Interrail throughout Italy

Milan - Padua - Verona - Venice - Florence - Saint Gimignano - Sienna - Pisa - Naples - Pompei - Amalfi Coast - Capri - Assisi - Rome - Tivoli - Monaco

The eternal city. It is the centre of occidental culture and there is much history to discover. In Rome you return to the olden ages through the Roman Empire. It keeps also numerous quite charming squares and fountains that make a pleasure the walk through Rome. Rome means also Christianity, Vatican, the 4 basilicas, the catacombs and much more, so we will go round the religions history. I have to mention the art as well, as there are many famous master works: the Moses, the Passion, the Sistine Chapel or the Vatican Museums. Summarizing, to enjoy the city they are necessary 5 or 6 days. There is an excursion that you shouldn't miss if you have the time: Tivoli. There you find two fantastic villas: the East Villa (an ancient palace with superb gardens and fountains) and Hadrian's Villa (Roman villa that this Roman emperor constructed, where we can walk tranquilly imaging how an emperor lived).

First of all I will describe a little about the history. If you prefer to jump until the start of the visit click here.
The Roman historians date the foundation of Rome in 753 B.C. It was governed by kings until 509 B.C., when the Roman noblemen expulsed the monarchy and established the Republic. During the beginning of its life, the Republic conquered the Italian peninsula by means of an army that was only recruited in war times. The tactic unity called legion was formed with heavy-armed infantry. Rome used soldiers from the conquered cities as auxiliary troops. The most important subordinate official was the centurion. Rome owed to this army's structure its power.
From the middle of the 3rd century B.C. Rome entered several wars that led it to the Mediterranean world domination.
The first step was the Punic wars against the Carthaginians (from Cartage, a city located in Tunisia), who where then a great maritime power. During the first war (264-241 B.C.) the Romans took possession of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Cisalpine Gaul (at the south side of the Alps). During the second war (218-201 B.C.) the war came to Spain, Italy and finally Africa. In this war it appeared one of the most famous generals of the history, Hannibal, who bothered the Roman Empire, since Hannibal fought and defeated the Romans in several occasions at their own territory, Italy. At the end Hannibal lost and as a result the Romans obtained the Iberian Peninsula and the Northwest of Africa.
On the other side of the empire, the Romans defeated the Macedonians and they occupied Macedonia (148 B.C.) and Greece (146 B.C.). As they owned Spain and the Cisalpine Gaul they conquered the southern Gaul to link both territories. During the 1st century B.C. they reached Asia Minor, Syria and Juda.
The conquests of 2nd and 1st centuries B.C. brought to Rome great loots, treasures and richness. Every citizen used an increasing number of slaves, whose inhuman situation led to some rebellions, such as Spartacus' one (73-71 B.C.), that failed. Rome started to feel love towards the luxury.
As the culture is concerned, Greece influenced on Romans. The Roman art, literature and religion were impregnated with the Hellenic culture. The Roman religion believed in many gods. They basically imported them from other civilizations, particularly the Greeks, and they incorporated many gods. They used to only change the name of the god, such as Jupiter instead of Zeus, Mars instead of Ares, Neptune-Poseidon, Pluto-Hades, Venus-Aphrodite, Minerva-Athena, Diana-Artemis, Vulcan-Hephaestus, Mercury-Hermes, Bacchus-Dionysos, etc.).
In the middle of the 1st century B.C. it arrived a very famous and busy period in history. Around the year 60 B.C., Pompey, Julius Caesar and Crassus took the power through an alliance known as triumvirate. Caesar was designed as consul and he obtained the command for the Gaul 's war. From the 58 to the 52 B.C. Julius Caesar conquered the Gaul in spite of some revolts or the final revolt leaded by Vercingetorix. During his absence, Crassus died and Pompey obliged the Senate to design him as the unique consul (52 B.C.). Pompey told Caesar to return. Caesar, with a great fortune, covered in glory and with a quite loyal army didn't accept that because it meant the end of his political career, therefore he crossed the Rubicon river with his army after pronouncing the well known phrase "alea jacta est" (the die is cast). Caesar invaded Rome in 49 B.C. and destroyed the Pompey's troops in Pharsalus, Greece (48 B.C.).
As the owner of Rome, he may have established a monarchy but Brutus and other traitors assassinated him in 44 B.C. His death didn't save the Republic since Mark Antony declared his intentions of succession. The clever orator Cicero tried to avoid that. He pronounced the known as philippics against Mark Antony, however Mark Antony formed with Octavian (Caesar's nephew) another triumvirate. The three dictators eliminated the Republicans in Rome, they killed Cicero and they defeated the Republican army in Macedonia in 42 B.C. The three dictators faced each other. The two main men, Mark Antony with his ally Cleopatra (queen of Egypt), and Octavian fought in the naval battle of Actium (31 B.C.) with a victory of the second one. The result was the submission of Egypt and since then the empire had a unique head, the emperor.
The next period is called the High Empire.
The Senate gave the title of "Augustus" to Octavian. Octavian Augustus was the first Roman emperor. He reorganized the state and kept the important powers. Until 69 A.C. the Julius Claudius, familiars of Augustus were emperors and they administrated the provinces: Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, etc. Afterwards, the Falvius came from 69 to 96 A.C.: Vespasian, Titus, Domitian. Subsequently the Antonines, who chose the successors by personal selection instead of inheriting it: Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Pius, Marcus Aurelius, etc. The Antonines period is considered as the gold century because of the prosperity in the entire empire and the permanent peace. A great impel was given to the Romanization of the occupied provinces.
During the High Empire there was a marked contrast between Rome and the provinces. Rome was a big city overpopulated full of idles and where the imperial grandeur brightened through the monuments. The society at the provinces was very vivacious and during this period many towns were founded, with the forum, the monuments and everything resembling Rome.
It became decadence or the Roman religion when it had to face the oriental worship that promised a better life after death and the priests were much better at recruiting believers. Among all these religions the one that experienced the greatest boom was the Christianity. The only problem of this raising religion was that it only allowed the worship of a unique god in exclusivity. Despite there was no official position against the Christians they were prosecuted by the hostility of the imperial power since Nero, since the Roman emperors thought that the believers moved away from the community and they were bad Romans. The common people hardly knew them and they thought that the Christians were guilty of terrible monstrosities.
During the High Empire they got the maximum extension of land with the conquests of Britannia in the 1st century and Assyria , Mesopotamia and Dacia during the Trajan's époque.
The other period of the Roman Empire is the Low Empire.
In the 192 A.C. the army started to impose its emperors to the Senate, that had lost every authority. A sort of absolute monarchy was established.
These are ages of anarchy and revolts, and the Empire is not able to contain the pressure of other civilizations. Although the first emperors in 3rd century managed to stop the exterior and interior pressure and despite the prosperity continued, short later the decadence took place.
The emperor Constantine conceded to the Christians the right to follow their religion by means of the Milan's edict in 313. He also started a new capital in the old Byzance, that was called Constantinople and since then became the rival of Rome. The Christianity boom was unstoppable and the emperor Theodosius decided to close every pagan temple in 394. After his death, his two sons shared the empire out, and therefore the two empires, the Occidental Empire and the Oriental Empire started to run separately and to develop their own destiny. The Oriental Empire or Byzance lasted until the end of the Middle Ages, whereas the Occidental Empire was victim of the barbarian invasions: Goths, Frankish, Burgundies, Vandals, Suaves and Huns. The last ones, under the command of Attila reached Rome and the Pope Leon I had to buy his retreat in the 452. In 476 a barbarian dethroned the last emperor.
The Christian Church escaped from the cataclysm, because it was kept under the authority of the bishops. They managed to transmit to the medieval world the ancient cultures.

