An American’s Tour of Rome
May 14th – 27th 2007
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May 14th – 15th
The flight
I managed to miss my connecting flight in London by about 10 minutes due to a delayed departure. A 1-hour layover became a 6-hour layover. The flight out was delayed a further hour and when I arrived in Rome I waited one more hour for my luggage. When the luggage didn’t arrive I filled out the proper paperwork and caught the train into the city. It was a strange state of adrenaline that kept me awake and aware through what was coming on 8:00 AM California time. The next day would need to start with some clothes shopping as my carry-on contained only one pair of socks and underwear.
Wednesday 16th
The whirlwind tour
Woke up at 7:00 and searched for the hotel breakfast. Remembered that the ‘second’ floor is actually the third floor in Europe and found the dining room. The food was actually quite nice. Judging by my breakfast companions, the hotel patrons are mostly retirees – so it should be nice and quiet. After returning to bed and sleeping to 11:00 I walked down to Via Nazionale to do some shopping. Via Nazionale is north of the hotel in the Quirinale area. The president’s residence is around there, as well as Piazza della Repubblica and the Quattro Fontane (four fountains that are currently so dirty as to make them not worth photographing).
Piazza della Republica, looking down Via Nazionale all the way to the Victor Emanuel Monument
The building on the left is a 5 star Hotel
While out, I quickly learned how to cross the street like a local. First you look up the street and pick out the biggest gap you can see within the next five seconds of traffic flow. Then you walk right out into the road. I’m reminded of Indian Jones and the last crusade where he takes the step of faith into the abyss. Miraculously the cars stop and you make it to the other side alive.
If it wasn’t for the bad exchange rate, the clothes in Rome would actually be rather cheap. I buy some questionable underwear, figuring it’s the first step towards really understanding the Romans (ultimately it didn’t work out and the underwear just couldn’t be worn).
I saw a Ferrari and more than anything it made me realize how few nice cars there are here. I’d say at least 80% of the cars in Rome are small, functional and not much else. The exception seems to be the occasional Mercedes or hired car.
I dropped off my haul at the hotel and then went out again to look for shoes near Trevi Fountain (apparently this is a good place to find them). After viewing the fountain and growing bored with shoes, I noticed on my map that the Column of Marcus Aurelius wasn’t far away. I found my way over and realized that I was now not far from the Pantheon (hell, I had to see that).
I’ve drawn a little red line to show roughly the height of a person standing next to the wall of the Pantheon
The Pantheon is amazing and the next thing I knew I was in full exploration mode. I continued on to Piazza Navona and then down to Campo di Fiori. Neither plaza was much to look at but the narrow streets full of shops and restaurants surrounding them looked like they might have potential. I noticed a bridge and crossed over the Tevere (Tiber) river into Trastevere (“across the Tiber”). Sitting down in Piazza Trilussa, I realized I was exhausted and very far from my hotel. Eventually I built up my resolve to get moving and followed the river to the Isola Tiberina, a small island in the middle of the river. I crossed and attempted to head back toward the hotel but ended up a little lost and stumbled upon the Circo Massimo (Circus Maximus, the infamous chariot racing site), now a public ‘park’ but not really a good place to sit down (it looks like grass, but it’s really just weeds). I then beat my way north past the Forum ruins, the arc of Constantine and the Coliseum (which didn’t seem much bigger than the one I saw in Verona).
Notice the gypsy wagon at the lower left – do not buy anything from the gypsies
With a little difficulty I managed to find my way onto Via Cavour which leads north to St. Maria Maggiore and my hotel.
They sell pizza by the kilogram here by cutting off a piece with scissors and weighing it on a scale. And although I can not explain why, gelato is just better in Italy. The doorman had a habit of asking with a grin, Tutto Bene? every time he saw me saunter in scraping away at a cup of gelato with one of those tiny plastic ‘spoons’ and indeed, everything is alright when you’ve got some gelato. Given the extreme heat and my limited laundry reserves I decided I’d try my hand at washing my clothes in the bathroom sink (aside from the impenetrable stain of cheap Italian deodorant on one unfortunate shirt, it was a success).
