Rome – Jan 19-26, 2018
TIPS for Rome
1. Buy the Roma Pass. It comes as 48 hours (~28€ – includes 1 museum) or 72 hours (~38€ – includes 2 museums). Besides the museums, it basically covers the Coliseum, Palatine, and the Roman Forum and gives free use of the metro for the duration. For the museums, I would recommend Capitoline and Galleria Borghese. Don’t buy it until you are just about to enter one of the sites, usually the Colosseum, and keep track of the time. Mine expired one hour before I could have used it at the Borguese (22€ with the special Bernini exhibit). It is a good deal and allows you to pass all the long lines to buy tickets.
2. Rome is a great city to walk. There are few hills and you have close-up views of all the amazing architecture. It is one big museum. However, the streets are not in a grid pattern, are often curved, and present direction problems.
3. Romans don’t hike. I wanted to buy some things for hiking (zip-off-leg pants, some small Nalgene bottles for shampoo, and a belt with a clasp). Base Camp is a great mountaineering store but has virtually nothing hiking-related. They didn’t know of a store that sold hiking stuff and I couldn’t find one online. Despite the common advice that you can always buy things on the road and other than simple clothes, I find that this to be not true.
4. Avoid the posing centurions and the aggressively friendly black men who thrust trinkets in your hand expecting money.
Rome has 18 sites to see on Nomad Mania (marked with an *) and my goal was to see all of them. It is a big task to do in one week and takes good organization. Seeing museums with all the labelled exhibits can be exhausting, but I rarely buy audioguides. The information is usually repeated and I can speed read much faster than the guide.
Day 1. Roman Colosseum. Rome’s great gladiatorial arena (built from 72-82 AD) is the most thrilling of Rome’s ancient sites and one of the 7 Wonders of the World. Its inauguration saw games that lasted 100 days and nights slaughtering 5000 animals. Trajan later topped this with a marathon 117-day killing spree involving 9000 gladiators and 10,000 animals. The outer walls had 3 rows of arches and were originally clad in travertine. A huge canvas awning held aloft by 240 masts to shield the spectators from sun and rain covered the walls. The 80 entrance arches allowed the spectators to enter and be seated in a matter of minutes. The arena had a wood floor with trap doors covering an underground complex (hypogeum) where animals were caged and sets for various battles were hoisted up to the areas by a complicated system of pulleys. Seating 50-70,000 people, had the cheap seats at the top relegated to women. With the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, the Colosseum was abandoned. In the Middle Ages, two of the cities warrior families occupied it as a fortress. Later it was plundered of its precious travertine and marble stripped to make huge palaces. A €25 million restoration ended in 2016. Besides the walls and walkways, there are no seats left and the ruins of the hypogeum are exposed.
Arch of Constantine. On the side of the Colosseum, this monumental triple arch dating to 315AD has great bas-relief dioramas.
Pyramid of Cestius. The pyramid was built about 18–12 BC as a tomb for Gaius Cestius, a magistrate. It is of brick-faced concrete covered with slabs of white marble The pyramid measures 100 Roman feet (29.6 m) square at the base and stands 125 Roman feet (37 m) high. The burial chamber had been plundered when first opened in 1660. It is not possible to access the interior. It was built during a period when Rome was going through a fad for all things Egyptian. At the time of its construction, the Pyramid of Cestius would have stood in open countryside (tombs being forbidden within the city walls). During the construction of the Aurelian Walls between 271 and 275, the pyramid was incorporated into the walls to form a triangular bastion. Due to its incorporation into the city’s fortifications, it is today one of the best-preserved ancient buildings in Rome. It still forms part of a well-preserved stretch of the walls, a short distance from the Porta San Paolo. Take the metro to Piramide station.
Day 2. Roman Rome. Basically, all that is left is a pile of ruins whose massive scale demonstrates the opulence of the Romans. Most everything was plundered for building materials over the centuries.
Palatine Hill. This is where Romulus supposedly founded the city in 753 BC after killing his brother Remus in a fit of anger. Rome’s most exclusive neighbourhood from the first century for 300 years, Rome’s emperors including Augustus, Flavius, Domitian, Tiberius, and Severus built successively opulent palaces. After Rome’s decline, churches and castles were built over them in the Middle Ages, and eventually, the area was only gardens and pastures. Towering pine trees are a highlight. Views one way is down to Circus Maximus (able to seat 250,000, now just a huge bare oval of grass as all the bleachers were plundered) and the other way to the Roman Forum.
Roman Forum. Once ancient Rome’s social, political, and commercial hub first developed in the 7th century BC, it was a pasture in the middle age and now is a rather confusing sprawl of ruins as most of its stone and marble has been plundered.
Imperial Forums. The forums of Trajan, Augustus, Nerva and Caesar are ruins sitting below and surrounded by roads.
Trajan’s Column, completed in 113 AD, is 35m high and is made of a series of 20 colossal Carrara marble drums each weighing about 32 tons, with a diameter of 3.7 meters. The 190-meter spiral bas-relief frieze celebrating Trajan’s victory over the Dacians (101–102, 105–106 AD) winds around the shaft 23 times. Inside the shaft, a spiral staircase of 185 steps provides access to a viewing platform at the top (not open). The capital block weighs 53.3 tons and had to be lifted to a height of 34 metres (112 feet).
Capitoline Museums*. Dating to 1472, these are the world’s oldest public museums. The collection of classical sculptures is some of Italy’s finest: the iconic Etruscan Capitoline Wolf of Romulus and Remus suckling a wolf, the Spinario, a delicate 1st-century bronze of a boy removing a thorn from his foot, Gian Bernini’s Medusa, and Marcus Aurelius on a horse (original in a massive gallery inside and a copy in the square outside). Masterpieces by Titian, Tintoretto, Rubens, and Caravaggio are formidable. Cross a tunnel to the sculpture museum on the other side of the square.
Equestrian Sculpture of Marcus Aurelius
Chiesa di Santa Maria in Aracoeli, the highest point in this part of Rome is reached by steep steps near the museum.
