Rome Part 1: The Vatican and Centro

Last semester our program took us all to Siena for a weekend, this semester we got Rome! It seems like fate that the two cities chosen for this year were my two favorites from my first trip to Italy after high school. Practically polar opposites but both supremely representative of all that is Italian. Rome with it's fashionable inhabitants, sunny streets, creamy pastas and round-the-corner monuments is an incredibly vibrant city, weirdly intimate for it's size and history. It was such a treat to go back. 

Friday morning we boarded the train in sundresses, shorts, and *gasp* bare legs. Two hours later we were stowing sweaters and putting on sunglasses as we arrived at our lovely hotel, Albergo del Sole, right off of Campo dei Fiori. 

After quickly dropping our things off in our four-bed suite, we headed to the Campo to take advantage of the bustling outdoor market. We bought some sparkling white wine and picked up a few focaccia paninis and made our way to Piazza Navona, less than two blocks away. The sun was shining, the famous fountains were sparkling, a jazz quartet played greatest hits, and we found a free marble bench to perch on and take it all in.

After a while, I checked my watch and made my excuses. I had planned a solo trip to the Vatican Museums, and had to book it over to make my reservation. The rest of the group was going on a tour of the centro later in the afternoon, and I agreed to try to meet up with them when I was finished. The first time I visited Rome, we were only there for 2-3 days, and decided we had to cut something in order to do our itinerary justice. So when I found out we weren't visiting the Vatican as a group, I simply couldn't, as a self-respecting art history student, go to Rome twice without visiting the treasure troves of the holy city.

My first view of the famous piazza did not disappoint. It's breathtaking in person. 

I waited on the basilica, and instead made my way around the back to the entrance of the Vatican Museums. What an experience. A family friend once said to me that he thinks it's outrageous that the church hasn't just sold it's wealth of art to fund charities- he makes a good point. Even as I remembered that conversation, I was selfishly glad that all of these masterpieces have been so well conserved here and that I got a chance to see some of the most influential works of all time. Highlights for me were the sculptures of the Cortile Ottagono, the Galleria dell Carte Geographiche (Map Gallery), and, obviously, the Sistine Chapel. The Pinacoteca and one of my favorite Caravaggios was a lovely surprise.

Cortile Ottagono

Apoxyomenos (1st century) - one of the earliest examples of contrapposto

Apollo Belvedere (2nd century) - copy of a 4th-century-BC Greek bronze. One of the greatest masterpieces of classical sculpture (ignore the Hello Kitty hair bow thing he's got going on- focus on the drapery. And the abs)

Laocoön and his sons (discovered 1506, said to be from the 1st century) - A Trojan priest and his sons fighting sea serpents. It has inspired and influenced countless masters with its dynamic poses and emotional expressions. Way more important to an art history major than Michelangelo's David. 

Next was my new favorite thing (I came back to it twice even though that meant exiting and reentering the museums) The Gallery of Maps. First of all the ceiling is dizzyingly lush with decoration, and seems to glow like the lid of a jewelry box. The walls running down the length of the long gallery contain incredibly specific, beautifully painted maps of the ancient regions of Italy. The hills are painted in shades of soft green, the cities in terra cotta, and the seas are bright blue. Over everything is a tracery of golden lines denoting cardinal directions as well as stars, ships, and cherubs.

The sunlight streaming in through the many windows made it even more beautiful, along with a light breeze. I think it's wonderful (and a bit scary) that the Italians can be so casual about the enjoyment of these priceless masterpieces- leaving them open to the public as well as the elements. It makes you feel like you're experiencing them as they were meant to be, and not through three inches of bulletproof glass with two beefy security guards giving you the stink-eye (more on that later).

I took a picture of the Bononia (Bologna) map. Home sweet home.

All of the galleries are gorgeous, even the ones displaying Florentine cabinets or papal china sets. I loved this stand-alone glass window of the Madonna and Child. It seems almost Pre-Raphaelite and Jesus looks extremely sassy.

The Pinacoteca was well worth a visit, containing the original tapestries from the Sistine chapel and some impressive works by Raphael and Caravaggio to name a few. On the way out is a perfect marble replica of the Pietà, which I would recommend seeing as the original is trapped behind a wall of bullet-proof glass and a mosh-pit of tourists.

I exited the museums to the steps of St. Peter's, taking in a panorama view of the piazza before heading into the basilica.

Wow.

I'm just going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

Michelangelo's Pietà. So gorgeous, but like I said, I'd go look at the copy in the Pinacoteca- you can barely get within 10 feet of this one.

Absolutely amazing.

As luck would have it, I walked out of the basilica just in time to see the changing of the Swiss Guard. The Wikipedia article about them is pretty cool.

After resting my feet sitting among the famous columns, I rallied to join the troops. Cue a whirlwind tour of famous central monuments- Piazza Navona, the Caravaggios in  S. Luigi dei Francesi, the Pantheon, Trajan's Column, and the Trevi Fountain. I threw a coin in but no Paolo- still waiting on my Lizzie McGuire moment.  

For dinner we were lucky enough to stumble on a little trattoria run by an older couple willing to accommodate eleven noisy American girls. I had my first plate of real Roman spaghetti carbonara, and I'm never looking back. Whoever had the idea of a bacon, egg and cream sauce has my undying affection and probably a very high cholesterol count.

Sorry I just love this picture.

By the time we stumbled back to our hotel with aching feet and stuffed bellies, we ended up passing right out. Which was good because we had a 9:30am appointment for our bus to the Antica Via Appia the next day... coming soon!