As for the Christianity Peter was the first bishop of Rome and hence the first Pope. Soon after Jesus death Peter and Paul came to introduce the Christianity in Rome and during the Nero's period he suffered from martyrdom. The bishops of Rome were successors of Peter. From then on the Jewish and oriental immigrants brought this religion and the Christianity became the official religion with Constantine. After two centuries of clandestine life, when the Christians gathering and taking refuge in their houses, and burying the deaths in the catacombs, Constantine designed it as an official religion. This emperor ordered the construction of a basilica (324-344) above the supposedly Peter's sepulchre that Popes and emperors enriched. Nowadays is the centre of the Christianity, the Basilica of Saint Peter of Vatican.
The bishop of Rome, that is, the Pope, was the main figure in Rome since the Roman Emperors preferred Ravenna as the capital. The Pope's cathedral was Saint John Lateran throughout this époque. Several churches were erected. The most important was built outside the walls, in the Vatican, in the cemetery where, according to the tradition, Peter's body lies.
After some centuries at the Orient Schism (1054) the Popes' authority was reduced to the Christian people of Latin language. The Schism separated the Catholic Christians and the Orthodox Christians.
Saint John Lateran was the permanent residence of the Pope since Constantine until 1304, when the Pope escaped from the chaos reigning in the town and the Pope's States. When the Popes returned to Rome in 1376 the Vatican was selected as the new permanent residence for the Pontificate.
During the 15th century the Pope constructed a palace with luxurious decoration to reside at. And in this palace every Pope has lived until now. The following Popes founded the Vatican library and they kept the first collections of art. In the 16th century the Pope called Michelangelo and Raphael, thus turning Rome into the centre of the artistic Renaissance initiated in Florence.
The Popes took advantage of the sacking of Rome by the Spanish emperor Carlos V in 1527, to reconstruct the town, for instance they rebuilt the basilica of Saint Peter. During this century Rome became the center of the fight against the Protestantism after the Trent 's Council, with the creation of the Roman Inquisition (1542) and the Saint Ignatius Loyola's School (1551), considered as the world-wide center of the catholic instruction. Soon the Baroque spread in the sculpture and architecture of Bernini.
The pontifical absolutism fell with the penetration of the ideas coming from the French Revolution. A new period opens, with the Pope trying to maintain the absolutism and the people desiring a Roman Republic. After an alternation in power the republicans imposed through the revolt in 1848, and in 1849 they proclaimed a Roman Republic that entered Italy. Finally in 1870 it became the capital of the Italian kingdom. Victor Emmanuel II (Italian king since 1861 and the responsible of the Italian unification), the ministers and the parliament moved to Rome in 1871. The Pope refused the accomplished fact and he shut himself away in the Vatican , from where he continued directing the Christianity.
In 1922 Mussolini got the fascism triumph and he wanted to turn Rome into the head of an Italy that should fulfil a key role in the world obliged by its past glory. He made restore the main monuments of the olden ages, he reached an agreement with the Pope in 1929 (the Lateran Pact), which stated that the Vatican and Lateran constitute a separate State, and the Pope recognises Rome as the capital of Italy . The fascism focused the administration of Italy in Rome to thus reunify the kingdom.
After the German occupation of the Second World War, the allies liberated the city in 1944.