Monet Exhibit at Museo Nazionale del Palazzo Venezia. I passed the long line for tickets at this museum on my way to the Capitoline Museum and on my way down decided to see it. An audio guide gave wonderful explanations of a broad cross-section of this famous impressionist painter. His later paintings were probably the first abstracts.
Il Vittorio. Most locals loath this massive mountain of white marble that towers over Plazza Venezia providing Rome’s best 360° views. It has a small museum and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Day 3. On Mondays, many museums are closed, but it creates crowded days at the Vatican.
Vatican Museums*. Founded in the early 16th century and enlarged by successive popes, they are one of the world’s greatest art collections. They are housed in a vast 5.5-hectare complex consisting of 2 palaces joined by two long galleries and housing 3 courtyards. Exhibits are displayed along about 7kms of halls and corridors. Labels are sufficient but not great. There is so much to see, it is exhausting and one can only take in so much in one day. Avoid the long lines for tickets by buying them online. Tuesdays and Thursdays are the quietest, and Wednesday is good as many are at the Pope’s weekly audience. Mondays are busy as so many other museums are closed. Bring your own food and drink. Exhibits range from Egyptian pieces taken during Roman times, Etruscan bronzes, a huge collection of classical statuary, mosaics, topographical maps, Belgian tapestries, four Raphael rooms with wonderful frescos, and a huge collection of masterpieces by all the greats. Anywhere else the magnificent frescoed rooms would be the star attraction, but here they serve as the warm-up for the last exhibit, the Sistine Chapel.
Sistine Chapel. The chapel was originally built in 1483 by Pope Sixtus IV, after whom it is named. But apart from the wall frescoes and floor, little remains of the original décor, much of which was sacrificed to make way for Michelangelo. The jewel of the crown is home to two of the world’s most famous works of art ever accomplished by a single artist – Michelangelo’s 900 sq. meter ceiling frescos (1508-1512) and the Last Judgement (1535-1541). Both were controversial works influenced by the political ambitions of the popes who commissioned them. The ceiling was an attempt to transform Rome into the Church’s showcase capital and the Last Judgement served as a warning to Catholics to toe the line during the Reformation in Europe. Michelangelo regarded himself as a sculpturer and had little experience painting frescoes. He was paid the equivalent of 1.5-2 million € for the ceiling based on stories from the book of Genesis.
The Last Judgement is a highly charged depiction of Christ’s second coming on the 200 sq. m west wall. It was controversial from the start when Michelangelo destroyed two Perugino frescoes. The swirling mass of 391 predominantly naked bodies provoked a scandal. Pope Pius IV had Daniele da Volterra cover 41 nudes. The Sistine Chapel also functions as the place where the conclave meets to elect a new pope.
Ceiling
Via Appia Antica* and Catacombs. The first 90km section of this road was laid in 312 BC and then extended in 100 BC to reach Brindisi on Italy’s southern Adriatic coast. It has long been one of Rome’s exclusive addresses, a beautiful cobbled thoroughfare flanked by grassy fields, Roman structures, and towering pine trees. It was here that Spartacus and 6000 of his slave rebels were crucified in 71 BC. To get here, take the metro to Pyramid and take bus 118 out and back. You can’t visit all 300kms but three major catacombs are open for guided tours. As Christianity was illegal until about 500 AD, Christians couldn’t be buried inside the walls of Rome. Christians also shunned cremation preferring to be buried whole to facilitate resurrection. In all, there are 66 catacombs with 300 km of underground burial chambers carved out of tufa on four levels. The lower levels are flooded. They were abandoned for over 1800 years and lost until recently.
Catacomb of San Callisto. These are the largest and most visited of the catacombs. Founded at the end of the second century, they became the official cemetery of the newly established Roman Church. In the 20kms of tunnels explored to date were the tombs of 500,000 people, 16 popes, and 60 martyrs. The patron saint of music, St Cecilia was buried here and when her body was exhumed in 1596, it was apparently perfectly preserved. Unlike the Paris catacombs (the Paris cemeteries inside the city were emptied and all the bones put down there), there are no bones, only the narrow cavities carved into the rock, usually just large enough to hold one body. The walls are painted with fading Christian symbols and graffiti is common.
Basilica di San Paolo (Basilica of St Paul). The second-largest church in Rome after St Peters and the third-largest in the world, it stands on the site where St Paul was buried after being decapitated in 67AD. Built-in the 4th century, it was largely destroyed by a fire in 1823, and most is a 19th-century reconstruction. But many treasures survived including the 5th century triumphal arch with its restored mosaics and the Gothic marble tabernacle over the high altar. To the right is a 12th-century candlestick with animal-headed creatures. St Paul’s tomb with 9 links of the chain that bound him is in the confessio. The portrait of every pope since St Peter lines below the nave windows. Legend has it that when there is no room for the next pope, the world will fail. In the cloister are stunning 13th-century mosaics decorating the columns.
Day 4. North Rome. This was a huge walk day and I had more than one walk-about as I took a few wrong turns. I took the metro to Flaminio and walked north.
Plazza del Popolo. Laid out in 1538 as the then northern gateway to Rome and since remodelled several times, this huge square has a 36m obelisk bought by Augustus from ancient Egypt that first stood in Circus Maximus.
Borghese Park. I started my walk from the plaza by climbing several steps to the wonderful Borghese park. Traffic-free, it is a paradise of big trees, grass, and open spaces. The steps brought me up well west of where I wanted to be but the views down to the city
were wonderful.
Museo National Etrusco at Villa Giulia (Etruscan National Museum)*. The Etruscans, from just north of Rome, were active from the 8th century BC until about 280 BC when Rome conquered them. Residing in Pope Julius III’s lovely 16th-century villa, besides a huge selection of terracotta statues, pottery and Greek-style vases, there is an amazing display of jewelry. Much of it came from burial mounds surrounding Lazio. Recently, organized by a Russian woman, the museum was broken into, axes used on the display cases and much of the jewelry stolen. In the getaway, most of it was thrown onto the street and all was recovered, but some is still in the hands of the police. I could only imagine what the complete display would look like.
