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Rome

Castle St. Angelo and Vatican Scavi

Castle St. Angelo

Vatican Scavi 

Today we got to visit the Vatican Scavi, which is the excavation site of Saint Peter’s burial site. This tour was done after the Castle St. Angelo tour and we coincidentally had a St. Thomas graduate as our tour guide, starting at the original location of the obelisk. This was the center of Nero’s circus where executions were done, including the crucifixion of St. Peter. As we descended beneath St. Peter’s Basilica, we learned the story of the excavation, the timing of which was when WWII was happening.

The excavation was funded by the leader of an oil company in Texas, and some notable things occurred during the excavation. There was charcoal graffiti that was interpreted to be noting that Christians were buried and that Peter was nearby. Through more excavation, bone fragments were found and analyzed only to find they belonged to two women and a cow. Through some more interpretation of graffiti, they found the exact location of where Peter’s remains were buried.

Although they had the location, there were no remains anywhere. It turns out one of the archeologists who had previously worked on the excavation took artifacts he found to his office, which was then searched, and bone fragments were found. These had dated to the first century, of a Semitic man, and every bone in the body was identified except the feet. Peter was crucified, which usually resulted in the severing of the feet at the ankle instead of prying out the nails.

This story was very powerful, and after seeing the remains of Peter we walked through where all the other previous sarcophagi were. Other notable observations included a dining table above the place where one was buried. This was because ate and celebrated after the death of someone. Death was treated as something to not fear, and that life begins after you die to be in your pure form with God.

In that same room, there was also a swastika on the ground. This is a symbol used to represent eternity as opposed to the infamy the symbol is in today due to Nazi Germany. The irony of discovering this during WWII or shortly after adds to the power of the story of finding Peter’s remains.

Additionally, it was educational to learn of the history behind the formation of the Vatican Scavi. Originally, it was a burial site for family households where hundreds of generations of family members were buried. However, in the formation of St. Peter’s Basilica, Emperor Constantine ordered that the roofs of the mausoleums be removed and filled the rooms with dirt to create a flat surface for the Basilica to be built.

This site was selected by Emperor Constantine so the remains of St. Peter would be stationed underneath the altar of the basilica to bless the Basilica and the sacraments that were performed on the altar. This was extremely tragic for the citizens of Rome because this meant entire generations of familiar burials would be lost due to the formation of the St. Peter’s Basilica. Thanks to the restoration, the ancient mausoleums can still be observed but it is bittersweet that these mausoleums were almost lost from history and buried underground for so long.

Before heading to the Vatican Scavi, we toured the Castel Sant’ Angelo on the banks of the Tiber River. The castle served as a fortress for protecting the Papacy during conflicts. Before that, it was the mausoleum of Emperor Hadrian. It has also served as a prison and is now a museum in the modern day. It is an impressive fortress, filled with traps to ward off invaders. Our tour guide pointed out the portion of the old Roman wall connected to it where there was a passage that the Pope would have been transported through between the Vatican and the fort. One room had an impressive display of mounted cannons and muskets that were used to defend the fort later in the Renaissance. The private apartments also had their fair share of intricate artwork. One of the most interesting things about this structure is it is one of the only buildings that is guarded by Angles on the Balustrades instead of Saints.

Another interesting aspect of Castel Sant’ Angelo is the material used on the walls and ceilings. Originally, the walls of Castel Sant’ Angelo were covered in yellow marble intended to invoke wealth for those entering as guests. It also had paintings displayed in the ceilings of the rooms that were meant to tell the story of what occurred during the reign of Emperor Hadrian.

One more day in Roma before traveling to Florence!