Afterwards some shepherds picked them up. When they grew they thought about founding a new town, and in order to choose which one was going to do it, they consulted the flight of the birds. Romulus, the fortunate, traced the limits of the city in the Palatine by means of a plow. Remus crossed the plow in a jump to mock of his brother, so Remulus killed him.
You can find the emblematic bronze statue from the 500 B.C. (the she-wolf letting the twins suckle) in the Capitoline Museum.

To start with a great impression we walked towards the Roman Coliseum , an impressive construction destined to the people fun. We found a long queue that surrounded it and we had to wait for an hour despite we had arrived early. There was a man organizing the tourist queue and explaining everyone where the queue had to move through. It is nothing special, but if I tell you that surprisingly he didn't belong to the Coliseum staff but he was an owner of a small stand, and this way he managed to make the tourists pass near his business. At least he was very ingenious.

The name Coliseum comes from the close colossal statue of Nero in the past. It was started with Vespasian and ended with Titus in the 80 A.C., with 50.000 spectator capacity and 57 m. high. The inauguration festival lasted for 102 days. It was so nicely designed that the whole audience could evacuate in fewer minutes. Unfortunately during the Middle Ages it was used as a quarry to the construction of other buildings, that left this deteriorated aspect.
When you enter it you get impressed because of the dimensions and you imagine it full of people shouting, approximately like in the movie "Gladiator". The lower floor is 4 m. under the arena and the intricate design can be appreciated with the numerous galleries used to keep and lift the scenarios, gladiators and beasts at the adequate moment of the spectacles.
Along the galleries that give access to the stands there is an interesting exposition about gladiators that shows the weapons, helmets and sorts of these legendary warriors.

In the Coliseum the spectacles were very varied. It started with animal or human sacrifices, where the condemned to death were executed. At the end of the day, the gladiators' fights until death took place. The previous day there was a great banquet for the gladiators, and for many of them it was the last meal. This supper was public and the people could go around the table to study the fighters and decide whom would they bet for the next day.

The gladiators paraded with rich purple and gold clothes. They saluted the emperor, but not with the lugubrious and tragic exclamation: Ave Cesar, Morituri te salutan (Ave Caesar, those who are going to die salute you). This sentence was only employed in fewer occasions.
There was a referee to check that the fighters hadn´t previously agreed the result of the combat and thus to ensure an authentic duel. Every sort of blows were allowed.
At the same time the audience betted and felt a strange and barbarian pleasure with the victory of their favourites. Often after a long while none of them ended victorious. The combat was declared null when it lost the effervescence. The most habitual was that one of them won. The loser used to end alive. If the loser had fought with dignity he could raise his right arm towards the sky to ask for the winner's clemency, who consulted the emperor.

The spectators gave their positive verdict by shaking a handkerchief, raising their thumbs or shouting for clemency. On the other side the thumb downwards or execution exclamations meant a negative verdict. Then, the emperor decided his destiny with the direction of the thumb. The winner was awarded with precious obsequies and he crossed running the arena under the ovation of the crowd. Some gladiators (they could be slaves, citizens or condemned) were so popular that they became fashion figures.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to emphasize that this image of the thumb is not absolutely exact. In fact if the emperor decided the death, he showed the fist closed with the horizontal thumb outwards. If he preferred life, he showed the fist closed with the thumb inside.
Through the films it gives the impression that many of the losers died at the request of the emperor, but it was neither like this. To kill a gladiator supposed that the organizer of the event had to pay to the master of the gladiator an important sum of money.
The gladiators, during the first times, were free people who resigned to their life of citizen to become gladiator and therefore a slave. The owners looked after their gladiators with care, and they were instructed about the combat long before fighting on the sand.
With the time and the beginning of the decay of the Roman Empire the spectacle became more brutal. Many slaves, prisoners or the condemned were forced to fight without having the experience, and the deaths became more habitual.
The gladiators combats acquired such a development that thousands of pairs of gladiators followed one another in the bloody sand of the Coliseum. A brutal example is related in the époque chronicles, and they assure that during the Trajan's empire in the year 109, a festival lasted for 117 days and they died around 10.000 fighters. They used to put some people without any weapon in the arena, when they were considered as novice for the society. They simulated a combat but it really was an assassination. There was other option, the gladiators' battles that none of them would escape from.
In the Coliseum it is known that the emperors Titus and Domitian filled with water the arena to simulate naval battles.

Subsequently we addressed to the nearby Roman forum and the Palatine Hill . The Roman forum is located between the Palatine and the Capitoline. It was the heart of the city, the religious, political, commercial and juridical center where the public life developed.

It is full of temples, monuments (arches, statues, columns) and public buildings. It was the center or the Roman life from the 6th century B.C. despite its importance decreased during the Imperial period. Its definite aspect was reached near the end of the Republic. You may feel disappointed because the state of conservation is not good, but the historic interest is undeniable. In my opinion the Pompeii ruins are much better preserved.

As for the Palatine Hill, the town's origins are supposed to be here. Rome was born from several peoples settled in the 7 hills on the left bank of the river. According to the tradition the Palatine is the hill where Romulus founded Rome in 753 B.C. The population, early too numerous, colonized the neighbour hills, such as the Capitoline (the highest hill), that were separated with drained plains where the forum was situated. Nowadays the Palatine is a hill nearby the Roman forum with very deteriorated rests that you could ignore. A trick to save time at the queues: in the ticket office for the Palatine you can buy tickets for the Coliseum and thus to avoid the queue. We realized it afterwards.