Museo Nacionale d’Arte Moderne Contemporanea (National Modern Art Museum)*. Housed in a vast palace, this is an unsung gem. It includes many of the most important exponents of 19th and 20th-century art. A special exhibit included a Latvian artist.
Museo e Galleria Borghese (Borghese Museum)*. Probably the best art museum in Rome, the collection was formed by Cardinal Scipione Borghese (1579-1633). His maternal uncle, Camillo Borghese, was Pope Paul V who in 1605, quickly conferred a cardinalship on Scipione. In the classic pattern of papal nepotism, Cardinal Borghese wielded enormous power as the Pope’s secretary and effective head of the Vatican government. On his own and the Pope’s behalf, he amassed an enormous fortune through papal fees and taxes and acquired vast land holdings for the Borghese family. There was a special exhibit on Pietro and Gian Lorenzo Bernini (father and son) and I think that explained the high 22€ cost. Gian is probably the best marble sculpturer ever and several of his works are dazzling, especially Apollo and Daphne and David. The Bernini works are so overwhelming, that one hardly notices the rooms – all of over-the-top Versailles quality.
From the Galleria, to get to the Spanish steps, descend the busy road crossing the wide brick wall as necessary and enter the Spagna metro station crossing under the road and large wall.
The Spanish Steps & Plazza Spagna*. These gorgeous 135 steps were built in 1725 to descend the steep slope between Chiesa Della Trinità dei Monti (commissioned by King Louis XII of France) down to Plazza Spagna. They were named after the Spanish Embassy to the Holy See, despite having nothing to do with the steps. At the bottom is the sinking boat fountain designed by Pietro Bernini. It’s a great place to people watch. In 2015, the fountain was damaged by Dutch football players.
Chiesa della Trinità dei Monti. Another over-the-top church with Volterra’s Deposition. Climb the steps to see the church and then descend them for a double tour. Convento dei Cappuccini. The Capuchins were an austere group of monks established in 1529. To ensure a proper resurrection, they saved everything including the bones of 4000 monks when they died, and until 1870, decorated four small crypt chapels to construct Rome’s strangest site. Each chapel has a theme – skulls, pelvises, thigh bones, leg bones – stacked (think the Paris catacombs) and used to make arches and altars displaying clothed skeletons. Skeletons of small children and the small bones (jaws, vertebrae, feet, and hands) are used to make light fixtures, picture frames, and elaborate decorations covering the walls and ceilings. It is very well done and almost attractive in a macabre way. First, pass through a multimedia museum explaining everything you would want to know about the Capuchins.
Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica: Plazza Barberini*. Barberini Plazza has an imposing Bernini-designed fountain with a sea-god Triton blowing a stream of water from a conch while seated in a large scallop shell supported by four dolphins. The sumptuous Barberini family baroque palace museum has two parts with separate admissions: one with many masterpieces and one with different exhibits. The Italian, Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1526-1593) painted composite heads – the most unusual portraits combining elements of the same genus (vegetables, flowers, fish, animals, birds, books) and fantasy linked metaphorically. His most famous represent the four seasons and the four elements and some supposedly still lifes, when inverted, become faces. He worked for the imperial courts of Prague and Milan and was extremely popular in his time.
Trevi Fountain*. Built-in 1732, this gleaming white fountain takes up the entire side of a 17th-century palace. Neptune’s chariot is led by Tritons with horses, one wild and one docile, representing the moods of the sea. Water from the 1st-century aqua Virgo cascades over the base, a jumble of white boulders. Trevi refers to the three roads that converge at the fountain.
Tradition is to toss a coin into the water to ensure that you will return to Rome. About 3000€ is thrown in every day. It is always crowded.
Day 5. The Centre from Termini to Centro Historico. A huge day and the day I got religion. All the churches in Rome are over-the-top displays of gilt, marble, paintings, sculptures, and wonderful marble or mosaic floors. They are fast to see.
Chiesa di Santa Prassade. This out-of-the-way church has wonderful mosaics produced by artists brought in from Byzantium by Pope Paschal I – typical bold gold backgrounds and marked Christian symbolism. The entire nave is a mosaic and the floor is wonderful marble mosaics. There is also a piece of the column that Christ was tied when he was flogged.
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Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore*. One of Rome’s four patriarchal basilicas, this monumental 5th-century church on the summit of the Esquiline Hill was remodelled several times. The outside has glimmering 13th-century mosaics and Rome’s tallest belfry at 75m. Spectacular 5th-century mosaics decorate the triumphal arch and nave. The crypt has Pope Pius IX kneeling before a reliquary containing a fragment of Jesus’ manger. Gian Lorenzo Bernini and his father Pietro are buried under steps to the right of the nave. I didn’t go into the museum of religious relics.
Museo Nazionale Romano: Palazzo Massimo alle Terme*. One of the four National Rome Museums. I followed a university class around and heard a great discussion of the discus thrower, hermaphrodite, and several other displays. Some of the mosaics are very nice, but I’ve seen much better in Jordan and Tunisia. A good museum.
All four are included in one 15€ price.
Museo Nazionale Romano: Terme di Docleziano*. This was Rome’s largest bath complex at 13 hectares.
Chiesa di Santa Maria degli Angeli. A huge church originally designed by Michelangelo.
Chiesa di Santa Maria della Vittoria. Has Berninis’s sexually charged Ecstasy of St. Theresa.
Chiesa di San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane. This tiny oval church uses light from the dome and hidden window to transform it into a place of light and beauty. It sits at the intersection of the Quattro Fontane, 16th-century fountains on its four corners representing Fidelity, Strength, and the rivers Arno and Tiber.
Museo Nazionale Romano: Crypta Balbi*. The least known of the four museums in this system sits over medieval buildings that lie over an urban development exposed in an excavation.
Largo di Torre Argentina. Set around the sunken remains of four Republican temples from the 2nd to 4th centuries that are out of bounds, it is now home to about 250 stray cats cared for by volunteers. Its western side is near where Julius Caesar was assassinated in 43 AD.