-Ethan, Adam, & Lucy

January 16, 2024 by john6609

Field Trips!, Rome

Papal Audience, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica

Papal Audience

We started the day early, and by 7:30 we were heading towards Vatican City. We were going to the Papel audience. Reaching the gates to the city, we found it already crowded with many types of people, pilgrims, brides, tourists, and many others who wished to see the Pope. The admission line stretched back out of the city and into the Street. It was interesting to see the Swiss guard stationed, along with the various police forces from across Rome to direct security and traffic. The Audience itself was only about 40 minutes. The Pope gave a blessing, and then it was interpreted and summarized by representatives from most of the major languages in the Catholic world. Afterward, a proverb was read, then the Pope went around to as many people as he could to bless them. What an incredible, and powerful experience. The combination of so many peoples and cultures under one umbrella, with everyone peacefully interacting in the presence of the Holy leader is truly awe-inspiring.

Vatican Museum

Next, we took a tour of the Vatican Museum’s Incredible collection of artworks collected by the Papacy. It is a tour through the history of the Roman Catholic Empire, starting in Greek and Roman times, and ending with the reign of the Popes as Kings. The History of The Church was laid out in sculptures, tapestries, paintings, and monuments found in excavations across Europe and beyond. One of the most impressive hallways contained one of the first collections of highly accurate maps that detailed many areas in and around Italy.

Sistine Chapel:

At the Sistine Chapel, we were able to experience some of the world’s most famous pieces of art. It is most famous for its breathtaking ceiling painted by Michelangelo. This was the only part of the tour that we were not allowed to take pictures of because of its immense religious significance. It serves as the site where cardinals gather to elect the new Pope. Additionally, it is used to host religious ceremonies and is a place of worship. The ceiling depicted various scenes from the Book of Genesis including The Creation of Adam, The Creation of Eve, and The Last Judgement. The paintings were unbelievable and filled with detail, vibrant colors, and emotion. The Chapel’s architecture is simple yet stunning. It’s high vaulted ceiling and rectangular structure provide an ideal setting for the appreciation of the art. Seeing images of the chapel online is one thing but experiencing it within the walls is something we will never forget.

St Peter’s Basilica

The last step of our tour brought the class to St. Peter’s Basilica. This Basilica featured many grand mosaics and sculptures along with shrines to several popes, including Pope John Paul II. The size and openness of the basilica were very different from what had been the standard throughout the rest of the tour. St. Peter’s Basilica was built as a testament to the strength and power of the Catholic church, and this was noticeable in its size and ornate design. The large bronze features, massive mosaics and sculptures, and marble columns dwarfed everyone inside.

January 10, 2024 by mari3738

Rome, Travel

Tommies Have Arrived in Rome!

The journey to Rome began at the Delta group check-in at MSP, where we were all able to check our bags and start getting excited for the trip!

Picture of (almost) everyone at the group check in.

We were all able to get through security very quickly, which was quite the surprise, then the group split up to find some lunch. Our flight from MSP to Atlanta went smoothly, then everyone split up for the 5-hour layover once we landed. Our second flight ended up being delayed a few times and switching gates multiple times as well, but by 9:30 pm everyone was boarded and ready for Roma! Dinner on the flight was a choice between gnocchi and chicken, then we also got breakfast about an hour before landing in Rome: egg and cheese calzone Mediterranean style.

Picture of the sunrise near the end of our flight to Rome!

Despite the nearly 9-hour flight, many of us were not able to get much sleep. Luckily, everyone’s luggage successfully arrived in Rome, then we all got onto the bus to our hotel, where we were introduced to our wonderful guide Claudio. This is his 21st year aiding St. Thomas students and guiding them through the course. He went over our schedule for the next couple of days as well as some helpful tips and tricks. Once we arrived at Twenty-One Hotel, everyone checked into their rooms and got settled. About an hour later, the group met outside the hotel for a mini tour of the area. We ended up splitting up and exploring in small groups then eventually finding some dinner. A few of us got some delicious gelato and explored the Piazza del Popolo for a while, then turned in early once the jet lag and sleep deprivation set in. We are all excited for the adventures to come!

-Maria and Rabia

January 7, 2024 by ramo7719

Field Trips!, Rome, Travel

Can’t Wait for 2017 J-Term Trip: Roman Structures, Engineering, Society!

