Day Trip to Florence!

For our last free day of the trip, some of us decided to spend the day hanging out in Florence. After taking a ridiculously early train, we arrived in the city at about 8:30. We then spent the entire day wandering around the city, shopping, eating, and checking out the different sights. One of the first things we decided to do as a group was to buy tickets to visit different areas of the Duomo, the cathedral in the city. With that ticket, we were able to climb 414 steps to the top of the bell tower. Though I thought I was having a heart attack on the way up, the view from the top made it well worth the effort.

  

Bell Tower and the view from the top.

After recovering from the climb with some delicious pizza and pasta, I spent the afternoon walking around the city with Alexis, Rachel, and Ellie. I really enjoyed the more relaxed pace of this city in comparison to Rome. It made for a nice change from the hustle and bustle of the larger city. One part of the city that was fun to walk around in was by the Ponte Vecchio, which is a bridge that hosts several extremely expensive gold stores that I'll never be able to afford to shop in. Here we are looking cute by the bridge:

By the Ponte Vecchio

Naturally, all of that walking led to us having to make a stop for gelato. My cone was pretty tasty, but not as delicious as the Frigidarium in Rome. 

Gelato!

Before heading back to Rome for the night, we stopped and had dinner at a restaurant near the train station. I'm really going to miss having days like this with these awesome people when we have to go back home. All around, it was an amazing day and a perfect way to wind down the trip. 

Dinner with the squad.

Visit to the Vatican!

For today's academic adventure, we visited the Vatican Museums. Because popes and the Catholic Church have been acquiring artwork for centuries, the complex is extremely large and covers a couple millennia of history. Today, the museum, with its 54 galleries, are visited by millions each year. Though some of the galleries were closed, such as the one holding Augustus of Prima Porta (sorry, Steven), we were able to spend hours roaming through the different rooms. After spending over two weeks here and learning about different aspects of Roman history, I was excited that I was able to recognize a lot of the artwork. For example, when walking through the Hall of Constantine, I recognized that one of the frescoes depicted the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, as I learned about during Alexis' presentation. Here is a picture I took of the fresco, featuring the soldiers of Maxentius drowning in the Tiber River:

Fresco in the Hall of Constantine.

The collection of the artwork inside is huge, but most of it is unlabeled and crowded together. This made it hard to understand what we were looking at a lot of the time. Even so, almost all of the pieces were very impressive and I enjoyed having the opportunity to look at them. Others in the group felt the same:

Elisabeth was really impressed by the statues. Alexis, not so much.

One of the more exciting parts of the day was our visit to the Sistine Chapel. I was really looking forward to seeing Michelangelo's paintings on the ceiling. Though the work itself was really impressive, the chapel was extremely crowded with tourists and museum workers yelling for everyone to be silent, which only added to the noise and confusion of the room. 

Alexis and I were not impressed by the guards yelling "SILENZIO!" every 30 seconds.

Overall, I thought today was a pretty interesting day, but I feel like I would have had a better experience if there hadn't been so many people inside the building. That just made it more difficult to see things closely. 

Pantheon

On Saturday morning we got to visit one of the more exciting sites in Rome: the Pantheon. After arriving at the site, we were all able to listen to a presentation by Jonah, in which he described the history and significance of the building. With the current structure built in about 118 AD under Emperor Hadrian, the Pantheon was a religious site dedicated to all of the gods. Because this is one of the most well-preserved ancient Roman buildings, many of the original columns are still standing and looks just as impressive today as it did during the reign of Hadrian. Here is a picture I took of the exterior during our visit:

Exterior of the Pantheon

As you can see in the photo, Marcus Agrippa's name is engraved above the columns. He commissioned the first building of the site, and this is Hadrian's way of showing his respect. The most impressive aspect of the building is the interior, with a rounded ceiling, which is surprising given that the exterior is squared. In the center of the ceiling is an oculus, which is a perfectly rounded opening. I was in complete awe of the architecture of the site. It's really impressive that the Romans were able to construct such a feat with primitive tools and technology. Here is a photo of the ceiling with the oculus included:

Ceiling of the Pantheon 

Like many of the impressive buildings of Rome, the Christian church claimed it and converted it into a church in the 7th century. Because of this, much of the interior decoration has been changed and is now covered in Christian artwork and relics. I was a little surprised to discover that Catholic mass is still held regularly in the Pantheon. This means that the building has been in continuous use for over a thousand years. 

