We woke early and got started on our first full day in Rome. We had coffee at the Sant Eustachio il Cafe, which Spano thinks is Rome's best coffee. I'm a tea drinker, so I didn't get a vote. We heard the legend of Sant Eustachio who, as an early Christian, refused to make a sacrifice to a pagan god and was martyred for his faith. The church has a stag's head with a cross coming out of it.
We also went by the church at Santa Maria sopra Minerva where a very famous statue of the early Christ by Michelangelo is on display. I'm especially entertained by the added 'clothing' that was welded on later when sensibilities against nudity reared their ugly heads. DH was especially impressed by how healthy Christ looks in this statue. We see a lot of crucified saviors carved in marble, and he's not at his best in those works of art. In this iteration of Christ the Redeemer, he looks strong and fit. The name of the church literally means 'Saint Mary over Minerva', which signifies the fact that the church was "built on the foundations of a temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis, but erroneously ascribed to the Greco-Roman goddess Minerva." This began a realization that lots of Christian churches were built on the foundations of pagan shrines. And lots of glamorous buildings used to be cardinal's homes.
Just a block or so from this church, we saw the remains of a Roman bath that had been built into the block of homes surrounding it. If you look closely, you can see the barrel shape of the curved brick wall. It wraps back behind these two houses. Amazing. Part of the building is over two thousand years old!
For years, only outcasts and plague ridden sick people were associated with the island. Then during an outbreak, a Sybil predicted that Rome could not be safe from illness until a temple was built to Aesculapius, the god of healing. The folks who were charged with siting the edifice loaded a statue and a snake into a boat and sailed down the river. Apparently, that's what you took when you were looking for real estate to build a temple on. The snake crawled up around the mast and when they sailed past the island, it jumped in the river and swam to the island. The modern medical symbol of a caduceus is based on this legend.
We then went to Sant Ignazio. This is a big, BIG church. Couldn't fit it all into one photo. What is most impressive about this church is the painted dome inside. I can't begin to tell you how glorious this ceiling is. The colors are vibrant and it has shiny gold leaf and tremendous amounts of carved plaster detailing. To see it in person was a gift. I was reminded that the people of Rome treat this like a neighborhood church and attend every Sunday mass. I think my neck would be strained from constantly looking up. You'd think by this time in my meanderings around Rome, I would have become inured to the fine quality of the church architecture and art. But I was still goggle eyed with each sight of beauty.
When Robert Spano was a child, he ran through the streets of Rome and played. Whenever he asked his grandma who built something, she always answered, "Hadrian". As an adult, he realized that she was just putting him off, but when he was eight, he believed her. As we approached the Piazza de Pietra and saw the outside of the Temple of Hadrian, I asked him if Hadrian actually built it. No. He didn't. Apparently, just the wall. The Temple of Hadrian has one wall fully standing that is incorporated into the Italian Stock Exchange. It's pretty impressive.
It took me three shots to get the whole facade of this building in my camera's lens. It's a big place. You can see the modern windows onto the piazza. The front of the stock exchange building is around the other side.
From there we went to a small, early Christian church called San Giorgio al Velabro which is unique because it wasn't messed with at all. When the Christians were building churches, they went to the old pagan shrines and took the marble cladding off the walls and used it to floor their churches. Then in the Baroque period, they hired artists and sculptors to decorate the churches into their current state of over the top-ness. This little church was not 'baroqued'. It's quite austere and plain. Still had a marble floor stolen from a pagan shrine, but there you go.
Built right into the side of this church was the Arcus Argentariorum. Literally, the arch of the money changers.
After all the wildly ornate churches, it was kind of restful and peaceful to see this little stone church in its marvelous simplicity. We were able to walk into and take pictures of most churches in Rome. Never had to pay an entry fee. We dropped coins into their offertory boxes and avoided them when masses were being said. Most had explanatory plaques mounted and were well taken cared for.
From there, we went to the Arch of Janus and to the Cloaca Maxima. What is interesting to me is that all these old structures are just built into the newer habitations and buildings.
See that little dog behind the gate? His 'yard' is the Cloaca Maxima. He's standing in a two thousand year old sewer pipe. Pretty amazing place, Rome.
Oh yeah, two thousand years ago the Romans built a building to house their Water Department. Guess what's in that building today, two thousand years later? That's right, the Water Department.
We walked by Santa Maria in Cosmedin, but it was Sunday morning and mass was going on, so we only saw it from the outside. Besides by that time, 'you've seen one church...' From there we went to the Bocca della Verita. This was made famous by the movie Roman Holiday with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. It was also popularized by other films in Japan. People (and by people, I mean people besides me and the Roberts) stood in line to have their chance to stick their hand in the mouth of this big disk. I looked in, saw it and left.
Then we went to what the Romans laughingly call 'the typewriter'. It sounds way cooler in Italian. The Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emmanuel II, also called the Altare della Patria (altar of the motherland) is a giant centerpiece of Roman history. Several stunning sculptures crown it's columns and they opened up an elevator to the roof so you have panoramic views of the city. Here, the Italians have their tomb of the unknown soldier honoring their World War I dead.
