Thursday:
We spent most of today traveling from Florence to Rome. We stopped halfway at Orvieto, which dates back to around 700 B.C. where it started as an Etruscan city. This is this second such city we visited...Perugia was the first. After the Greeks came to the area (bringing their Olive trees with them) the Romans conquered the area and the region came under Vatican control. The cathedral of the city is most unique with a fresco covered facade. Inside the cathedral is a small chapel with frescos of scenes from the a Bible. It was here to Michelangelo got his inspiration for the Sistine Chapel.We are staying in the "woods" of Rome in Casale di Romano, or one of the castle towns of Rome. In ancient times the richest families of Rome had sons that became the Pope. These castle towns were where their countryside villas were.
Friday:
We started the day as gladiators entering the Colosseum as a theater during the Flaviun empire, it eventually became the place all Roman citizens came to watch gladiators duke it out till the death. We watched the movie "Gladiators" on the bus during our long journey on Thursday. I really appreciated our tour director showing us this movie again so that we could get a reminder of what happened in this massive (50,000 once completed).
We moved on to the Roman Forum which is where the ancient city was. I wish I could tell you more about this but unfortunately our local guide was not very good. It is a beautiful place though and what I can remember from previous visits is that this is the spot where Peter was in prison, the Roman senate was, and several temples were built for a Roman guards. I wish I could have heard more about Peter. I have now walked where so many disciples have walked, which is a very spiritual journey. I guess I can always Google it :-)
After our tour we headed to the Jewish quarter for lunch. Unfortunately I was feeling quite yucky and couldn't enjoy the pasta....that is tragedy status my friends. After lunch we walked to an island along the Tiber River and got a gelato, which settled my stomach. Gelato cures all people :-)
We ended the day by shopping around the Campo di Fiore, which is the spot where people were taken in ancient times to be killed for disobeying the pope.
Saturday:
Today we visited the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica. We had a wonderful local guide for the morning. She started by explaining a few things about Michelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel since you must be silent while in the chapel. A few tid bits:
1) It was discovered in the 1980 restoration that Michelangelo didn't paint the ceiling on his back. I'm not sure how they figured that out but talk about a neck cramp!!!
2) the center of the ceiling is the human hand touching the hand of God. The shape of the "humans" is actually the shape of a human brain. In all the times I have seen this I have never noticed that!
3) Bartholomew is depicted in the Last Judgement painting as holding his own skin since he was skinned alive. Michelangelo painted his own face in the skin as a representation of the Pope skinning his alive by forcing him to work on this project.
4) There was a cardinal that asked Michelangelo to cover up all the nudity in the paints. At the bottom right of the Last Judgement there is a naked cardinal with a snake wrapped around his body biting him in a most sensitive area :-/
5) The face of Jesus is the same face from a Greek statue of Apollo, showing that Michelangelo studied Greek art.
After we viewed the Sistine Chapel we continued on to St. Peter's Basilica. This was the first historical church I ever entered and it is still my favorite. There is simply no way to capture the size and beauty of this place with pictures. We first viewed the Pieta, which is the only work that Michelangelo signed. As the art teacher with us explains...it takes all your breath away.
In the afternoon we visited Trevi Fountain where we all threw our coins in the fountain to ensure our return to Rome. Next was the Pantheon, which has always been cool but never quite my favorite. On this visit we were treated to a concert by a small choir. It showcased the acoustics of the dome in quite amazing ways. I was literally running all over the church recording the sound from various locations. They actually sounded like huge choir when you were on the other side of the dome from them. We also viewed a church with a chapel that had beautiful Caravaggio paintings. The paintings are so real they take on the appearance of photographs. We ended the afternoon with a stop in Piazza Navona where a few of us enjoyed a glass of wine in a sidewalk cafe enjoying Bernini's fountain.
Orvieto
Bartholemew and the face of Michelangelo
The Pieta
Trevi at night
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