In 2010 Janet and I made our first trip out of the country together, spending 7 days in London and Paris. We booked guided tours and saw almost everything someone would want to see on once in a life time visit. For years we planned that the next time we visit Europe we would go to Italy. For the last two years, I’ve been scouting travel sites looking for the tour that would allow us to see what we want to see at a price we wanted to pay. Last year I finally found the tour through Gate 1 Travel that would take us to Rome, Assisi, Florence, Pisa, and Venice so I booked the deal. April break finally arrived and we were on our way!  This trip was way too big to fit into a single blog post so I’ve decided to spread it out into six, capturing the best of the five cities we visited (Rome gets 2 posts).  These posts may be longer than my one day adventures, but we took in so much that it would be impossible to share without more posts.

Our first city was Rome, the eternal city. It’s still hard to believe we walked those streets and saw the sites, but the pictures bear testimony to the fact it all happened. Gate 1 met us as soon as we exited the secure baggage claim area and shuttled us to our hotel. After our 7 hour flight that began at 11:00 PM EST, we were pretty tired, but we managed to explore our surroundings a little and enjoy our first taste of gelato.  We returned to our room for a quick nap before meeting our tour manager, Maurizio, and the remainder of our group for a 6:00 PM orientation meeting and dinner.  As it turned out, our group contained only 16 members and it was easy to get to know everyone. Dinner at our first Italian ristorante was everything we hoped. Italian cuisine in Italy seemed a little different than Italian-American. I don’t remember seeing pepperoni on any menu.   Throughout the week, Janet and I tried very hard to spend at least one meal with all the travelers. Most were delightful people from varied places throughout the US.

We spent two days discovering Rome. The first day was all about ancient Rome. We began the day bright and early at the Colosseum.  Up to the moment we caught site of the arena, Rome had appeared to me as other cities, with modern buildings and daily life. Viewing the Colosseum for the first time kind of takes you out of time and space to a world you’ve only read about. As we exited the bus, the guide pointed out the hill where the Caesar’s palace stood. Over the hill was the entrance to the Roman forum. And to the right, next to a glorious arch stood the Colosseum. My mind was spinning with images of movies I’d seen like Gladiator, Ben-Hur, Cleopatra, and The Fall of the Roman Empire. Here I was, standing in the place all that happened. It was like a world inside a world.

Christina was our local expert, guiding us through the sites of Rome. She was a walking encyclopedia of all things Rome. From her we learned the word, andiamo, which means, let’s go. She also used the word piano a lot. In music we use piano to mean softly, here she used to mean slowly, which was appropriate for our group of all ages.  We had tickets to enter the structure through a special entrance that led to the floor of the arena. This “stage” is a partial covering of the maze of rooms that held animals and performers for the events. It provided us with grand views to begin our tour. We eventually made our way around, and up through most of the site seeing the emperor’s seat, the VIP seats, the stations of the cross that were installed during medieval times, and the only remaining statue of the hundreds that adorned the arches of the outer wall.  Our guide shared tons of facts that my wife will eventually classify as totally useless information I will exposit someday.

After the Colosseum, we headed over to the Forum, through another elaborately carved arch. These two, and the one in the forum are all that is left of over 100 arches that dotted imperial Rome. Here we saw the house of the Vestal Virgins, the spot where Julius Caesar was cremated, and the other ruins of the former capital of the Roman empire.

Lunch was on our own, and a portion of us reconvened for an extra excursion called  Rome’s Hidden Treasures. Our first stop was to Basilica San Pietro in Vincoli or the Basilica of St. Peter in Chains. The chains were displayed as a relic under the altar, and many pieces of art depicted the story of Peter being released from prison by the angel. The reason for our visit though, was to see Michelangelo’s statue of Moses. Meant to be part of a much larger work for the pope’s tomb, this piece was the only part that was finished and became a permanent installation in this church.  I’ve been to many art galleries, and seen many masterpieces. I was soon to learn that all of Italy is like a large art museum, with priceless pieces in galleries, churches, and even on the walls of buildings.

From the San Pietro in Vincoli, we made our way to St. Clement Basilica. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take pictures inside, so I bought a book with pictures. This website contains pictures and information about all we saw. This church was amazing, not for art or sacred reasons, but for history. We began at the “ground” level in the modern church which was in itself, beautiful. On the right wall we were directed to notice waist high arches along the bottom of the wall that appeared to come from below the floor. One hundred years prior, a priest also noticed these arches and began to dig under the structure to see what they were. As the dig progressed, it was discovered that these arches were part of the original church that had existed there in the middle ages. When the new church was built, they simply filled in the old church with rock and soil and built the new church on top. Further digging revealed that below the old church was a pagan temple, and still further was a Roman house dating back over 2000 years. We traveled down through all these layers below “ground” level to where a spring still ran that would have supplied water to the house during the Roman empire. All these structures still exist below the current church, and we were able to see them all, including much of the artwork still in mosaic or paintings on the walls.  We were so glad we took advantage of this opportunity.

We had a few hours between the tour and dinner. While Janet rested at the hotel, I walked down the street to explore the Basilica Paple di Santa Maria Maggiore which means the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major. Not only is it one of the largest catholic churches in the world, but it is one of the handful of churches designated for the pope to say mass. The interior was exquisitely covered in mosaics and other beautiful art and ornaments. The two domed chapels to the sides were even more beautiful than the nave. Later we learned that Maurizio’s mother had been part of the team to restore the ceiling in this beautiful edifice.

I returned to the hotel and we joined the group as Maurizio led us through some of his favorite parts of Rome on a walking tour. We followed his recommendation for dinner and ended up at a wonderful pizzeria, Alle Carrette for a very traditional pizza meal. It was a perfect ending to a glorious day!

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller