Woke up a bit later as today was planned to be our day of really really old stuff. We were going to hit the trifecta: Palatine Hill, Colosseum, and Roman Forum. By design our hotel was dead center in Rome so we could walk to everything if we wanted. This group was the closest as we were just north of it all by about a block. Since most of Rome is about seven stories or less, we did not realize our proximity. Also, most of the ancient city is about two stories underground, so it is that much easier to hide behind buildings.
The Palatine Hill was impressive. This is where the Roman palace was eventually placed and it was monsterous in it's prime, covering most of the hill (one of seven that make up ancient Rome), and towering several stories high, even higher on the side of the Roman Forum where Caligula's palace was. This was also the birth place of Romulus and Remus, the twin brothers raised by a wolf and the founders of Rome. We spent our time absorbing and imagining what this once looked like, covered in marble and plaster, soaring into the air, looking over their own private arena, as well as sitting above the Circus Maximus. The sheer amount of labor it must have taken to build this palace is without compare. The typical structure was cement (a Roman invention) or travertine block, then brick, then marble and plaster for finishing the exterior of the wall. Most of what still stands is cement and brick. The rest having been an easy source of material to build churches for the Catholics, especially Saint Peter's basilica, and was effectively a quarry for other early Christian projects. The only pieces that were saved were either buried from earthquakes or actually converted to churches (like the Colosseum).
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| Most marble was stolen, these somehow survived |
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| An example of fragments of marble on a wall |
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| Palentine Hill had a fish pond at the Forum entrance? |
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| What's left of a commemorative arch at the entrance to the Forum |
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| Colosseum |
The Colosseum is big, very big and took four years just to bring the stones from Tivoli by oxen. Seeing it up close screams years of labor, mostly stacking blocks or bricks and mortar. What you didn't see computer generated in the movie
Gladiator won't be found in your imagination, the design is pretty simple. What you will find is an eerie sense that thousands of people and animals died here, bleeding all over the wooden, sand-covered floor and maybe it would have been fun seeing it...in a really twisted way.
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| Older man, younger woman, and dog on a Vespa! |
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| Remus and Romulus, founders and official logo of Rome (SPQR) |
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| Basilica of Constantine in the Forum (see Lindsey for scale?) |
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| Bricklaying work at the Colosseum |
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| Temple in the Forum |
The Roman Forum is sprawling but mostly rubble. You can kick around in the dirt and find fragments of two thousand year old history. The most impressive part is easily the Basilica of Constantine. Simply because it is one of the most "complete" structures unearthed today. It stands about 130 feet high, spreading out over nine arched/domed sections of building, but only three remain intact today. The rest of the Forum is massive but ruined, with what was built upon many times over, making a mess that the church only added to. Sad, but still impressive, two thousand years later.
Not much has been done to these sights until recently, as the government only now owns the property and not the churches and private families. As such we saw multiple sections of these areas closed off due to preservation/reconstruction efforts. It will be a great place to revisit if they can reconstruct some of these awesome buildings some day. I think I'll wait until then, as my ROS quota is over-flowing after this trip.
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| See the restaurant owner in the back? Great family run business |
Non-ROS event of the day: dinner! We found a great little place that made home cooked meals and had outstanding service. We had a sausage and handmade trofie pasta with Italian broccoli and fennel, as well as a gnocchi and wild boar (chingiale) sauce that was wonderfully hearty. A nice profitta role for dessert and a digestive of DiSaronno. I think it actually helped, and our Florentine friends would approve!
Time to go back to Brooklyn, NY as this has been a long and wonderful experience. Italy is something wonderful in its history, that makes it uniquely beautiful and distinctly amazing. I'll miss the food, but not the service. I'll miss the people but not the tourists. I'll also miss not having to work for two weeks!
-NT
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