In the evening I picked a Tratoria close to the hotel at random and got a table. Spaghetti Carbonera is something of a Roman specialty and, I decided, an ideal place to start a culinary expedition. Basically, it’s pasta with bacon (those clever Romans) – good but rich. They serve meals by courses in Rome and it’s bad form to order only one course so I went for the minestrone soup, as I would a number of times on this trip (and let me tell you – no two Minestrones are the same and none are anything like Progresso’s, which is probably closer to a goulash).
I accidentally ordered an entire bottle of wine (hey it was only 10 Euros). Despite a common language, I convinced the guy sitting next to me to drink some of it but I still ended up getting quite drunk. Returning to the hotel I was informed that the airline had found my luggage (far-fucking out). It would be delivered to the hotel soon.
Thursday 17th
The Forum
I walked to the Colosseum but it was quite busy and apparently the smart traveler gets his all-in-one ticket at the Forum so after snapping a picture of the Arc of Constantine I legged it into the Forum.
The Arc of Constantine
Constantine is an interesting Emperor. He is basically the last big name in Roman Emperors. He converted to Christianity (AD 312) and thus converted the entire empire from Pagan (Jupiter, Apollo, etc) to Christian (Jesus, St. Peter, etc). My theory is that Constantine could tell the empire was headed for collapse and there really wasn’t much that could be done to stop it so he figured Christianity was the best chance future generations had for holding things together. I mean, it must have been pretty obvious that things were about to get really bad if he had to move the capital from Rome to Constantinople (which turned out to be a really good move considering the western empire descended into absolute ‘medieval’ hell for roughly 1000 years while the safer, more stable eastern part of the empire held together during that time). I’m not sure Christianity really did much to help the poor people of the middle ages but it did help to preserve some of the history of the Roman empire.
Below, I am entering the Forum, looking back at the Colosseum. The point of the photo was simply to show how they’re really all part of the same complex of ruins. In the centuries following the fall of the empire there were countless paintings made of the ruins (which I would guess nicely chronicle their degradation into dust). I thought I found one that matched my photo, but judging by the facade of the Colosseum, I’d say this painting is from a perspective off to the left.
Even before cameras (or Americans, for that matter)), tourists were obsessed with taking pictures of the Roman ruins
I signed up for an English tour of the Forum, which left me time to explore the Palatine hill. The Forum was basically the ancient Roman downtown. It was the central square and all the major government buildings, temples, etc were there. The Palatine hill looms over the forum and that was where all the really rich people lived, including the emperors. Rome was built on a number of hills and most of the forum is built on what was once a marsh between the hills. It was drained by the Cloaca Maxima which became one of the world’s first sewers and is amazingly still in use today.
The Palatine ruins cover the entire hill, the sheer size is staggering
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The view is basically a lot like this wherever you look on Palatine hill.
The farther south I went, the grander the ruins got. The south side of the hill is probably the steepest and overlooks the Circus Maximus. Here it appears there was a line of marble buildings rising eight stories above ground and dropping 6 stories below. I get the impression that the whole complex probably felt like one giant marble building the size of a small city. As you can see in the pictures, everything was actually built out of bricks. Marble was typically a façade and the target of subsequent looting.
This shot gives a good representation of how deep the complex went and how high. Those ruins in the background are far off and immense. The people are at ground level.
The Circus Maximus as seen from Palatine hill. The sandy track marks the actual loop that the chariots would have taken. You can barely make out the long hill in the middle that had a couple of Egyptian Obelisks on it in ancient times.
This is part of Emperor Domitian’s house. They aren’t sure what it was used for. It could have been something of a garden grotto or it could have been the kind of place to hold games. Domitian was an emperor during the height of the empire (AD 81-96) and was a bit of a megalomaniac.