Ever wonder why the Leaning Tower of Pisa leans but does not fall? or, how the Colosseum was built without modern-day tools and technology? The University of St. Thomas is providing a few of us the opportunity to travel abroad in Italy this coming January to find out! We will spend just under a month traveling around Italy, visiting a total of ten different cities. We will have the opportunity to see some of the most famous Roman structures and learn about the engineering behind them all.

Twenty-eight engineering students, including myself, will be accompanied by Dr. Deborah Besser, Professor John Walker, and Professor Barbara Zell during our exciting adventure abroad. The group of us just recently met up for a meeting on November 4th to discuss the course, homework, and travel safety. But, don’t worry we had enough time to get to know each other through a few icebreakers and a dinner at Buca’s.

The countdown is on! Only a little over a month before we start a journey filled with architecture, engineering, and spaghetti!

– Jordan

November 23, 2016 by

Rome

Museums Galore

“Bold strategy Cotton. We’ll see if it pays off.” Our thoughts exactly 12 days ago when we first were put through the trials of Gino (similar to the labors of Hercules but with less physical requirements). Today marked the final day with our faithful guide as he led us through bits of the Diocletian Baths and the Roman National Museums. So here we go!

An early departure at around 9 in the morning, we all grabbed our headsets for what we hope was the last time. Those bulky tourist beacons have very annoying headsets. Our destination, the Diocletian Baths, were not far enough to justify a bus, so we headed off to the subway for a quick ride. It wasn’t long before some members of the group were left behind after not making it onto the tram in time. Eventually we reconnoitered at the appropriate stop and surfaced.

When the moon hits your eye like a big piazza pie…

Outside the subway station is the large, circular Piazza della Repubblica that had a fountain at the center around which traffic circled in the mad and unorganized fashion that is Roman driving. In front of us, the arching buildings. Behind us, a church. It wasn’t always that way, so let me explain. Way back in the days of Rome, that entire area was a part of the Diocletian Baths. The baths were a public area for Romans of all classes to clean themselves at any temperature they saw fit. The arching buildings I mentioned used to be walls at the entrance of the structure and the church was the tepidarium. As for the piazza, that, along with a massive square area on its sides, was a garden. Hard to believe, right? After the short explanation, Gino lead us into the church, properly named the Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri (let’s just call it the Santa Maria). As I mentioned before, it used to be the tepidarium, the room temperature baths of the complex. When the baths were in disrepair, Michelangelo redesigned the interior to be a large, highly decorative church which in later years was used by monks but is currently a regular church and tourist attraction.

The mouthful of a name for this church translates into the Basilica of St Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs

But that’s not all. In 1702 a meridian line was placed in the floor and a hole drilled into the wall. That meridian line served the purpose of telling the date fairly accurately by having the sun hit the line at noon at varying degree marks corresponding to months and dates. At the end closest to the wall is an ellipse that was supposed to track and predict star movements, but unfortunately that one no longer works.

Some time later, we exited the building and walked around the block to the other side of the ruins to arrive at the entrance to one of the branches of the Roman National Museum. The first one we entered was the smallest. It had its own small security check but it was totally unnecessary. Inside were remains of statues, pieces of the original structure, and the frigidarium portion of the baths. There were two small squares that branched off but looked like they had received renovations. One had a well in the center and the other a fountain. The museum also had a strange modern photography exhibit for some odd reason. It didn’t exactly fit in with anything…

Around the corner was the frigidarium

We didn’t spend much time in there because there wasn’t a ton to see. About a block ahead of us was the next, larger branch of the museum. It had four floors with one of the four dedicated to coins. At that point, Gino took his leave and we all meandered through the museum at our own paces. There was a ton to see, but a lot of the same types of pieces like statue heads and mosaics. Some of the art stood out, but those pieces were few and far between.

Made by the quite impressive lost wax method

Impressive, no?

That pretty much wraps up our Saturday. Tomorrow is a free day, so nothing will be posted unless something extraordinary comes up. Monday marks a milestone in our journey. It will be on that day that we leave Rome, only to return on the night before coming back to the states. Now I don’t know how the wifi is going to turn out at our upcoming hotels, so I can’t guarantee posts will be regular, but we’ll do our best. Have a good one!

