We arrive at the front of St Peters square at 8:45 in search of where to go to join the guided tour we've booked for 9am. We ask one of the friendly travel info staff who seem to be everywhere (as well as all of Indian or South American descent) and he advises we need to walk to the Museum entrance which is 10mins away.
We meet our guide Christa, who reminds me of my dads Aunty Rosa. We equip ourselves with earphones and audio guides and make our way into the Vatican Museum, following Christa and her flag with pompom. It's tacky but effective, there are so many people here. Apparently they get 20,000 people A-DAY!
5million yearly.
We first make our way to the Pine Courtyard, where there is a tall Pine cone fountain at its heart. But more impressive to us is a new sculpture by Arnarldo Pomodoro, Sphere within Sphere. It's a comment on humanity's fragile relationship with the earth and the effects we have on our planet. He Vatican is an interesting setting for an artwork of this nature!
Christa explains the symbolism and imagery of Michaelangelos Sistine Chapel ceiling and wall frescos. Im a sucker for symbolism and history and I'm captivated by the extraordinary detail she is explaining. She's explaining all this first as there's a strict no talking policy once in the chapel.
We then make our way through the various rooms of the gallery and museum. I must say I'm more impressed than I thought I would be. I guess it's the sheer extent of the collection, second biggest in world behind Louvre, as well as its significance in history. The works here represent a significant cultural history of our western Christian dominated society. All the great artists, architects and inventors of their time here. It's hard not to get swept up in the history of the place that adorns the walls, ceilings and even the floors. There are a great number of mosaic artworks and insignias on the floors. Quite astounding in detail.
One of my favourite rooms is the long corridor room with all the various maps of Italy. The pope at the time was rather lazy and didn't want to travel so had a geographer map the country and a painter paint large segmental maps. It's quite impressive. The popes apartment lobby rooms painted by Raphael are quite spectacular also. He painted these rooms at the same time Michaelangelo was painting the chapel, which took him 4 years alone to do the ceiling.
We then enter into the modern section which we quickly wizz through for some reason, which was a shame as that's what we like. Nonetheless we had enough time to see a few works by Matisse, Dali, Gauguin and Francis Bacon.
After a couple of hours we finally arrive at the pinnacle, the Sistine Chapel. Upon entering you're greeted by a loud ssssssshhhhh through the microphone. "Silence!" bellows one of the many guards in the room. "No pho-to, no vid-e-o". It's quite oppressive in here, everyone is herded to the middle and looks up. Fascism is still alive in this room one could say!
Despite that the ceiling and main wall are spectacular. The vivid colors are what really stand out. They pop with the three dimensional shadowing. We look for all the imagery Christa spoke of and try to see the details. Particularly the figures that were clothed and the figures where the clothes were removed during the restoration work in the 1980s.
"Ssssshhhhhh." Bellows the man again, "NO PHO-TO!" He yells, staring at a guilty American elderly man who pleads his ignorance. Americans!
We leave the chapel and head to the Basilica. It's astounding the level of decoration and expense here, but as Christa explains, back in the Renaissance times pilgrims who came here were poor and this place must have felt like heaven. Today though it seems outrageously adorned and highly detailed. 120 years it took to build. Crazy!
We wander the basilica before wrapping up our three and half hour your with Christa.
Sim suggests doing the climb up to the top of the dome. It's 520 steps and €8 each, but we decide to do it. The journey up is amazing. The staircase up is filled with tight spiral stairs, zig zagging low headroom staircases, and a tapered bending stair that is between the inner and outer dome shell. It's quite a cool experience, albeit a death trap in a fire! We get to the final staircase which is an even skinnier spiral. Honestly did Willy Wonka design this place!
We get to the top and WOW! The views are incredible. From here you can see all of Vatican City and its extensive garden grounds, as well as a great deal of Rome. The view down over St Peters square is spectacular!
So worth the climb up!
We make our way down and stop at the souvenir gift shops looking for a Christmas ornament for our tree, a tradition now we have from all the places we've travelled. We find a really nice bauble we like but it's crazy expensive. Bloody Catholic Church! Nonetheless we buy it.
We head out of the Basilica and into the Square, ringed by all the Bernini statues. What an amazing morning. Thoroughly enjoyed the Vatican.
We head back into Rome crossing the river at the Ponte Sant'Angelo. The view from here is awesome.
We make our way through Ponte to lunch near Piazza Novona. Prosciutto and Rockmelon for primi and gnocchi with tomato sauce as lunch proper! Simi has a minestrone and garlic bread.
After lunch we revisit the piazza Novona, stopping for gelato and taking out time to look more at the Bernini fountains in the square. It's nice to sit and appreciate the incredible works. It's republic day in Italy, the rain has cleared, the suns out and the city is a buzz with people.
We wander back through town via the Campo di Fiori where there is the fresh food market still open. There's a real feeling of compress and release in Rome, as you squeeze through its shaded narrow streets, hugging the building edge between the parked cars and street, before you open up into a large square flooded with sun.
We get back home around 5pm for a rest and a shower before heading out at 8pm for a night time stroll. We head over the river, up past the piazza Venezia towards the colosseum where the Republic Day parade is now being unpacked. It feels like the finish line to a marathon with all the seating lining the street.
We head out for dinner at a Roman Taverna . I try a pasta with prosciutto, pine nuts, sage and saffron - it's meant to be a classic Roman sauce. It's different. I'm not sure I like the flavour of saffron though, having had a dish with it a few months back. Too overpowering. For Secondi I had a really nice lamb chop, simple yet tasty.
We head out to see the lights of the city, stopping first at the colosseum. It's rather disappointingly lit at night. Nothing like the photos I've seen. Sim gets upset that I want to walk around the whole thing. "It's a circle" she says " it looks the same on the other side", nonetheless we walk around the whole thing. It's as if all the globes in all the arches have gone out and they've failed to replace them. Oh well!
We make our way up via Alessandrina past the ruins below. It's quite a nice space with buskers playing accordions and pianos and couples making out on street benches.
We head up to Trevi to check out the fountain at night and get some gelato.
The fountain is still packed with people and it's now 11pm. We sit for a while, fighting off the selfie stick guys and the guy who wants to give you roses for free only to ask for money later. Honestly, piss off!!!
We take a taxi back to Santa Maria in Trastevere where it's a buzz with people drinking in the streets. I'm keen for a beer but sim is dead tired and struggling so we head back home.
Another awesome day in the eternal city!
mat + sim
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