Buongiorno!
I’m continuing to fall in love with this city. The more I’ve been able to walk around and experience, the more connected I feel to it and the more it draws me in. There is something incredibly fulfilling about meandering through the city.
Today started with another trip around Roma. It was not as cold as yesterday, but the wind still stung since it was mid-30s. Part of our tour featured Underground Roma, which I was incredibly excited for.
We began our trip at Piazza Navona. It’s a beautiful piazza that’s actually an elongated oval. Confusing, right? Well, Piazza Navona is built on top of Stadio di Domiziano, a sports complex commissioned around 80 AD by Emperor Titus Flavius Domitianus. The stadio hosted a number of athletic competitions that were similar to those found in the Olympics in Greece.
The piazza itself was built over the ruins around the time of the Rinascimento, when people began coming back to Roma.
In the center of the piazza there is the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi—Fountain of the Four Rivers. It’s a massive, beautiful marble fountain topped with an ancient Egyptian obelisk. Maria pointed out that obelisks are so common in Roma that you can see more here than in Egypt. The hieroglyphs on this obelisk are of Roman origin.
The fountain was designed in 1615 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, one of the most prominent architects and sculptors of his time. He’s credited with starting the Baroque style. The fountain has the four main rivers through the world to represent the four continents known at the time: Europe, America, Asia, and Africa. Each of the rivers is represented by a river god. On top of the obelisk is a dove with an olive branch in its beak. Typically, this symbol represents peace. In this instance, however, it also represents Pope Innocent X as that was his family’s symbol. The dove above everything else symbolizes the power of the Pope over the rest of the world. Remember, it wasn’t until 1870 that the pope lost power over Roma and Italy was unified as a nation.
In the northwest of the piazza, there is the Stadium of Domitian Archaeological Area. The ruins were discovered in 1936 during the demolition and reconstruction of existing houses. The construction was stopped and the excavation began. They revealed the entire area and incorporated the remains into the building. The stadio is one of the earliest examples of a masonry stadium in Roma. We descended the stairs several meters below street level into the heart of the archeological site. It was amazing to see how the arches, stairs, and walls built about 2,000 years ago were still intact because of how the sediment settled around them during the dark times of Roma when only about 20,000 people lived there.
The masonry work was impressive. The marble blocks used for the exterior of the stadium was a little worse for the wear, but still a work of art. The same goes for the bricks used in the interior of the stadium. Why the difference? While marble looks more impressive than brick, it’s incredibly heavy and expensive. It also takes time to work with. Since bricks can be made in bulk and sundried, they’re light, cheap, and plentiful. The stadio is the first and only example of a brick masonry stadium built in ancient Roma. The Romans still hid the bricks though. They would plaster over the brick with stucco—which means both stucco and plaster in Italian. They would then decorate with affresco—fresco.
We were able to walk through the ruins just as the Romans would have when the stadio was still standing. You can still see the stairs used from the entrances arches.
Arches were incredibly important in Roman architecture, and they still are today. What makes the arch special is that it can support more weight, making it better for larger structures, allowing Italian architects more creativity. While the Romans did not invent the arch—they just used it in everything—they did invent concrete which allowed them to use arches for their massive structures. An arch is made by using curved scaffolding to build the sides of the arch up. When the sides are built all the way up, the final piece in the middle is added. That’s called the keystone. It’s because of the keystone that the arch can stand once the scaffolding is removed.
While the archeological site only has the northwestern part of the stadio revealed, it features the grand entrance for the emperor. Before athletic competitions, the Emporer would ride in on a chariot to cheers from the 30,000 subjects in the stands.
The stadio ruins were another example of lasagna architecture. The museum even featured a chart explaining the different layers of earth through Roma. Because of the Tiber River’s floods, after the fall of the Roman Empire—about 500 BC to 1500BC—earth piled up around a number of ancient structures as only 20,000 people lived in Roma then, since it was mostly lost to irrelevance during medieval times. Roma flourished once more as the Renaissance began.
We ascended the stairs, back up to the streets of present-day Roma. As we were weaving through the piazza to get to our next stop, Maria told us to never eat at any of the ristorante’s surrounding a piazza, especially one as popular as Piazza Novena. She also told us to avoid ones with tables with red-and-white-checkered tablecloths if we wanted authentic Italian food. Maria, who is Dutch-born but has been living in Italy for the last six years, has been a wealth of information throughout the tours as she consistently drops in tips such as these along with her knowledge of all of the historical sites.
En route to the Pantheon, we passed by Sant’Eustachio Il Caffè, which Maria pointed out as her favorite cafè in Roma. They make their coffee with home-roasted arabica beans and water from an ancient acquedotto.
Rounding the corner after the cafè, we arrived at the Pantheon. It was spectacularly grand, much more than I would have imagined.
Maria informed us that it’s now a basilica as well, which I previously had no idea. It was absolutely beautiful. Inside, it’s smaller than the exterior lets on. In the center back lies the altar. The interior is surrounded by various statues and tombs. Being the first church I stepped into in Roma, I made my way up to the pews and said a quick prayer. I was in awe of the beauty of the place. To the left of the altar was a beautiful crocifisso.