There was a little museum on the Palatine hill that was practically empty, thus affording some golden statue-imitation opportunities.
One nice thing about the Romans is that they favored realism in their busts, so the statues give us accurate representations of historical figures instead of the perfect-looking approximations we get from the Greeks.
I went back down to the Forum and had my tour. We got lessons on the Vestal Virgins and Caesar’s pyre, saw a few massive ruins that were still intact (because they had been converted to churches in the middle ages) and a bunch more ruins that no longer look like much more than heaps of dirt (because they had not been converted to churches during the middle ages). Apparently this entire area was completely buried until not that long ago.
The Arc of Titus at the Forum
An Arc was something put up by an emperor to commemorate a monumental military victory (hence the meaning of the word ‘monumental’). By Victory-Arc standards, the Arc of Titus is actually pretty small, but it is interesting in what it commemorates. It’s an account of emperor Titus’ victory over the Israelites (notice the plundered menorah in the victory procession), who back then were just another conquered peoples that were part of the Roman empire. Apparently they had been revolting and making quite a nuisance of themselves so Titus took in the army and basically killed or kicked-out everyone. This event is the reason why there are so many Jews in so many different parts of the world today. Given the circumstances it’s really quite impressive that they’ve managed to preserve their culture for the past 2000 years.
Senate building
This ancient building on the left is very special for simply being intact. You can see grooves dug into the upper parts of the columns where the Christians set their ropes to pull them down. Evidently they wouldn’t budge so it was declared a miracle and the building was converted into a church, thus preserving its fate. The senate building is just one massive rectangular room with nothing in it. This isn’t the original senate building, it was built around 290 AD, long after the emperors had taken all real power from the senate. The reason there are patches on the lower walls is because bodies have been buried there. During the middle ages it was so fucking dangerous the people of Rome couldn’t even step outside of the city walls long enough to bury a body (as was the custom – bodies weren’t supposed to be buried within the city) so they had to start putting them wherever there was room.
Arc of Septimus Severus in front of the Palazzo Senatorio which is built on top of the ruins of the ancient Tabularium, which you can see at the middle left. And oh, look there’s the Victor Emanuale Monument on the top right; you really can see it from anywhere in the city.
Finishing the tour, I went under the Arc of Septimius Severus and up those stairs to the top of Capitoline hill and the Campidoglio. I was quite hungry and wandered right through looking for food. In a daze I managed to find a tratoria. Once I had eaten, I realized I had somehow made my way into the old Jewish Ghetto (ironically, Rome has one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world) and my tratoria was practically underneath the Portico d’Ottavia; the old fish market. I got to try Carciofi alla Giudia (an artichoke Jewish style, which is fried until it turns black) and Cannelloni, both of which were delicious.
There’s the tratoria on the left and the giant ruined fish market I managed to miss on the right
I checked out the area and found the synagogue (which looks more like a secret government compound) and the Theater of Marcellus, a huge theater that was built by Rome’s first emperors (Caesar and Augustus). The Romans are constantly repairing their old treasures and because authenticity is so important they actually go out of their way to make it clear what is legitimately old and what has been restored. On the theater below left, notice the old structure (white) and the new pieces (green). The old parts are so worn, it’s nice to have the new parts to remind you of how it must have looked back in its prime.
The theater, just like everything else, was turned into a fortress during the middle ages and then later, into a palace for a wealthy family.
After exploring, I made my back to the Campidoglio, a plaza on top of the important Capitoline hill. The current design was the work of Michelangelo. When a good artist came around back in the day, he ended up doing everything (painting, sculpting, designing churches, public buildings, plazas, monuments, etc).
