MORE OF ROME

Our last day in Rome.  I was sad.  I think I could have spent the entire week here and never gotten tired of the city.  I think it would be a great place to live for awhile.  We had a tour of the Vatican scheduled which was to last 3 hours.  The rest of the day was ours to just enjoy.  

We had arranged for a private tour through a company called Easitalytours.  Serena picked us up at our hotel and we headed by taxi to the Vatican.  ( I found the company through trip advisor under activities.  It's a great place to find different ways to see the city you are visiting.  This is how I have found the segway tours as well. In the bigger cities there are always lots of suggested activities and they are rated by users.)  

As Serena explained on the way to the Vatican - the Popes were not only the head of the Catholic Church they were kings and as such they lived like one. They had to compete with all the rulers of their day.  The Vatican is also a country.  If you do not have a ticket to view the Vatican, to enter you must present your passport and your reason for visiting.  You cannot just go in to browse around.  Serena mentioned they have their own postal system, pharamcy's, etc.  She is very well known by everyone in the Vatican, they waved at her and smiled and said hi.  She has been doing tours for 7 years.  However, she explained that once a friend had asked her to get some medicine for her dog that she knew they had in the Vatican and not in Rome and Serena had to present her passport, tell her mission and she was given an allotted amount of time to accomplish that mission and get out!

There are approximately 842 residents.  It is the smallest recognized independent state in the world both in area and population.  It came into existence in 1929 by the Lateran Treaty between the Holy See and Italy, which spoke of it as a new creation.  According to the terms of the treaty, the Holy See has "full ownership, exclusive dominion, and sovereign authority and jurisdiction "over the city-state. 

The history of the area or the Vatican and of the Popes is too long to go into here except to saythat the   Popes ruled as governors of regions near Rome.  They ruled the Papal States, which covered a large portion of the Italian peninsula, for more than a thousand years until the mid-19th century when all the territory belonging to the papacy was seized by the newly created Kingdom of Italy.  For most of this time the popes did not live in the Vatican.  The Lateran Palace, on the opposite side of Rome was their residence for a thousand years.  From 1309-1377, they lived in Avignon, France.  On their return to Rome  they chose to live at the Vatican.  The history continues until the signing of the treaty.  Today the Vatcan consists of St. Peter's, the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican museums. 

  Serena was just darling, so much personality and so very knowledgable.  We had to pass so many things as we walked through through the corridors of the Vatican in order to get to the highlights and see everything in three hours.  She talked the whole way however and I really never was able to take notes or many pictures for that matter   So much information flowing from her mouth.  

The new entrance area of the Vatican - filled with people but nothing like in the summer months.

 St. Peter's Basiica.  Serena pointed out the Sistine Chapel to us but unfortunately you really can't see it on this photgraph.  It is there, believe me!

The gardens in the shape of a cross of course.  The ones in the foregrouond are open to walk around.  Behind the trees are the private gardens of the Vatican.

The vast museum.  Again I want you to remember recycle.  When we walked through some of the corridors there were statues just laying against the wall.  It is amazing to see all the art that is displayed in this place.  You coould spend days here.  

 One of the few statues that remain that shows the original state of many of the  statues.  It had been buried and so no one  had the chance to undress it - that is take the gold and of course recycle.

In the background you see the large red marble chest  There are two of them and the marble is so dense that only a diamond can be used to produce carvings.

Beautiful mosiac.  

This colossal bronze pine cone was cast in the 1st or 2nd century by Publius Cincius Salvius who left his name on the base.  Prior to being moved to the Court of the Pigna the jumbo pine cone was situated in the Campus Martius, in the area still called "Pigna", where it served as a fountain, water gusing from holes in the scales of the cone.  

The Sphere within a Sphere is a statue known as"Sfera con Sfera".  It is part of a series of bronze sculptures on this theme that can be found in prime locations all over the world such as the UN, the Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, etc.  Arnaldo Pomodoro is an Italian Sculptor and resides in Milan.   The "Sphere within a Sphere" Statue depicts a huge fractured orb.  Inside the cracked orb you can see another one.  Each tremendous sphere is broken, showing yet another cracking sphere. It symbolizes the fragility and complexity of the world.  It is located in the courtyard of the Pine cone outside the Vatican  Museum.  Pomodoro started to create these Orbs in the 1960's.