To the left of that, there were a couple of tombs of Italian royalty. One of the tombs is of Regina Margherita. Maria told us that Margherita was loved by all of the Italian subjects when she was queen. During a tour of Italy in 1889, when she arrived in Naples, she was presented with a pizza with the three colors of the Italian flag—basil, mozzarella, tomatoes. The queen loved the dish and it was named Margherita pizza in her honor.
The dome of the Pantheon features a hole in its roof. This was specifically designed to allow natural light to shine in as there are no windows. While Roma’s climate is typically warm, it does rain. To keep the floor from flooding, 22 small holes were installed in the slightly sloped marble floor for the water to drain.
Our next visit was Sant’Ignazio di Loyola Church. It’s dedicated to St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus. The most interesting part of the church is its ceiling. Of course, the Baroque ornamentation throughout is absolutely stunning, but the ceiling is unique.
While looking up, one would assume that the paintings above of painted on the walls of the domes; however, that’s not the case. If you pay closer attention, it’s actually an optical illusion—the ceiling is flat. When the Jesuits were building the church, they wanted domes on the roof. There was a neighboring church that strongly opposed the domes because it would block their view, so the Jesuits figured out a way to compromise.
On the floor of the church, there are large marble starbursts. When you stand in and around the stars, the painted dome above your head changes perspectives. It’s so realistically painted that you’re completely fooled if you don’t know any better.
The opulence of this church was overwhelming but in the best way possible. Just getting to be in the church and getting to pray to a couple of the saints and to Mary filled me with such joy. There’s something so special about getting to be in churches that have been around for hundreds of years, bringing thousands of Catholics closer to their faith.
After the church, we made our way to Spazio Cremonini al Trevi, also referred to as the “La Città dell’Acqua.” It’s another archaeology site, just south of Fontana di Trevi, that was started in September of 1999 when construction was started on Cinema Trevi to turn it into a theater honoring Alberto Sordi. In three years, 4,300 square feet was uncovered. At the bottom of the ruins, there are displays featuring items like coins, vases, and sculptures that range from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century.
The exhibit features the remnants of an ancient apartment and stairs. The masonry style and pattern is evident of Ancient Rome. Adjacent to the apartment is a “water castle,” which is where water could be stored for the residents. To keep the water from damaging the walls, the Romans developed a special type of waterproof plaster. You can also hear the quiet babbling of water as it runs through a visible section of the Acqua Vergine—the acquedotto that feeds the Fontana di Trevi and Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi in Piazza Navona. Acqua Vergine is the only one of the 11 Ancient Roman acquedotti still running today. I’m incredibly intrigued by the ancient acquedotti and am planning on dedicating an entire blog post later on the topic. So, that’s enough for now.
Across from and a bit higher than the Ancient Roman apartments is a structure built during the Middle Ages—another example of lasagna architecture. This can be differentiated from the Ancient Roman architecture because it’s more of a jumbled assortment of stones used to build the structure.
Like the water—just in a different route—we made it to the Fontana di Trevi.
Right when you turn the corner, the Fontana di Trevi fills your entire line of sight. The sun was shining right on the statues, creating a bright, white glow over the entire area. It was breathtaking. It’s amazing how the fontana is still so beautiful and intact.
We spent plenty of time around the fontana taking pictures and making wishes.
I can’t wait to go back again just to bask in the glory of the fontana.
Since that was our last stop, we were free to wander off for lunch. A group of ten of us just wander deeper into Roma with the goal of finding a ristorante off the beaten path.
After a bit of walking, we stumbled upon Giolitti, the gelateria that Maria recommended as her favorite. We were tempted to go inside and get some, but we decided the better option would be to get pranzo first.
On our trek, we found the most adorable dog. As fate would have it, he’s the same dog that Marissa, on of my roommates, met when she was in Roma a couple of years ago. All eight of us surrounded the dog. He was just absolutely adorable.
We had lunch at Ristorante Lagana’. It was a quaint little restaurant, and we were pleased with our meals.
On our way back, of course, we stopped at Giolitti. It was delicious. Probably the best gelato I’ve ever had. It was creamy, rich, and perfectly flavorful. As with typical Italian establishments, it was hectic inside with strange, disorderly lines—if you could even call them lines. I’m beginning to get used to them, though, so it’s working out.
Since we were right near Via del Corso, we decided to wander around the plethora of shops there. What sets it apart from its surroundings is that it’s a straight street in the historical center of Roma, a place filled with piazzas and meandering alleys. It’s the main shopping street in Roma and a wonderful place to window shop, with the stores ranging from designer stores like Louis Vuitton, local Italian stores, and—a favorite of mine—The Disney Store.
Once we were finished wandering around the shops of Via del Corso, we opted to take a different way to the tram home to see a new part of the city. Just walking through the streets and absorbing the architecture around is enjoyable. There’s just something about this city that brings a smile to my face. As we were nearing the tram stop, we could see the Altare della Patria—Altar of the Fatherland—at the end of the block, gloriously in the distance. It’s the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II to honor the first king of a unified Italy. The sheer size of the monument and capital building from looking at it straight on was tenfold as impressive as the day before.
I was pleasantly surprised to run into the beautiful monument and capital building for the second day in a row. Roma is full of surprises in the best way possible and I’m loving every minute I get to discover them.
Ciao!
Jodee
Tempesta's Travels 