The building is the same that we saw from the Forum, built on top of the Tabularium. The statue of Marcus Aurelius is a replica (the original is in the Vatican Museum where everyone can see it, but it is certainly nice having a nice clean new one out in the plaza) of a very famous icon for the Romans. It’s from the second century (let’s get this straight right now, second century means 100-200AD) and it’s unique because it survived getting melted down for its Bronze by the Christians in the middle ages. The reason for this is because at the time they thought it was a statue of Constantine (who was understandably a huge Christian hero). You’ll remember Marcus Aurelius from the movie Gladiator. He was renowned for his scholarly wisdom, he wrote the famous Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, continued to expand the empire, was a good guy, etc. His son was Commodus, who was surprisingly as crazy as depicted in the movie and actually was known to enjoy fighting in the Colosseum like a gladiator.
Looking at this picture now and noticing the pattern on the plaza floor, I just realized the Campidoglio is what is depicted on the Italian 50 cent piece.
I went inside the Capitolini museum but the battery in my camera gave out (this may be a good thing considering how many other pictures of old statues I ended up with by the end of the trip). I saw a number of marble busts and began harboring a theory that I bear some resemblance to emperor Trajan (I don’t). I also began profiling the ‘look’ of the typical Roman emperor, which is a big, roundish head with a narrow chin, kind of like an upside down teardrop (with big ears). Nero looked like a bit of a goofball, with particularly silly ears that stick right out on the sides. Carcalla looked like an animal, with tight curly hair, an unshaven face, thick brow and a fierce pugilist’s nose. There were some famous mosaics and paintings including the Rape of the Sabines, depicting an event of which the Romans seem to be perversely proud. I think the story is basically like in Watership down – the new city needed women to survive; the Sabines lived on the next hill (less than a kilometer away); they had women; they didn’t want to share. The Romans went over and took some (with no intention of giving them back!). Understandably the Sabines and the Romans never got along very well after that.
Rape of the Sabines by Pietro da Cortona – an example of Baroque art. The guy on the left is trying to figure out if maybe he hasn’t chosen a little too much bride for the 1 kilometer hike home.
The museum also had some Caravaggios (possibly Rome’s favorite artist – even more so than Michaelangelo or Raphael). I saw a freakish bronze statue of baby’s face on a man’s body as well as the most famous work in the museum; the thoroughly ugly but unimaginably old Etruscan bronze statue of the wolf suckling Romulus and Remus. This thing is from the 6th century BC; just before the creation of the Roman Republic and about 200 years after Romulus founded the city. Those frightening little babies were added later (I’m not sure how much later) and I’ve got to wonder if the teats were added too.
Capitoline Wolf Emblem of the popular AS Roma Soccer Club
While looking at all the statues I couldn’t help but notice that two things are almost guaranteed to have fallen off over the years; the nose and the penis. The interesting thing is that most of the noses have been replaced but most of the penises have not. It’s a rare case to see a statue with its manhood intact. Oh, and in case you were wondering, testicles don’t fall off, they just look lonely. While at the Capitoline, I also finalized a theory that I began while living in Austria which posits that every museum in the world containing classic art has at least one picture in its collection of Judith holding the head of Holofernes. Artists over the ages are apparently so obsessed with painting Judith holding a bloody severed head that I’m beginning to feel the inclination to do one myself.
By the time I got out, it was getting too late to go to the Colosseum so I returned to the hotel and picked up some pizza on the way. I selected two common Roman varieties that you would not find in the US – one had what appears to be grated zucchini on it and the other had French fries and sliced rounds of hot dog.
Pigeons are expected to live in great quantities in all the world’s major cities and Rome is no exception. What I was not expecting were all of the swallows. There are swallows everywhere, particularly right outside my hotel window. They are constantly active, and even more so at dawn and dusk, at which times they swarm like bats and shriek like shrill whistles.
I strolled to a local Irish pub and ordered a Guinness. The place was pretty dead and I asked the bartender where everyone was. He offered some lame excuse about everyone going to the beach when the weather is good and I took off to see if I could find someplace else. But as I walked, the fatigue of the day set in powerfully and I was forced to turn in for the night.