Il Viaggio di Marco a Italia

Roma

24-27 Agosto 2005
After Venice, Monica and I returned to the villa in Tuscany for a relaxing day followed by an outdoor opera in Montevarchi. Once again, it was Il Barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini. It started late due to the orchestra's instruments getting there late, so it didn't finish until 1:30AM, but it was well worth it. It was the same troupe from San Gimingnano but I thought they a better job this time. Not that I'm an opera critic. I've seen two in my life - the same one twice. By the way, the Barber of Seville is a comedy, and it is pretty damn funny.

The next day we got up early and took the train to Roma. We arrived there around 3PM in the afternoon so we had some time to meader around. We decided to take a short run around the city just to see what was about. Wow! Rome has lots of really big, really really old things!

The next day, we got up early and walked to another country: Vatican City - the center of Catholicism. Rumor has it that there are 800 million Catholics on the planet. I think many of them were there.

The Vatican



Left Side of Catholicism


Right Side of Catholicism

The Vatican mostly consists of St. Peter's Basilica and dome, the Vatican Museum, and a large square from which to catch a glimpse of the Pope. St. Peter's is the largest cathedral on the planet (over 6 acres) and it's capped by the largest dome. Most churchs would fit into its foyer. Charlemagne's coronation was here. St. Peter was crucified on this site and is buried beneath the altar. It can hold about 95,000 worshipping Catholics though they all have to remain standing. As the Vatican is only 100 acres, the floor of St Peter's is 6% of the land of the country.

Obviously, it's hard to get a good picture, but here are a few attempts.

The Altar of St. Peter's Basilica



The Main Hall of St. Peter's Basilica


The Main Hall of St. Peter's Basilica

MichaelAngelo's Pieta' is here as well.

He sculpted this when he was 24 years old.

After St. Peter's, we headed over to the Vatican Museum. It has over 4 miles of exhibits including the Sistine Chapel. What I wanted to see most was the "Scuola di Atene" - The School Of Athens - by Raphael.

How this ended up in the Pope Julius II apartment is anyone's guess. It's blatantly pre Christian scholorly theme is quite out of place. Figures in it include, Plato, Aristotle, Ptolemy, etc.
The Sistine Chapel itself is breathtaking, but photos aren't allowed.
Here's one of a postcard.

I took a few more photos there, but mostly, it's too dark and using a flash is "vietato".

This is the map room. It's full of brilliantly painted maps of Roman Italy.



Here's one of the maps.


Christians Having Fun. It's amazing how many paintings here are scenes of war and slaughter...


Adam and Eve In The Garden. I couldn't help but think of Africa when I saw this one, and the way the animals interacted there. Still I love the painting.
Rome's Many Sites
Rome is full of really interesting areas and statues and monuments and streets. everywhere you turn, there is something very large, very beautiful, and very old. Words can barely describe it all. Here's a list of the few things we did while in Rome.
All in all, Monica and I had a fabulous 3 days in Roma. We did a whole bunch of walking, saw many of the monuments at day and by night, met some guys from the hotel next door and stayed out dancing with them until 3:30AM, and in general, did as the Romans do.
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