Artistic Enlightenment in Vatican City

Everyone tells you the Vatican is a must and I can confirm that. Saint Peter’s basilica is absolutely incredible. I thought Westminster Abbey was spectacular and it is, but so is St. Peter’s. The artwork inside the basilica, the spectacular dome and especially Bernini’s high alter are well worth the visit. Monica thought Pompeii was going to be the highlight of our trip, but she said after the Vatican visit that this was even better.

Early morning we took a taxi to the Vatican and got in line for a visit to the museum and the Sistine Chapel. It was only just past nine and the line was already very long. To our surprise the people in front of us was South Africans from Johannesburg and speaking to them in Afrikaans, discussing each others travels, made the hour long wait in sweltering heat more enjoyable. Actually, we heard Afrikaans spoken in Pompeii, in the Roman Forum and in Venice.

Art is like wine to me. Don’t describe a red wine in terms of bold blackberry, red plum, kirsch, tobacco and minerals flavors with undertones of cedar and stone and a lingering after taste of mocha and expresso. It sounds like someone has made me a cocktail. What is kirsch? And how should I know what is the taste of cedar and stone? It’s not like I walk around licking trees and stones and file those tastes in my memory banks for them to be recalled when I sip a red. I know when red wine is just good, or when it has real class or when it was made from grapes grown in the backyard and from a recipe obtained from the Internet. Art, to me is very similar. To try and describe the Vatican’s art collection in grandiose terms is not within me. I can appreciate good art when I see it and the Vatican museum and chapels are packed with good, some brilliant art. Some of the statues and pieces d’art are simple magnifico.

We did not go to all the rooms, for example, we skipped the Egyptian rooms, but concentrated more on the rest. I also have to mention that we spent only about 5 hours in the museum and it was not all that much fun either, because the place was packed with people. In some areas it felt like you are on a conveyer belt as the crowd pushed and shoved forward and, in others the heat and number of people in the room made it not impossible, but uncomfortable to really appreciate the art. An example of this was the Raphael rooms. In the Sistine chapel (it seems everybody is just focused on getting to the Sistine chapel) it was so jam-packed I swear you could try to fall down but the bodies would keep you from reaching the floor. Luckily I found us a place to sit in the center of the chapel where we could rest our feet and appreciate the ceiling in relative peace. But to really appreciate the work of Michelangelo Buonarroti I would suggest you bring binoculars because the ceiling is too high to see the fine detail. Fortunately I brought my Eyewitness Travel Guide on Italy with me and we could see the ceiling paintings in close up and we also had our rented audio information guides for comments. Then there is also the Fresco of the Last Judgement which covers the complete wall behind the altar. Apart from the magnificence of the actual paintings, Michelangelo’s understanding of religion and the way he was able to express that understanding is simply masterful and that at a young age of 33. If you add the fact that he sculptured David and the Pieta before he turned 30 you understand why he is so revered as the greatest artist in the Western world.

After we had a terrible and expensive pizza in the Vatican Restaurant we sent a postcard to family in South Africa from the Vatican Post Office and then made out way to St. Peter’s Basilica. The line to go through security was not too long. I will let the pictures tell the story about the basilica.

Afterwards we took a taxi home, rest for an hour or so and then Monica and I rode by bus to Piazza Venezia and went on a casual, pre-dinner Rome walkabout. The evening air was cooler and we walked to the Pantheon (the best preserved building from the Roman period in Rome,) then to Piazza Navona (unfortunately the famous fountain was being repaired), ate gelato on our way to the Trevi Fountain (she liquorish flavor and I cappuccino flavor) and then to the Piazza di Spagna or the Spanish Steps (we knew beforehand is was not going to be anything special and it wasn’t, but more a case of been there…done that. We caught a taxi home and I made us a quick dinner of tortellini carna con pomodoro e basilica and a mixed green salad with an herbal sauce. I lit some candles out on the terrace of the apartment and while Monica enjoyed a Bicardi Breezer I enjoyed a few glasses of a Poggiatico Chianti. It was not the best Chianti in the world, but it was about the food and the atmosphere. The end of a perfect Roman day!

Saint Peter's Square and Basilica. A place of pilgrimage not just for Catholics, but many other Western religions too.

Closed off hall with gilded ceilings near the Vatican Museum shop.

A Double Helix Staircase designed in 1932 by Guiseppe Momo. One spiral to walk up to the exhibits and one to exit the museum.

Vatican Museum - Maps Gallery with incredible ceiling paitings in vivid colors.

Vatican Museum - Floor Mosaic.

St. Peter's - As we entered the church a ray of sunlight streamed through the dome windows on the altar. No picture can really convey the enormity of the church, the largest in the world.

St Peter's - High altar designed by Bernini in1624. The baroque canopy stands over the tomb of the St. Peter. Personal opinion: The most striking piece of art in St. Peter's. It is simply magnificent.

While we were standing in front of the altar, looking down to St. Peter's tomb, a little gilded box, I guess containing his bones, a woman standing next to Monica, shivering and her arms covered in goose pimples, said to her traveling companion, "I am experiencing a religious moment right now."

St. Peter's - Michelangelo's Pieta, another one of the many masterpieces in the church. It is hard to believe one can create such delicate art from a block of marble.

