Latium - Roma

Other locations in Latium:
Sperlonga | Gaeta | Civita di Bagnoregio | Tivoli

Roma/Rome

I am not sure what I can say to match what being in Rome is really like. With more than half a dozen visits to Rome we can now say we have seen many, but not all, of the primary sites, but now there is time to just walk about and enjoy the city.

Driving in Rome is a challenge. I consider it one of the ultimate tests you can have when driving in Italy. My top experience is being stopped by a policewoman and being told "You, you are a very bad driver." Okay, I was a bad driver, I guess, compared to what? In the end, she helped us out, stopped the traffic and I was able to make the all-important turn and find our hotel.

Rome is affordable. Forget about the expensive hotels. You don't need them. You just want a clean hotel in a good location. Believe me, you are going to spend just about every moment you can out on the streets of Rome.

The history of Rome is extensive and complex. When references are made to the New Rome, that is what emerged around 1500. Julius II laid out the plans for the rebuilding of St. Peter's. New streets were created.

Rome - A Short History

Much of medieval Rome was destroyed for the makings of this new city. Over the next two centuries not only St. Peter's but literally hundreds and hundreds of churches were built or rebuilt. This all came at a price. Buildings were cannibalised for their marble It is said that the Popes actually destroyed more of ancient Rome than many of the previous battles.


Francesco is one of the tour guides from Roma.	Oh the life, enjoying the life with a cafe at the Caffè Sant'Estachio, noted as one of the best in Rome.	Roberto opens the door to his van for our small group tour of Roma.

Piazza Navona - other than the Vatican, if I had to use one picture to say Rome, this would ithe Piazza.

There are in essence three Romes.

The Palatine Hill is considered classical Rome This includes the Forum and the Imperial Fora.
The Rome of the Popes is the second Rome.
The third is the capital or the United Italy. It expands out across the mass of Rome, but the centre of this is considered the Via del Corso.

Be prepared to walk, or talk a bus when in Rome. There is an underground subway with two lines and very few stops in the oldest parts of the city. Digging just uncovered more treasures! The two subway lines cross at the main train station: Termini Station. You can get near the Colosseum, the Piazza Spagna and within eight blocks of St. Peters so the idea of using the subway is not one that should be totally ruled out. On our most recent visits, taking the subway back to the Piazza Spagna and then walking back to our hotel was the saving idea of the day!

So at this point I won't even attempt to list the sights to see -- there are so many. But rather encourage all to spend some time in this city. After that you will always find yourself taking a short breath with in any movie or TV show that includes a shot of this city.


La Cripta dei Cappuccini has the bones of some 4,000 monks that have been used to decorate six chapels.	Rooms of the Cripta Cappuccini have different themes, with different parts of skeletons used.	When the sun shines through the centre hole of the dome of the Pantheon there is a surreal appearance.

You just can't see enough of the chuches in Rome. Walk into any churche and it is a feast for your eyes.	Walking the small streets of Rome will take you to various markets. Head out in the morning as they pack up and leave by just after lunch.	Swiss Guards sign up for two year assignments. To qualify one needs to be a Swiss Citizen, Catholic faith, single, under the age of 30 and be of good character.

Having again read the book by Robert Hutchinson, When In Rome, a return trip to the Vatican was in order. I was psyched up to spend some time at St. Peter's again. Despite many previous visits the size, the history and the architecture and design of the place really hits you. With its 444 altars, 27 chapels, 11 domes and some 395 statues there is plenty to see!

Trevi Fountain

Trevi Fountain A must stop, no matter how many times we have been to Rome. Yes, be prepared, it is a bad as it looks to the left. You have to go really early in the morning to miss the crowds.

So every year we have thrown a coin into the fountain, but recently I read that the Three Coins in the Fountain requires the following: throw two coins and it leads to a new romance, throw three and it leads to marriage or divorce. Any by the way, you throw them over your left shoulder. Our good friends Chris and Carmen Grant gave us a DVD version of this moview and it is required viewing before one of our trips!

