Don's Exit on the Information Highway

Rome

June 26 - Downtown and Ostia Antica


In San Pietro in Vincoli, Michelangelo's Moses	Ostia Antica	Ostia Antica	Ostia Antica: Baths of Juno

June 27 - Appia Antica and Fountains of Rome


We spent a good part of the day in the neighborhood of the Via Appia Antica. This road parallels the Appian Way itself.	We also took in some of Rome's fountains, including the River God, or Tiber, located dramatically on this corner, one of four corners of one intersection that is home to le Quattro Fontane,	then ended the day with a visit to the Trevi Fountain, of which this is a small part.

June 28 - The Vatican and more


First the Vatican Museums,	then to St. Peter's next door,	and to Castel Sant' Angelo, nearby up the Tiber,


continuing to Santa Maria sopra Minerva,	the Pantheon and several fountains not shown here, then passing this art project near Trajan's Forum,	and the Vittorio Emmanuelle II Monument.

June 29 - The Forum & Capitoline Hill


Overlooking the Forum to the Colosseum framed by Oleander	A whole lot of the Forum: left to right: Basilica of Constantine, Temple of Romulus, Colosseum, Santa Francesca Romana, Temple of Vesta, Arch of Titus, and Temple of Castor and Pollux	A closer view of the Temple of Castor and Pollux and the Arch of Titus	The She-Wolf, from the Capitoline Museum, Palazzo dei Conservatori, only one of many works of art we viewed there and in the Palazzo Nuovo

We ended the day with dinner followed by a Mozart concert by a chamber orchestra in a church courtyard near Piazza Navona.

June 30 - The Trastevere & San Paolo


We spent a lot of the day Wednesday tooling around the Trastevere and also the Jewish section of Rome back across the Tiber, where we visited the synagogue. (St. Peter's and Trastevere are on the west side of the Tiber; nearly everything else is on the east side.) Among the sights in the Trastevere are the botanical gardens, featuring tropical plants.	Noted for its fine mosaics, Santa Maria in Trastevere is one of two especially interesting churches in the neighborhood, the other being San Francesco a Ripa, which houses a Bernini Ecstasy. I can't show everything here, though; so I'll let another Bernini Ecstasy (see the Seventh Day, below) suffice.	Having visited the other three "major" basilicas (there are actually seven in all, but for some reason or other three of them don't count for much), we went quite off the beaten track to get to San Paolo's, shown above, and ending our sightseeing on the fifth day. There remained one more treat, though: the tasty dinner at I Quadri Foglio, and the over-the-top friendliness of the waiters.

July 1 - Castel Sant'Angelo and Villa Borghese

We began Thursday at the Baths of Caracalla, somewhat interesting to walk through, but not yielding any particularly interesting pictures.


Then we headed back across the river to see Castel Sant' Angelo.	The big event of the afternoon was our visit to Villa Borghese, Rome's answer to New York's Central Park. The main attraction there is the art gallery, which houses some stunning statues as well as many paintings, but photography is not allowed inside, so I'm representing Villa Borghese with a picture of its pines, the very ones that inspired Respighi, seen here next to the Palazzetto dell'Orologio.	Leaving Villa Borghese, Piazza del Popolo was the closest place to catch the Metro, and a picturesque one at that, featuring the twin churches of Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria di Montesanto.	Here is the overall view of Valadier's grand design, including an Egyptian obelisk, and a fountain (mostly obscured by the obelisk in this picture.)

July 2 - Domus Aurea, a Bernini Ecstasy, Villa d'Este, & Hadrian's Villa


The morning found us in Domus Aurea, Nero's Golden House.	Then to the church of Santa Maria Vittorio to see Bernini's Ecstasy	In the afternoon we took a tour to Tivoli, beginning at Villa d'Este, where all the fountains work off of natural water pressure, without pumps. This is the Spianata delle Peschiere seen through the Fontana di Nettuno at Villa d'Este,


The last stop on our tour brought us full circle, in a way, to where we began in Sicily, juxtaposing things Greek and Roman. Hadrian's Villa was a complex in which the emperor displayed art treasures of the ancient world, and one that was dedicated in part to his lover Antinous, who drowned in the Nile at about the same time as the villa was being constructed. The article at http://www.chariotswheels.com/html/gay/ANTINOUS.HTM states it was because of Antinoüs that Rome made an alliance with Greece. Unfortunately, Hadrian proclaimed Antinoüs a god, initiating an idolatry of him that lasted another 300 years. In the meantime Hadrian unleashed a reign of terror, particularly upon Jews, who resisted the Antinoüs cult. The Canopus, built as a souvenir of the town of Canope in Egypt, combines the cult of Serapis with that of Antinoüs.	On the way back from a piano-accompanied concert version of La Traviata in a church courtyard, we took one final look at the Forum (temples of Vespasian and Saturn shown here),	and a somewhat eerie-looking Colosseum, as we bade farewell to Rome.

The most memorable parts of the trip don't show in these photos: our helplessness at being lost in street-sign-less Palermo at midnight; driving in the insane Palermo traffic; the kindness of a service-station attendant who gave us bottled water when we were thirsty and of another stranger who drove several miles out of his way to lead us to one of the sights near Mt. Etna; the love of mankind, God, and his work exhibited by the priest who led us through the catacombs of San Calisto; the ebullience of our Palermo B&B host, Giorgio; the helpfulness of the staff of our hotel in Rome; the hugs and kisses from the waiters at Il Quadrifoglio, who had instantly become our fratelli; and the 105-mile-per-hour taxi ride to the airport as we began our trip home.

As with almost all travel outside the U.S., I came away with more respect for the places I visit and more of a sense that we are all brothers throughout the world. Even while that is happening, I come to appreciate more the comforts and values of the good ole U.S.A. We learned, for example, that la dolce vita has a downside: a very casual approach to life leads to carelessness in matters of organization that can become more than a little aggravating, things like poorly maintained street signs and the amazing inability of one of the top attractions in Rome, the Colosseum, to provide change. Still, if the gelato doesn't quite make up for such petty inconveniences, certainly the warmth of the people does.