– Chris Apfeld

January 17, 2015 by

Rome

Villas and Aqueducts Abound!

Coo koo kachoo, what’s new with you? Why, thank you for asking! Yesterday we had been to the complete outskirts of Rome and back. First we went to a large, ancient Roman estate called the Villa Quintili and then followed it up with aqueducts and a massive food market. Sorry this is going up a tad bit late, I was one step away from completing the post last night and then the internet cut out on me. But anyways, let’s get to it.

The Villa Quintili is a large estate that contains everything a Roman could want like baths, personal water supplies, and their very own circus for racing. Sure, it may not sound like much to us today, but back then that was the top of the top and only the elite could own something like that. In fact, one of the emperors killed to obtain the property. Oh, what rascals those Romans were. So the villa sits right off of the main road, Via Appia, or at least the ancient portion of it. It’s on top of a small hill overlooking vast fields of wheat. From a distance, it doesn’t look any more impressive than, let’s say, everything else in Rome.

An interesting backdrop at least

Going up to the estate is a nice, brick and concrete pathway at a slant for small carriages and horses, which would be quite convenient to the wealthy. Up close inside the structure you can still see the mosaics and rooms that the main building of the estate covered. You could very easily get lost in it if you didn’t know where you were going. Since only a few rooms still existed somewhat in tact, there was little to no chance of actually getting lost since we could see across most of the area, but just humor my imagination, will you? I would have been able to paint a better picture for you if not for a certain photobomber *cough Cole cough*.

This would have been a great picture…

Anyways, the next portion of the villa was a distance aways since the estate was super spread out. The remains of the circus could no longer be seen, but the area set out for it was fairly clear. Trekking across the first large, open, grassy space we’ve encountered, we came upon the water storage. There were about 4 large stone “tanks” that an aqueduct poured into. They were each about 1.75 times the height of us and about as wide as jeep or so. Continuing further, there was a modern fence that guided us to Via Appia which was on the other side of a large set of bushes and a gate. Swerving to the right, the paths branched off, but in reality we could just see both directions to a loop that went through some building which for the life of me I cannot remember its purpose. I most likely can’t remember the purpose of that building because of a furry companion. While most of the group trekked ahead following Gino, another student and myself kept behind to get some attention from a local german shepherd. It was a shy dog, but eventually we got it to tag along with our group and play some fetch. I think sometime in the middle of our dog endeavors the tour ended and people started heading back.

Our furry companion in action

One brief bus ride and a coffee stop later, we arrived at a local park. It was relatively long, but short in depth with a strange concrete bump going through the middle. That bump happened to be one of the remaining working aqueducts and we promptly climbed it to discover the looming broken aqueduct in the distance. We had to reach it. Clambering down from the relatively small one, we hustled over to the massive one in hopes of scaling it. Alas, we could find no easy way to the top. But still, it was good looking.

Watery wonderland

Somehow in the midst of our adventure, Gino managed to find an ancient nail, mosaic piece, and some brick, or so he claimed. Good on you, Gino. We all marched on back to the bus and it was at that point Gino mentioned the affinity for drugs that park notoriously has. Some details are best left out my good man. Whatever, that couldn’t spoil our fun. The bus took us onward and upward to our next stop, Eatily! No, I didn’t spell that wrong. It’s really a play on Italy by using the english word for eat. It obviously catered to the english tourists. From a distance you would have thought it was a shopping mall because it was four stories tall and was more window than supporting structure. Well, it kind of was a mall, but everything inside was food! It was heavenly. On one floor they had breads and deserts, the next beers and pasta, the third fine drinks and spices, and at the top cooking schools and the fanciest of restaurants. In total, we spent an hour and a half exploring and eating our way through the building, but we could have easily spent far more time there.

Being done with the scheduled stuff, we trucked on back, had a small break, and then had our class. Mission accomplished. That’s all for yesterday my faithful readers! We’ll be back later today (or tomorrow depending on how late we’re out) with more chronicles on the adventures of our squad.