Christian altar inside the Pantheon

All in all, this was an exciting visit, and one of the more awe-inducing moments of this trip. 

Pompeii!

On Wednesday I had the best day ever and went on an optional excursion to see the ruins of Pompeii. After a devastating eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79 AD, the Roman city of Pompeii was wiped out, but preserved under all of the rubble and ash. Because of this, we were able to see what the entire city would have been like at its peak.

After a rough morning in which we all had to meet up at 6:30, we finally made it to Pompeii at about 9:45. We then spent the next several hours exploring the ruins of the city. One of the first stops we made was in the forum. It didn't differ much from that of Ostia, except this one was larger and had more of the structure intact. Here's a picture of some of us hanging out there:

Hanging out with Ellie, Alexis, and Heather in the forum

After wandering around, and making several wrong turns, we were able to really get a feel for how the city was laid out. We walked through where stores would have been as well as different houses. A major difference from Ostia was that there were more affluent Romans living in Pompeii, so many of the homes were much larger than those we saw on Tuesday. Once we had our fill of the nice, residential parts of Pompeii, we decided to check out the sketchy part of town and visit a brothel. This was easily the most popular site for tourists, which is a bit ridiculous considering how underwhelming it was. Here's a picture I took inside one of the rooms, though I neglected to capture the erotic art displayed above the door:

Inside the brothel in Pompeii

Since before we even came on this trip, I was super excited to visit the Villa of the Mysteries. It is a site that I had learned about in previous classes, so I was so pumped to see the famous fresco hanging inside. To my disappointment, however, there were wooden slats in place in the windows looking into the room, so it was pretty difficult to get a proper look at the painting. On the bright side, we did see a stray dog sneak into the room which got all of us excited and made up for not being able to get a close look at the fresco. On the way out of the villa, we saw some restoration work being done, which was cool to see in person. Here's a picture of one of the workers:

Restoration work being done in the Villa of the Mysteries

The rest of our time in Pompeii was spent looking at other parts of the city, including the large amphitheater. It was a really impressive structure, but I'm disappointed that we weren't able to climb up the steps and explore. This was a site that I could have easily spent an entire day exploring, so I was bummed out when Aaron said it was time to go. To make up for it, we all ate amazing pizza in Naples. See below:

Margarita Pizza

This has definitely been the highlight of my trip to Rome thus far and I'm not sure if anything we do in the next week will be able to top it. 

Ostia Antica

For today's class, we were able to venture outside the city of Rome and visit the ruins at Ostia Antica. Founded in the 7th century BC, Ostia was a port city located just north of the city of Rome. Because the land became like a swamp and full of mosquitoes, the city and its buildings were abandoned instead of reconstructed like they were in the city of Rome. Because of this, we were able to see the remnants of what Ostia was like during the time of the Roman Empire, especially after excavations of the site were conducted in the 19th and 20th centuries. Here is a picture of one of the first grouping of buildings we saw during our visit:

Ruins of market in Ostia Antica

This is what remains of the market in Ostia. There were countless buildings in this area, which shows that the market was very important to the economy of the city. Because the ruins are so well-preserved, it was easy to imagine what the marketplace would have looked like two-thousand years ago. 

After leaving the market area, we moved into the residential section of the city and looked at the remains of an apartment building. While there, Aaron explained that these apartments were about 2,000 square-feet each, which is much larger than I had imagined that the Romans had constructed for themselves. Here's a picture of the wall of an apartment complex:

Apartment complex at Ostia

The next major item on our agenda was lunch, which provided a much-needed break from walking in the heat. Once we had finished up, we made our way into the small museum attached to the site. In there we were able to look at many different sculptures. I was really excited to see one of my favorite Greek myths represented in the statue of Perseus holding the head of Medusa. Here's a picture of the sculpture:

Statue of Perseus and Medusa in the museum at Ostia

Even though the weather was pretty hot, Ostia is my favorite site we have visited so far. Unlike Rome, where many ancient buildings have been destroyed or rebuilt, Ostia has remained mostly untouched throughout the years. This gave me the opportunity to really visualize what the city would have been like when it was still inhabited. Seeing this site made me even more excited to visit Pompeii in the morning, which I'm sure I'll make a post about soon!

First-Century Rome

Yesterday, we moved into learning about Rome in the first century AD. As a nice break, we didn't meet as a group until 1:00 in the afternoon, where we then left and traveled back toward the Roman Forum and looked at the Arch of Titus. Because I did not previously know much about this site or Titus, I was excited to listen to Adam give his presentation over it. Though it was not quite as impressive as I hoped it would be because the exterior was not as decorated as I imagined, I enjoyed learning a bit about Titus as an emperor.

