Rome, day 3 - the Pantheon

We started off at Santa Maria Maggiore, which is right by our hotel.



The church dates from about 430, though it was altered in the 18th century and the bell tower (the tallest in Rome, 75m) was built in 1377. The original site was a temple to Cybele, and Pope Liberius allegedly had a visitation from the Virgin Mary telling him to build a church on the Esquiline Hill – the next morning, the floor plan was outlined by a miraculous snowfall.

Some of the gilded ceiling is meant to be the first gold that arrived from the New World.



We also really liked the tomb of Pope Sixtus V.


From there we walked down the Via Panisperna, past the Italian Ministry of the Interior, and headed for Santa Maria sopra Minerva.

The church was built in the 8th century on the ruins of a temple to Minerva, though the present basilica dates from 1280. Outside, there's a statue of an elephant (designed by Bernini in 1667) holding an Egyptian obelisk from the 6th century BC - it's known as Minerva's Chick, but it’s meant to represent Pope Alexander VII, with strength supporting wisdom.



We loved the ceilings here.



From there we went to the Pantheon - another of Hadrian's building works, 118-128 AD, replacing a temple of Marcus Agrippa (though Hadrian, being modest, credits Agrippa with his own building). From the back, it looks a bit dingy.


From the front - wow.



Allegedly these are the original Roman doors, though much restored.


Just to give a bit of perspective... Chris is about 5 ft 9.



And you can even see how the hinges work.

Inside, it's amazing - what a feat of engineering. (There was much nerdy conversation at this point and we thought the wow factor was as great as the Colosseum.) The Pantheon was the world's largest dome until Buxton Spa was built in 1882; its diameter is 43m, the same as its height from the floor. (There are eight barrel vaults hidden in the walls to take the weight - more than 4500 tonnes of Roman concrete.) And this is nearly TWO THOUSAND YEARS OLD. (Um, yes, we were rather blown away by it.)


The central opening is 9m wide. It's left unglazed (though we spotted quite a few copies of this ceiling in other buildings, all of which are glazed). Allegedly it's so people can meditate, but practically it's the only light source when the doors are closed.



There's a drain in the marble floor (central ochre-coloured square).


Raphael is buried here, and I found his tomb rather moving - especially Bembo's epigraph, "Here lies Raphael, by whom the mother of all things (Nature) feared to be overcome while he was living, and while he was dying, herself to die."



The fountain in the piazza is lovely and we were stunned by how clear the water is.



From there we went to Piazza Navona - an elliptical-shaped square which betrays its origins as Domitian's race track.


There's still a fragment remaining at one end.

There are three fountains there - all quite big. The first, from the Pantheon end, is Giacomo della Porta's Fontana del Moro (the figure of the Moor is by Bernini).

The middle, Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers (Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi).





The third, at the end near the racetrack fragments, is the Fontana del Nettuno, also by Giacomo della Porta.



We had planned to have lunch in the piazza, but there was a VERY noisy protest going on, so we bought a picture from one of the artists and headed for the River Tiber instead.

Rome, day 2 - the Forum, the Capitoline museum and the Trajan market

After the Colosseum, we headed to the Forum. We saw the Arch of Titus, which is at the highest point of the Via Sacra in the Forum. This is the oldest surviving Roman arch and was built in AD 81 by Domitian to commemorate the capture of Jerusalem and also honour his brother Titus, the previous emperor.

We then walked along the Via Nova, where we had a great view of the Forum. (And no, I didn’t do the Antony speech.)

And the wisteria was glorious.

We visited the Temple of Romolus, which dates from AD 309 and was dedicated to the son of the Emperor Maximus. It had some gorgeous frescoes.

Then another wander deeper into the imperial forum, to see the remains of the Temple of Saturn, built in 42BC.

By this point, we were really hot and needed to sit down. So, instead of doing the rest of Palatine Hill (where I’d hoped to see the iron age pits, but never mind), we headed out past the Victor Emmanuel monument and found a caffè for lunch.

Then we walked up to the Capitoline museum. The square was designed by Michelangelo in 1537 and holds a replica of Marcus Aurelius on horseback; the original was corroding, so it was restored 1981-8 and in 1997 a bronze copy of the statue was finished for the square. The original was too fragile for the replica-makers to take a cast of it, plus they were worried that the gilding would come off, so it was all done by 'photogrammatical' plotting.

Our favourite bits from the museum included:



the Capitoline she-wolf, dating from the 5th century BC - Pope Sixtus IV gave it to Rome in 1471.


Medusa, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1630).

A variegated Egyptian marble dog.

Huge bits of statues - Constantine's head (his hand was also enormous).

The foundations of temple of Jove, which are actually part of the museum building.

The Fountain of Marforio, on the other side of museum; this was once a 'talking statue', i.e. it was hung with witty rhymes and notes commenting on politicians in the papal city.


I really liked the 3rd-century altar with a dedication to the imperial house for a safe voyage, with feet going back out then back in.





And I loved this statue with a stripy marble toga.


And of course a pose in the courtyard with the giant hand.