– Chris Apfeld

January 17, 2015 by

Rome

A Quick Check-In

Well, I warned you folks that today would be short. Today was purely presentation after presentation. In the morning, a presentation on Rome’s history ala Claudio. The afternoon, group presentations from our entire class. Topics covered included police, beer, foods, and main culture differences. I don’t mean to brag, but our professors declared each and every presentation as “excellent.” Those ended around 3, so we had the entire afternoon to ourselves. Everybody went off their separate ways and the blog-worthy day pretty much ended there.

I’ll be sure to have more to say tomorrow!

– Chris Apfeld

January 15, 2015 by

Field Trips!, Rome, Universities

Moving and Grooving

For not having traveled a very long distance, we sure did a lot of walking and standing today. The subject of today was, as some of you may know, the Vatican Museum and the John Cabot University. Luckily, the museum was about 100 yards from the door of our hotel, but the university was a mile south.

Around 10:30 in the morning, we all stumbled into the hotel lobby to away our infamous guide, Gino. Unlike usually, we did not receive headsets because we were required to use the Vatican’s brand. Out the door and up some steps across the street, we arrived at our destination. Directly ahead is a large, white, decorated entrance to the museum, but that’s not for the public. To the left of that pearly entrance was a set of glass doors and tons of line separators. Usually, those lines are filled all the way around the corner and then some, but today they were barren. Good omens, right? Well the inside was still full of people. To enter, we had to pass through a small security station like when entering the other sections of the Vatican. We then got our headsets and set off for the museum. Actually, that’s sort of a lie. Rather than going straight up the stairs into the museum, Gino led us behind the information desk to two stray statues to explain how they used to all be painted. Surely nobody ever looks at those statues because we received strange looks from the workers at the info desk.

A great view from within the museum grounds

Finally we made it into the museum plaza which had a plethora of branches and directions to go that were filled with rich pieces of history. Guess which one we went into? None of them. Since we only had about 2 hours and Gino liked to talk a lot, we headed straight towards the Sistine Chapel. Along the way we stopped in one side room where Gino took his time to discuss the marble. Yeah, pretty much just the marble. The passage to the Sistine Chapel is long and a bit crazy. It begins with a large, arched hallway that stretches forward for what seems like forever. That corridor is divided into sections covering art like sculptures, maps, tapestries, and more. Do you remember how I mentioned there were a ton of people inside the museum? Well 99% of them were in this segment, all on their way to the chapel. Most of the time spent moving through that corridor is just getting funneled along with the crowd. If you’re lucky you can jump out of the stream to the side of a door. Gino relied on our ability to do so a little too much, so soon enough our group was divided and conquered. Eventually we regrouped and moved forward through the crowd. After the corridor were a handful of papal residence rooms which had paintings from top to bottom that were quite impressive. We were still a ways away from the chapel. Members of the group got caught in the undertow of the tourists and so had to press on and hope for the best. I was among those poor souls.

Trust me, the crowds I mentioned showed up a minute later

After the papal residence, tourists are forced into the modern art section which, all in all, is about 30 rooms of content. Our focus was the chapel so I powered through those rooms. Along the way I noticed strange works of art with obscured faces and others made of some simple shapes. I don’t understand modern art. Finally, I made it to the Sistine Chapel, and soon afterwards the rest of the group made it in. Inside the chapel, tourists aren’t supposed to talk or take photos so there’s a handful of guards going around enforcing the rules. Ironically, those guards are the main sources of noise as they constantly shout out “No photo!” The Sistine Chapel, while not humongous, is impressive for it’s masterpieces of art covering every inch of the walls and ceiling. While the walls were painted by a handful of unmentioned artists, the ceiling and altar wall were painted by Michelangelo himself. His altar wall depicts the end of the world and the ceiling has various scenes from the beginning of the bible. It’s very hard to describe, so below I’ve included a link to a virtual view of the chapel (copy and paste it into your browser address bar).

http://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/index_sistina_en.htm