The imperial forums constitute a varied architectonic complex at the northern side of the Roman forum. It is formed with the forums of several emperors: Caesar, Augustus, Vespasian, Domitian and Trajan. They are separated artificially from the Roman forum with the avenue of the Imperial Forums, built by Mussolini. We liked the Trajan's column that relates his conquests across Asia Minor in a spiral. Throughout the avenue we pass in front of the different imperial buildings towards the extreme, where the Capitoline is located. It is the historic summit that during the olden ages housed several temples dedicated to different gods.

Nowadays at the Capitoline we can see the Capitoline's square designed by Michelangelo (called Campidoglio). In the middle there is the famous bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius, very original since the Romans didn't use to represent on horses. Surrounding the square we find the Palace of the Senate, nowadays the city hall (1592), the Palace of the Capitoline 's Museum (1644-1645) and the Palace of the Conservators (built in 1450 and transformed between 1564-1568). We didn't visit the Capitoline 's museum.

Another tourist spot is the "Truth Mouth" , a big marble Roman mask that according to the popular belief it bit everyone that told lies with the hand inside the mask's mouth. In its origins it was the mouth of a sewer. I think that the mask has the mouth open because it is bored after so many dull tourists doing the same picture, but we weren't going to be an exception..

To follow with the historical order I go on with the visit to Roman rests.
First, the Nero's Palace , close to the Coliseum. It is necessary that you phone to arrange the appointment in advance. Quite interesting, since Nero was a crazy emperor that committed many atrocities. Unable to assimilate the direction of the empire he left himself to an extravagant life. After the immense fire of Rome in the year 64 he accused the Christians of causing it and he launched a first short prosecution against them. He began the construction of the huge palace, the Domus Aurea (Gold House). The reconstruction of Rome and the Nero's luxury ended with the exhaustion of the public treasure of the town. It doesn't remain anything of the emperor's colossal statue, theoretically located near the Coliseum. The visit to the palace's rests gives an idea of the gigantic proportions of this works and informs us about this character in love with himself. The organization is a bit bad, as we walked with an audioguide while the guide doesn't say a word.
The Baths of Caracalla were built between the 206 and 217 A.C. and they carry the name of the reigning emperor then. The complex was a square of 350 m. long for each side, and inside they put the baths, a construction of 220 m. length.
While you read the guidebook about the halls decorated with mosaics, marbles, stucco and columns, or the rooms for massages, oils, gathering, drying, the changing room, the boilers, the baths, the gymnasium, the library, the hot air canals fit in the walls, etc., you feel a little disappointed before the reality that you see, since there are only ruins. Despite you realise the dimensions and the luxury of the époque, and some things call your attention, you walk through an immense empty space that contrasts strongly with the guidebook explanation.

The Pantheon is an extraordinary classic building coming from the emperor Hadrian's reconstruction (2nd century A.C.) that started from the previous construction of Agrippa. The facade is classic and the marble pillars are huge, with Corinthian capitals. The marble floor has numerous holes to drain the rain that enters the Pantheon through the "oculus", o 9 m. diameter hole in the ceiling that symbolizes the union between the Roman congregation and their gods. The dome from the inside is impressive. The Pantheon keeps the bodies of important historic figures such as the painter Raphael, Victor Emmanuel II and Umberto I.

The square is pleasant and it houses some restaurants. If you like the ice creams follow our indications. With the Pantheon behind you there are two streets that leave straight the square in front of you. One leaves from the right corner and the other from the left corner. You take the right one and in fewer steps, on a corner, there is the biggest ice-cream parlour I have ever seen. They have infinite flavours and one of us tasted a 6 or 7 balls ice cream. Look at the picture if you don't believe it.

The Circus Maximus now is only a ground extension where the circus was located. It was 670 m. long and the capacity allowed for 400.000 spectators!!. At the extreme there was the Titus' Arch (80 A.C.). They held races of carriages pulled by horses, which have been accurately recreated in the movie "Ben Hur". There were many other entertainments and even sometimes implied gladiators or animal combats. During the olden ages there were more than one circus in Rome , but this one is the most ancient.
After the Romans we jump to the Christian Rome. To understand the beginnings of this religion in occident I suggest to visit some of the catacombs scattered across the town (Saint Callixtus, Saint Sebastian, Domitilla..). Be aware that the visit is short and the catacombs are far from the centre. We walked until them but I wouldn't repeat the experience. The catacombs were subterranean galleries with rectangular niches in the walls, where the primitive Christians, particularly in Rome, buried and worshipped the deaths. They are crosslinked galleries, very low and narrow. It was habitual to excavate them in several levels many kilometres long. There are chambers and chapels with the niches superimposed along the walls. You fell fear when you think that there was a person in charge of the catacombs, which was able to walk through the obscure passages without being lost. Rich adepts lent the ground to excavated the catacombs, and many of them gave their name to the respective catacomb. The visit is really interesting.
These catacombs are reached through the Via Appia , the first "highway" in Europe that the consul Appius built in 312 B.C. The Roman linked their cities with paved roads that allowed fast connections. Many paved roads still persist across Europe. The Via Appia was the first paved road. Its aim was to link Rome to northern Italy. Along the Via Appia, at the margins we find many sepulchres, as the Roman laws forbade burying the Christians inside the town. Hence, many sepulchres, tombs and funerary monuments were erected (some of them colossal like the Cecilia Metella's tomb) to remind the deaths. This via could be defined as 18 kilometres of art and landscape beauty.