St. Peter's - The Vatican Guards at a side entrance.

At the Trevi Fountain - Andre & Monica. Picture taken by a kind Indian man.

The Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy. Well worth a visit. More so than any of the other fountains. The fountain, designed by Nicola Salvi in 1762 in elaborate baroque design, is centered by Neptune, and flanked by two Tritons, one trying to control an unruly seahorse and the other leading a quieter beast, symbolizing the contrasting moods of the sea.

Dinner by candlelight on the terrace of Apartment Morandi in Rome.

A Day Among the Ruins of Rome

Late on the 3rd day of our Italy excursion, after we did some shopping at the local supermarket, we took a bus to Piazza Venezia, as close as you will probably get to a center of Rome. We tried to get on an open, sightseeing bus, the red 110 as advised by most visitors to Rome, just for a familiarization tour of Rome. We did the same in London and New York and it is usually well worth the money. You see the city from a different viewpoint. But after an hour’s wait and 2 buses later, we gave up. They only wanted to sell us 2 day passes and no 2 hour tickets even though the buses were only half full. Well, I was not going to fork out €20 a ticket just to comply with their “marketing strategy” and be taken for a ride, excuse the pun.

From the Piazza I explored the Il Vittoriano, the Monument Victor Emmanuel II, climbing all the way to the top to snap photos of the Rome skyline, while Monica and Lamar waited in a shady spot.

The Monument Victor Emmanuel II, Piedmont king that became the 1st king of the unified Italy in 1861.

We walked around the monument to explore the Roman Forum, starting from the Capitoline Hill in the north to the Colosseum in the south. We entered the Forum through the Arch of Septimius Severus, crossing Via Sacra numerous times from west to east as we looked into the reconstructed Curia (Roman Senate), discovered the Temple of Castor and Pollux, passed the House of the Vestal Virgins, ogled the heap of ground where they claim Julius Caesar was cremated, stopped and watched a group of young archaeologist excavating more historical facts or another treasure from the past, explored the Temple of Venus, passed through the Arch of Titus, then on to the Arch of Constantine in front of the Colosseum. At this world famous landmark we decided to take a paid tour because it also included a tour through the forums of Augustus, Trajan and Julius Caesar.

The backside of the Palazzo dei Senatori on the Capitoline Hill seen from the Roman Forum. One can clearly see how new buildings are simply build upon older ruins. The bottom layer dates from about 100 BC and on the inside we saw some of the excavations. The next picture was taken standing in the center arch above.

The Roman Forum seen from Palazzo dei Senatori. On the left is columns of the Temple of Vespasianus and on the right is columns of the Temple of Saturnus.

It is quite common that one emperor will undo the work of a previous emperor (that’s what emperors do), but it is such a pity that so much of the various ancient forums were destroyed by Mussolini when, in a moment of self-indulgence, he ordered the building of Via Dei Fori Imperiali so that he could have a direct line of sight of the Colosseum from his office in the Palazzo Venezia.

Me, Roman Soldier! At the Colosseum you can have your picture taken with these guys for a Euro. If you take a photo of them without their permission they will come after you and demand you delete a picture from your camera. Any which way to make a buck out of tourists.

Highlights of the day were the Colosseum, the reconstructed Curia (Roman Senate building), the view from the backend of the Capitoline Hill overlooking the Roman Forum and the 3 remaining ancient Arches in Rome. Late in the afternoon, after all the walking, we rest our feet in the cool waters of a fountain in front of the Victor Emmanuel Monument while eating gelato.

The Colosseum from the top level. All that is left of the arena floor are the walled passages that were below the floor level.

The Arch of Constantine seen from the top of the Colosseum.

Inside the Colisseum - Monica and Andre. No smiles? It was hot! We just climbed many steep steps to walk around on the top level (like taking the previous photo), walked down again and there was still an hour's walk ahead of us down Via dei Fori Emperiali through the Forums of Augustus, Trajan and Julius Caesar.

After taking the right bus, but in the wrong direction, we ended up in Trastevere on the wrong side of the Tiber River. A little bit of “travel experience.” With a little help from a friendly Italian gentleman we got off our incorrect bus, took another back to Piazza Venezia and then caught a cab to our apartment. From then on we used cabs extensively as we did on previous travels to New York. It is not always more expensive and it certainly doesn’t waste our time waiting on buses, taking detours, etc. When you travel you usually have limited time and you must use the time to the best of your ability and try to save on the legwork.

Rome's ancient center is very imposing. This was the Rome we came to see. Walking the ancient street of Via Sacra, standing at the wall on Via Della Curia overlooking the Forum, wondering what it was like 2000 years ago, imagining how Trajan’s Forum really looked in its heyday filled with hundreds of shops and vendors and thousands of shoppers, and visualizing what it would have been like to be part of 55,000 people watching a gladiator contest in what must have been an extraordinary building, the Colosseum, with its imposing layers of Doric, Ionic and Corinthian tiers. Tiers which inspired so many Renaissance architects, but they also plundered the building to build other masterpieces like St. Peter’s basilica, our destination for tomorrow.

Excavation inside the Forum area still continues today.

Trajan's Forum

Monica: At the end of the day, a moment in thought, on Via della Curia overlooking the Forum,

wondering what was it like down there 2000 years ago!!!