May 12-19, 2018 - Our Final Roman Adventures!!!
Before we say a final "goodbye" to Italy, we have to share a compilation of places and things we were able to see that we loved, but that did not make it into previous posts. It is a bit long, but we didn't want to miss anything. It did feel like the longer we stayed, the more we found that we wanted to see!
One of Heather's priorities was to go see the Villa Borghese Gallery. It was the house of a Cardinal (nephew of the Pope at the time), who had an obsession with great art, and a pocketbook to back it up. By the mid-1600s, it was already widely known as one of the greatest collections of fine art in Europe. Many pieces have been taken or sold over the years, due to political pressures and war. What is left, has been turned over by the family to the public, including the house and many acres of beautiful surrounding park land, structures, gardens, and fountains. It is up on a hill, with a view out over the city, and has become one of the favorite areas in Rome for sunset watching, Sunday walks, picnics, bike rides, or games. The Gallery is full of pieces by Bernini, Caravaggio, Raphael, Titian, da Vinci, and many others. It was spectacular!
Above is one of the many painted ceilings, and below is one of many finely detailed floor mosaics.
The sculptures by Bernini were amazing to see! Below is his version of Venus, then his David, and then Apollo and Daphne.
We loved the fine details of Daphne turning into a laurel tree as she ran from Apollo, with the tiny rootlets coming off of her feet and branches out of her fingertips.
It was always nice to return home to our cozy and peaceful apartment, with birds singing out in the courtyard. It amazed us how having a ring of buildings around our building, made it so quiet for us, even right in the middle of the city. Heather's great cooking always makes being home great too! Check out that beautiful lasagna! It was delicious!
We finally got a chance to go to downtown Rome to tour the ruins of Trajan's Market. We also caught a picture of the centerpiece of the city (below), The Altare Della Patria. It is a modern building meant to evoke the grandeur of past ages and the city's hopes for the future. It is mighty grand, with loads of huge sculptures, ever-burning fires, fountains, and gold mosaic. It is right in the middle of many layers of ancient ruins. This has been the center of the city, since it became a city, in 753 BC, and layers upon layers of leftover structures are still there to be seen, including Trajan's Market.
The ruins called Trajan's Market, are actually a whole complex of grand forums and market areas, built by many different past leaders, during different time periods. As with The Forum, it is clear that Rome has always been filled densely with structures crammed right up next to each other, and often incorporating portions of earlier structures. It must have been a constant building site throughout all of its history! There was a museum area holding some parts and pieces of the finer statuary and marble details that are all removed from the ruins, as we have seen in all of the sites that we have visited.
It is really incredible how many sights there are to see, right in the middle of downtown Rome, and how the modern city just buzzes on all around it, and through it. It is chaotic and interesting, with evidence of many different ages all around!
And on to some other points of interest. One Sunday that we were there, our ward had Stake Conference. The only place big enough to hold all of the wards was a rented hall in a fancy hotel in Rome. It was just an interesting place for the meeting. They had plenty of ear devices for those who didn't speak Italian, and it was all translated, just like the ward meetings were.
One Sunday after church, we decided to visit a large cemetery near where we lived, called Cimitero Monumentale Verano. It was very interesting to see the different burial styles and traditions. Everything was quite ornate and fancy.
Heather took an afternoon to go check out the Rome Rose Garden, when it finally came into bloom. It is a public park that looks out over the ancient race track, the Circo Massimo, and across that valley to the Palatine Hill Ruins. It is a spectacular view, and a beautiful garden. There were large numbers of rose fanatics out poring over the various glorious varieties, taking pictures, and gabbing about color, scent, and petal count.
As springtime settles in, more than just the roses are blooming! The jasmine and bougainvillea that cover so many buildings, are starting to blossom. It's really beautiful to see.
This is another beautiful downtown fountain that we passed a lot on our bus rides through Piazza Della Repubblica. It seems to be all about wrestling sea creatures.
One of the oddest and creepiest things we have seen was the Ossuary at Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini. Below a church in Rome is a crypt, full of decoratively arranged bones of religious folks who died over the centuries. It is treated as very sacred and the creative church workers who arranged the artistic display were thought to have done it all as a great honor for those who had died. An interesting, but rather disturbing way to do things. They wouldn't allow us to take pictures so we grabbed a couple of pics from the internet.
Here is, yet another, cool central fountain in Piazza Barberini, in the downtown area.
We finally got to return to the Palatine Hill ruins, which we tried to see with Holly and Tim, but missed out on. As you can see below, they overlook the huge old racecourse, the Circo Massimo, and they cover most of the large hill. Palatine Hill is one of the main hills of the 7 in the central city. It has been the site of grand palaces for many centuries. There are still many uncovered layers below the ones that can currently be explored.