About a half an hour later, we exited the chapel and too the Vatican, broke off for lunch, and then reassembled in the square an hour later. Nearly one mile southwards along the Tiber in the Trastevere region was the John Cabot University, a small private college that caters to foreigners like ourselves. The entrance isn’t very recognizable among the surrounding buildings, but once inside it feels very college-like. It’s a multi-level, more or less modern school. Rather than it all being in one location, it has two campuses, the northern one (where we arrived) and a southern one not more than 1/4 mile away. Upon arrival we were led to a classroom where we were greeted by the president of the university. Previously we had been told he wouldn’t be able to make it because of some emergency, but apparently he had come back just in time. I don’t recall exactly what he said about where he had been, but I’m pretty sure he said the Italian president had just quit. Anyways, he gave us a riveting presentation on Italian politics. He covered politics from World War II up to present day, and it was all quite interesting. He even gave us an insider tip that around the 2oth, the Italians may be attempting an American strategy to boost their economy which may effect the value of the euro, bringing it down close to a 1:1 ratio with the US dollar. No guarantees though.

At the center behind the blinding light is the university’s president

Afterwards, we were split into three groups and given tours of the campuses by some students. Our tour was somewhat awkward since our guide began under the assumption we were incoming students and not just tourists. Whoops. That issue quickly became evident and we cleared the air. The two sites were nice buildings and the University looked like a great school, both sharing similar setups. We had arrived at a pretty fortunate time since they were setting up for the coming semester but had not yet begun class. Once all was said and done, the group split up and some students headed back while others visited the local microbrewery. The beer there was some of the best we’ve ever had, so we’ll be headed back.

That’s all for now! Tomorrow’s post will be short since we’re giving some class presentations after a lecture in the morning. Thanks for reading!

– Chris Apfeld

p.s. We’ve had t-shirt/light jacket weather here and after seeing weather reports for back home have no regrets about leaving the country.

January 14, 2015 by

Rome

Technical Difficulties

You know how we said we’d be punctual? Believe me, we were and still are trying, but the odds have not been in our favor lately. Currently we’re having some technical difficulties so we’ll do our best to get you content amidst it. Anyways, here’s a summation of the past two days, and we’ll have the summary of Venice sometime soon.

We may as well be gladiators

Yesterday began with a revisit of the Colosseum but instead of the same content as last time we got to see some more exclusive content. Not only did we get down inside the Hypogeum, but we also got up to the third level of the stadium. The Hypogeum, as some of you may know, is the underground portion of the Colosseum. It’s organized like a maze at a brief glance but in reality it had a brilliant purpose. Down there is where the Romans stored wild animals and sometimes gladiators. Using pulley systems, powered by animals or slaves, the ancient Romans were able to lift combatants in either cages or on platforms up into the middle of the field where battles were no doubt raging already.

Underneath where we made our grand entrance

There wasn’t a whole lot of the Hypogeum we could explore, so not long afterwards we went up up up to the highest safe point. From there we had a great view of the Colosseum and surrounding areas, so the only thing new I’ve got for you is this picture.

One does not simply walk around up there

Next came a bus tour. A bus tour? So late into the trip? Our thoughts exactly. Unlike the routes we had taken on the bus previously, we were taken around the outskirts of the Colosseum area. More specifically, we travelled down the Via Appia, the first Roman road. Seriously, the first. We had a chance to take a look at the aqueducts and baths, which were colossal, but not Colosseum colossal.

Water. Water everywhere

Our next stop took us to the Domus Romane, another excavation similar to the Scavi, but 100% more spacious and not a necropolis. The Domus in general is a large, luxurious home, owned by the wealthier members of the Roman society. This Domus had a sauna, pool, cold pool, and a large outdoor plaza as far as we could tell by what had been excavated. The site was under a renaissance house that had dug out parts of the house to lay its foundation. Like other excavations, we were not allowed to take pictures, so I’ll paint the scene. We go down a flight and enter an underground tunnel. From the tunnel branches off a dark room. Upon entering said dark room, we notice that the entire floor is glass and under the glass is the ruins of the Domus. The employee in charge of our squad initiates an electronic tour in a convenient english-language-with-a-british-accent announce voice. As the announcer talks, multiple projectors light up the areas referred to projects simulations of how the Domus used to look. It was rather cool. The tour continued like that for a bunch of rooms and lasted around 1.5 hours. All in all, it definitely painted the picture better than the Scavi did.

