Arrivederci Roma!

Random Thoughts and Helpful Tips on Italy 

When you’re in Rome just get used to turning a corner and running right into a beautiful building. 

Public transportation is definitely a more desirable way to travel as Ubers are expensive. Download the app Moovit to help you plan your transportation routes around the city. Download the app FreeTaxi for taxi service. Taxi service is cheaper than Uber, but not as cheap as public transportation. Buses are free. The Metro is not, but only costs €1.50. If you’re okay with scooters, take a scooter. Download the Bird app or use Uber to pay for them. They are roughly €3- 6 depending on how far you go— and you can go up to 12 kilometers. 

Research the sites you are going to prior to going. Some still have mask requirements, and some have clothing restrictions. 

The earlier you go to tourist attractions, the better. And take time to check out some of the lesser known attractions and museums. 

If you want to get out of Rome, download the app Trenitalia. You can use trains to go to any major Italian city. It’s handy, efficient, and cheap. 

Try to learn a bit of the language. Enough to ask directions, order in a restaurant, and shop in a store. Believe it or not, everyone doesn’t speak English. Plus it’s polite and shows your interest in the place to which you are traveling. 

If you go to a market, be prepared to bag your own groceries, and to pay for a bag if you didn’t bring a reusable bag. 

Be prepared to walk a lot and stand in a lot of lines if you don’t have passes or skip the line tickets. 

Carry a water bottle with you. The fountains in Rome have excellent drinking water. And if you are visiting in the summer you will definitely need to stay hydrated. 

Roman Empire

July 12

 I had no plans originally to visit the Baths of Caracalla, but after passing by it on a tour bus yesterday, I added it to my to- do list. We used a combination of the bus, the metro, and scooters to get to the site. The fact that we successfully used the metro was a win. We did a self guided tour of the site, taking our time to read plaques and learn the history of these thermal baths, which were constructed during the rule of the emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, who was also known as Caracalla.

Entry road into the Baths

More of the arch- based construction that the Romans were fond of

Entrance into the baths

 These thermal baths were in use from AD 216-537 and were open to the general public.  While were walking we encountered people who were doing a tour using VR goggles. I wish  I had known that was an option  because it would have been really cool to see what the baths were like when they were in use by the Romans.

The tile floor in this section is composed of white marble and basalt

Four types of stone used for the tile in this floor section:
white marble, red porphyry, green porphyry and numidicum marble 

After we left we grabbed some scooters (These have come in really handy.) and went to get lunch at a restaurant I found through a Waze search. We took an Uber to our afternoon tour of the Vatican Museums. We had pre-purchased just a basic skip the line ticket to get us into the Vatican, and then we had the opportunity to wander the floors of the museum on our own.

A bust from the Egyptian exhibit in the Vatican Museums

Me in front of the statue of Sehkmet, the lioness goddess

Coffin of Anet

We spent some time on the first floor, but skipped the second and followed the crowds through the Egyptian exhibit, and then into the galleries that lead to the Sistine Chapel. It is spectacular. I had not researched it before I went, so I spent time gazing at the panels, and trying to interpret the biblical scenes I saw represented there. There were people praying near the back of the Sistine Chapel, which Lindsay noted with some surprise.

A shepherd

Some of the beautiful ceiling detail in the Vatican 

Two things to know if you’re going to the Vatican: shoulders and knees must be covered. Also, no pictures are allowed in the Sistine Chapel.  We left the chapel and headed into St. Peter’s Basilica, walking through hallways lined with an astonishing display of Papal robes and goblets and Bibles created with precious metals and jewels. In the end this was yet another place where I could have spent more time.

Goblets made of precious metals

Figurines, Bibles with gilt detail, gold trays

What we didn’t find was the supposed fountain that has water that is blessed daily by the Pope. We had purchased two small bottles with which to get some water, but since that did not happen, we took the bottles back to the shop where we bought them and then headed back to the Airbnb where Charisse and Ross had returned due to an oversold flight. Tomorrow we head back to the United States, having completed our Mediterranean adventure. There is only one thing left to say: Veni Vidi Vici!

Detail in a rotunda of a gallery near the Sistine Chapel

One of the many tapestries that hang in the galleries

Catacombs and Crypts

 July 11

Tried again- unsuccessfully still- to figure out the bus stops so that we could take the bus to the Fontana de Tritone (Fountain of Triton)  and meet our tour group for the crypts and catacombs guided tour. We ended up taking an Uber— a Tesla of all things. Ubers are expensive here. Taxis are cheaper. Public transportation is definitely the way to go if you can figure out the schedules and the metro stops. We were a few minutes late getting there, but thankfully our tour had not started. Our guide from City Wonders was Heather. She tells us that Rome was the largest city in the world in the 2nd century, with over a million residents. She also talks about the founding of the Capuchin order and St. Francis of Assisi as we walk to our first stop. 

Fontana del Tritone

The crypts are located at In Convento dei Cappuccini and were built in the 1600s. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures. Also, shoulders and knees must be covered in order to enter the church.