Also, each sculpture and artwork atop the building has its own story.
It's said that whenever a battle victor returned to Rome, he was honored by being carried in a chariot drawn by four horses through the triumphal arches. Winged Victoria is displayed atop this building on both sides.
She is in a chariot drawn by four horses. This quadriga was considered the chariot of the gods. I hope that song is stuck in your brain now. It was ringing in my ears whenever I looked at these statues. This monument was started in 1911 and completed in 1935.
Just recently, they completed an elevator to the top that allows tourists a panoramic view of Rome. It is not to be missed.
They pack you into the tiny elevator and take you up top. From there, you are looking out past the ornate fretwork that lines the top of the building. I wish it had been clearer the day we made the climb to the top. It was a little overcast, but still a worthwhile hike.
You can see Rome laid out around you, and some of the ruins are best seen from above.
We climbed down and continued on to the Palazzo Venezia, which was a former papal residence. Then off to the Piazza del Campidoglio to see the statue of Marcus Aurelius. The whole piazza and surrounding buildings were designed by Michaelangelo and retain all their beauty and symmetry.
We saw Trajan's Column and if we'd only had a set of field glasses, we could have seen both the victories over the Dacians from start to finish. The bas relief on the column is a long ribbon that shows the whole history. The frieze wraps around the column and is also reproduced in a museum where you can see plaster casts of the whole depiction without binoculars. We darted into a church on that square. Is it bad that I don't even remember the name of the church? 'You've seen one church...'
That evening we spent an hour and a half listening to an organ concert at Sant Antonio dei Portoghesi. This church, which we lovingly call "just a little neighborhood church", has one of the most famous pipe organs worldwide. Musicians come from all over to play on this church's organ. We listened to a Russian named Daniel Zaretsky play some amazing music. I don't think I'll ever be a fan of organ music, or of sitting on wooden church pews for long. After the concert, I took this picture of the pipes. Just a little neighborhood church. Nothing special.
We ate dinner at Pizzeria da Baffetto. We shared three pizzas and enjoyed the closeness of the family style restaurant. Word of warning, don't go here alone. They don't like to take up tables with singletons. If you're alone, befriend someone in line and eat with them.
On the way back to the flat, we stopped at one of the seven famous 'talking statues' of Pasquino the tailor. The story is that when Romans were angry about an issue and wanted to speak out anonymously, they attached their arguments to this statue, who spoke for them. Legend has it that the original tailor, Pasquino, had the shop next to the Hellenistic statue and he counted the Pope as one of his customers. Anything said there, made it to the pope's ears. It's a fun tradition that still goes on today.
You can see a board where the rants are posted now. I don't know when they quit sticking them to the statue, but eventually even the Romans quit defacing the statuary.
Rumor has it that several of the statues 'argued' over the same topic and the Romans were entertained with the witty postings one statue 'said' to another.
-- Sandee Wagner
We also went by the church at Santa Maria sopra Minerva where a very famous statue of the early Christ by Michelangelo is on display. I'm especially entertained by the added 'clothing' that was welded on later when sensibilities against nudity reared their ugly heads. DH was especially impressed by how healthy Christ looks in this statue. We see a lot of crucified saviors carved in marble, and he's not at his best in those works of art. In this iteration of Christ the Redeemer, he looks strong and fit. The name of the church literally means 'Saint Mary over Minerva', which signifies the fact that the church was "built on the foundations of a temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis, but erroneously ascribed to the Greco-Roman goddess Minerva." This began a realization that lots of Christian churches were built on the foundations of pagan shrines. And lots of glamorous buildings used to be cardinal's homes.
Just a block or so from this church, we saw the remains of a Roman bath that had been built into the block of homes surrounding it. If you look closely, you can see the barrel shape of the curved brick wall. It wraps back behind these two houses. Amazing. Part of the building is over two thousand years old!
We marveled at the old bath, then continued on down to the Tiber River. There is an island in the middle of the river called Tiber Island. Legend has it that the island formed over the body of a tyrant who was thrown in the river by an angry mob.
For years, only outcasts and plague ridden sick people were associated with the island. Then during an outbreak, a Sybil predicted that Rome could not be safe from illness until a temple was built to Aesculapius, the god of healing. The folks who were charged with siting the edifice loaded a statue and a snake into a boat and sailed down the river. Apparently, that's what you took when you were looking for real estate to build a temple on. The snake crawled up around the mast and when they sailed past the island, it jumped in the river and swam to the island. The modern medical symbol of a caduceus is based on this legend.
Tiber Island is shaped like a boat and has a 'mast' built in the center to keep that visual. It is much beloved by Romans and is kind of a park now. Attaching it to the city is the only remaining Roman bridge still in use. Too bad my photo shows the 'other' bridge, not the antique one. It's on the right.