This view below gives a good idea of the scale and size of the racecourse. Near where we are standing, the Emperor Augustus used to stand out on his veranda to watch the competitions on the course below and to let himself be seen, for his wealth and power to be appreciated by his subjects. The Rose Garden, that we pictured earlier, is directly across the Circo Massimo from here. You can see the white tents of a carnival that was being held in the Circo Massimo the day we were there.
This sagging marble floor was an ancient emperor's dining hall. It is slumping like that because the entire place was heated by an amazing system of hot water below the marble floors. There are open channels below it, where the water moved through. It is amazing that so much of it is still intact, and has not completely collapsed. It is said that this dining hall was entirely covered in polished marble, the walls being especially shined so that the emperor could always see reflections behind him, as he was always at risk of being assassinated.
The view off of the edge of Palatine Hill looks out over the ancient Forum. In the background, you can see the Alter of the Fathers, which is on Capitoline Hill, where the City Capital is found. This is all at the very center of Rome. Trajan's Market is off to the right, behind the trees in the pictures below.
On a day when Mark was working, Heather and Hannah went to see The Baths of Caracalla. We had seen them from the outside many times, riding buses or trams through town. They are huge and can hardly be missed. But the inside tour was really cool! It is a massive complex, and could accommodate 1600 bathers at one time! The ancient Romans valued bathing at least a few times a week and would spend as much as 4 or 5 hours going through the hot-to-cold bathing system that was common at the time.
The first activity was some sort of stretching and exercise, and then a massage, with men and women at opposite ends of the complex. Then a series of baths came next. Soap as we know it did not exist yet, so they would be rubbed with olive oil and salt, which was then scraped off, as they started their bathing ritual in a sauna. Then they moved through a series of bathing pools that went from hot to cold, finishing with a giant pool for everyone, that was open-air and rather shallow and for play. The water was constantly refreshed, moving through the system from the famed Roman aqueducts, bringing water from the distant mountains.
The complex was basically a giant, statue filled, gilded, marbled, public gymnasium, with a series of pools. There were rooms for games similar to handball and tennis, and weight training and stretching, all very decorated and opulent. It was surrounded by a beautiful park and walkway, and then an outer ring of buildings for some libraries and study areas. Just an incredible complex......until you learn that the entire thing was kept running by underground slaves, working in the dark, under brutal conditions, to stoke furnaces, haul and cut unimaginable amounts of firewood, supporting the giant machine in every way. We did not get to tour underground, but apparently, under the whole complex, there is a huge, intricate network of tunnels and furnace rooms, that would have been filled with working slaves, while the free Romans enjoyed their bathing system. The whole thing seemed sort of dreamy until we came to that part of the tour. Then we started to realize the amount of daily human effort that would have been required to make it all work. The slaves lived short hard lives. There were also higher-level slaves who had the better jobs of giving massages, scraping bodies, holding towels, dressing aristocrats, etc. A fascinating place to see, but chilling, as well.
There were a few bits and pieces of wall and floor mosaics, to help us get the idea of what it might have looked like. But the best thing of all, was that we got virtual reality goggles! We would stand near a number on the tour and then put the goggles on that number. When we looked through them, we could see a virtual reality version of the exact ruins we were looking at, but all covered in marble and gold and statues! It was awesome! It is one thing to see those ruins in front of you, all worn out and drab, with a dusty piece of mosaic there to inspire your imagination. But it is entirely different to see the whole thing virtually rebuilt like new! My own imagination could not have come up with how amazing it must have been, and looked like, in the goggles.
This grassy area below was the large, open air play pool. It would have had water flowing out of the wall fountains to the right.
Public baths like this were once found all around Italy and many other countries that the Romans influenced. The only ones that can be found in Italy now, are either the ruins of ancient ones or private ones belonging to high-end spas or resorts. But some other countries still have working baths, in the Roman style. We are not sure why Italy does not. It was a really interesting tour, and we did wish we might have a chance to try out the Roman bathing experience if it did not involve any slave labor!
That is about all we have to share about our visit to Italy. It has been an awesome and educational adventure. We had to have one last chance at some yummy, crispy, Italian pizza before we left town!
And finished with a dessert pizza of apple slices, drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar, and dolloped with Nutella! Yum! We are all bringing some of that delicious Italian pizza and pasta home with us; unfortunately, it can't be shared as it is situated on our bellies as a new addition to our girth! Hopefully, some of it can be lost in England!