 The Gallery of Tapestries.  These are Flemish tapestries realized in Brussels by Peter van Aeist's school from drawings by Raphael's pupils during the pontification of Clement VII ( 1523-1534)  They were first shown in the Sistine Chapel in 1531 and arranged in this Gallery in 1838.

Next, the Gallery of Maps.  It was named after the 40 topographical maps of the regions of Italy, and of the Church's possessions that Gregory XIII had painted between 1580 and 1585.  These maps constitute an extremely important record of the 16th century georgraphy and cartography.  

Every inch of the gallery's barrel vault ceiling is covered with dazzling fresco's.

Our next stop was the Sistine Chapel.  Serena sat us down and talked about the painting of the ceiling and what to look for when we went in.  The ceiling had been cleaned since I last saw it so I was looking forward to seeing it again.  No pictures are allowed so unfortunately I can't share the experience with you.

Serene reminded us that when the Pope decided upon Michelangelo as the painter for the Chapel, Michelangelo was furious.  He was a sculptor not a painter but recongized that if he turned down the commision he would certainly never work again.  He decided to take the commission and used it as an opportunity to improve his sculpturing when he was finished.  He used the paintings to study the human form.  

Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo at the encouragement of Bramante.  The Chapel was dear to Julius II as it was built by his Uncle Pope Sixtus IV in 1477 from whom it took its name.  Since its construction the Sistine Chapel has played an important role in the life of the Vatican.  The world today knows it as the location where the cardinal's conclave meet to elect a new pope.  At the time, the ceiling was simply a deep ultramarine blue sky, sprinkled with gold leafed stars, as was common for the day.  

Michelangelo's design was spectacular.  One side is the story of Moses, the other of Christ's life.  The main panals running down the center of the Chapel ceiling portray the nine episodes from the book of Genesis, including the famous scenes of the Creation of Adam.  At either end and beneath the scenes are the figures of twelve men and women who prophesied the birth of Jesus.  One of these prophets, Jeremiah is probably a self portrait of Michelangelo as he envisioned himself as an old man.  Michelangelo was only 33 years of age when he was commissioned to this work and it took him 4 years to complete it.   Also the artist showed his self-portrait as the flayed skin of St. Bartholomew in The Last Judgment.

Copied the next few pictures from various websites.

The most famous scene.  The Creation.

Jeremiah:

The flayed skin of Bartholomew.  I think this picture also demonstrates how Michelangelo was using his paintings to study anatomy.  This particular painting also demonstates how after his death most of the fresco's genitals were covered upon the insistence of purdent priests.   The fresco's was retored in 1999; the cover-ups were left as they were..  He would not have been happy had he been alive. 

Just recently over 7000 LED lights have been installed in the Chapel which really illuminates the beautiful art work.  

Here we are taking alittle break before entering the Sistine chapel.  Serena left us on our own since there is no talking by tour guides in the chapel itself.  

We met up with her right ouotside the hapel and proceeded with the tour.

This is a private staircase used by the Pope and we got to walk down it.  

This is part of the staircase which we were not allowed to walk down.

Looking down on the Basicilica. St. Peter's is the world's largest Basilica of Christianity.  It has a surface of 22000 square meters ( 236,800 squ ft.) and twenty thousand persons can pray in it.

The indigenous St Peter's Basilica nowdays forgotten was constructed by the will of Emperor Constantine around 320 AD in the area where Saint Peter had been martyrized, along with other Christians, close to the circus of Nero that in fact , rose in the vicinity. 

The first repair and enlargment intervention was ordered in the middle of rhe 15th century by Pope Niccolo V.  Later pope Biulio II charged Bramante, who in 1506 demolished the old Saint Peter's Basilica planning a new one with a Greek cross plan.  Both architect and Pope died with only having completed the central pillars.

Rafael with others took over the guidance of the work and proposed a Latin cross.  Rafael was succeeded by Balldassarre Penuzzi first and Michelangelo later, who instead chose to return to the Greek cross.  After the death of all contenders, pope Paolo V imposed the Latin cross structure whch was realized by Maderno who took care as well of the facade as we see it today.  The St. Peter's basilica was consecrated in 1626.

The plan of the dome belongs to Michelangelo who managed to comlete only a portion of it.  Giacvomo Dalla Porta completed the dome according to Michelangelo"s drawings.  The interior furnishings of the Basilica was asigned to Bernini by pope Urbano VIII Barberini.  Bernini worked in theBasilica  for twenty years.  Inside the Basilica are numerouos and priceless pieces kept in the forty five altars and eleven chapels.   There are about 10000 square meters of mosaics and Michelangelo's Pieta.