Museum of Lorcan O’Neill*. On the Nomad Mania list, this small museum tucked into an alley hosts American and English exhibitors. It has been closed since May and opens in mid-February, 2018. It was a significant walk out of my way and the location was obscure (the only sign was a tiny label on an intercom). I buzzed and was allowed to see the two small exhibit rooms, so even though there was no show, I am counting it for my list. Elephantino. This statue of a puzzled-looking elephant carries the 6th century BC Egyptian obelisk and dates from 1667.
Basilica di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. Clad in scaffolding, this massive church is Rome’s only Gothic church. It is best known for Michelangelo’s Jesus carrying a cross and the burial site of St Catherine of Siena, minus her head.
Pantheon*. This temple built by Hadrian in 125 AD has the largest unreinforced concrete dome ever built and the largest cupola in the world until the 15th century. It has precisely calibrated symmetry – its diameter is exactly equal to its interior height of 43.3m. It was dedicated to the classical gods, hence the name Pantheon. In 608 AD, it was consecrated as the Basilica di Santa Maria ad Martes and thus spared the worst of medieval plundering leaving it the best preserved of Rome’s ancient monuments and one of the most influential buildings in the Western world. The exterior is worse for wear but the cavernous marble-clad interior holds the tomb of Raphael and two kings.
Museo di Roma*. An eclectic collection of photographs, paintings, clothes, and furniture chart the history of Rome from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century. I very much enjoyed it. The palazzo itself has a courtyard and a monumental staircase.
Plazza Navona. Rome’s showcase square has three wonderful fountains: Fontana del Moro and Fontano dei Nettuno (Neptune’s Fountain) on the ends and spectacular Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers) with personifications of the rivers Nile, Ganges, Danube, and Plate.
Chiesa di Sant’Agnese in Agone. A gorgeous small oval church on the side of Plazza Navona.
Chiesa di San Luigi dei Francesi. Home to Rome’s French community since 1559, it contains a celebrated trio of Caravaggio paintings from 1600-1602.
Museo Nazionale Romano: Plaza Altemps*. My last thing to see on this exhausting day (and the last of the four Roman National museums), it houses Rome’s formidable collection of classical sculpture and Egyptian collections. I took my Air BnB host out for dinner. After spending more on one meal than I did all week eating cheap, I was not impressed. I make a better pizza at home. The croquettes were heavy. This food was a big surprise for me.
Day 6. Vatican City. The world’s smallest sovereign state was established in 1929 as the modern vestige of the Papal States, the papal fiefdom that ruled much of central Italy until 1861. At only 44 acres, it has extraterritorial authority over a further 28 sites in and around Rome. It has its own postal service, newspaper, radio station, and army, the nattily dressed Swiss Guards, all Catholics from Switzerland.
St Peter’s Basilica. Italy’s largest, richest, and most spectacular church was completed in 1626 after 120 years of construction. The original church was commissioned by Emperor Constantine in 349 on the site where St Peter is said to be buried between 64 and 67 AD. The church has 4 equal arms and a massive 184m tall central dome directly over the famous baldachin over St Peter’s tomb. It is possible to climb the 551 steps to the top of the dome. The cavernous 187m-long interior (more than 15,000 sq. m) contains many artistic masterpieces. The pope is the only priest permitted to serve at the altar. The Pope has an audience in St Peter’s Square every Wednesday at 10 am.
Grottos and Tomb of St Peter. I was able to arrange the guided Scarvi tour here on short notice (usually booked 4-6 months ahead). In 1942, the bones of an elderly man were found in a box hidden behind a wall and then claimed to be those of St Peter. Although no proof exists, most of the tour was centred on trying to convince us of that fact, even though the entire grotto area is full of Christian burials. Groups of 12 were on the tour. Most were Catholics from America (and some Australians and me, an ardent atheist). A couple from Atlanta showed typical Americana. He was a pilot for Delta and thus had been to many countries and she bragged that she had been to Maine. When asked if I was a Catholic, I had to hold back from letting loose about my extremely negative view of Catholicism: a church rooted in 15th-century values (forbids contraception and divorce, homosexuality, use of condoms to prevent AIDs, enforces celibacy of priests, and doesn’t allow female priests) and despite bragging about tolerance of all religions, fails to ever mention the Inquisition, the expulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal in 1584 and its complicit tolerance of the Holocaust in WWII. Its greatest sin is not taking responsibility for the rape and sodomization of millions of little boys. Wherever one goes in the Western world, churches are justifiably empty. I found the catacombs under the Via Appia much more interesting and realistic.
See the post at the end about St Paul’s grave,
St Peter’s Square. Laid out in 1667 by Bernini, it has two semicircular colonnades consisting of 4 rows of Doric columns (representing the motherly arms of the church) for a total of 284 columns with 140 statues of saints on top and measuring 340 by 240 m. I enjoyed the exact copy (of the floor plan, but one meter higher) in the capital of Cote d’Ivoire. It has fixed pews for 20,000 and wonderful stained glass windows, giving it a much simpler and airy feeling.
Castel Sant’Angelo*. Initially built as a mausoleum by Hadrian, it was converted into a papal fortress in the 6th century. The upper floors were elaborate residences for the popes and views from the top of Rome are unforgettable.
Ponte Sant’Angelo. Hadrian built this bridge in 136 to provide an approach to his mausoleum.
Museum of Criminology*. Also on the Nomad Mania list, this museum was a long walk and hunt for its obscure location. Closed for renovation, I made such an effort to get here that I am including it. After my relatively easy day, I took a leisurely walkabout home passing more of Rome’s sites. On January 26th, I took the bus to Florence. Flixbus is the only bus company to use in Europe. Besides being unbelievably cheap, the buses are new, comfortable and have wi-fi, but also tend to be crowded. March 1, 2019 On my second trip through the Rome area, I saw the following.
ETRUSCAN NECROPOLISES OF CERVETERI AND TARQUINIA These comprise one World Heritage Site (2004). I only saw Tarquina. There were 6000 tombs with 20 accessible at the site on top of a high hill east of the city of Tarquinia. These were aristocratic tombs depicting life and death in a realistic way: banquets, dances, the hunt, games, and funeral rites. Their concept of death was as living in the place where the body was laid to rest. After about 530 BC, Greek influences show demons and gods from Greek mythology. The tombs were cut into the rock and now lie about 3-5m below the ground surface. Little buildings with stairs leading down to the tombs have been constructed to protect them. A light switch allows one to view each tomb through a plastic window in the door. The frescoes in some are very faded but others are remarkably well preserved. The ceilings and friezes around the circumference of each are spectacular. Blue was expensive and indicates particularly rich people.