One of Heather's priorities was to go see the Villa Borghese Gallery. It was the house of a Cardinal (nephew of the Pope at the time), who had an obsession with great art, and a pocketbook to back it up. By the mid-1600s, it was already widely known as one of the greatest collections of fine art in Europe. Many pieces have been taken or sold over the years, due to political pressures and war. What is left, has been turned over by the family to the public, including the house and many acres of beautiful surrounding park land, structures, gardens, and fountains. It is up on a hill, with a view out over the city, and has become one of the favorite areas in Rome for sunset watching, Sunday walks, picnics, bike rides, or games. The Gallery is full of pieces by Bernini, Caravaggio, Raphael, Titian, da Vinci, and many others. It was spectacular!
Above is one of the many painted ceilings, and below is one of many finely detailed floor mosaics.
We loved the fine details of Daphne turning into a laurel tree as she ran from Apollo, with the tiny rootlets coming off of her feet and branches out of her fingertips.
The Rape of Persephone, disturbing as it is, is an amazing sight to see. It looks so very alive.
It was always nice to return home to our cozy and peaceful apartment, with birds singing out in the courtyard. It amazed us how having a ring of buildings around our building, made it so quiet for us, even right in the middle of the city. Heather's great cooking always makes being home great too! Check out that beautiful lasagna! It was delicious!
We finally got a chance to go to downtown Rome to tour the ruins of Trajan's Market. We also caught a picture of the centerpiece of the city (below), The Altare Della Patria. It is a modern building meant to evoke the grandeur of past ages and the city's hopes for the future. It is mighty grand, with loads of huge sculptures, ever-burning fires, fountains, and gold mosaic. It is right in the middle of many layers of ancient ruins. This has been the center of the city, since it became a city, in 753 BC, and layers upon layers of leftover structures are still there to be seen, including Trajan's Market.
The ruins called Trajan's Market, are actually a whole complex of grand forums and market areas, built by many different past leaders, during different time periods. As with The Forum, it is clear that Rome has always been filled densely with structures crammed right up next to each other, and often incorporating portions of earlier structures. It must have been a constant building site throughout all of its history! There was a museum area holding some parts and pieces of the finer statuary and marble details that are all removed from the ruins, as we have seen in all of the sites that we have visited.
It is really incredible how many sights there are to see, right in the middle of downtown Rome, and how the modern city just buzzes on all around it, and through it. It is chaotic and interesting, with evidence of many different ages all around!
And on to some other points of interest. One Sunday that we were there, our ward had Stake Conference. The only place big enough to hold all of the wards was a rented hall in a fancy hotel in Rome. It was just an interesting place for the meeting. They had plenty of ear devices for those who didn't speak Italian, and it was all translated, just like the ward meetings were.
One Sunday after church, we decided to visit a large cemetery near where we lived, called Cimitero Monumentale Verano. It was very interesting to see the different burial styles and traditions. Everything was quite ornate and fancy.
Heather took an afternoon to go check out the Rome Rose Garden, when it finally came into bloom. It is a public park that looks out over the ancient race track, the Circo Massimo, and across that valley to the Palatine Hill Ruins. It is a spectacular view, and a beautiful garden. There were large numbers of rose fanatics out poring over the various glorious varieties, taking pictures, and gabbing about color, scent, and petal count.
As springtime settles in, more than just the roses are blooming! The jasmine and bougainvillea that cover so many buildings, are starting to blossom. It's really beautiful to see.
This is another beautiful downtown fountain that we passed a lot on our bus rides through Piazza Della Repubblica. It seems to be all about wrestling sea creatures.
And this is a very old dried-up fountain in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, not far from our apartment, in a city park, full of ruins.
While we were in Rome, Mark found many beautiful running routes. There are huge tracts of open land, not far from the city center, full of old palaces, villas, farmland, parks, and interesting historical sites, and crisscrossed by ancient highways (still being used). One place he found was an ancient racecourse called Circo Massenzio, second only in size to the Circo Massimo. This course was a private one, built next to a wealthy man's palace. It is still privately owned, today, and just sits as a fallow field. Mark had to do a bit of bushwhacking to get to this spot.
The once-grand entrance, not used now for many years.
One of the oddest and creepiest things we have seen was the Ossuary at Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini. Below a church in Rome is a crypt, full of decoratively arranged bones of religious folks who died over the centuries. It is treated as very sacred and the creative church workers who arranged the artistic display were thought to have done it all as a great honor for those who had died. An interesting, but rather disturbing way to do things. They wouldn't allow us to take pictures so we grabbed a couple of pics from the internet.
We finally got to return to the Palatine Hill ruins, which we tried to see with Holly and Tim, but missed out on. As you can see below, they overlook the huge old racecourse, the Circo Massimo, and they cover most of the large hill. Palatine Hill is one of the main hills of the 7 in the central city. It has been the site of grand palaces for many centuries. There are still many uncovered layers below the ones that can currently be explored.