The entrance.

 A mass was going on so we were unable to get close to the main altar.  Just to give you an idea of the height of the canopy that you see three Statue of Liberties stacked on top of each other can fit under it.  When we entered there was lovely music playing.  We learned that two of the people made saints the day before were from India and the music was from India.  As Serena said -- not the type of music you expect to hear in the Basilica.  

 Michelangelo's Pieta.  It is now behind glass because someone intentionally broke the Madonna's nose.  It has been repaired but resulted in it now being protected by a bulletproof glass.  

  Here you can see Jesus carrying the cross another statue sculpted by Michelangelo.

 A few pictures  of us but then it is really all about us :-)!

Here you can see all the chairs that were set up for the mass yesterday.  Our new friends Mary and Jerry were two of the people who were selected to attend the mass.  They later told us that people were milling around and when it was announced that the mass was about to begin and those selected people should take their seats people started sitting on people's laps or between the chairs.  The Swiss guard very politely removed them from the area.  People request to attend a mass months in advance but Mary and Jerry realizing they were going to be in Rome when the Pope was having a mass applied and they explained to us that they must have been selected at the last minute when someone else dropped out.  Pretty exciting.  

They had a lot of good luck on this trip, first mass with the pope and then of course meeting us.

Again, it is about us but do let your eye wander to the background too and look at the beautiful architecture of the buildings. 

Th Vatican with their very own license plates.  

Of course, the Swiss Guards.  The Swiss Guards were orginally mercenaries and their history is worth reading about.  

Our parting view of the Vatican.  Serena walked us to the street which would take us to the Jewish area and she made some recommendations for lunch and also for dinner and told us some other sights to see.   We had had a great morning with her.   Of course there is so much to see at the Vatican that we didn't get a chance to view but that's a good reason to come back!

Touring makes one hungry and thirsty.  We had were close to the Jewish quarter so we decided to try out one of Serena's recomendations.  It was wonderful!

We started out with a fried artichoke and some kosher wine from the Golan Heights.

  I took Serena's recommendation and ordered  a gnocchi dish with pinenuts, rocker (arugula) and tomatoes.  It was delicious!

Michele had a little Ravioli.

And of course Michele attracted the manager.

After lunch they served us a wonderful mint tea mixture.  The glass was had about 7 or 8 peanuts in it and it was very refreshing.

I had a pistachio dessert and of course they don't use milk products but it was like ice cream - deliciosos!  So Italian!

mmmmmmmmm  sooooooooo good!

Michele's chocolate mousse.

We had decided to visit the church by the Bernini elephant for a couple of reasons.  There is a Michelangelo there that you can actually touch and the ceiling in the church is the way the Sistine Chapel ceiling looked before Michelangelo painted it.  The reason  the Michelangelo's statue of Christ carrying the cross is not protected is that the outside of the church is so ugly no one goes in it.  I will admit it is a plain looking building - hardly looking like a church.

Very nice interior!

The Michelangelo.  

I went back to the hotel to rest just a bit and do a ittle packing while Michele wandered around.

That night we decided to again eat at one of the restaurants Serena recommended.  We had wanted jus a low key, small , typical Italian restaurant.  Her recommendation was Da Francesco's.  We arrived and were told we had to wait outside.  It wasn't long before we were called in and seated at a little table. We asked the waiter to chose betwen two wines that we had looked at and he suggested the cheaper as being better.  My kind of place!  Anyway the meal was delicious and very reasonable - of course everything is relative.

Mary and Jerry had texted us during dinner and asked us if we wanted to meet them for a drink on the terrace of their hotel.  We were more then willing.  We went over to the Spanish steps ( owned by the French) and met them at the top.

On our way we had to stroll through the Pizza Novona again.

Look at thr fountain at the base of the Spanish Steps. 

The view from the top of the steps.

The lobby of the Hassler Hotel.

And the view from the Terrace.  We were the only 4 people on the terrace and we just enjoyed the company and the view.

Once terrace was not enough for us so we went to the hotel across the way and went on the terrace there and continued to enjoy the evening and the company.  Oh!  did I mention the wine?

And what a way to end a night - a selfie!  

We strolled home and maybe we even weaved a little but we had a wonderful four days in Rome , enjoying the many attractions, the wonderful food and wine, and the beginning of a very nice friendship.  What more could you ask for!  Tomorrow Venice!