We needed an entire day to visit the Vatican, the museums and the Saint Peter's Basilica. We took the subway very carefully because we had been warned about the abundant thefts carried out in the stretch from Termini's station to the Vatican. In fact a friend of mine that lived in Rome witnessed many and varied attempts. We went quickly to the Vatican Museums as we had heard about the usual long queues. We arrived early and we hadn't had to wait. We had been recommended to go first until the Sistine Chapel, ignoring the rest, to reach it before the tourists crowd it. However it was unavoidable to stop at some interesting rooms and despite we entered the chapel early there were many tourists.
The complex of the Vatican Museums includes, in addition to the palace's decoration, collections of ancient art, Etruscan and Egyptian art, tapestries, ceramics, candelabras, maps, a library, art galleries, etc. The architect Bramante was the responsible for the whole at the end of the 15th century and beginning of the 16th century.
To avoid getting mad you should select what you would like to see, as these museums are immense. We selected the Sistine Chapel, the arts gallery, the Raphael rooms and the ancient art gallery.

The Sistine Chapel was built in the 15th century for the Pope Sixtus IV. It owes its world-wide fame to the frescoes, mainly to Michelangelo's ones (although other artists contributed along the walls, like Botticelli). Michelangelo painted at the ceiling, from 1507 and 1512, several episodes of the bible surrounded by prophets and sibyls. From 1536 to 1541 he completed the head wall with the magnificent Final Judgement. In this chapel the election of the new Popes takes place.
The most accurate interpretation about the Michelangelo's intention is that he tried to make a whole scene with the chapel, linking the beginning of the times to the life of the visitor and to the end of the times.
Michelangelo faced the Pope since he didn't want to paint the chapel, but he was obliged to do it. Michelangelo was an impossible personality that fired many employees during the works. In any occasion he even dared to expulse the Pope from the chapel. He didn't want anybody seeing them before they were finished, an for this reason he painted all the frescoes alone and demanded the Pope that nobody could see it before the end.
The frescoes at the ceiling were completed 4 years later with a tenacious and solitary effort. We know now through his letters and poems that during this years he felt frustrated and uncomfortable, since he was convinced that he was an sculptor, not a painter, and that he didn't know the fresco's technique. The resulting work is superb and stunning.

Plastically Michelangelo again shows huge, powerful and vigorous figures. There is a word used to describe the Michelangelo's bodies: the "terribilitá", that we will find later in his Moses' sculpture. The protagonists of the frescoes are displayed in forced, unbalanced and twisted postures, in tense foreshortened figures. The first phase of the Humanity is summarized with a great strength through the 12 scenes of the Genesis that occupy the central strip of the ceiling.

The represented scenes are: the creation of the light, the creation of the stars and the planets, the separation of the water and the ground, the creation of Adam (probably the most well-known), the creation of Eva, the fall and expulsion from Paradise , the sacrifice of Noah, and the Noah's intoxication.

In the front wall there is the Final Judgement. The fresco has great dimensions and includes around 400 figures. The upper part, more than a half of the fresco's area is occupied with the celestial world presided by Christ as the judge in the middle of the scene. He was initially nude and in a foreshortened figure, raising his right arm to give justice. Below him there are many groups of judged that ascend towards the sky, the condemned that fall to hell, the deaths' transport in the Charon's boat, etc.

The whole gives the sensation of a unified movement that springs from the Christ's right arm. With this resort the tension of the dramatic moment is reinforced, and he created an intense whirlpool. The characters again show the interest of Michelangelo for the anatomy, with wide and muscular bodies inspired in the classic ages. The colours are quite brilliant.
These frescoes were made in a very delicate historical moment as the Protestant Reformation had defeated the German emperor. The entire Central Europe shakes under terrible religion wars. In the historical context when this work was completed, Michelangelo seems to express his Catholicism, and his pessimism about the times Europe is living, and he tries to show the world that the day of giving account will arrive for everyone. Michelangelo made a self-portrait in Saint Bartholomew, at the feet of Christ.
He painted many nude characters across the frescoes, including Christ, but when the Pope saw them he ordered other painters to cover the bodies when Michelangelo still lived.
While you admire the frescoes the time flows. We were for two hours looking at the marvel without realizing it.

In the arts gallery I found outstanding the works of Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci and Caravaggio. The rooms that Raphael decorated are particularly beautiful. Among the works we find the picture "school of Athens" where he made a perspective study and painted portraits of Aristotle, Plato (Leonardo's portrait), Euclid (Bramante's portrait), Pythagoras and Raphael. If it is not exact, the school must resemble a lot the centres of the ancient Greece where the culture and arts were developed.

It is difficult to pay attention to the elegant palace that keeps these marvels, but sometimes it will recall your attention. This is the case of the "Bramante's staircase", a descending spiral that creates a peculiar effect.

The library, built in 1588 is richly decorated and guards key works such as the Vatican Codice or Virgilio. We couldn't see it as we had chosen other parts of the museums.

The classic art zone keeps many statues coming from Hadrian's villa, in Tivoli , such as "Laocoon", masterpiece of the ancient sculpture (1st century B.C.). When it was discovered in 1506 it influenced enormously in Michelangelo, that modified his way of understanding the human body. It represents the Troy 's priest called Laocoon with his two sons, in the tragic moment when they are going to drown because of the snakes that Athena sent them to take revenge against the priest. Laocoon had warned the citizens of Troy against the wooden horse where the Greeks were hidden to invade Troy.

