roma.

Buongiorno!

Sorry my posts have become so sporadic lately! I’ve been pretty busy, what with my overnight trip to Rome last week, and reading for class. I had my second in-class essay today, which I think went pretty well.

Anyway, I’m going to tell you all about Rome, finally! It’s been almost a week since I went!
We left around 9 in the morning last Wednesday, and the bus ride was almost three hours. When we arrived at the hotel, the rooms weren’t quite ready, so we left our stuff in a locked room, and headed off for a walking tour of Rome. That first day we saw the Trevi Fountain, the Roman Pantheon, and the Spanish square and steps.

The Trevi Fountain was really awesome. Like most of the most amazing sights in Rome (at least, I found), the Trevi Fountain comes out of nowhere. You are walking down a street, which all of a sudden opens into a square, one side of which is taken up by this huge baroque fountain. It is a scene featuring Triton in a shell-shaped chariot drawn by two seahorses. Even before this scene was created by Nicola Salvi, this spot was used as a fountain. In the Roman times, it was the end of the Aqua Virgo aqueduct. It was used to provide water to the thermal baths. There is a legend surrounding this fountain that says if you throw a coin into the fountain backward over your shoulder, you will return to Rome. Of course, I threw a coin! I do hope to come back to Italy, and Rome, one day.

The Roman Pantheon, built between 27-25 B.C., was the first temple ever built for the common people. Before this, temples were meant only for priests. In fact, the word “temple” comes from the Latin word templum which means “delimited space.” It has been rebuilt twice, both times because of fires. The current Pantheon was built in 110 A.D. It is huge, which is meant to make the worshipper feel small in front of gods. The dome represents heaven. There are seven niches around the inside of the Pantheon, one each for the Sun, the Moon, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Saturn, and Mercury. These were replaced with small altars dedicated to various Christian martyrs with the rise of Christianity.

There are no windows in the Pantheon, only a hole at the top of the dome. It was included not only to let light in, but also to let smoke from sacred fires out.

I found the Pantheon to be one of the most amazing sights, not only for its size, but for its timelessness. It has barely changed in 2000 years. The floor is even the same. 2000 years ago, people walked the same floor I walked, Emperor Hadrian walked that floor. I think it’s pretty mind-blowing.

The Piazza di Spagna, or the Spanish Square, is so called because sometime after the seventeenth century, the Spanish Ambassador lived there. The stairs themselves were built in the eighteenth century, I believe by the French.

After this walking tour around a small part of Rome, a couple girls and I went shopping. Then we went out for dinner and went back to the hotel.

The next morning, after breakfast at the hotel, we had a tour around the Coliseum and the Roman Forum.

The Coliseum is the largest Roman amphitheatre in the world. It was opened in 80 A.D. by the Flavian family. What is left is really just the skeleton of what it used to be. It used to be completely white; it had four floors with arches and statues. Now, the stone is not so white, thanks to pollution. Also, a lot of the materials, such as metal bolts and three fifths of the outer brick wall, were taken in the middle ages to be reused in other buildings.

The Coliseum was used for watching sports and shows in Roman times. It could hold up to 70 000 spectators. It was free for all Roman citizens, but where people sat depended on social status. The higher the social status, the closer to the arena you sat. Sports could include fights between animals or fights between people and animals or gladiators fighting. Gladiators were often prisoners of war who had been given the choice either to become a slave or to fight. If they won, they would be given their freedom. When a gladiator was wounded, he could raise an arm to ask for mercy. The emperor would decide the man’s fate. If he gave a thumbs up, the gladiator’s life was spared, thumbs down and the gladiator was put to death.

Under the floor of the Coliseum, there is a maze of rooms in which animals etc were kept.
At one point in the middle ages, the Coliseum was under threat of demolition. So, it was declared by Benedict XIV as a monument dedicated to the Passion of Christ. It became a worship place for Christians and restorations took place thanks to various Popes.

I really liked the Coliseum, it was pretty amazing looking down at the arena and thinking about what used to take place there.

After we were done at the Coliseum, we continued on to the Roman Forum.

The Roman Forum was actually marshland until a couple thousand years ago. The two last Etruscan kings commissioned a canal to drain the land, so it could be developed. When the Romans took over, it became the thriving centre of the city.

By the middle ages the forum was in ruins, and much of the material was taken to be reused. Although there are certain temples, for example, that they could not figure out how to tear down. Sometimes, they would just build inside the Roman temple. So you’ll get a 2000 year old Roman temple with a 600 year old church built inside of it.

I really loved Rome for the history. You can feel the ancientness of the city just walking around. A Canadian can never really feel this in any city unless they leave the country.

In the afternoon I went shopping, but I couldn’t really find anything that I wanted for a reasonable price, and I didn’t have enough time to really search for something. Unfortunately, we had to meet back at the hotel at 4:30 in order to catch our bus back to Siena.

Trust me, 2 days is not enough time for Rome. Plan to spend at least three nights there if you ever go. :) Even this wouldn’t be enough time, but it wouldn’t feel as rushed for sure. I didn’t even see the Vatican. I’m finding that I don’t really feel like I’m actually seeing Italy, it feels more like I’m getting a teaser so that I know what to do next time I come! Hopefully I will one day.

Anyway, that’s it for now. Tomorrow I am going on an overnight trip to Venice! And this weekend I plan on going to Florence for some shopping, and maybe one or two other day trips. Hopefully, though, I will be able to tell you a bit about Venice this weekend. If not, I definitely will next week. I have a couple more things I would like to write about before I leave Italy, so hopefully I’ll get enough time to next week. There are only about 10 days left before I come home!

I can’t wait to see everyone! Miss and love you all!
Ciao <3