Also at the sight are stone funeral containers from a culture 1020-750 BC. The cremated remains were placed in urns and then into the containers.
ETRUSCAN CIVILIZATION is the modern name given to a powerful and wealthy civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany, south of the Arno River, western Umbria, northern and central Lazio, with offshoots also to the north in the Po Valley, in the current Emilia-Romagna, south-eastern Lombardy, and southern Veneto, and to the south, in some areas of Campania. As distinguished by its unique language, this civilization endured from before the time of the earliest Etruscan inscriptions (c. 700 BCE) until its assimilation into the Roman Republic, beginning in the late 4th century BC with the Roman–Etruscan Wars. A culture that is identifiably Etruscan developed in Italy after about 900 BCE, approximately with the Iron Age Villanovan culture. The latter gave way in the 7th century BCE to a culture that was influenced by Ancient Greek culture. At its maximum extent, during the foundational period of Rome. The decline was gradual, but by 500 BCE the political destiny of Italy had passed out of Etruscan hands. The last Etruscan cities were formally absorbed by Rome around 100 BCE. Although the Etruscans developed a system of writing, the Etruscan language remains only partly understood, and only a handful of texts of any length survive, making modern understanding of their society and culture heavily dependent on much later and generally disapproving Roman and Greek sources. Politics was based on the small city and probably the family unit. In their heyday, the Etruscan elite grew very rich through trade with the Celtic world to the north and the Greeks to the south and filled their large family tombs with imported luxuries. Archaic Greece had a huge influence on their art and architecture, and Greek mythology was very familiar to them. The Etruscans called themselves Rasenna, while the ancient Romans referred to the Etruscans as the Tuscī or Etruscī from “Toscana”, which refers to their heartland, and “Etruria”, which can refer to their wider region. In Attic Greek, the Etruscans were known as Tyrrhenians. The origins of the Etruscans are mostly lost in prehistory but were indigenous people who had always lived in Etruria. Historians have no literature and no original Etruscan texts of religion or philosophy; therefore, much of what is known about this civilization derives from tomb findings. Etruscans appear to fall very close to a Neolithic population from Central Europe. Around 540 BCE, the Battle of Alalia led to a new distribution of power in the western Mediterranean. Though the battle had no clear winner, Carthage managed to expand its sphere of influence at the expense of the Greeks, and Etruria saw itself relegated to the northern Tyrrhenian Sea with full ownership of Corsica. From the first half of the 5th century BCE, the new political situation meant the beginning of the Etruscan decline after losing their southern provinces. In 480 BCE, Etruria’s ally Carthage was defeated by a coalition of Magna Graecia cities led by Syracuse, Sicily. A few years later, in 474 BCE, Syracuse’s tyrant Hiero defeated the Etruscans at the Battle of Cumae. Etruria’s influence over the cities of Latium and Campania weakened, and the area was taken over by Romans and Samnites. In the 4th century BCE, Etruria saw a Gallic invasion end its influence over the Po Valley and the Adriatic coast. Meanwhile, Rome had started annexing Etruscan cities. This led to the loss of the northern Etruscan provinces. During the Roman–Etruscan Wars, Etruria was conquered by Rome in the 3rd century BCE.
Etruscan League. According to legend, there was a period between 600 BCE and 500 BCE in which an alliance was formed among twelve Etruscan settlements, known today as the Etruscan League. The league was mostly economic and religious, or a loose confederation, similar to the Greek states. Rome was probably a small settlement until the arrival of the Etruscans, who constructed the first elements of its urban infrastructure such as the drainage system.
Society. Etruscan settlements were frequently built on hills – the steeper the better-and surrounded by thick walls. According to Roman mythology, when Romulus and Remus founded Rome, they did so on Palatine Hill according to Etruscan ritual Political unity in Etruscan society was the city-state. The wealthiest cities were located near the coast. At the center of society was the married couple. The Etruscans were a monogamous society that emphasized pairing. Warfare was a considerable economic advantage to Etruscan civilization. Like many ancient societies, the Etruscans conducted campaigns during summer months, raiding neighbouring areas, attempting to gain territory, and combating piracy as a means of acquiring valuable resources, such as land, prestige, goods, and slaves. Religion. The Etruscan system of belief was an immanent polytheism; that is, all visible phenomena were considered to be a manifestation of divine power, and that power was subdivided into deities that acted continually on the world of man and could be dissuaded or persuaded in favour of human affairs.
Architecture. The houses of the wealthy were often large and comfortable, but the burial chambers of tombs, often filled with grave goods, are the nearest approach to them to survive. In the southern Etruscan area, tombs have large rock-cut chambers under a tumulus in large necropoleis, and these, together with some city walls, are the only Etruscan constructions to survive.
Art and music. Particularly strong were a figurative sculpture in terracotta (particularly lifesize on sarcophagi or temples), wall painting, and metalworking (especially engraved bronze mirrors). Etruscan sculpture in cast bronze was famous and widely exported, but few large examples have survived (the material was too valuable, and recycled later). Most surviving Etruscan art comes from tombs, including all the fresco wall paintings, which show scenes of feasting and some narrative mythological subjects. Etruscan temples were heavily decorated with colourfully painted terracotta antefixes and other fittings, which survive in large numbers where the wooden superstructure has vanished. Etruscan art was strongly connected to religion; the afterlife was of major importance in Etruscan art.[ The Etruscan musical instruments seen in frescoes and bas-reliefs are different types of pipes, such as the plagiaulos (the pipes of Pan or Syrinx), the alabaster pipe, and the famous double pipes, accompanied on percussion instruments such as the tintinnabulum, tympanum, and crotales, and later by stringed instruments like the lyre and kithara. Literature. With a few exceptions, such as the Liber Linteus, the only written records in the Etruscan language that remain are inscriptions, mainly funerary. The language is written in the Etruscan alphabet, a script related to the early Euboean Greek alphabet.