After the museum we went to the Basilica of Saint Peter.
In the year 67 A.C. Saint Peter suffered martyrdom in the Nero's Circus, that was located in the today's Vatican. There are archaeological clues about an ancient necropolis with the Saint Peter's tomb just under the high altar. This place has been venerated since the 2nd century. In a small building from the 160 A.C. it can be read in Greek "Peter is here".
In the year 90 the Pope Saint Anacletus built a small chapel over Saint Peter's tomb. Constantine started a basilica in 323, the old Basilica of Saint Peter. The primitive Constantine´s basilica had a Latin cross floor and 5 naves, but all theses structures disappeared progressively during the long and gradual reconstruction of the actual basilica.
Its story starts when Nicholas V allowed a new building and he ordered the construction of another apse to substitute Constantine 's one. The Pope Julius II (1503-13) retook the works with intensity (that had continued slowly for many years during the previous pontificates) and put Bramante in charge of the works. The old church was demolished.
In 1506 Bramante began the construction of a new temple with a Greek cross floor crowned with a dome inspired in the Pantheon. At the death of the Pope Julius II (1513) the four huge pillars that were going to support the dome were ended as well as the curved arches over the pillars. Also the tribune had been initiated.

When Bramante died in 1514 there were many disputes and little progress of the projects entrusted to Raphael and other architects until the work was given to Michelangelo. He saved most part of Bramante's project and designed the magnificent dome by substituting the model, he chose the dome of the Brunelleschi's florentine cathedral instead of the Pantheon. However he died before seeing the dome finished in 1564. Giacomo Della Porta completed it from 1588 to 1590 (132 m. high and 42 m. diameter).

During the pontificate of Paul V (1605-21) the idea of a Greek cross floor was abandoned. Giovanni Fontana and Carlo Maderno (1607-15) lengthened the oriental side to obtain a Latin cross. Due to this change the Michelangelo's dome is not visible form Saint Peter's square, you have to go further to see it.
Also in this period the Baroque facade was designed. Saint Peter is the biggest cathedral around the world, with 187 m. long and a dome 132 m. high.
The architecture works ended in 1614 and Bernini began to decorate it: the Baldachin over the High Altar, the Triumph of the Chair of Saint Peter, the columns surrounding the Saint Peter's square, and others.
To enter the basilica you have to cross Saint Peter's square .

This marvellous square was built from 1656 to 1667 with the objective of creating a place to house numerous congregations. The design of the whole symbolizes the Pope crowned with the tiara (the dome) with the arms (the columns of the square) open to house all the Christianity. There are 284 Doric columns and 88 pillars throughout 240 m. Over the columns corridor there are 140 statues of Apostles, Popes and bishops.

The work is huge although due to the wide space where it is located it seems smaller. To check the size, approach a column.
It has an elliptic design and if you put yourself in any of the two points (the ellipse focus) marked on the floor, near the centre, we see only one row of columns instead of four.
In the centre of the square there is an Egyptian obelisk of 360 tons weight. In the year 37 the emperor Caligula erected a circus and put this monument, which came from Heliopolis ( Egypt ), inside it. It was placed in the actual situation in 1586. At the top there is a bronze cross that contains a fragment of the true Cross of Christ.

When you enter the basilica you feel out of breath before the gigantic proportions of this scenery. It has 3 naves and it keeps many interesting spots.
At the main apse Bernini completed the altar from 1651 to 1666, where the Triumph of the Chair of Saint Peter is located. It is a transparent altar that uses the light for the composition. The light crosses a glass that turns the colour to symbolize the Glory. In the middle there is a pigeon to symbolize the Saint Spirit.
The Chair of Saint Peter keeps the wood of the chair of Saint Peter. Bernini made it in bronze from 1656 to 1666. Two angels hold the pontifical tiara and the keys (the symbol of Saint Peter, who guards the gate to heaven), causing the effect that the chair is flying.

Inside they keep one of the best works of Michelangelo, the Pieta of Vatican . This masterpiece was created between 1498 and 1501, at the first stay of the artist in Rome when he was 24. The sculpture is very sad and delicate, very emotive with the beautiful Virgin holding the Christ's body on her knees. The detail of the features and bodies is, as always in Michelangelo, amazing. In 1972 it suffered an attack with a hammer and since then there is a showcase to protect it.

Once you complete the visit have a look at the colourful Swiss Guard. The Swiss Guard was a military corps in charge of the security in the Vatican.

The Pope Julius II created the guard around 1505. At this time the logical selection were the Swiss mercenaries. It is composed of 100 soldiers: 4 officers, 23 intermediate officers, 70 halberdiers, 2 drummers and a chaplain. They are trained in modern procedures and weapons, although they also learn to handle the sword or the halberd. Despite the popular belief that the uniforms were designed by Michelangelo, it is known that the actual design dates from 1915.

Of course you have a shop to buy thousands of Vatican's souvenirs just near the basilica's main gate, on your right side when leaving the temple.
In the afternoon we moved towards the nearby castle of Saint Angelo or the Hadrian's Mausoleum . It is the ancient mausoleum of the Roman Emperor (2nd century) that was transformed into a stronghold during Middle Ages and restored afterwards. Nicholas II occupied it in the 13th century and he incorporated the famous subterranean passage until the Vatican. Since then it has belonged to the popes, who used it as palace, stronghold, prison and torture place. The numerous uses are reflected in a caste of five floors.

