When in Roma...

We arrived in Rome on a grey afternoon, having caught the train down from Florence, so decided there was nothing for it but to spend the evening in with a home made risotto [hoorah for Italy, where arborio is the cheapest rice you can buy :) ] and some local vino rosso...
But when the sun came out the next morning, we were off, and it still doesn't quite feel real to say that we headed first for the colosseum.. The largest ever built, nearly 2000 years old, and once capable of holding 80,000 people, there is nothing you can read to prepare for being able to stand in the middle of this very real piece of very ancient history. Of course only a fraction of the stadium still stands complete, and the tourist camera flashes everywhere help to destroy any illusions of ancient grandeur, but it is still a phenomenal feeling to walk around the seats where the wealthy would have sat and watched, and to look down at the arena, where half a million people [and over a million animals] lost their lives. Though one of the more amazing things about Rome and the colosseum, is that just when you're lost in thinking how awe inspiring it is to be where you are... you look across the street and there is the Palatine Hill...from where you look down and see the remains of the Roman Forum... and then there are small ruins that literally just sit beside traffic lights at intersections and the Romans pay them not the smallest bit of attention... and two Kiwis a long way from home just have to sigh with the incredulousness of it all and try to take it all in.



And of course, Rome is also full of slightly less ancient, no less impressive sights to see...

We stopped at half a dozen further churches, each as amazing as the last, kind of bemused to note that half of them aren't even marked on tourist maps as worth checking out - there are just too many beautiful buildings here. The Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II, designed to commemorate the first King of the unified Italy is an imposing sight, covered with statues and sculptures, and holding the Italian 'tomb of the unknown soldier'... the basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere is one of the oldest churches in Rome, and is adorned with some of the more spectacular mosaics we have seen... and the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore was an absolutely massive building, it was once palace to the Popes after the return from Avignon, and a number of popes are buried here...

So once we thought we couldn't be impressed by another church, we did the obvious: we went to the Vatican :)

Occupying only 110 acres, the Vatican City is the smallest state in the world, both in terms of population [around 900] and area. The obvious attraction here is St Peter's basilica, a mammoth church built in the 16th century, and one of the most famous churches in the world. With a capacity of over 60,000, stepping inside [after standing in line and being examined to make sure we had the appropriate amount of skin covered on a scorching roman morning..] was like stepping into another world. The massive dome is over 135m high, and it's internal diameter is the same... looking up it is really hard to imagine the enormity of it, until you see people moving about in the upper levels of the dome, and you can see how tiny they appear! The interior of the main body of the church is also intense and somewhat overwhelming. The fact that Michelangelo Buonarotti assisted in the design might explain a bit.. :) The gold and marble and immense space and light from the high windows all combine to make this a truly holy experience. And add to that the amazing art adorning the walls, and a chance to glimpse Michelangelo's 'Pietà'... unfortunately through her history since 1499 various vandals have caused damage to the priceless sculpture, so it is now only viewable behind bulletproof glass. Though we were of course surrounded by hundreds [thousands?] of other travellers, pilgrims and locals, it is impossible not to feel moved when standing in the centre of the greatest church in the world.

After leaving the basilica, feeling quite exhausted and outdone by all the holiness and splendour and size, we planned a quiet contemplative walk back to the centre of Rome. But on our way across the magnificent St Peter's square outside the church, we heard a cannon fire and the small crowd gathered started to applaud. Expecting some kind of demonstration, we turned around and followed the noise.... only to look up to the sky and see the outline of a small old man, dressed all in white, visible in one of the high windows of the Apostolic Palace.. and we were witnessing a Papal address. I was thrilled to be able to understand snippets of what was said in Italian, and he followed this up with English, then proceeded to ask the gathered crowd, in French, whether there were any French in the audience [cue: loud cheers and waving of French flags] and gave a brief address in French. Spanish and German followed. It was amazing to see this figurehead, so often mentioned, so rarely seen - in the flesh, and to see him interact with a crowd of hundreds in half a dozen languages. To walk into St Peters was a once in a lifetime experience. It's almost a shame that it was superceded so quickly by an even greater one...

To finish of our Roman sojourn, we walked to the famous Spanish Steps, climbing from Piazza di Spagna and Piazza Trinità dei Monti. These eighteenth century steps form the longest and widest staircase in Europe, and have been climbed by millions of tourists over the years. Though apparently it is illegal to eat your lunch sitting on them... and also to drive down them, as a drunk Colombian man found out when he drove his Toyota down the steps in 2007...
Finally, we stopped at the beautiful Fontana Trevi, the largest [of many] fountain in Rome. This massive Baroque masterpiece is simply stunning, and is a real sight when lit up at night. One of many traditions to have arisen is that if a visitor throws a coin over their shoulder into the fountain, they are guaranteed to return to Italy one day... and over 3000 euros are collected out of the fountain each night, so they're on to a good thing!
But of course, we took part, as from what we've seen so far - we definitely want to come back for more.

Italian style, and why they do it best.

After the natural wonder that was the Cinque Terre track, we headed down the country a little further to start soaking in some of the many man-made wonders tha Italy has to offer in beautiful Firenze.

Our hostel had a roof top terrace with a slice of view of the magnificent duomo, so after admiring it from a distance, that seemed like a good place to start.. This thirteenth/fourteenth century cathedral is like no other.. and I'm amazed that we can still say that after all the churches in Europe we have seen :) But with it's distinctive nineteenth century façade of white, green and red marble, and amazing octagonal brick dome, it realy does look like nothing else. The dome is still the largest masonry dome in the world. The interior of the cathedral is relatively sparse and simple, but there are some fantastic pieces of art adorning the walls, and the interior space is simply massive. The cathedral forms such an amazing centrepiece in a city overloaded with exceptional architechture and sights. The eleventh century baptistery building with it's ornate bronze doors and the campanile looming overhead right beside the duomo help make the cathedral square area even more imposing and impressive.

Next stop: Piazza della Signoria, with the awesome Fountain of Neptune outside Palazzo Vecchio - the town hall of Florence, with a copy of Michelangelo's 'David' at the entrance. The square also functions as an open air museum, and as our time and funds were both limited, was our only chance to spy the gems of the Uffizi Gallery, one of the world's great art collections. In the square we could get up close to original sixteenth century sculptures such as Cellini's "Perseus with the Head of Medusa", and Giambologna's "The Rape of the Sabine Women"... it was so fantastic that these works of art were available for free public view!

The next must-see sight in Florence was the Arno river, and the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge spanning it. This fourteenth century bridge is one of only a handful in the world to still have shops lining both sides, as was common in medieval times. They were once butchers but now the bridge sparkles and shines with high class jewellers and gold merchants. Ponte Vecchio is the only bridge to have survived bombing of Florence in World War II, and it feels like you are part of history to cross it.

We also visited a small museum claiming to be built on the site of Dante Alighieri's home, and the church [apparently] which he attended, and where he first spied his muse Beatrice. Authentic or not, this was a great experience for me after spending years reading his works and hearing tales of his history...

Finally we felt we had to view Florence from above to get a real overview of this amazing city, and made our way up towards Michelangelo park up on a hill above the city, where we saw the beginning of sunset over the historic skyline.

It makes so much more sense now, why so many have fallen in love with this city, and we still have so much more to see and do here that we will certainly be back... one day...