There are a series of six crypts that tell the story of life, death, judgement and resurrection. The bones are arranged in patterns so intricate that I cannot even describe them all. Some are organized into recognizable shapes such as flowers or hourglasses representing the passage of time. I even fancied that I saw an arrangement in one of the crypts that was designed to look like the Eye of Horus. The crypt of the pelvises was the oddest, and the crypt of the skulls was the most interesting. Lindsay was most taken aback by the inclusion of the full skeleton of the young Barberini princess on the ceiling of the second crypt. The bones of over 3700 Capuchin monks are included in the crypts. A lot of the bones were acquired via grave robbing. Grave robbing has been illegal for years now and there is a law that makes it illegal to make art from bones. Which means that, now, if a bone falls, they have to bury it.  They are not allowed to repair any damage that happens to the bones in the crypt. We saw several small crosses marking spots where bones are buried inside the crypts. 

The second part of our tour took us to the catacombs, which are located outside of the city walls. During ancient Roman times there was a law against burying bodies inside the city walls, and the newly Christian Roman Empire didn't believe in burning the bodies apparently. Therefore the  catacombs were created. There are approximately 18 kilometers of tunnels and chambers down here. Once again photos were not allowed. (But I might have snuck a few.) catacombs means “into the hollow”, because the Christians buried the bodies in these small compartments. Bodies were wrapped in linen, with two coins placed over the eyes. There are no bodies left in the catacombs because of plunder by German barbarians centuries ago. They were looking for precious metals but didn’t find any and took the bones instead. It was these same barbarians that damaged the Colosseum, leaving huge holes in the columns, while looking for precious metals. The catacombs are the definition of “dark and dank”. The tunnels are narrow, and it has a musty smell. The burial compartments are SMALL. The Romans have to have been smaller in stature than current people.

Ceiling detail inside one of the catacombs.

Into the hollow

The tour was due to conclude at Basilica of St. Peter’s of the Vincoli (chains), but we arrived at 1pm to find the church closed from 12:20-3pm. We asked our tour guide for directions to the Spanish steps, and took the Metro there for a photo op before going to lunch on one of the many charming side streets in Rome. We ate at a restaurant called Numbs where Lindsay had spaghetti carbonara and I had penne all’ arrabbiata which is a pasta dish in a spicy marinara sauce.

This dish had been suggested to me by our tour guide once she found out I was vegan and was struggling to eat correctly here. We made our way back to the Airbnb after being halfway successful using public transportation. (We have the metro part figured out, but not the buses.) Dinner was at Cantina e Cucina, a restaurant Lindsay found on TikTok that we said we’d try while we were here. The line to get in was long, but the food was good. 

Lindsay sporting her new Italian leather backpack purse

Restaurant Lindsay learned about on TikTok

Riccoli di Pasta all'Ortolana
(pasta with vegetables, red lettuce, and walnuts)

My lovely dinner companions on our last night together in Rome

Return to Rome

July 10

What must it be like to walk through history everyday? Do you lose appreciation for the magnitude of what you are seeing? I posed this question to our group of eight as we made our way from the port in Civitavecchia to the Airbnb in Rome. We are nearing the end of our trip. Josh and Tim will be leaving tomorrow, Charisse, Ross, Haily and Jay the day after, and lastly Lindsay and I on the 13th. The question came because I am astounded at the beauty of even the everyday buildings here. The churches are beautiful, the government buildings as well. There are palaces in the middle of the city. Modern buildings sit next to ancient ruins. 

Palazzo Venetzia

We dropped our luggage off at the Airbnb but couldn’t move in until check-in, so we went out into the city to find food, ending up at a restaurant called Vos that was in the center of the city, not too far from Trevi Fountain. 

This focaccia was really good

Lindsay and I had a tour of the Colosseum scheduled for the afternoon. It is massive. Pictures honestly don’t do justice to the size of this structure, and you just have to marvel at the ingenuity and skill of the Romans that built it. We upgraded from the regular “skip the line” tickets and opted for the guided tour, which was very good. During the tour I learned that the Colosseum is over 2700 years old and that it was constructed from Travertine marble that came from a quarry in Tivoli. The construction is arch based because that was thought to be the strongest architectural shape. There are various levels for each of the social classes that attended events there, as it was used for more than just the bloody sport pitting men against animals and each other. The ground floor was for the VIPs. The next two floors were for average citizens, and the top floor, which has the square windows, was for slaves and originally for women as well. The emperor had his own, very large, entrance, and the gladiators had two particular gates that they used to enter the arena. The events held there were known as “pane e census” or bread and entertainment. We learn that it only took eight years to build the Colosseum, and that the original colosseum had a segmented fabric roof that could be opened and closed with long ropes from the outside. 

Our tour takes us down to the floor level where we get an excellent view of the underground chambers of the Colosseum. It is a maze of rooms and hallways where slaves would open doors to lead men and animals into the arena for competition to the death. The arena was covered in sand in order to soak up the blood from the people and the animals. The last competition was held in AD 527 and the Colosseum was abandoned as Christianity took hold in Rome.  Over one million gladiators died in the 450 years that the competitions were held. 

View of the underground chambers from the upper level

View of the underground chambers from ground level

Example of the arch- based construction

Part of the original colosseum floor

Notes for those who want to visit:

Book a skip the line tour, or be prepared to wait in a very long entrance line. 

If you come with a child younger than 18, bring their passport. 

Bring your patience. It’s going to be crowded.