Rome

We saved Rome as our last destination in Italy. We began our time in Rome with a tour of the famous Colosseum, Roman Forum & Palatine Hill. The Colosseum was Rome's ancient stadium, and is famously known for the gladiator battles, criminal executions, and hunting tournaments it hosted. Although the Russell Crow film may have taken some artistic liberties, it really wasn't too bad at showing the craziness going on here. The ultra brutal Roman empire wasn't a good place to be for those men and animals who found themselves entertaining the blood thirsty Roman citizens. The Roman Forum (pictured below) was the ancient equivalent of modern day Washington DC's National Mall. Many of the important government buildings were located in this centralized location.


After spending time in the forum, we visited the museum, "Museisi Capitolini." It is full of priceless sculptures and other items of antiquity.


Our favorite piece in the museum was a sculpture of Rome's founders, Romulus and Remus, nursing at a she wolf. The story goes that, an important Vestal Virgin who "accidentally" became pregnant. Not wishing to be executed, she claimed that Mars, the Roman god of war, was the father. To avoid controversy, the local leaders simply had her pull a "moses", so she put them into a basket and floated them down a river. They were eventually found by a "Lupa," which in Roman can be translated as either "prostitute" or "wolf." Romans laid claim to the "wolf" interpretation, which has led to the image of these little tike's nursing from and being raised by a wolf to become the enduring mythology for the founding of Rome.



Many Romans claim that all the best artifacts were taken away to the Vatican. So our desire to see the best stuff took us next to the Vatican, headquarters for the Catholic Church, and a sovereign governmental power. While there, we visited the Vatican Museums, Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. Although we couldn't use flash to capture the fresco's, we'll share the best we were able to manage:



After the Vatican Museum, we climbed over 500 stairs to the Cupola top of St. Peter's Basilica for an amazing view of Rome. After which, we found Rusty's favorite sculpture, Michelangelo's "Pieta," located inside the Basilica, which was also designed by Michelangelo. Michelangelo created the Pieta at age 24, and it is his only work that he signed. The sculpture is an achingly beautiful representation of a young Mary holding her still younger son, Jesus, in her lap after his crucifixion. (picture below)


After leaving the Vatican, we continued our path through Rome and visited the bizarrely fascinating, albeit obscure Capuchini Bone Chapel. This eerie crypt houses the bones of thousands of Monks, arranged into walls, chandeliers, sculptures, and other patterns. We weren't allowed to photograph, but you can easily pull up a google image by entering in "Capuchini Bone Chapel." After experiencing a taste of death, we decided to try a taste of Italy's best Gellato (ice cream) on our way to the famous Trevi Fountain.


Who wouldn't love delicious, gourmet, Italian ice cream? The rich frozen treat came in so many flavors, displayed in provocative swirls and lacy ruffles that drove us to eat way to much of it. Luckily, we weren't the only ones!


Our favorite was ricotta cheese flavor. Sounds a little strange, but consider how delicious cheese cake can be.


After consuming copious amounts of Gellato and basking in the afternoon sun of the Trevi Fountain, we waddled to the nearby Pantheon, one of the few enduring structure from ancient Roman times. In fact the lack of enduring Roman structures is due largely to the early Catholic church destroying them to wipe out the old Roman Gods and use the building materials to build churches. Fortunately, the Pantheon has a history of almost constant use, and was converted into a Catholic church rather than demolished.


After the Pantheon, we took pause in Piazza Navona to watch a crazy finger puppet street performer named Marcel. It took a couple minutes to fully appreciate the piano-playing dexterity with which he performed different dances with with multiple puppets on his hands. We took his business card after he finished, and we loved the saying he had inscribed on it: "Just be yourself and nobody will ever be able to tell you that you've done it wrong." He definitely lives by this code!


As evening approach, we took a walk through the venerable old neighborhood called Trastevere, long a haunt of European debutant's. Now it hosts some rather upscale shopping including the ultra expensive shoe shop of Joseph Debach (www.josephdebach.com). Rusty was particularly fond of the toothy shoes below and was tempted to buy them as a compliment to his suit to emphasize his "sharky" nature as an attorney.



For our last evening in Rome, we camped out on the famous Spanish steps and listened to a high school choir singing Italian madrigals. The perfect ending to our journey in Italy.