ROME’S GREATEST HITS
For three days, we explored Rome, working our way through the ancient sites, and indulging in delicious food. Each day, we were lucky enough to visit Rome's “Greatest Hits,” the places that appear in history books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, and travel packages, guided by three knowledgeable, passionate, and entertaining WOMEN!
Our guide for a walking tour of Rome, Kopal, was funny and great with kids; she always made us feel included. Anna, our guide at the Vatican, was exceptionally smart and passionate about the Roman Catholic Church and Renaissance art. She had a gentle touch, and always kept us curious and interested. Leah, our guide at the Colosseum, was theatrical, encouraging us to use our imagination at every turn. We were incredibly lucky to have such wonderful women lead us through Rome. I wish we could’ve spent more time with them!
THE PANTHEON
This massive building in the heart of Rome was believed to be a church, but we still do not know exactly what its original purpose was. Pan means all and theon means gods, so this might’ve been a place to worship or pray. This building has a huge dome without poles in the middle holding it up! We still don’t even know how they did such a magnificent job at building this!
On the dome, there are squares with more squares carved inside them. The heaviest stones are at the bottom of the dome, and smaller, lighter carved stones are at the top. What is also interesting about this building is that there is an open circle at the top. When it rains, the rain hardly comes in, as the heat inside of the Pantheon evaporates the rain completely. The Pantheon holds the tombs of Rafael, the famous artist, Kings Vittorio Emanuele II and Umberto I, and his wife Margarita, for whom margarita pizza is named!
VATICAN CITY
On our second day in Rome, we visited the Vatican, technically a whole different country! The complex of the Vatican is very big. Surprisingly big! I mean, there are museums, chapels, basilicas, and 1,000 residents inside this country.
Museum. We first visited the Vatican’s museum – well, rather, one of the 20 museums that are located on the complex! The Vatican has 70,000 pieces of art, but only 20,000 are currently displayed. We saw many pieces of art that were inspired by Christianity, and we also walked through the Gallery of Maps, saw The Belvedere Torso, saw lots of mosaics and many pieces of art by famous artists like Rafael and Michalangelo.
Sistine Chapel. After fighting many, many crowds we got to the Sistine Chapel. We were not able to take photos, but that forced us to be in the moment and really look in awe. Michalangelo painted this famous piece, although he was a sculptor. It was a challenge for him, but he did an amazing job. In fact, he was so upset at people for making him paint this, that he included them in the painting - but not in the best way! An example of this is a man in the bottom right corner. He has a snake wrapped around him and the snake is biting a private part of his body, which probably is not that pleasant… !!
St. Peter’s Basilica. Our last stop in the Vatican was St. Peter's Basilica. Actually, we visited the third version of this basilica - they rebuilt it three whole times! This basilica is ginormous! In fact, a colosseum could fit inside it. There are many different sculptures and artifacts here, but probably the most impressive is the structure above Saint Peter's tomb. A little while ago, they opened the tomb to see if St. Peter was really buried below thousands of years ago, and they found his bones!
THE COLOSSEUM
Our last “Greatest Hit” in Rome was the Colosseum, the 5th and last Wonder of the World we will see on this trip. Like the Pantheon, it is a massive structure right in downtown Rome. It has been around for centuries, but only been discovered in the past 200 years. The Colosseum was built for the sole purpose of gladiator fights. These fights are gruesome, horrifying, and deadly. I think the most gruesome part of the Gladiator fights was the fact that they put animals in the horrifying mix, too. They would put hungry, scared lions, tigers, and elephants up there.
This was used as entertainment for everybody, but also used as a way to prove your wealthiness; the ancient Romans had a whole system on how to seat everybody based on their social status. The emperor and his family sat closest to the stage to get the best view. The women, children, and poor people sat up at the top, the worst view.
The restoration of the Colosseum is pretty amazing. It is still in relatively good shape. Obviously, parts of the Colosseum have collapsed and disappeared over time, but it still looks crazy impressive. One of the times that Leah asked us to use our imagination is when we were looking up at the Colosseum from outside. She told us to imagine this structure, but a bright white marble covering it and statues of gods and goddesses in every arch. This is what it used to look like, unfortunately all of the statues and marble have been stolen or destroyed.
Rome is an amazing city – it has old, new, and everything in between. We only saw some of the “Greatest Hits;” there is still so much more to explore and see. I’ll just have to come back one day!