Hola todos,
I'm finally getting around to updating this with my final week in Rome. I checked off a lot of churches (and when I say "a lot", I am warning you... it was a lot) and sights and got enough steps in to last, well, at least a few plates of pasta. Those last few days kinds of all blended together, so I’ve taken a semi-but-not-strictly chronological approach to this final week or so.
Here's what I saw:
Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major
This basilica is huge and plopped right in the middle of some busy streets. It is fairly easy to get to, and you can see it coming a long way away.
The have daily prayers outside on the steps of the church that anyone can participate in.
As you can see from these pictures, the inside is absolutely stunning. The artwork, the gilding, the columns, and the use of natural light to amplify the beauty of the space were just incredible. One of my top churches this trip, for sure.
Coliseum
I saw the Coliseum both during the day and at night, and the verdict is in: dusk is her golden hour. It was beautiful to see it up-lit, and I managed to see it this way several times over these last few days.
I had heard that the regular daytime tour of the Coliseum was mediocre, so I was happy just to see it from the outside and not go in. I also walked around much of the surrounding neighborhood, getting to see calm of dusk turn into the vibrancy of nightlife in this district.
Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano
Next up: the Basilica of St. John Lateran. Not all of the churches had security out front, but this one did: probably because it is the chair of the Bishop of Rome (aka the Pope, but not in his role as Holy Father but in his role as Bishop).
I walked around, looking at the ornate ceiling and beautiful sculptures--and I accidentally crashed a mass in Hungarian.
This basilica was one of the simpler churches that I visited (which is all relative--look at that ceiling!). Its simplicity was an effect of its age: the current basilica that we can see, built in 1100, is on top of a basilica from the 300s that served as an early church. As you can see from the scaffolding in the picture, it is getting some work done.
Basilica of St. Peter in Chains
This church was most impressive not because of its architecture, ceiling, or murals, but because of what it contains: the chains that held Peter the apostle when he was a prisoner in Rome. This church is otherwise a bit off the beaten path and not in an area that I would have gone to--so I would never have stumbled across it if I didn't have my pre-researched list.
The Spanish Steps
So, I know the Spanish steps are I supposed to be amazing. But… I found them underwhelming. Maybe it was the lack of flowers, or the too-many tourists. But definitely a “skip” in my tour book.
The view from the top is pretty, though:
The church and obelisk at the top of the Spanish Steps.
Views of the city from the top of the Spanish Steps.
I did get some local pane and formaggio, though, and saw ton a bench to people watch! Nearby is the upscale shopping district with lots of high-end apparel and accessory stores, so there were lots of different kinds of folks to observe.
Santa Maria degli Angeli
The front looked like it was built into a wall of rock.
This was easily the biggest church I have ever been in. There were several different chapels with frescoes and gigantic marble columns. It kind of felt like you were in a huge cavern that had been beautifully decorated.
Borghese Gallery
I hit another museum on the list: the Borghese Gallery. I did a self-guided tour (with a company linked here!) and roamed around for a few hours. There was a lot of early Roman art (many of the sculptures had restored noses, chins, and hands that hadn't withstood the test of time) and an entire room of Caravaggio works.
This was one of my favorite sculptures of the trip--a Bernini that seems to flow in a spiral and has such intricate detail from each angle that you view it.
Look at the draped and folded fabric on this one--such intricate detail!
Even the tiled floors were art.
The gardens on the museum's grounds were worth a visit, too. Combined with the cool, cloudy weather, the garden was a perfect place to stroll around a bit.
St. Peter's Square (and Pope Francis!)
Although my biggest regret is that I wasn’t able to get to St. Peter’s Basilica, I did get to go to a mass and canonization in St. Peter’s Square. I was worried that I wouldn’t be allowed to attend because some websites talked about needing tickets to reserve a spot. But I woke up early to get there right as the gates opened (I think around 7 in the morning!) in the hopes of being able to take a remaining seat, if there were any. When I got there, ai just went through security and was ushered to a seat—no ticket needed!
St. Peter's Square, about as empty as it ever is.
The mass didn’t start for a few hours, so it was kind of a long wait. But I had strategically dehydrated and there was a nice couple from South America next to me who I chatted with a bit, and the time passed just fine.
Looking back now, a really cool part of the whole experience was that I got to see Pope Francis before he passed.
After the canonization mass, I had lunch at a local pasta place serving up big bowls of pasta for cheap. I was so hungry at that point that I considered just sitting on the sidewalk nearby to scarf down my food! But I found a shaded bench not too far away, so I holed up there for my lunch feast.
I spent a bit of time walking around the neighborhood just outside of the Vatican, checking out the shops and streets. But I had to get back into another neighborhood of Rome before too long for my dinner—a food tour in the trendy Trastavere neighborhood.
Claudio, our tour guide, gave us a great history of Rome through food as we walked through some of the streets and got both our brains and our bodies nourished. I tried a Porchetta sandwich, suppli, Roman-style pizza (including an interesting potato pizza slice), maritozzi, and of course gelato.