And that, besides some free roaming, brings us to today. Near noon, we gathered to head to the nearby Castel St. Angelo. Originally, the castle had the purpose of being the tomb of the family of emperor Hadrian. Not long afterwards it was converted into a barracks and then into the residence and defensive castle of the popes. Needless to say there was quite a lot of history there.

Here you can see the group in it’s natural, touristy environment

So we had the tour with Gino, our favorite. It had a huge entryway that spiraled up a couple of flights and opened onto a grotto. Going up further than the grotto there were the papal apartments, which are not used currently. As could be expected, they had tons of artwork across every surface and plenty of rooms to boot. One of those rooms included a humongous chest for storing gold and loot. I kid you not, this chest was tall and wide enough to fit 10 or more people from our group. Ascending even more stairs, we came to the tip top, which had an excellent view of the city. From there we could pick out every major landmark and even a natural gas refinery in the distance.

Wouldn’t want to attack this fortress

After a half an hour of time to ourselves, we gathered at the bridge and crossed the Tiber on our way to the Pantheon. Gino took us through many back streets, explaining countless details along the way. We spent around a half an hour meandering those streets without reaching anything notable, and even then we took a break for lunch and reconnoitered at the Piazza Navona. At the Piazza Navona, one is probably 200 yards away from the Pantheon, but we could have been a mile away for all we knew with the pace and path Gino took us along on.

Doesn’t look so large out here…

Finally, FINALLY we reached the Pantheon, the largest unsupported concrete dome in the world. As suggested by the name, it’s brilliant. Its height is the same as the diameter of the dome, and that height would be approximately 150 feet. Within the dome are square shapes cut out of the concrete in a neat pattern. Actually, the building we were seeing was not the original structure, but rather the third iteration on that site. You may now be wondering, what was the purpose of this megastructure? Well… the original purpose is actually unknown, but currently it’s used as a Christian church. Following a quick lecture by Gino, we headed out, did some more walking, and then enjoyed some gelato. A fulfilling day indeed.

Nevermind. It’s massive

That’s all for now, folks! We’ll be back with more content, so stay tuned. Ciao!

– Chris Apfeld

January 13, 2015 by

Field Trips!, Rome, Universities

A University, a Scavi, and a Basilica Enter a Bar…

So about getting back to you soon…

We’ve done quite a bit the past two days, so let me start with the shorter of the two, which incidentally happens to be yesterday.

Yesterday our class had our lectures at the University of La Sapienza, which as we were told is the best university in Rome. The school is located about halfway between Rome’s major bus and train terminal “Termini” and the colosseum, so we did some subway riding and some walking to get there. Some of you may understand the basics of the subway if you’ve used it in the states, but let me tell you, this is different. You thought the ones back home were crowded? Italians have no sense of personal space, and so these were crowded beyond belief. There’s no way the subway was rated for having so many people per vehicle safely. Getting on with that type of crowd is another thing since nobody seems willing to move, so a designated leader of the group has to literally create a wedge with themselves and lead the train of boarders through the sea of people. I would say it’s like the parting of the red sea, but there was no parting that happens. As for cleanliness, the stations have a fair amount of trash all over the place, but the highlights are the trains themselves. They are absolutely covered in graffiti to the point where one of the trains had no original metal visible. I noticed another train had its graffiti half finished as if it rode off while somebody was working on it.