The first one is a Roman ramp. The second one the prison and the oil warehouse. The third one is a military museum with two big courtyards. The fourth one keeps the popes chambers (the most outstanding are the Julius II rooms designed by Bramante) and the treasures room. And finally the upper floor is a terrace dominated by the bronze archangel and that offers splendid views of the town. At the feet of the castle there is a fantastic bridge decorated with Bernini's statues of archangels.

One of the possibilities that the Christian Rome offers is the "four Basilicas" route, including Saint Peter as well as:

The basilica of Saint John Lateran is the cathedral of Rome which Constantine built in the 4th century over some barracks. It has been reconstructed in several moments. It was originally dedicated to the Saviour. In 846 an earthquake destroyed it and when they rebuilt it, they decided to dedicate it to Saint John Baptist.
Borromini completed the inside in the 17th century. In the 18th century the frontal facade was restored by imitating Saint Peter's basilica. It was the permanent Pope's residence from Constantine until the year 1304, when the Pope escaped from the reigning chaos of the city. When the Pope returned to Rome in 1376 he chose the Vatican as the residence. In the interior there are some interesting works such as a fragment of the Giotto's fresco representing the Pope Boniface VIII (this Pope proclaimed the first holy year of the Christian era in 1300), the monument to the Pope Sylvester II (it is said that this stone perspires and makes a noise similar to bones crunching only short before a Pope's death) or the ancient wooden altar where during the Paleochristian and Medieval ages the Popes celebrated the Eucharist, including Saint Peter. In the altar we find the relics (the heads) of Saint Peter and Saint Paul , since the Roman laws allowed that the heads of those executed could be given to familiars or friends. There are imposing statues of each apostle throughout the central nave. It is believed that the emperor Constantine was baptized in this basilica.
The baptistery is interesting, as the cathedral of the Roman diocese was Saint John in Lateran and hence the baptistery was the first and most ancient in Rome and Occident. Borromini restored it during the 17th century.

Nearby the basilica there are the Holy Stairs . It is called "Holy" because according to the tradition this is the marble staircase that Jesus ascended in the Pilatus Palace in Jerusalem during the Holy Friday. Saint Helen brought it in the 4th century. Through the glass that covers the steps, the blood that Jesus dropped could be seen. The pilgrims go upstairs on their knees and praying.
In the year 1589 Sixtus V changed the location and placed the staircase before a chapel known as the Sancta Sanctorum (Saint of the Saints). It is an ancient popes' chapel dedicated to Saint Lorenzo. The Sancta Sanctorum keeps the image of the "akeropita" Christ, that means "not painted by the humans hand". The picture took part in many processions. Current stairs at both sides flanks the Holy Staircase, since the marble steps can only be ascended on the knees. It is a very traditional devotion among pilgrims and the Roman congregation. The popes used the chapel from Constantine times to 1313.

Finally the square is dominated by a great 522 ton obelisk that is the most important of the Roman obelisks. During the 4th century Constantine brought it and his son put it in the Circus Maximus around year 357. It was consecrated as a triumph of the Christianity over the ancient worships. The Pope Sixtus V put it nearby the cathedral in 1588 and thought about a genial town's draft, where the great avenues linked the main basilicas. In each basilica there was an ancient obelisk nearby, and the four basilicas formed a cross.

Basilica of Saint Mary the Major . It was erected in the 4th century and broadened in posterior centuries. It shows a huge size and splendour, but above all it is the biggest church dedicated to the mother of God in Rome. The interior is precious and the floor is really beautiful.

Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls . It is a little far away and isolated. It is the biggest in Rome after Saint Peter. It was constructed during the first half of the 4th century by the will of the emperor Constantine, in the place that the tradition affirms is located the Saint Paul 's tomb (nearby the basilica, in Tre Fontana, he was martyred). The church suffered a fire and a reconstruction in the 19th century. Below the altar we find the Confession, the most sacred spot of the temple, the sepulchre of the apostle. This sepulchre, as well as Saint Peter's is the goal for many pilgrims.

The interior is majestic. The baldachin is the originally made by Arnolfo di Cambio in 1285. Under the windows in the central nave and the lateral naves we find the mosaics of the Popes portraits from Saint Peter till nowadays. It is the custom that when a Pope dies, the successor's image is added.
At the beginning Saint Paul was a convinced and fierce prosecutor of the young Church. Christ converted him when he appeared in Paul's path to Damask, and Paul became the most faithful and loyal messenger of the Christian faith. The tradition indicates that Saint Paul was decapitated approximately in the year 67 in Rome.

Saint Peter and Saint Paul appear more frequently in the Roman and occidental monuments than the other apostles, since they were the founders of the Roman Church, and one of them (Peter) is the head of the universal Church.

Nearby the Coliseum there is the church of Saint Peter in Vincoli. It houses the chains that Peter was tied to in Jerusalem , in a little room under the altar. The main attraction is the tomb of Julius II, that Michelangelo left uncompleted, with the colossal Moses , one of the culminating figures of the art history (1515). The subject comes from the bible: the prophet Moses, when he returns from a 40 days stay at Mount Sinai, with the Ten Commandments under his arm to show to the Jewish, contemplates horrorized that the people has abandoned the worship of Jehovah and they are adoring the gold calf. The sculpture is extraordinary, Michelangelo seems to work with mud instead of marble. The anatomic study is natural and amazing. With a complex composition the artist suggests a potential movement; the muscles are tense but there is no movement at the captured moment. This is the instant when Moses turns his head and he is on the point of standing up full of rage against the disloyalty of the people.

