UNIV 4940: rome finally

i realize that i have let everyone down by not writing for about a week. mi dispace! i have been so exhausted.

so let’s get my posts about rome over with so that i can tell you about venice!

i went to rome twice last week, wednesday and thursday. wednesday we went with class. it was really fun, but we saw a lot of sights that i had already seen on the saturday before when my friends and i wandered around. we left ariccia on the 820 train to termini. once there, we took the subway (“metro”) to spagna, the spanish steps. we had a couple assignments happening at once on wednesday. everyone was paired up and given a location to start at and we had to navigate the group to the next place. i was with julia and we had to lead the group from piazza navona to campo de fiori.

those who don’t know, the spanish steps are around the really high-end area of rome. it’s gorgeous. after we all took pictures on the steps, we headed down via condotti. this road is home to prada, louis vuitton, gucci, hermes, burberry, and any other designer store that i lust after (name it, this street’s got it). we stopped briefly at the famous café greco on via condotti and heard madelin’s very informative expert of the day on it. she gave us examples of many different coffees that they sell here, including ones with liquor in them.

from here we headed over to the piazza colonna. on the north side of this piazza is the roman chigi palace (woo family)! mary-hester provided lots of information on colonna. the chigi palace in rome now holds some of rome’s government.

next was the trevi fountain. i have seen this before, but it’s still mind-blowing. this fountain is incredible. it’s enormous, and gives me goose bumps. how in the world did they create this thing? i guess the size of it is what is so insane. obviously we all threw coins in because if you toss in one coin you will one day return to rome, two coins you will fall in love, and three you will either get married or divorced, maybe both (yah, vague?). i tossed one in (a 50 cent in hopes that it means i have a higher chance at returning…) because i found love already. sorry rome.

trevi fountain!

me at the trevi fountain

gelato!

then im pretty sure we went to the pantheon. now this building is an architectural wonder. the pantheon still has the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome. the romans originally invented concrete, but in order to make this building work they had to create a newer, lighter concrete to keep the building from collapsing in on itself. the oculus represents a pathway to heaven, but is also there because it releases pressure from the heaviest part of the dome.

after the pantheon we had a stop at a french church called san luigi dei francesi church.

interior of san luigi dei francesi church

piazza navona was after the pantheon. the most complicated fountain in rome is in this piazza, but it was under construction so i don't have any pictures of it. many of you might recognize it from the movie angels and demons with tom hanks (i loooove this book/movie). the scene where the cardinal is chained and thrown in the fountain is filmed here! the piazza is a very long oval shape because they used to hold chariot races here. there are a total of three fountains here, obviously the one in the center being the most famous.

after we learned all about piazza navona, it was my turn to lead us to campo de fiori. i was really nervous because i didn’t know this part of rome very well yet, but it went smoothly. they’re relatively close (5 minute walk) so there weren’t any problems. but campo de fiori is a really cool piazza. they hold markets here, which there was one going on while we were there. in the center of the piazza is a statue of the philosopher giordano bruno. he was burned in this square because he preached against what the catholic church was teaching was the “truth.” what the “truth” was, i don’t know. but years later there was a statue erected in the exact spot where he was burned. now every year the free speech romans hold a meeting here. they always invite the mayor of rome, but he never comes because it would make him look bad to the catholic church if he participated. instead, he always sends a representative to give a neutral speech.

campo de fiori

we broke for lunch and then headed back to a street called via marguta. this was cydney’s expert of the day! via marguta is a famous street where artists of many different specialties start out and find their name. the movie roman holiday with audrey hepburn was filmed here. there are a lot of galleries, lighting showrooms, interior designers, neat hotels, and more on this street. it was also really pretty.

sushi man!

cyd and i on via marguta

via marguta

awesome looking hotel on via marguta

last we had the piazza di popolo. this is the piazza of the people, not the pope. they hold a lot of functions here, and at one end is the chigi church, called the church of santa maria de popolo, that was commissioned by the chigi pope. the movie angels and demons also filmed inside this church. there is a chigi chapel inside of this church, and this chapel is where they filmed the “earth” scene of the movie. the priest was buried half way in to the ground, and was killed from inhaling dirt. gruesome, i know, but the book is awesome, i promise. not to mention it explains the entire process of electing a new pope, so it’s interesting! because i have learned on this trip that a lot of people don’t understand “catholic” things that i find to be universal knowledge. i had a friend inside a church in frascati actually point out the stations of the cross (she’s baptist) and be like, “look yall, they have pictures in here of when christ was crucified.” she didn’t know what the stations of the cross were, i had to explain it to her. not to mention i've had multiple people ask me how the pope's are elected.

the fountain in the piazza de popolo

the outside of santa maria de popolo

chigi church

cool detail on the wall

neat angel detail

santa maria de popolo

creepy

the chigi chapel under construction

where angels and demons was filmed

we were done after this and hopped back on the metro to get on the train back to ariccia.

thursday was interesting also. we first went to circus maximus, where the chariot races were held, then to the palantine hill and roman forum.

circus maximus

palantine hill

the gardens on the palantine hill

me inside the colosseum

after this we headed to the capitoline museum where we had to take a picture of the original bronze statue of marcus aurelius and ancient roman coins. it was a really interesting museum actually. then we were finished with our scavenger hunt and went in to some stores for the rest of the afternoon. but we had to make a stop in mcdonalds so that cydney could get a filet of fish... that's where we discovered the mcitaly.