Rome & Vatican City

The towering dome of the Vatican on the Roman skyline
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After dropping off our hire car (thankfully with no damage sustained over the last two weeks of dodging crazy Italian scooters) and settling into our camping ground cabin on the outskirts of Rome, we were ready to hit the dozens of must-see sights of the enormous capital city over three days, hopefully it would be enough.

Our first day was spent at Vatican City, the world’s smallest country. By this stage we were well into the hottest and most crowded part of the year. But apart from a couple of obvious bottlenecks such as the Sistine Chapel, we found we had plenty of space through the numerous vast halls of the Vatican museums.

dozens of must-see sights

The Colosseum
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We couldn’t help feeling very small as we walked between the huge stone columns and into St Peter’s Square, with its towering central obelisk and the massive facade of St Peter’s Basilica at the western end. The thousands of tourists wandering around the piazza looked like ants below the surrounding structures.

There was already a decent queue forming to get into the basilica itself, but we didn’t have to wait long. The security team was a well-oiled machine. We initially walked through the underground tombs where past Popes are interred. The guards were trying their best to shush everyone in this sacred place, without much success.

Trevi fountain
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From here we climbed a spiral staircase into the interior of the basilica. We had no idea what to expect as we entered what was the biggest church in the world when it was constructed. You could probably fit three or four average sized churches inside the place with room to spare. There was marble as far as the eye could see, a lot of it taken from other famous Roman buildings such as the Colosseum . There were statues and paintings galore, including the famous Pieta by Michaelangelo, sculpted when the he was only 24 years old.

Spanish steps
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We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the Vatican Museum. You could spend days in here listening to the audio guide explaining the history of each fascinating piece of sculpture and artefact. Like the majority of the other tourists though, we were primarily there to see the Sistine Chapel. The walking route was cleverly arranged to go through the Rafael Apartments prior to the main event, which were impressive in their own right. The walls and ceilings of each room had been painstakingly painted with glorious depictions of historic and religious events.

The Forum
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The Sistine Chapel was of course absolutely jammed with tourists all gazing at the ceiling. Again, security guards were wandering through the crowds trying to maintain some degree of silence and scolding the few who obviously hadn’t seen the “No Photography” signs. The chapel had just recently been thoroughly cleaned of all the soot built up over the hundreds of years of burning candles. They had left a patch uncleaned in one corner of the ceiling so you could see the difference and the results were amazing. What had once been almost black with grime now literally glowed with colour and we both struggled to take it all in. Apparently it took Michelangelo and a team of assistants four years to paint the extraordinary ceiling frescoes of The Creation. Then he was again commissioned by the Pope to paint The Last Judgement, which covers an entire wall of the chapel and is arguably his most famous work. There were so many parts to this enormous painting that we spent about 20 minutes absorbing the work. We were both suffering sore necks by the end of the day.

Bustling dinner crowd in front of The Pantheon at dusk
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We began the second day with a visit to the Colosseum. Although a large section of the original structure collapsed during an earthquake in the 1500s and is now missing, there is still enough of the impressive roman amphitheatre left to inspire awe in all who visit it. There are of course the usual tourist traps outside: guys dressed as gladiators who charge a huge fee for a photo with them and guys selling packs of postcards. We decided to skip the queues by joining a guided tour, which turned out to be a good decision since we were able to skip more queues later.

The Colosseum under floodlights
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Part of the arena floor has been rebuilt to show what the Colosseum would have looked like during its heyday. There was an impressive system of tunnels, lifts and trapdoors underneath so that wild animals such as lions and tigers could be put in with the gladiators. Apparently there was a net on top of the wall running around the edge of the arena to protect the crowd and dignitaries from these animals. Something else we didn’t know was that the entire structure was covered by a cloth canopy to shelter the spectators from the elements. It certainly would have been amazing to go back in time and experience the games held there with a crowd of 50,000 Romans roaring for more.

Typical ceiling decorations in one of the halls of the Vatican Museum
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Next to the Colosseum is the Palatine Hill. This is one of several low hills surrounding the valley in which the Colosseum and the Forum are located. The Palatine was where the Roman wealthy lived, and there are still remarkable ruins left to explore. The Forum is the historic heart of Rome and features dozens of free-standing columns and partial walls, creating a kind of outdoor museum. Modern Romans are immensely proud of this area in particular.

The Circus Maximus was a huge enclosed race track where the chariot races were held. The site today is little more than a large dusty park with a raised mound in the middle showing where the track used to be. There is no trace of the multi-level grandstands that surrounded it. Having seen Ben Hur we had to use our imaginations a bit, but it was still great to see where it all went on.

A short walk later we arrived at the Pantheon. In contrast to the Circus Maximus, this building is pretty much the same today as it was in 27BC when it was built by Marcus Agrippa. Standing inside under the massive dome, we found it hard to believe that the structure had survived so well for over two thousand years. It is by far the most well preserved Roman building in the city and is also the resting place of the great artist Raphael. The nearby Trevi Fountain was also very crowded with tourists. The elaborate baroque structure looked very inviting on such a hot day.

Our final sightseeing stop of the day was the Spanish Steps at Piazza di Spagna. Surrounded by posh fashion stores and also crowded with tourists, it is still a major meeting point. We got some great views over the city from the top of the steps.

On our third day in Rome we walked down to the Tiber River next to the oldest part of the city to visit the Castel Sant’Angelo. This was on old circular fortress which used to be a safe haven for the Pope if Rome was under siege. A long elevated wall that was used to link the building to the Vatican still stands today. The castle was also used for receptions and for storing valuables. Today it functions as a museum and concert hall and is one of the best places to get a view over central Rome. The audio guide was very informative and a full tour of the structure took us about 2 hours.

We then wandered along the river to Piazza del Popolo, a huge square surrounded by arches and impressive churches, with an Egyptian obelisk at the centre. A series of steps at one end led you up past some fountains to the large woodland park of Pincio. The crowds of tourists looking out over the piazza were being continually harassed by guys carrying bunches of long-stemmed red roses for exorbitant prices. This also seemed to be local ‘emo’ hangout, since we noticed groups of long haired teenagers dressed in black gathered around the edges of the piazza. Maybe it was a Saturday night thing.

Wandering back towards the city centre we reached Piazza Navona. This square features three large fountains. Unfortunately the largest central one was shrouded in scaffolding as it underwent repairs. Street performers were busy keeping the crowds entertained and the dozens of trattorias surrounding the piazza were doing a roaring trade in the Saturday twilight. We grabbed a beer and bite to eat and headed off to see a bit more of the city by night.

Most of the main sights in the city are floodlit and are well worth seeing. The highlight would have to be St Peters Basilica. The kilometre long avenue leading to the square is lined with orange lights and the massive floodlit dome can be seen from all over the city. The colloseum was also a grand sight under lights. It was well past midnight when we finally arrived back at the camping ground, absolutely exhausted but really happy that we had seen the best of the great city over three days.