the obelisk above. The whole time I walked, I thought of two movies: "Roman Holiday" with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, where she sits having ice cream in one scene; and "Besieged" with David Thewlis and Thandie Newton, a film by Bernardo Bertolucci about a pianist and his cleaning lady, set at an apartment overlooking the Spanish steps. Delightful!
Ticking off sites is not the point of Rome. However, there are some sites that it would be a pity to leave the city without seeing. One of these is the Colosseum, perhaps Rome's most awe-inspiring monument, an enormous structure that despite the depredations of 2000 years of earthquakes, fires, riots, wars, and plundering for its seemingly inexhaustible supply of ready-cut travertine marble blocks, still stands relatively intact as a recognizable symbol not just of Rome, but of the entire ancient world. It is not much more than a shell now, eaten away by pollution and cracked by the vibrations of cars and the metro, but the basic structure is easy to see and has served as a model for stadiums around the world ever since. Originally known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, it was begun around 72 A.D. by the emperor Vespasian. Inside, there was room for a total of about 60,000 people seated and 10,000 standing. Seating was allocated according to social status, with the emperor and his attendants naturally occupying the best seats in the house, and the social class of the spectators diminishing as you got nearer the top. There was a labyrinth below that was covered with a wooden floor and punctuated at various places for trap doors that could be opened as required, and lifts to raise and lower the animals that would take part in the games. The floor was covered with canvas to make it waterproof and the canvas was covered with several centimeters of sand to absorb blood. In fact, our word "arena" is derived from the Latin word for sand.
After this amazing introduction to Roman Rome, we walked to the Roman Forum, a rectangular valley running roughly east (the Colosseum) to west (the Capitoline Hill). The rocky path is the Via Sacra, and it leads from the Arch of Titus, past the Senate building and up Capitoline Hill. Imagine a conquering general returning from a war, bringing with him slaves, exotic animals, and loot of all kinds. He would continue up the Via Sacra to give thanks at the Capitoline's Temple of Juno.
The five or so acres that make up the Roman Forum were once the heart of the Mediterranean world and although the glories of ancient Rome are hard to imagine now, there is a symbolic allure to the place nevertheless. One large, cube-shaped building was the Curia, built on order of Julius Caesar as part of his program for expanding the Forum. The Senate met here, and inside three wide stairs rose to the left and right, on which about 300 senators could be accommodated with their folding chairs.
Nearby, the Arch of Septimius Severus was constructed in the early 3rd c. by his sons Caracalla and Gallus to celebrate their father's victories in what now is Iran. Next to the arch is the low brown wall of the Rostra, from which important speeches were made (it was said that Mark Anthony spoke from here following the death of Caesar). To the left of the Rostra are the long stairs of the Basilica Julia, built by Julius Caesar after he returned from the Gallic Wars. Next to the Basilica Julia, the enormous pile of rubble topped by three graceful Corinthian columns is the Temple of Castor and Pollox, dedicated in 484 B.C. to the divine twins of Dioscuri, who appeared miraculously to insure victory for the Romans in a key battle. Beyond here, and to me the most beautiful of the ruins, was the House of the Vestal Virgins, a 2nd c. A.D. reconstruction of a building originally built by Nero; four floors of rooms around a center courtyard, fringed by statues or inscribed pedestals of the women themselves, with the round temple of Vesta at the near end.
Opposite, near the Via Sacra, a walkway led to the Basilica of Maxentius, in terms of size and ingenuity probably the Forum's most impressive remains. And from here, the Via Sacra climbs to the Arch of Titus. Rising above the Roman Forum is the Palatine Hill, where Rome was supposedly founded.
By this time, as it was about 98 degrees, 5:00 p.m., and some members of our group were seriously wilting, we walked to where our bus was waiting and proceeded to our hotel, the Santina, where we finally alighted and took possession of our rooms and our luggage. As Nancy's husband Jim had arrived that morning and was staying at the Hotel Lirico nearby, he met us in the lobby soon after we arrived, and we ate at a restaurant at the Plaza de la Republica, close by our hotel. I had an excellent chicken salad, and we watched all the traffic at the traffic circle whirl around the circle, weaving in and out and yet somehow, miraculously, avoid killing each other in the process. There wasn't even any horn tooting--everyone just spun around the traffic circle and avoided serious consequences as best they could. Jim then showed Nancy his hotel, and he will be joining us for tomorrow's tour of the Catacombs, as well as for the farewell dinner. Lovely hotel for him and Nancy, who will be joining him tomorrow night, leaving me to pack and leave Rome on July 21. More tomorrow evening, as I recount these tales for the last time on this particularly Grand Tour! As ever, Sylvia
Happy to hear you checked out the Basilica of Maxentius! It was a big part of my Art 105-106 textbook and I still think its coffered ceilings are a great example of timeless architecture :)
ReplyDeleteThis whole tour had sounded like a huge success, but I can say that I will be so excited to talk to you soon on the phone! Safe travels back!!