After that, we all trekked up the Palatine Hill. Though it was extremely hot and my feet were killing me, I was really excited to visit this site because of its vital role in Rome's history. According to Roman mythology, it was on this site that Romulus decided to found the city of Rome. After reaching the top of the hill, it was amazing to be able to look out and view the city and witness the mix of ancient and modern architecture featured throughout the city. Here's a picture I snapped:

View from the top of the Palatine Hill

To everyone's relief, it started to rain when we were on top of the hill and we were all able to cool down a little bit. While we waited out the rain, we went into the Palatine Museum and looked around at some of the sculptures on display. Though this museum had a limited selection, I was able to pose in front of the Wings of Victory:

Wings of Victory

The last, and most exciting part of the day, was our visit to the Colosseum. I was pretty familiar with this site before coming on this trip, and even more so after Ellie's thorough presentation on it. Because so much of the structure is still intact due to its size and restorations done on it, it was pretty easy to imagine what this might have looked like back when it was being used by the Romans. Here is a picture I took from the second level of the Colosseum:

The Colosseum

Overall, this was an exciting day and I'm excited for what the next two weeks have in store for us!

June 5th: The Late Republic

For our fifth day of the trip, we explored remnants of Rome from the later years of the Republic, which ended in 27 BC. Our first stop was at the temples at Largo Argentina. Located in the Campus Martius, this site once had four Roman temples as well as Pompey's Theater. Though the site is in ruins now, it was still cool to see what is left and to imagine what these buildings looked like in their prime. An interesting, yet disgusting, fact about the Largo Argentina is that it is also a cat sanctuary. That means that there are tons of dirty, stray city cats roaming around the square. Though I was unable to snap a photo of any cats, here is a picture of the ruins:

Ruins at Largo Argentina

Our next stop was at the Forum of Julius Caesar. I found this spot to be particularly interesting because I am giving my presentation over the Forum of Augustus on Monday, and there are many similarities between the two sites. Even though all of the structures are in ruins today, it was still clear to see just how impressive the site must have been at one point, in both size and craftsmanship. 

Ruins of the Forum of Julius Caesar 

The last stop of the day was at Centrale Montemartini, which is a sculpture museum. The museum hosts three floors of sculptures of various subjects, such as gods, politicians, and everyday people. Because space in the Capitoline Museum is limited, many sculptures are unable to be put on display there. To remedy that, a building in another part of the city was bought out to house some of the statues. As a result, the museum is located in a former power plant, and so modern machinery is mixed in with the ancient sculptures. It is a really odd mix of the past and the present, and made the visit even more memorable. Here is a picture of the museum, showcasing both aspects:

Centrale Montemartini

Though today was extremely hot and I am exhausted from all of the walking, I had a lot of fun being able to visit even more sites of Ancient Rome, and I am excited for what tomorrow will bring!

June 3rd: Republican Rome

Today we explored sites and artifacts from Republican Rome. To start off the day, we made the trek from the Piazza Mazzini, where we're all staying, over to the Capitoline Museum. Located on the Capitoline Hill between the Roman Forum and Campus Martius, the museum is filled with ruins, statues, and other artwork of Rome. During our visit Cari gave a presentation on the Temple of Jupiter Maximus, which was the first temple of Jupiter. It was really interesting to hear about all of the history surrounding the site, such as how many times the temple burned down and was immediately rebuilt because it was so important to the Roman people. I was also really excited to see the famous statue of Marcus Aurelius on a horse, as seen below:

Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius

Because the museum is located on top of a hill, we were able to look out into the Roman Forum, which we visited yesterday. It really helped put things into perspective by being able to see all of the forum at once, instead of just seeing the parts that we walked through yesterday. I was able to really appreciate just how large the site is.

View of the Roman Forum from the Capitoline Museum

After leaving the museum, we walked a bit to San Nicola in Carcere. Like many churches in Rome, this was once a temple to a pagan god. That wasn't too noticeable on the inside, but on the outside it was clear to see that the current church was built around columns from an older temple. It would have been nice to be able to go into the basement of the church and look at the foundations of  the older temple, but we didn't get the chance to do so because you had to have reservations. 

Interior of San Nicola in Carcere

I really enjoyed both of these sites today and I am even more excited for all we're going to see in the next couple of weeks, even with all of the walking outside in the hot weather!