The Trastavere Bridge was built in 1475 over the Tiber River. At night, the view on the bridge is beautiful.
Capuchin Church and Crypt
Somewhat hidden and off the tourist-y path is a Capuchin church. (The Capuchins are a religious order--their name is the origin of the term cappuccino! Cappuccinos are supposed to be the same color brown as a Capuchin's habit.) But underneath the church is something even cooler--a crypt.
The museum attached to the church and crypt had one of the best audio tours of the whole trip (a niche opinion, I recognize, but one I think I am qualified to hold at this point!) and it came included in the museum entrance ticket.
The museum walked through the history of the Capuchin Order with beautiful art and relics.
But the real attraction was the crypt underneath, containing the bones of around 3,700 Capuchin monks decoratively arranged. Leaning into the concept of momento mori (to remember or think on one's death for proper perspective about one's life), the crypt was part beautiful, part haunting, and totally metal.
Pasta Making Class
This was a bit unusual for me. I don't usually do
classes during my trips--I'm more of a walk-and-talk tour kind of gal. But I had enough time to just chill in Rome that I figured it might be a fun (and informative!)
experience. There was a young family from France, a multi-generational girls' trip from Georgia (the state), and a honeymooning couple, and we all got to know each other while we rolled dough and shaped pasta. At the end, the class shared a meal of our hard work. It was a lot of fun!
Deliziosa! (Great Italian wine and a limoncello shot at the end included, of course!)
The Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel
Although St. Peter's didn't get crossed off the list, I was able to snag tickets to visit the Vatican's museum, which concludes in the Sistine Chapel. I listened to the Rick Steves podcast/audio tour for each (free and informative!) and was blown away by the collection. Someone else I had met had warned me that I needed to pace myself through the Vatican Museums so that I wasn't burnt out and exhausted by the time I got to the Sistine Chapel. That was good advice and I can see how, if I had stopped to see every little thing in the museum, I would have been *over it* by the time I got to the end. (The podcast/tour was about an hour for each segment, and that turned out to be just about right, I think.)
Incredible views all around: views up on the ceiling of the Vatican Museums (top) and a view of Italy from inside the Vatican itself (bottom).
The Vatican Museum holds true to its name--it's really a museum! The Apollo on the left was made in 500 BC (!!) and unearthed during the Renaissance.
This is L'acquan (don't spell check me), a statue that was unearthed while Michelangelo was on the scene. When discovered, the statue was missing its arm. Michelangelo looked at the pose and musculature and reconstructed the statue with the bent arm, against the inclinations of everyone else in the art world. Apparently they later found the original arm to the statue--and he was right.
The beautifully decorated floors are also artworks themselves! This one is 1700 years old (not a typo), which my mind cannot even comprehend.
And that is just a tiny fraction of the first 15 minutes or so. There are tapestries and murals, the Pope's private apartments (decorated by Rafael before he was a renowned artist), and, of course, the Sistine Chapel.
There is no photography allowed in the Sistine Chapel itself, but Michelangelo's full-send ceiling (and The Last Judgment on one of the walls) was an incredible sight to behold. There are 5900 square feet of paintings (most of which are from Michelangelo's own hand) and the thoughtful details were incredible.
One of the most famous images from the Sistine Chapel is God reaching out and touching the finger of Adam. Looking at the image in isolation doesn't convey the full story of how it is positioned on the ceiling of the Chapel. The iconic image is in the center, but the two fingers don't meet in the middle. Rather, God's hand extends out past center to Adam--a beautifully moving depiction of how God fills the gap in what we lack.
Near the Vatican, there is a stunning
rooftop restaurant and bar. Pricey though it is, I grabbed brunch there as a final hurrah. The view was totally worth it!
My last evening in Rome, I grabbed dinner at a restaurant right across the street from my hotel. The portions were huge, the prices were great, and the food was even better.
As I packed up, I jettisoned almost-empty toiletries and clothing that was ready to be retired. I had very limited luggage space and lots of things that I had picked up over the last three weeks--and y'all know that I was not paying for a checked bag.
The face of a woman with mixed feelings: sad to leave, happy to be returning to the land of air conditioning and ice water, and exhausted by the weight of 3 pounds of souvenir pasta.
Would I change anything about my time in Roma?
If I ever get back to Rome, I would love to stay closer to the Centro Storico or Trastavere districts--they're vibrant and closer to the sites I wanted to visit. And, of course, St. Peter's Basilica has to be on the top of the list. Rome wasn't my favorite city of the trip (I'm looking at you, Siena and Florence!) but it is perfect for history buffs (whether ancient, medieval, or modern) or as a brief landing spot to get to the rest of Italy.
And with that, my time in Italy concluded. It was a once-in-a-lifetime whirlwind, and I still sometimes cannot believe that I went. Thanks for coming along with me, and let me know if you ever go!
Besos, amore, y hasta luego,
Tina the Exploradora
(Final) cumulative steps: 469,145