We saw the Theatre of Marcellus which could originally hold 11,000 Romans. It's an amazing feat of engineering. From there we went down to a modest looking church called San Nicola in Carcere for a peek at their catacombs. It's an archeological dig in progress. The church is said to be built on the prison where St. Nicholas was held prisoner. I'm not sure how true it is, but it was neat to see the Roman ruins beneath the church and see the actual columns built into the stonework of the outside.
Next we went to see the Temple of Hercules Victor. It is undergoing renovations, like much of Rome, and we could only look at the outsides. There was also a Temple of Portunus. The two together are stand on the Forum Boarium, which was the most important port in Rome, and a commercial center in its heyday.
We then went to Sant Ignazio. This is a big, BIG church. Couldn't fit it all into one photo. What is most impressive about this church is the painted dome inside. I can't begin to tell you how glorious this ceiling is. The colors are vibrant and it has shiny gold leaf and tremendous amounts of carved plaster detailing. To see it in person was a gift. I was reminded that the people of Rome treat this like a neighborhood church and attend every Sunday mass. I think my neck would be strained from constantly looking up. You'd think by this time in my meanderings around Rome, I would have become inured to the fine quality of the church architecture and art. But I was still goggle eyed with each sight of beauty.
When Robert Spano was a child, he ran through the streets of Rome and played. Whenever he asked his grandma who built something, she always answered, "Hadrian". As an adult, he realized that she was just putting him off, but when he was eight, he believed her. As we approached the Piazza de Pietra and saw the outside of the Temple of Hadrian, I asked him if Hadrian actually built it. No. He didn't. Apparently, just the wall. The Temple of Hadrian has one wall fully standing that is incorporated into the Italian Stock Exchange. It's pretty impressive.
It took me three shots to get the whole facade of this building in my camera's lens. It's a big place. You can see the modern windows onto the piazza. The front of the stock exchange building is around the other side.
Built right into the side of this church was the Arcus Argentariorum. Literally, the arch of the money changers.
After all the wildly ornate churches, it was kind of restful and peaceful to see this little stone church in its marvelous simplicity. We were able to walk into and take pictures of most churches in Rome. Never had to pay an entry fee. We dropped coins into their offertory boxes and avoided them when masses were being said. Most had explanatory plaques mounted and were well taken cared for.
From there, we went to the Arch of Janus and to the Cloaca Maxima. What is interesting to me is that all these old structures are just built into the newer habitations and buildings.
See that little dog behind the gate? His 'yard' is the Cloaca Maxima. He's standing in a two thousand year old sewer pipe. Pretty amazing place, Rome.
Oh yeah, two thousand years ago the Romans built a building to house their Water Department. Guess what's in that building today, two thousand years later? That's right, the Water Department.
We walked by Santa Maria in Cosmedin, but it was Sunday morning and mass was going on, so we only saw it from the outside. Besides by that time, 'you've seen one church...' From there we went to the Bocca della Verita. This was made famous by the movie Roman Holiday with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. It was also popularized by other films in Japan. People (and by people, I mean people besides me and the Roberts) stood in line to have their chance to stick their hand in the mouth of this big disk. I looked in, saw it and left.
Then we went to what the Romans laughingly call 'the typewriter'. It sounds way cooler in Italian. The Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emmanuel II, also called the Altare della Patria (altar of the motherland) is a giant centerpiece of Roman history. Several stunning sculptures crown it's columns and they opened up an elevator to the roof so you have panoramic views of the city. Here, the Italians have their tomb of the unknown soldier honoring their World War I dead.
Also, each sculpture and artwork atop the building has its own story.
She is in a chariot drawn by four horses. This quadriga was considered the chariot of the gods. I hope that song is stuck in your brain now. It was ringing in my ears whenever I looked at these statues. This monument was started in 1911 and completed in 1935.
They pack you into the tiny elevator and take you up top. From there, you are looking out past the ornate fretwork that lines the top of the building. I wish it had been clearer the day we made the climb to the top. It was a little overcast, but still a worthwhile hike.
You can see Rome laid out around you, and some of the ruins are best seen from above.
We climbed down and continued on to the Palazzo Venezia, which was a former papal residence. Then off to the Piazza del Campidoglio to see the statue of Marcus Aurelius. The whole piazza and surrounding buildings were designed by Michaelangelo and retain all their beauty and symmetry.
We saw Trajan's Column and if we'd only had a set of field glasses, we could have seen both the victories over the Dacians from start to finish. The bas relief on the column is a long ribbon that shows the whole history. The frieze wraps around the column and is also reproduced in a museum where you can see plaster casts of the whole depiction without binoculars. We darted into a church on that square. Is it bad that I don't even remember the name of the church? 'You've seen one church...'
We ate dinner at Pizzeria da Baffetto. We shared three pizzas and enjoyed the closeness of the family style restaurant. Word of warning, don't go here alone. They don't like to take up tables with singletons. If you're alone, befriend someone in line and eat with them.
You can see a board where the rants are posted now. I don't know when they quit sticking them to the statue, but eventually even the Romans quit defacing the statuary.
Rumor has it that several of the statues 'argued' over the same topic and the Romans were entertained with the witty postings one statue 'said' to another.
-- Sandee Wagner
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