Roma! Prima Parte...Il pantheon, varie chiese (churches)...le strade di roma!

Ahhh, Roma! It is a city of such magic....difficult to describe in words!  Incredibly, my brother (Jeff) and sister-in-law (Lisa) have the great good fortune to live here, smack dab in the center, a few minutes' stroll from the Pantheon and myriad other wonders. My brother whisked me away and took me on a rapid walking tour my first day there, May 30th... the height of spring and tourism. By getting an early morning start, though, we managed to beat most of the crowds. 

Because so many of the sites we visited are quite famous, I am going to take a minimal amount of time for explanations. There is so much more that COULD be said, but you can always do your own research (as I did) if interested in finding out more.  

The spectacular displays of art (mostly in the churches-- we only managed to get into one small, lesser known museum-- all the rest were sold out during the period of my short visit) and incredible depth of history boggled my mind. Extraordinary beauty, coupled with the unfathomable concept of Roman ruins dating back 2000 years or more, was hard to take in. I walked around with dropped jaw a good deal of the time! 


First visit: the Pantheon... it has been used unceasingly for 2,000 years. Built by the Romans to worship their deities, it was taken over by/converted into a church in 609 A.D., with statues of Roman gods being replaced by those of Christian saints. Some additional, most interesting details: Vittorio Emmanuelle was a Sardinian King who was buried in the church (1878); his tomb is lovingly guarded at all times. The famous painter, Raphael, is also buried there. The walls are 20 feet (6 meters) thick in order to take the pressure of the dome! Each of the columns are one solid piece of stone and they are 48 feet (15 meters) high! (How was this even POSSIBLE way back then, without the machinery we have in this present day in age?!? I cannot even begin to imagine!!!) Many were transported to Rome from Egypt (by ship)... all in one piece....!!! staggering to contemplate... Then, there is the dome: The opening in the center is called an oculus in Latin, which means “eye.” Rain and other elements do get inside the structure when the doors are closed. (Are the custodians having to constantly mop up the floors all throughout the rainy season of winter and spring?!? I imagine so...and how does it not damage the wooden pews?!) From floor to top of the dome, the distance is 145 feet (44.4 meters).  The pantheon is built completely from stone, brick, and concrete. Archeologists have studied the building extensively and realized that they used lighter and lighter materials in the cement the higher up they got.This allowed the building to sustain all the pressure on it. 

 

"The building is perfect and thus its construction is a mystery!" (I wholeheartedly agree!!!)


















The streets (le strade) of Rome: As mentioned, we walked everywhere. From bits of Roman ruins scattered throughout the city, to magnificent "modern" architecture of a mere couple of hundred years in age, beautiful structures abound in this city. We covered immense distances and I took endless photos. Hard to weed through them and limit the numbers posted here...which are still a lot, as you can see! They also include many interesting and amazing buildings which we passed but did not go inside of... too much to see, too little time! 








Visits to exquisite churches (names forgotten, of course) and one famous fountain... depicting the four major rivers of the world. Per my brother, it was created by order of the Pope of the time (a few hundred years ago), implying that he influenced and controlled the important regions and rivers of the world!















Per my brother, the artist who painted this was the first to depict humans with such amazing detail of expression... also, if I am not mistaken, to have almost entirely black backgrounds. (I can no longer recall the name of the famous artist...if you know who it is, please tell me/us in a comment...grazie!)


 

Beautiful bride, preparing to be photographed in front of the famous and beautiful fountain! 

Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (fountain of 4 rivers) is a fountain in the Piazza Navona. It was designed in 1651 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini for Pope Innocent X. The 4 rivers are: Danube, Nile, Ganges and La Plata. 




Another magnificent church visited... do not recall the name... I was particularly taken, as I often am, by the height, the total scale, of the structure. It as if the church builders have the aim of out-sizing whatever church was built previously, and there is no limit to the size or extent of extravagant decor. So opulent, to be sure, but marvelous!!! And, of course, the photos cannot take it all in, can never truly do it justice... 







And then...there is...FOOD! Yes, of course Italy is famous for its fabulous food. In my time in Rome, I ate fabulous pasta, pastries, pizza... and coffee that was WAY too strong (even though only decaf, which I was thankful to be able to get at all! I was deprived of coffee for the 6 months spent in India, because decaf didn't exist there.) So...feast with your eyes! (Good thing I did so much walking everywhere...even so, I gained weight over the course of my 5 days in Rome!) 

The divinely decadent "maritozzo"-- an orangy pastry shell stuffed full of pure "crema" and topped with powdered sugar... I at least limited myself to only ONE of these! LOL! (and yes, it was as large as it appears in the photo!) 

Gorgeous display of various deli-type items in a shop window


A lovely little restaurant eaten at, with my brother and sister-in-law... I somehow missed photographing the pasta dish... it was delicious, of course. 

This tiny cup of decaf espresso-- two sips, to be exact-- was taken in a famous plaza when on my own... it cost 4 Euros, or just under $5.00, the MOST expensive cup of coffee I have had ANYWHERE, at ANY time of my life! never again!! (and it was WAY too strong to even be enjoyable!!!) 


A wonderful pizza loaded with "verdura" (veggies)... sprinkled with arugula. This WAS a good deal! For only 10 Euros, it was so large that I got 3 meals out of it!! 


More generic streets scenes, Roman ruins, churches, obelisk monument of some sort... (did I mention that Rome has 13 such obelisks, per my brother? the most of anywhere in the world, supposedly... ) 
















Last, but certainly NOT least... a late afternoon's excursion past the ruins of the forum, Piazza Venizia, and the Colosseum.  The history of each is extensive... feel free to do the research, if so inclined! Too much to include here in the blog. (This is a wrap! All in my first day of Rome...it was a lot to take in, as you might imagine!) 

















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