A Renaissance Rome Walking Tour

In today's entry we are going back to November of 2008 and visiting a little place called Rome.  There are two things that you must always remember about Rome when on a Mediterranean cruise and only there for one day.

1. It wasn't built in a day.
2. You can't see it all in a day.

It is the one place that we visited during this cruise that I left knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt I must go back to.  Sometimes you leave a cruise thinking of a location that you visited and you know in your head that you would like to be on another cruise that goes back there.  Other places you know that you are eventually going to have to fly to and spend several days because doing it a day at a time will never be enough.  Rome is one of those cities that you have to fly back to.  

The ship stops in Cittavecchia and there is about an hour long drive from there to Rome.  Our excursion in Rome was a Renaissance Rome Walking Tour.  The bus took us to a side street in the middle of Rome where a woman met us.  She wore an overcoat and carried what looked like a cars telescopic antenna with a pretty scarf tied around the end of it.  We all got off the bus, she pulled the antenna to it's full height and told us to follow the scarf and we began walking since there was no time to spare.

Our first stop was the Spanish Steps.  The steps were built from 1723 to 1725 which means they are fairly new to the city.  As we learned while in Italy, nothing is really old until it is at least 400 years old.  Which is good if you feel like you are getting old.  The fountain at the base of the 138 steps in Piazza de Spagna is called the Fonatana della Barcaccia (Fountain of the Ugly Boat).  It was built almost 100 years earlier between 1627 and 1629 and was designed by Pietro Bernini, father of the more famous Gian Lorenzo Bernini.  The steps were impressive, but I personally was more impressed by the fountain.  

 As we stood in front of the fountain at the base, our tour guide talked about the fountains all over Rome.  She explained that they originally existed as drinking water.  She said that the water is very pure and you may still see people drinking from there.  We did see a man drinking from a fountain later in our trip on the Amalfi coast.  But while in Rome, I saw no one drinking from a fountain.

 In the summer months, there are so many tourists covering the Spanish Steps that it is a little difficult to move around.  But as you can see in November, the numbers are much smaller.  I think that if I were to go back to Rome, I would do so at the same time of year again.  The weather was not too cold while we were there and the crowds were very small.  The only place that seemed the least bit crowded was the Trevi Fountain and I am sure that in the Spring or Summer even it would be have been much worse.  The street in the photo to the right is a major shopping area.  All of the designers have shops located there.  Since I haven't researched hotels in Rome yet, I am not certain, but I would imagine that this might be a good area to stay in if you were to spend several days.

Our next stop was the Trevi Fountain.  Again, it was kind of crowded but you were still able to get to the edge of the fountain to throw your coins in fairly easily.  I am sure that it takes an hour or two to get to the edge during the height of tourist season.

Fontana della Barcaccia

The fountain is too big to fit it all in one frame.  So it is broken up in these photos below.  We spent maybe 30 minutes here walking around and getting pictures from different angles.  It is a terrific place to people watch since every tourist in the city will come by at some point during their trip to Rome.

 In the photo above, you can see a bride and groom in the middle of the picture.  It looked like they were just taking pictures.  I don't think they actually got married at the fountain, but I could be wrong.  I think the man in the foreground of the photo is preparing to throw a coin.  I wasn't aware before our visit but apparently you have to stand facing away from the fountain and throw your coin over your shoulder for it to work.  Legend has it that if you do this, it ensures that you will return to Rome.  In the photo below, I am following all of the rules.  But I did it in 2008 and haven't made it back yet.  I suppose there is no statute of limits on the coin throwing thing.  So, we'll see.  I hope there wasn't a rule about the minimum amount you can throw in to get the return trip....  Maybe I needed to throw a full Euro in.....  Yikes!

After taking all of our photos at the Trevi Fountain and throwing our coins in, we walked over to a gelato shop on the corner as you enter the area and we each got a gelato.  Most of the people on the tour made this stop.  The tour guide assured us it was the best in Rome.  The websites do not confirm that.  Since I have nothing to compare it to, I couldn't tell you if that was correct.  But I will tell you that it was so good, I still remember how it tasted four and a half years later.  

Our next stop was the Pantheon but to get there we had to walk through Piazza di Peitra which is home to the Temple of Hadrian which shows tons of scars from wars on it's facade.

Temple of Hadrian

The Pantheon is nearly 2000 years old.  Even by Roman standards that is OLD!  There is much discussion about how many times it was burned and rebuilt.  From what I can tell, this is probably the 3rd building that is standing now.  But even it, is nearly 2000 years old. It was commissioned by Marcus Agrippa as a temple to all the gods of ancient Rome.  Apparently Agrippa was pretty full of himself since the inscription across the front of the Pantheon reads:

M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIUM·FECIT which translates to  "Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, made this building when consul for the third time."

I guess he wanted to make sure he got credit.  It served it's purpose.  This along with building remains excavated from under the present structure are how archaeologists know that there were two buildings here that burned prior to this one.  

 The building itself is a huge dome with a "porch" across the front of it.  In the top of the dome is an open oculus.  When it rains, it rains inside the building.  The dome even after nearly 2000 years is still the worlds largest unreinforced concrete dome.  It is the burial place of two Italian kings.  it is one of the best preserved of all Roman buildings and has been in constant use throughout it's history.  It's been used as a Roman Catholic church since the 7th century.

In the piazza there was the cutest cafe which I would love to have eaten at but unfortunately there was no time before our next stop.  But here is a picture of a place I'd like to go back to.  As you can see, it was decorated for Christmas and looked beautiful.  Doesn't it look like a terrific place for lunch or dinner on a warm summer evening while gazing at the Pantheon?

Our next stop was Piazza Navona.  Here we were given about an hour and a half to go out on our own, have lunch and explore the piazza.  The main fountain was undergoing restoration while we were there.  But we could still see through the construction barriers to the statues in the fountain and all the other fountains were in tact and working.  We found a place for pizza just outside of the piazza.  Our tour guide had told us that the reason the pizza in Rome was so much better than anywhere else was because of the pure Roman water that comes from the fountains that they use to make the pizza crust.  So we had to find out.  It was good.

If you are a fan of author Dan Brown, like I am, you might recognize Piazza Navona as the the sight where the last cardinal was dropped in the fountain in Angels & Demons. Even if you haven't read the books, Ron Howard directed the movie in which Tom Hanks played the main character, symbologist Robert Langdon.  I will tell you that the tour guide was not thrilled with the book or the movie.  She spent several minutes talking about how none of it ever could have happened.  Her husband apparently had very healthy opinions on the matter as well.

Apparently, all of the sets for Angels & Demons had to be built elsewhere because Rome was so offended by the premise that they would not allow it to be shot on location.  I loved the book.  If you haven't read it, give it a try.  By the way, the book is better than the movie.  But in my humble opinion, you can never go wrong with a Ron Howard / Tom Hanks venture.

The statue of Neptune in the fountain to the right was one that was under going restoration while we were there.  The statues all over Italy were so amazing to me.  Each little feature was so realistic, it was hard to believe that they were carved from stone.  Take a look at the carved foot below.  How can someone do that????

Our guide told us that the huge building in Piazza Navona was once home to a pope.

It was a daunting task to get through Renaissance Rome on a walking tour in just one day.  We were able to do it.  But amazingly enough, I am unable to write about all of it and show you the photos of all the places that we visited in just one day.  So you will have to join me again on Monday as we go to Vatican City for the balance of our walking tour.

Have a great weekend and Happy National Margarita Day!