Eurosky Tower is a skyscraper in Rome, the tallest civil building in the city and one of the tallest residential towers in Italy. It is in the Europarco Business Park in Torrino, a residential area bordering the EUR. The skyscraper, made of concrete and steel covered with lamellar granite, has the facades marked by the regular holes in the balconies. The Eurosky tower is divided into two vertical prisms, each of which is served by two staircases and elevators, connected by bridges that host part of the technical systems. Other rooms for installations are located at the top of the building, crowned by a large structure that supports a wall of photovoltaic panels. cover end projects a large antenna designed for telecommunications. Finally, the support structure of the photovoltaic panels creates a sort of fold of the external facade of the tower. The skyscraper has a total height of 120 meters, marked by 28 floors plus 5 “technical” floors. Next to the residential skyscraper is the Europarco Tower, both completed in mid-2012. Europarco Tower (also called the Transit Tower ) is next to Eurosky. The tower, designed to house offices, consists of a prism, covered in glass and is 120 m high, divided into 35 floors. The “eyelid cover” coating is made of aluminum sheet, with vertical aluminum sunblinds and spandrel cells with an external decorative profile.
My travel plans were very fluid. I arranged with the one VW Commercial dealer (IWR) for the replacement of my right rear window (they had the window in Verona so could be delivered in 5 days), making all the windows in the back of my van the darkest tint (700 Euros) and ordered the magnetic curtains for my front side windows. I was strongly advised to not go to Naples with only cardboard covering the window as thievery is a big problem, so I decided to go to Malta on Sunday, March 3 for 4 days. I booked my flights, hostel, car rental, and Malta museum pass on Saturday morning (I sat outside a McDonald’s with great wifi that worked from a distance).
After some time, I decided to see some sights in south Rome that I had missed on my first trip, most were churches.
Chiesa di Dio Padre Misericordioso (Jubilee Church. Parish of God the Merciful Father is a wonderful modern design with 3 huge curving walls on the south side and a square bell tower. The main nave’s ceiling is sloping glass making the interior light and airy. The inside is very plain with only the Ways of the Cross and a modernist picture of Christ behind the altar. The boat-shaped lectern is limestone. Free
Basilica de San Giovanni in Laterano (Rome Archbasilica of St. John Lateran) This huge church with double aisles on each side is a wonder of marble (columns, 12 saints in Carrara marble, heraldic crests, and floor), stucco (columns, more statues), and frescoes. The ceiling is all inlaid gilt and statues. The dome behind the altar (a tower of marble) is a wonderful mosaic. Free, 5 to see the cloister (closed when I was there). Free
Lateran Palace. Adjoining the side of the basilica, it was not possible to visit. From the outside is a simple 4-story orange rectangle.
Basilica of San Clemente. Built from 1009-1118 on top of an early 3rd-century church from the early years of Christianity, it is a copy of the one 5m below, 10E to visit. The present look is from a 1713-19 redecoration with a gilt ceiling, marble floor, and mosaics with sheep in the dome.
Basilica Papale San Paulo Fuori le Mura (Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls). I had visited this before and remember many of the highlights (Paul’s tomb with chains, marble columns, pictures of all the popes in the frieze, Easter candelabra, and the wonderful altar of conversion covered in malachite and lapis (Jesus appeared before Paul and he changed his life).
As my flight departed at 10:10 on Sunday, I dropped the van off late Saturday at the VW dealer, had dinner before I left the dealership (most of the food was going to spoil with no refrigerator for 4 days), walked 10 minutes north to Villa Belloni train station and took the train to Rome Fiumicino Airport. I slept in the airport that night. Landside in Terminal I is not a friendly place to sleep. All the chairs have arms and the floor is hard. I initially encamped myself on some soft benches in a coffee shop but was kicked out of there at 21:00. I eventually ended up on some soft blue seats at the north end of departures. The 9″ gaps between were ideal to park my valuables. I woke after a good 5 hours, slept for another 3, and then was kicked out at 9 am. I had 2 milkshakes at McDonald’s and caught my one-hour flight to Malta.
Some observations on Italy
1. Despite what I had heard, Italians are extremely nice. I don’t travel with a phone and use hand maps and a compass to get around (what a Luddite). In my old age, I also seem to be very directionally impaired, so I frequently ask directions – a lot. I have never had a negative response in Italy. People went out of their way to explain directions. This is the complete opposite of the French, who generally are rude assholes if you don’t speak French. I can confidently say that Italians (at least in Genoa, Siena, and Rome) are the nicest people in the world.
2. All the Italians I have asked for directions from speak at least passable English. If they don’t, they still attempt to give good directions. This may be different when outside the big cities. They often suggest a taxi or a bus and can’t relate to wanting to walk long distances.
3. Italy has a dog problem, or more specifically a dog shit problem. Siena was especially bad and it was a test to avoid all the smears and actual turds lying around. Believe me, you don’t want to get dog poo on your shoes.
4. Bring your drinks to restaurants (especially if you want to pop). The food is reasonably priced but the pop is absurd, usually around 3€ for a can. I rarely drink alcohol so don’t know the prices. The best thing I do is buy sandwich material in the morning (cheese, meat, and bread or whatever you like) and have a tasty, cheap lunch.
5. What do you call an Italian with one arm? Speech impaired. What do you call an Italian with no arms? Mute. I could watch Italians talk to each other all day: full of emotion and lots of hand and arm action. In Genoa, the Free Tour guide gave a rundown of the meaning of all the gestures.