The Roman tradition was to build a fountain at the endpoint oif an aqueduct. Pope Nicholas V has a simple basin buit at the end of the Acqua Vergine aqueduct. But in 1729 Pope Urban VIII has Bernini do up some drawings for something a little more grand. The Pope died, nothing happened. It was in 1730, through a competition, that Nicola Salvi was awared a commission to build the fountain. He died before it was finished.

Piazza Navona

Piazza Navona One of our regular stops. Also the location we choose for a Group Event in 2005 - we would meet in the Piazza and then go dinner. The next day the group left for Amalfi.

Based on a plan of an acient Roman circus, Romans watched the "agones" (games), it is through that eventually the word changed to "inagone" and then to "navone" and now we have "novona".

Regardless of the history, great ready for Barogue fountains, folks selling artwork, and the "here now, gone now" instant markets of handbags and the such being sold off blankets. All a good scene and you get a good feel from the Piazza.

La Cripta dei Cappuccini

Another location we visited, and not quite the "secret find" we though it would be, La Cripta dei Cappuccini is interesting.

Enter the cript through the door to the right of the main door to the church.

There are six chapels each decorated with the bones of some 4,000 monks. Walls are lined with skulls and bones. Even the light fixtures have been made from human bones.

Starting in around 1700 the Cappuchini monks buried their brothers in the dirt floors, and then after a few years would dig up the bodies and decorate the chapels.

One of Our Days in Rome?

What is now a tradition, we find a great way to spend a day in Rome is something like the following:

a walk from our hotel, many times at the (Sant'Angelo), to the Spanish Steps.
From the Spanish Steps we walk over to the Trevi Fontain - just follow the signs.
From the Fountain it is over to Novelli Pen - what, you don't use a fountain pen?.
Then we have lunch at L'Archtetto (via dell' Archetto, 26), this is just around the corner from Novelli's, and this has some of the best pasta in Rome. They have outside tables as well as tables inside.
Then it is onto the Pantheon and finally the Piazza Navona.
As you leave the Piazza, take the street to the north ande stop at Mariotti's for some of the best gelato in Rome.
A dinner at Settimio All'Arancio (via dell'Arancio, 50) is a great way to end your day. Call and get one of the outside tables.

Basilica san Clemente

Basilica di San Clemente On our 2008 trip we are visiting the Basilica san Clemente. After reading Thomas Cahill's Mysteries of the Middle Ages and the eginning of the Modern World, I was taken with the history and art contained in this church.

Not much is known about St Clement (92-101 AD). Records indicate he was the third successor to St Peter in Rome. St Clement is revered as a martyr: in the 4th Century he was places in the mines, in exile to the Crimea (98-117 AD); his missionary work resulted in the Romans to tie him to an anchor and throw him into the Black Sea.

Evidently, when the water receded, there was a tomb, built by angels, and his body was recovered, and the relics are reserved beneath the high altar of the basilica. If you visit the church on the 23 November, during the Feast of St Clement, the relics are shown and carried in solemn procession through the neighbouring streets.

Under neath the basilica are the remains of a 4th Century basicila, and then when excavations continued, below that were the remains of a 1st Century building. The 4th Century basicila was filled with rubble and used as a foundation for the current building.

The upper floor is one of the most richly decorated churches in Rome. Most architecture and art dates from the early 12th century.

The west front of the church consists of a 4th-century portico and a 12th-century atrium. The left-side entrance has a 12th-century apse mosaic, in a golden-bronze colour and featuring a large cross in the centre.

A throne is in the centre of the apse and the back of the throne is part of a martyr's tomb.

The high altar holds relics of St. Clement of Rome and St. Ignatius of Antioch. An altar to the left in the back of the church holds relics of St. Servulus (6th C). Near this is the 15th-C tomb of Cardinal Venerio. The altar on the right has the tomb of Cardinal B. Roverella.

To get to the lower church, it is via the sacristy, off the right aisle. In the sacristy are 19th-century copies of the frescoes that are located in the lower church.

The columns, were bricked up in the 9th-C, but they are still visible in the wall. The atrium lies directly under that of the upper church, and has not yet been excavated. The inside of the 4th-century church is well preserved, but its frescoes (6th, 8th and 9th C) are quite faded. Not all that you see here is ancient: significant changes were made when this church was abandoned for the new one above.

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