From the museum, we headed back across the road. This is the Column of Marcus Aurelius; this was made of 27 spiral drums of Carrera marble, and was built 180-190 AD to commemorate military victories. This area used to be the coffee-roasters' market.

Next door was the Trajan market.

The via Biberatica was named after wine shops that were once there.

And there were jars…

Out for dinner: saltimbocca, followed by zabaglione ice cream.

25393 steps today.

Rome, day 2 - the Colosseum

Bright start to the day, and we planned to go to the Colosseum - one of the places I've always wanted to visit, and which turned out to be my very favourite place in Rome (though it was close-run with the Pantheon).

After breakfast of very strong coffee, bread and cheese, we cut through the back streets by our hotel to Via Giovanni Lanza (very pretty, lined with citrus trees)

and then walked from Via Cavour down to the Forum. It felt very strange to be in an everyday high street and then suddenly see ancient ruins everywhere.

We were then fleeced by a smiling gladiator to take photos (and we learned that lesson for the rest of the week – a cheerful smile and a ‘Non, grazie!’).

And then we joined the queue for the Colosseum (very short, because we went early on a Tuesday morning. We discovered later that weekend afternoons are just heaving, so we made the right decision).

The Colosseum was begun by Vespasian in 72 AD, built on the site of the drained lake from Nero's Domus Aureus. Allegedly 70,000 Hebrew slaves were used as the labourers and 50,000 carts of Travertine stone had to be hauled from the Tivoli quarries, 27km away. There were 240 masts at the top and they were used to support a canvas awning (the velarium) which protected spectators from sun and rain.

Vespasian's son Titus inaugurated it in 80 AD with a 100-day celebration of games, during which (according to the Roman historian Dio Cassius) 9,000 beasts were killed. The building was finished by Titus’s brother and successor Domitian.

The name of the building comes from the 35m-high bronze statue of Nero that once stood at the Domus Aureus (closed for renovation during our stay in Rome, but there was a very good exhibition about Nero on the next floor up in the Colosseum) and Hadrian had to move the statue in a cart pulled by 24 elephants so that he could build a temple to Venus.


The Colosseum itself is huge. 52m high, 188m x 156m, with an arena of 3357 square metres and it could hold up to 73,000 spectators. The Emperor and the vestal virgins had the best seats, flanked by the senators; the next tier was for the equites (knights or non-senatorial nobles); the tier above that was for the ordinary citizens, with the wealthiest getting better seats than the poorest. There were also specific sectors for specific groups; and some groups (notably grave-diggers, actors and former gladiators) weren’t allowed in the Colosseum at all. Everyone had a designated seat.



There were some lovely pieces in the exhibition, including graffiti of a gladiator with a net, and a leaping wolf.

There are excellent views from the top – this is the Temple of Venus and Rome, which Hadrian started building in AD 121.


The Arch of Constantine is just outside the Colosseum (view below is from the top of the Colosseum) and was built to commemorate Constantine’s victory at the Battle of Milivian Bridge in 312. It lies across the Via Triumphalis, i.e. the road taken by the procession of a triumphant Emperor (from the Campus Martius through Circus Maximus and up to the Palatine Hill).


I think one of the nicest views of the Colosseum is the one from the arch:

Roma, day 1

Good trip from London to Rome. Saw the Alps on the way.

Got very slightly lost on the way to the hotel and had to get the proper map out to check our bearings; realised that we'd just turned left a bit too soon, and it was easy to find our way to Santa Maria Maggiore after that and then find our hotel on Via Merulana (full of lime trees - very pretty).

The hotel was fine – the staff were lovely, the room was clean and big enough for our needs, and Francesco on the reception desk recommended a lovely pizzeria nearby for dinner that night. I opted for Gorgonzola and speck (and it was so huge that Gerry had to help me out), followed by panna cotta.

Then we had a wander round the area – very pretty at night. (And, to Gerry and the children’s joy, three gelateria within a space of 200 metres…)

Santa Maria Maggiore was all lit up at night - the Rough Guide says that the 18th-century facade is boring, but we quite liked it.


13200 steps today – but I had a feeling we were going to do much, much more during the week...

Buongiorno, Inghilterra

Back from Rome, aka my research trip and quality family time. We did a deal beforehand that I wouldn't drag them round art galleries (the exception being the Vatican) but we would do all the other museums, antiquities and churches on my list. And it was a BIG list! Rome is just amazing. (And the Colosseum is one of my favourite places in the world - was a toss-up between that and the Pantheon. Both built by the same emperor, but more nerdy stuff later.)

We had a WONDERFUL time, though overdid it hugely - we walked 90km over the course of the week (180k steps x 50cm for my short, fast stride = 90km, unless my maths is really rubbish - and my pedometer is one of those posh accurate ones, so I know the step count is right).

Got home at 2.30ish last night (and DH woke me up at 6.30 yesterday morning, sob - I am so going to ban his iPod), so today am in zombie mode. But I will sort out my research photographs and post a few here over the next few days.

Nice to have the dog back - missed him. Not quite so nice doing the weekly shop (didn't dare book the usual online one in case our flight hit a snag as it did in Venice) and four suitcases full of laundry... :o)