6. Foreigners in Italy. Koreans and Chinese are common foreigners in Rome and many places in Italy. They are difficult to separate. Koreans do not have inherently attractive facial features – a broad, flat face – but they certainly do the most to maximize what they have. At least 50% of women and also some men have had plastic surgery – not boob and nose jobs that Westerners have – they make their eyes round and have difficult jaw surgery to make their lower face thinner. Hair is well styled, the women wear a lot of well-applied makeup and they all wear expensive long, cloth coats. Chinese don’t dress nearly as well and favour quilted nylon jackets. I have virtually never seen them at any of the tourist attractions I go to (exceptions might be the Trevi Fountain or Spanish Steps in Rome). And I’m not sure what they do when they travel. I think they spend a lot of time on their phone taking selfies and giggling at them. They shop. And they don’t eat at McDonald’s, only nice expensive restaurants. They are not as socially incompetent as the Japanese but close. There are many Filipinos and South Asians here. Almost all the South Asians I have met are from Bangladesh. They sell selfie sticks and trinkets on the street and do the menial work in shops and markets that most Westerners shun. I have huge empathy for these people, most away from their families for long periods making money to send home, especially to educate their children and give them the opportunities they didn’t have. I hope that they are treated better than in Arab countries. Many arrive on student visas (tourist visas would be impossible). There are also many blacks and it appears that they add little to the fabric of society. Many do what is the common commerce in Africa – selling trinkets on the street that nobody wants – or hanging out. I don’t see many Arabs (Syrians and Libyans) contrary to what you would think from all the refugees in Italy. There are lots of beggars about, all white. For the first time, I saw two moving around a McDonald’s eating unfinished food.
7. Pizza. Italians eat pizza with a knife and fork. That is because the crust is not firm, the sauce is almost runny, and all the ingredients slide off if picked up. The sauce is not as spicy as I would like. It was cheap but not at all what I expected and I am somewhat disappointed.
St. Peter’s Basilica contains his tomb… right? Why there’s still some doubt
Some believe the basilica on Vatican Hill was built over the martyred bones of the apostle Peter—but is that true? After excavations and DNA tests, the Vatican says they reached a conclusion, but some scholars aren’t sure.
By Elena Castillo
According to church history, the apostles Peter and Paul arrived in Rome at the time of Nero (r. A.D. 54–68). There they found a small but committed group of Christians established among the Jewish communities of the city. On Saturdays, Peter and Paul would visit the synagogues, and on Sundays they preached in various homes around the city that doubled as churches. But this way of life was interrupted by the infamous Great Fire of Rome in A.D. 64, which Nero accused the Christians of starting. The emperor had many Christians condemned to death for the blaze. They were executed by crucifixion, burning, or being devoured by wild animals in front of an audience. It’s likely that Peter and Paul were among those who died in these gory spectacles. According to the noted Roman historian Tacitus, the executions were staged in the circus that had been begun by Caligula (r. A.D. 37–41) on the Via Cornelia. This was outside the city walls to the west, at a place known as the Vatican. A different tradition records that Peter was killed by crucifixion, placed upside down by his own choice, as a symbol that he had not been worthy to die the same way as the Lord. Whatever the details of Peter’s death, the question of what then happened to his body has been a vexed one.
(Christianity struggled to grow—until this skeptic became a believer.)
One early church source provides a lead. According to the apocryphal text Acts of Peter and Paul, written by Pseudo-Marcellus around the year 400, some men from Jerusalem who were “glorious and strange in appearance” joined Marcellus, a follower of Peter, and “took up [Peter’s] body secretly, and put it under the terebinth near the naumaquia [place for the exhibition of sea fights] in the place called the Vatican.” This suggests that Peter was buried near where he was martyred, in a pagan necropolis on the Via Cornelia near the Circus of Caligula. This is the area known as the Vatican necropolis.
Although at first the tomb of Peter was probably a simple one and almost anonymous, the growth of the Christian community in Rome soon made it a focus for the faithful. In an effort to preserve the tomb, it was covered with new stone slabs as the ground level of the site rose. Then, in the mid-second century, a small commemorative monument was built on top. Something similar happened with the tomb of Paul, located, at least according to tradition, to the south of the city, in the necropolis of the Via Ostiense.
The earliest written reference to the funerary monuments of Peter and Paul dates to around the year 200, when Gaius, a presbyter, or bishop, of the Church of Rome, stated that the “trophies” of both apostles could be seen in Rome, one in the Vatican and the other on the Via Ostiense. The word “trophy” was used for tombs erected to Christian martyrs, since martyrdom was equated to a triumph of faith over death.
Interest in the tomb of St. Peter grew as it became widely accepted that the Church of Rome held primacy over all the other Christian churches. According to the Petrine theory developed in the second century, Peter had received from Jesus Christ himself the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. So, having establishing himself in Rome as the first bishop of the city, Peter was believed to transmit to his successors the highest possible authority over the whole Christian community. Although not all the churches accepted this claim, it nonetheless added potency to Peter’s tomb.
So when the emperor Constantine I (r. A.D. 306–337) ordered the construction of a great Christian basilica in Rome as part of his policy of promoting Christianity as the dominant religion of the empire, he chose the site of Peter’s tomb. Knowing that the new temple was built around the tomb of such an important figure in the Christian tradition would surely attract believers. Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea, in his text Theophany (A.D. 333), wrote that the apostle had been honored with “a splendid tomb before the city, a tomb to which innumerable hordes flock from every part of the Roman empire, as a great Shrine and temple of God.”
A colossal basilica
The decision to erect the basilica over the pre-existing tomb had enormous implications for the construction process. Since the Vatican was an area of uneven hilly terrain, a huge platform, nearly 800 feet long and almost 300 feet wide, was built on top of the ancient Vatican necropolis on the Via Cornelia to support the basilica. A huge volume of earth had to be removed in order to create the platform that reached a depth of some 30 feet. Despite the ambitious construction work, the surrounding necropolis couldn’t be destroyed as the tombs and mausoleums were protected by sacred law. So Constantine I ordered that instead of removing the tombs completely, the roofs should be taken off, their vaults broken, and the interior space filled with earth. The bones would remain buried under the new basilica.
The building was constructed so that a monument, later known as the Trophy of Gaius, was built over the original tomb and located under the apse. Its site was marked inside the temple with a square marble structure covered by a ciborium with four Solomonic columns. But the Trophy itself was buried under the platform of the basilica. The Trophy and Peter’s tomb beneath it were further buried in the 16th century, when the old basilica was demolished and rebuilt to a Renaissance design.
