Program trip to Rome

Roman Forum
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This weekend we had a program trip to Rome. We left on Thursday pretty early in the morning and took a bus to the city as far as we could get before it wouldn't fit down the streets anymore. From there we walked to our Hotel: Hotel Smeraldo, just off of the Campo dei Fiori. It was a really cute hotel with nice enough rooms for those of us in the program.

The first day we had a trip through the Roman Forum which was guided by a professor who teaches in Rome. Without the guide I don't know what I would have done since the Forum is a little confusing. I guess they used to have placards up saying what was what but since it is now free to the public the city took them all down to spare costs. At least that is what the guide told us. Anyway, we made our way from the Capitoline Hill to the Roman Forum. Our guide said that the Forum had been destroyed by a fire (obviously a long time ago) and that is why some things are weirdly colored now. Also, when Mussolini was heading Italy he wanted to make the Forum look more like it did in ancient times rather than a bunch of ruins laying on its side. Well, when he commissioned that to happen, the people that he used to do that didn't put everything in the right spots, so it's not exactly what it should be, but it gets the job done.

Trevi Fountain
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Inside the Forum is a massive display of ancient columns and the ruins of old buildings. There are temples, government buildings, and even a small room/building where Julius Ceasar eventually died where visitors still put fresh flowers down. Kinda weird, but great for tourists I guess. In the middle of the Forum is the Temple of Vesta where only a few pieces of the original temple actually remain. Most of it is a reconstruction, which is a little disappointing, but I guess it is good to see what it looked like.

View of Rome from above
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Anywho, from the Roman Forum Brittany and I decided to take a walk around Rome where we got some good views of the city. We walked to the Trevi Fountain and threw in a coin like the couple of good tourists that we are. One coin to return to Rome and two to fall in love in Rome. Well, since we both have boyfriends we already have the second option covered, so in went one coin. Then we walked up and past the Spanish steps, going behind it on a road to the left where we had a look-out over the city and then further down over the Piazza dello Popolo. It was really pretty, especially at night. From there we followed the River back to our hotel which was a gorgeous view of the bridges and St. Peter's Dome all lit up at night.

View of the Tiber River
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Our second day was spent mostly at the Vatican Museums and inside St. Peter's Basilica. The museums go on for miles and miles. Everything inside is gorgeous and priceless (of course, since it all belongs to the Pope). The Sistine Chapel is a must-see here. It is breathtaking and completely amazing. I can't describe it with enough detail to do it justice. If you go to Rome, you have to see this. Every wall inside the museums is covered with something, either a paitning or a statue or a fresco or something marvelous. It is amazing that there is any collection this big!

The Belvedere Torso in the Vatican Museums
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The Basilica, I think, is even more amazing than the museums. The high arches and the huge amount of space inside the Basilica is just unbelievable. St. Peter's remains are said to be burried under an alter built by the sculptor Bernini. Also, if I heard my art professor correctly, there are columns from Solomon's temple inside the Basilica as well, even though I am not sure which ones they were. Inside the Basicila is also a statue of St. Peter. Supposedly it is good luck to touch his toe that sticks out on his right foot and there is always a line of tourists waiting to get a little bit of the Saint's luck. There is no longer any definition to his foot at all from all of the people rubbing it all the time. Kind of funny, but oh well. :)

St. Peter's Basilica
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On the way back from the Basilica to our hotel we stopped at two places. First was the Pantheon. Since it was raining all weekend the middle of it was closed off due to the hole in the top of the ceiling letting in all the rain. It was bigger than I imagined, kind of like everything else that I have seen in Rome. Out front is a giant Egyptian obelisk, which there are many of these all around Rome set up at different places. Anywho, the inside of the Pantheon is even better than the outside. The domed ceiling is huge, the floor is decorated in many different colored tiles and the walls are adorned with arches and columns and frescoes everyway you turn.

St. Peter's Altar area
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The second place that we went was San Luigi dei Francesi. It is a church just off of Piazza Navona in the French district. This church was of special interest to us because it houses 3 paintings by Caravaggio. I'm not much of an art history buff, but Brittany is and I won't lie, these paintings were pretty awesome. His use of light is really unique in his art work, so every piece that I have seen by him has been really amazing. (Yes, I am aware that I over-use the adjective "amazing.") From there we went back to the hotel to meet up with people for dinner and a night out in Rome.

Caravaggio's The Inspiration of St. Matthew
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Our night out in Rome ended up being quite amusing actually. We went to a bar in the Campo dei Fiori a few streets over from our hotel. There we encountered a group of British businessmen on an excursion in Rome. I would say the median age was about 50 or so. They were quite funny. Apparently, they take a trip every year like this. This year they went to Rome because of a football (soccer) game. The Rome team was playing in Britain that weekend and they said they needed to come to Rome to even out the numbers of people that left Italy to go to Britain. Interesting guys. Anyway, we stayed there and talked to them for pretty much the whole night, having a glass of wine and talking about what they do for a living (some kind of construction company) and what we planned to do in our future.

San Luigi dei Francesi
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The last day we were in Rome it was raining agian. A big bummer, but we still had fun. We went to the Bocca della Verita. Legend has it that if you tell a lie when you put your hand it this statue's mouth it will bite it off. If you tell the truth then you escape with your hand. I guess when the church it is associated with was used as a school a priest used to sit behind it and slap the boys' hands when they told a lie. I bet that would give them a start!

After seeing that we went back to the hotel to meet up with the group. From there we loaded the bus and went to the Villa Borghese. It was another vast collection of works of art and statues. I wish I knew more about the history of these things so I would appreciate them more, but after a while they all start to look like each other. I think I hit my limit with paintings, frescoes, and statues after that weekend. From there we all loaded back onto the bus and headed back to the Villa in Sesto Fiorentino for a nice dinner made by Nino and the rest of the amazing Villa staff.