Rome Italy

Upon arrival at the Rome Fiumicino airport, we took the train to the city and arrived at the Roma Termini train station, which took us just 45 minutes. While in Rome, we stay at the Westin Excelsior hotel in the center of the city, close by the bus and Metro stations. It is easy to get around Rome and we usually either walk, take a bus or the metro lines. There are only two metro lines, A and B, both easy to figure out and efficiently serve major attractions and monuments including the Colosseum and the Vatican.



After dropping off our luggage at the hotel, we immediately went out for a walk around the hotel and went to the famous Spanish Steps or Piazza di Spagna. We have drinks at the 19th-century English tea room, Babington's [Piazza di Spagna 23], an elegant 19th century-style English tea room with a tremendous variety of teas accompanied by cakes, muffins and puddings, prepared according to ancient recipes. Right in front of Spanish Steps are the brand-name shops at shadowy narrow crowded streets, shops like Armani, Fendi, Gucci, Missoni, Valentino, Versace and the performance on the streets. There're also some small, family-run boutiques in the same area that offer reasonably priced cloths, leather goods, and gloves. There is an interesting shop called Bartolucci that sells handmade wood of art for over 60 years. The address is Via dei Pastini 98. We also found a great shop called Discount dell'Alta Moda with big names of fashion available at a special discount of 50% from the original price. The address is Via Gesu e Maria 16.




After shopping, we went across the busy Via del Corso street and follow the signs to the Piazza di Trevi. The Trevi Fountain is designed by Nicola Salvi for Pope Clemente XII, it was completed in the second half of the 1700s. The statues in the centre represent Neptune supported by Tritons on either side while rococo-style Poli Palace provides the perfect backdrop. After visiting the fountain, we went to the nearby Pantheon, the Roman "temple of all the gods". It is the most extraordinary and best preserved ancient building in Rome, a domed and colonnaded structure so massive it appears to sink right into the surrounding Piazza della Rotonda. Heavy bronze doors extend into a huge, cylindrical interior illuminated by the open oculus in the center of the vast dome. Built under the Emperor Hadrian [AD 118-125] as a Roman temple during the second century, the Pantheon was later transformed into a Catholic church.








On our way to the Vatican City the next day morning, we went to a nearby local cafe for a wonderful local breakfast with chocolate croissant and cafe latte. We took the metro line A to the Ottaviano-San Pietro station and make our way to the colonnaded Saint Peter's square. The same week, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated the midnight Mass of Christmas blessed the crowd in St. Peter's Square from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica. Directly on our right after the entrance is the moving Pieta, created by Michelangelo when he was just 24 years old. We continue down the nave while admiring the numerous altars and monuments until reaching the ancient bronze statue of Saint Peter, whose foot is worn smooth by centuries of pilgrims touching it for good luck.



After enjoying our visit to the Basilica, we went directly to the famous Vatican museums which house the awe-inspiring Sistine Chapel. There were already long lines of people waiting at the entrance with various tour groups within the line. The museum is decorated with paintings from Renaissance masters such as Perugino, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Signorelli. Right next to the entrance is the Cortile della Pigna, which is named after a bronze pine cone from an ancient fountain. The famous Sistine Chapel is on the other end of the museum and it takes about 15-20 minutes walk. The main panels of the Sistine Chapel chart the Creation of the World and Fall of Man, surrounded by subjects from the Old and New Testaments. Photo is not allowed in the Sistine Chapel, but I do managed to take a quick shot of the beautifully painted ceiling. The rest of the galleries of the Vatican museums contain treasures such as tapestries, candelabras, Etruscan artifacts and even a considerable collection of modern religious art by figures such as Rodin, Picasso and Chagall. Don't miss the spiral staircase on your way to exit, the staircase is designed in 1932 by Giuseppe Momo, consisting of two spirals: one to walk up and one to walk down. After the museum, we went lunch at the neighboring Cafe on the Via Leone IV street and went to the local fruits markets nearby.



In the afternoon, we went to Piazza Navona annual Christmas Market. There were tables and tables of a variety of merchants selling traditional Christmas treats and gifts at the Piazza Navona. There were also some street performances and even a Merry-go-Round for kids. The square itself is beautiful with many fountains and lights. The fountain, the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, is Bernini's most magnificent, with statues of the four great rivers of the world at that time (the Nile, the Plate, the Ganges and the Danube) sitting on rocks below an obelisk. The piazza's two other Renaissance fountains, the Fontana del Nettuno (Neptune) and the Fontana del Moro (Moor), are also worth a moment of musing. We had dinner at a nearby sidewalk cafe. To our delight, a pair of street performer picked that restaurant for the entertainment. We enjoyed our time there; it was like having a floor show to go with our meal.






On the third day in Rome, we went to visit the Colosseum. Again, we took the metro line A, but this time we need to change to Metra line B via the Stazione Stermini station to reach the Colosseo station. The Colosseum is a great elliptical amphitheater and an architectural and engineering wonder due to its clever design and efficient use of space. The Colosseum was erected during the reign of Emperor Vespasian in 72 AD and inaugurated in 80 AD by his son Titus. With enough seating for 55,000 spectators, the Colosseum was the pinnacle of entertainment in ancient Rome with gruesome gladiator games and other spectator sports such as mock naval battles for which the stadium was flooded with water.



From the Colosseum, we walk along the Via Dei Fori Imperiali street back to the Piazza Venezia. We passed through the Roman Forum, which was a place with food stalls and brothels as well as temples and the Senate House. To appreciate the layout of the Roman Forum, it is best to view the whole area from the Capitoline Hill from above. The Roman Forum is a spectacular, sunken archeological treasure that extends from Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum. It is flanked on one side by the verdant Palatine Hill, a vast expanse of ruined arches, columns and palaces, all carpeted in thick green vegetation and bordered by the mythical Roman racetrack, the Circus Maximus. On the other side of the Roman Forum, the elevated Imperial Forums, which include the Trajan Market, a remarkably well-preserved section of commercial structures that allow for a glimpse of everyday life as it was in ancient Rome. Nearby is the comparatively contemporary Basilica of Saint Peter in Chains, or San Pietro in Vincoli, where Renaissance art aficionados will revel in Michelangelo's statue of Moses, created in 1515.



Piazza Venezia is the site of the white monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, the first Italian king who completed the unification of Italy during his reign from 1861 until his death in 1878. Sarcastically referred to by Romans as "the wedding cake," or "the typewriter," this nationalistic altar also served as pulpit for Mussolini during the fascist regime of the mid 1920's and 1930's. For lunch, we went into a small cafe facing the monument called Bar Brasile at Piazza Venezia, 5/A and then went shopping again in the busy Via Del Corso street. Later at night, we went to Villa Borghese, Rome's principal park, with a wonderful view of the city. Enjoying the night view of the City with a Christmas atmosphere, a nice ending of our trip to Rome.