This view below gives a good idea of the scale and size of the racecourse. Near where we are standing, the Emperor Augustus used to stand out on his veranda to watch the competitions on the course below and to let himself be seen, for his wealth and power to be appreciated by his subjects. The Rose Garden, that we pictured earlier, is directly across the Circo Massimo from here. You can see the white tents of a carnival that was being held in the Circo Massimo the day we were there.
This sagging marble floor was an ancient emperor's dining hall. It is slumping like that because the entire place was heated by an amazing system of hot water below the marble floors. There are open channels below it, where the water moved through. It is amazing that so much of it is still intact, and has not completely collapsed. It is said that this dining hall was entirely covered in polished marble, the walls being especially shined so that the emperor could always see reflections behind him, as he was always at risk of being assassinated.
This very confident seagull stared us down for a while.
The view off of the edge of Palatine Hill looks out over the ancient Forum. In the background, you can see the Alter of the Fathers, which is on Capitoline Hill, where the City Capital is found. This is all at the very center of Rome. Trajan's Market is off to the right, behind the trees in the pictures below.
Notice the Colosseum is also right in this same area.
On a day when Mark was working, Heather and Hannah went to see The Baths of Caracalla. We had seen them from the outside many times, riding buses or trams through town. They are huge and can hardly be missed. But the inside tour was really cool! It is a massive complex, and could accommodate 1600 bathers at one time! The ancient Romans valued bathing at least a few times a week and would spend as much as 4 or 5 hours going through the hot-to-cold bathing system that was common at the time.
The first activity was some sort of stretching and exercise, and then a massage, with men and women at opposite ends of the complex. Then a series of baths came next. Soap as we know it did not exist yet, so they would be rubbed with olive oil and salt, which was then scraped off, as they started their bathing ritual in a sauna. Then they moved through a series of bathing pools that went from hot to cold, finishing with a giant pool for everyone, that was open-air and rather shallow and for play. The water was constantly refreshed, moving through the system from the famed Roman aqueducts, bringing water from the distant mountains.
The complex was basically a giant, statue filled, gilded, marbled, public gymnasium, with a series of pools. There were rooms for games similar to handball and tennis, and weight training and stretching, all very decorated and opulent. It was surrounded by a beautiful park and walkway, and then an outer ring of buildings for some libraries and study areas. Just an incredible complex......until you learn that the entire thing was kept running by underground slaves, working in the dark, under brutal conditions, to stoke furnaces, haul and cut unimaginable amounts of firewood, supporting the giant machine in every way. We did not get to tour underground, but apparently, under the whole complex, there is a huge, intricate network of tunnels and furnace rooms, that would have been filled with working slaves, while the free Romans enjoyed their bathing system. The whole thing seemed sort of dreamy until we came to that part of the tour. Then we started to realize the amount of daily human effort that would have been required to make it all work. The slaves lived short hard lives. There were also higher-level slaves who had the better jobs of giving massages, scraping bodies, holding towels, dressing aristocrats, etc. A fascinating place to see, but chilling, as well.
There were a few bits and pieces of wall and floor mosaics, to help us get the idea of what it might have looked like. But the best thing of all, was that we got virtual reality goggles! We would stand near a number on the tour and then put the goggles on that number. When we looked through them, we could see a virtual reality version of the exact ruins we were looking at, but all covered in marble and gold and statues! It was awesome! It is one thing to see those ruins in front of you, all worn out and drab, with a dusty piece of mosaic there to inspire your imagination. But it is entirely different to see the whole thing virtually rebuilt like new! My own imagination could not have come up with how amazing it must have been, and looked like, in the goggles.
This grassy area below was the large, open air play pool. It would have had water flowing out of the wall fountains to the right.
Public baths like this were once found all around Italy and many other countries that the Romans influenced. The only ones that can be found in Italy now, are either the ruins of ancient ones or private ones belonging to high-end spas or resorts. But some other countries still have working baths, in the Roman style. We are not sure why Italy does not. It was a really interesting tour, and we did wish we might have a chance to try out the Roman bathing experience if it did not involve any slave labor!
That is about all we have to share about our visit to Italy. It has been an awesome and educational adventure. We had to have one last chance at some yummy, crispy, Italian pizza before we left town!
And finished with a dessert pizza of apple slices, drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar, and dolloped with Nutella! Yum! We are all bringing some of that delicious Italian pizza and pasta home with us; unfortunately, it can't be shared as it is situated on our bellies as a new addition to our girth! Hopefully, some of it can be lost in England!
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