The new Renaissance building was erected on a second platform, some 10 feet above the first, and supported by a system of vaults. These vaults created a space between the fourth-century basilica and the Renaissance one, the so-called Vatican Grottoes that were used as burial places for the popes. The bones of St. Peter, believed to be buried beneath, were left in peace at this point. In 1626, the remains of various tombs and burial mounds were disturbed unintentionally during work to put in place the bronze columns of the famous baldachin designed by sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini. But Pope Urban VIII ordered the uncovering of the tombs to be kept quiet as the remains belonged to pagans who had been buried in the ancient necropolis.
The archaeologists arrive
It wasn’t until the 20th century that the oldest stratum of St. Peter’s Basilica finally came to light. In 1939, Pope Pius XII decided to open the Vatican Grottoes to the public. To make this practical, it was necessary to increase the height of the interior space by lowering the floor level of the original paving some two and a half feet. As soon as the workers began digging, they uncovered several Roman tombs belonging to the ancient Vatican necropolis. For the church, an archaeological investigation of these remains was a highly sensitive undertaking. It involved determining whether the tomb of St. Peter with his mortal remains inside really was under the altar of the basilica. This tradition, which had been so important to the identity of the Church of Rome, had been challenged by Protestants in the 16th century. Martin Luther wrote that according to sources in Rome, “it is unknown where in the city the bodies of Saint Peter and Paul are located, or even whether they are there at all. Even the Pope and the cardinals know very well that they do not know.”
A mystic versus the Vatican
Despite the controversy, Pius XII commissioned a major archaeological investigation. The excavation, directed by the archaeologist Antonio Ferrua under the supervision of Monsignor Ludwig Kaas, lasted for more than a decade and made it possible to identify and restore 22 tombs belonging to the Roman necropolis of the Via Cornelia, adjacent to the Circus of Caligula. The tombs, having lain undisturbed and buried in the earth for centuries had been extremely well preserved, and their stuccos and paintings were found in an excellent state of repair.
A construction discovered exactly beneath the vertical axis of the altar in the basilica attracted the most attention. It was a structure with two niches, one above the other, attached to a red stuccoed wall. Archaeologists identified it as the Trophy of Gaius, the monument mentioned in the sources as having been built in the second century to mark Peter’s tomb. On December 23, 1950, in his Christmas radio address, Pius XII announced the discovery in unequivocal terms: “Has the tomb of St. Peter really been found? To that question, the answer is beyond all doubt: Yes. The tomb of the Prince of the Apostles has been found.”
(Age of Jesus Christ’s purported tomb revealed.)
Papal announcements
The scientific reports on the excavation were more cautious, however. They described the discovery of a modest “venerated tomb,” which had been almost completely destroyed. Although Christian symbols and graffiti were found, they were hard to read and interpret. In any case, they seemed to date to the time of the Constantinian construction.
The excavation ordered by Pius XII had set its sights on finding the tomb of St. Peter and, even more important, his bones. Given the importance of the relics within the Catholic Church, being able to identify the mortal remains of Jesus’ right-hand man would have been an extraordinary event. While excavating under the two niches that formed the Trophy of Gaius, the archaeologists came across an underground cavity some three feet deep. If there were bones inside, surely there was a chance that they belonged to the apostle? But initially, all the archaeologists found was a large number of coins, probably left by pilgrims. During the excavation, some skeletal remains were uncovered but not inside the tomb. At the time, the bones didn’t arouse particular interest and so were removed and stored in a wooden box in the warehouse of the Vatican Grottoes.
In his radio address of December 1950, Pope Pius XII referred to these bones but stopped short of claiming they belonged to Peter: “At the side of the tomb, the remains of human bones have been found. However, it is impossible to prove with certainty that they belong to the body of the apostle. This still leaves intact the historical reality of the tomb itself.”
(The eighth wonder of the ancient world may have an untouched tomb.)
The subsequent investigation of those bones was driven by epigrapher Margherita Guarducci. She personally asked permission from the pope to undertake a study of all the graffiti associated with the Trophy of Gaius. The inscriptions, scribbled in charcoal or engraved with a stylus on the ruins of the monument, were concentrated on a wall that, as a buttress, had been built perpendicular to the red stucco wall of the Trophy of Gaius, to shore it up.
On this wall (known as wall G or the graffiti wall), Guarducci noticed a small loculus, or cavity, that had not been investigated. During their work in the grottoes, one of the excavation workers told Guarducci that this loculus in wall G was where the bones mentioned by the pope had originally been found. Guarducci managed to track down the bones within the warehouse and asked the pope if she could have them analyzed by a renowned forensic doctor. The results came back in 1963 and indicated that the skeletal remains all belonged to one man.
According to the analysis, he had been corpulent and had died at an advanced age, between 60 and 70 years old. The analysis also revealed traces of a wool fabric dyed purple and interwoven with gold. This suggested that the bones had been carefully wrapped before being placed in the loculus. The conclusion seemed obvious, at least to Guarducci: The bones belonged to St. Peter. Based on these results, in 1968, Pope Paul VI solemnly announced that the bones of the apostle had been found.
St Peter: from necropolis to basilica
Here is Peter
During the excavations, Ferrua noticed a fragment of the graffiti wall had become detached, and on it he made out some Greek letters. Although the text was incomplete, the archaeologist restored it as PETROS ENI (Here is Peter). This was the first textual indication that the Trophy of Gaius was indeed Peter’s tomb. However, not all scholars agreed with Ferrua’s interpretation. For example, it’s possible to understand the opposite meaning from the inscription: PETROS ENDEI (Peter is not here).
Guarducci later managed to decipher other graffiti on the wall and, after a long study, came to the conclusion that they were messages from faithful Christians, written in code at the time of the anti-Christian persecutions. She identified and interpreted about 20 symbols as references to St. Peter. Decades later, the identification of the bones and the interpretation of the graffiti are still hotly debated. Given that Peter was martyred somewhere in the area where a basilica was later consecrated to him, it seems logical that the Trophy of Gaius was built over a modest memorial for the apostle. Over the centuries, this special enclave of the Vatican necropolis has become a space of Christian veneration. What’s harder to be sure about is whether the bones discovered here truly belonged to Peter.