This fury, the "terribilitá" that overwhelmed him is expressed in his face, that contracts due to the anger. Michelangelo abandoned the serene faces from his first steps and he prefers an emphasized expressivity that precedes the Baroque. Moses is full of interior life. Probably this change was not only a consequence of a personal evolution but also from the influence that the discovery of the Hellenic sculpture Laocoon caused on him.
One anecdote: when Michelangelo finished the Moses he took a hammer and hit the knee, exclaiming "speak!".

One of the marvels in Rome is that after the cultural spots that you visit through the day you have many pleasant walks along the infinite squares and fountains.
I am going to begin at the Baroque Navona's square , situated in the ancient Domitian stadium, which still maintains the elliptic shape.

In the middle there is the most representative work, the Fountain of the Four Rivers, that Bernini created in 1651. Each of the jets represents a river: Danube, Ganges, Nile and Silver Sea. In the centre of this fountain an obelisk brought from the Maxentius Circus raises. Bernini said that thanks to his fountain he had blocked the horrible work of his rival Borromini, the Baroque church of Saint Agnese , in front of us. At the edges of the square another two fountains stay: the Saracen's Fountain (nearby the Pamphili's Palace) and the Neptune 's Fountain.

The atmosphere is nice and very lively. There are many painters and street performances. Enjoy the walk around here.
The Trevi Fountain is one of the most typical spots in Rome. It was built in 1735 and it is decorated with statues and motifs of some of the Bernini's disciples. The fantastic fountain has a high symbolic content related to the water.

At the narrow streets that surround this fountain there are many little restaurants and lively terraces during the day and night. This is a spot of night pilgrimage for tourists.
We saw an odd man wandering that he may stay there yet. He was a black man with a smiling and absent face. He approached the tourists and when they looked at him, the black man made an impressive thing that I hadn't seen before. He was able to put the eyes out of the cavities. It was very amusing to see the faces of the astonished tourists. The police warned him but they couldn't arrest him because he wasn't committing any crime.

Near the Trevi's Fountain there is the Barberini's square , and the palace of Barberini. In the centre there is the beautiful Triton's Fountain. From this square Via Veneto leaves, a street famous because of the film "la Dolce Vita". The street is full of luxurious hotels and restaurants, so cross it quickly...
At the end of Via Veneto we reach Villa Borghese , some wide gardens in the middle of the town. The Romans appreciate this place at dusk, particularly the zone nearby the People's square (Popolo's square). From the gardens' balcony there is a nice view of this square.

The People's square is the biggest Roman square and a spot for public manifestations. It has been historically a place for expositions, for theatre and a stadium. The Flaminian obelisk dominates it. Ramses II erected it in the Egyptian temple of Luxor. The emperor Augustus brought it to put it in the Circus Maximus.

Later on they discovered it buried among the ruins of this circus, so it was transported until here in the 16th century. In this square we find the church of Saint Mary of the People, built in commemoration for the liberation of the Holy Sepulchre during the first crusade. Bernini decorated the Baroque interior and it is full of formidable frescoes and paintings of Caravaggio. From the middle of this square it is spectacular to look at the never-ending avenues that join here.
The Spain square is a busy place at dusk, and many youngsters sit at the staircase. From this square it leaves one of the most commercial streets of Rome, Via Condotti, that historically constituted a paradise for artists. At this surroundings some celebrities such as Wagner, Balzac, Rubens or Byron lived.

In the centre of the square there is an obelisk, and at its feet the Fountain of the Bernini's Barge. At the edge, there is the Spanish Embassy. The Trinity's Staircase, from 18th century, leads through 22 stairs stretches to a balcony with a wonderful sightseeing of the town. This balcony precedes the church of Trinita dei Monti, that has two towers of round domes. Try to find my friend among the crowd.

Near the Pantheon we walked towards Montecitorio's square , where there are the Palace of Montecitorio (the Italian Parliament seat from 1870) and a central obelisk.
The squares of the Republic and the Cinquecento are near Termini's train station and they are nice as well.
At the Quirinale's square there is the Quirinale's Palace, the residence of the President of the Republic.
If you still have free time I recommend crossing the river Tiber through the Tiberian Island, a piece of ground in the middle of the river. You arrive to the district of Trastevere . This zone is well-known due to the excellent meals and the huge street market (the most famous in Rome), with a great offer and prices. This market is held each Sunday at the Portaportese' square.
Try to walk through Rome at night, since it is really romantic.

I have to warn that Rome requires of walking a lot, since there are many spots to see and the centre is very vast. The subway doesn't cover all the monuments. I haven't described the museums or expositions because of a simple reason: we hadn't the time despite the variety and the offer are incredible.
As for the meals, you have many dishes to taste. The only problem is that most bed & breakfasts and hostels are near Termini, and most nice Italian restaurants are located inside the triangle formed by the Pantheon, Navona's square and Trevi's Fountain. The map doesn't reveal the true distance, Termini and this triangle are a little far (and there are no close subway stops), and this may be a problem at night, when the body ends exhausted. We alternated some quality suppers in the centre and more current suppers near our accommodation.
If you have to wait for a while in Termini's train station watch your luggage since there are many thefts despite the police's presence.