So after a stressful ten minutes or so of riding the subway we came to termini, the busiest of the subway stops. It’s at that point where 99% of the subway passengers disembark so traversing the crowds is another fun aspect. Once we made it out, we had a fair distance to walk to the campus. Along the way there were a fair amount of small restaurants and tourist shops and, as I’ve been informed, a craft beer store which will most likely be frequented in the future. Fifteen minutes of stumbling on cobblestone later we arrived at a somewhat dark, steep tunnel. It was probably 100 feet of escalation which we all got up without a problem, but we all shared the same thoughts of “Who would want to do this every day??” That dark tunnel opened onto a small grotto in which was the Basilica di San Pietro in Vincoli, which translates to Saint Peter in Chains. Going a bit past that grotto was the actual university. Going up a few more stains was a main lobby which had a small courtyard to the left with a well in the center. Just a bit past that was our classroom where we spent the next 3 hours listening to Italian professors and students making a good effort at presenting Roman architecture in english. The topics they covered varied across bridges, roads, pilgrimages, and more. It was interesting and all but everyone seemed to be freeing in the room. Halfway through all the lectures, we noticed to our surprise a neatly cut hole in the window which was the culprit of the breeze. Upon further inspection they had similar holes in many of the windows in the buildings. We never had the chance to ask about them, so we’re not sure what their purposes were other than discomfort. Following the lectures we had a quick lunch break where we split off to look at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. We all spent about an hour looking around and then headed back for more university stuff.

After getting the group together, we were given a tour of the grounds by the students and faculty. We first saw one of their larger classrooms which supposedly held about 100 students at maximum capacity, but I wouldn’t have guessed more than 50 or so. Italians really must be significantly smaller I guess. Next we headed up to the library, which, as many people put it, looked like something out of the Harry Potter series. It was dank with the smell of old books and had huge bookshelves which went up two levels. I asked the student guide about how often books from way up there were used and she confirmed my suspicions that really, they were just for show. Finally, we headed way downstairs to look at their civil engineering road lab. The lab was placed almost directly under the courtyard and had a plethora of intense machines and shrapnel from road materials. In summation of that lab, they seemed to be working on creating better road concretes and ground materials.

Now some of you may have noticed the lack of pictures so far which I must apologize for. For some reason that I seem to lack an excuse for we did not have any usable photos from that day, so I am sorry. Anyways, onto the next day, today.

Today was spent mostly within the Vatican but also at the Bernardi Campus, a St Thomas owned campus in the northwest section of Rome. Early in the morning there was a primary tour of St Peter’s Basilica with our favorite, Gino. A couple of students went to that but alas I did not, so I don’t have much to say about it. All I was told was that Gino described the architecture as being from the “Barrack period,” which we assumed was an accented pronunciation of “Baroque.” At about midday we all met up and headed east down Via Candia, which for simplicity I will call “Candy Street.” Down Candy Street were a ton of shops and American classics, like McDonald’s and Burger King. Running down the center of the road was a train rail, but it didn’t seem like that tram ran anywhere often enough to be efficient, but that’s Italy I guess. All in all, it took about 20 minutes to walk all the way there, but it was a relief to be in the midst of fellow midwesterners who understood everything.

Crossing boundaries, making history

So let’s get this straight; Bernardi Campus isn’t a campus. It’s a communal living space. It’s a single building dedicated to the semester long living quarters for Catholic studies majors. It’s about 5 stories high if we include the roof, so it’s a fair size. We weren’t sure how many people lived in there but it’s fair to assume no more than 70. Since it was small we split into two groups for a quick tour and went from top to bottom, checking out living spaces, common rooms, a small church, and a nifty kitchen. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad place to live, but it for sure caters to the Catholic studies crowd.

From the top of the building the view isn’t bad

After the quick almost 30 minute visit, we turned around and changed that 20 minute walk into a 15 minute stride to huff it back to the Vatican for our Scavi tours. For those who don’t know, the Scavi (which translates into excavation) is the excavation of the necropolis underneath St Peter’s Baslilca which happens to include the bones of St Peter himself. Since the necropolis dates back 1700 years, the Scavi is under high security and temperature controlled. For ruins like the excavation, temperature controlled environments are really only super humid and warm tunnels. For our guide we had a priest in his second year of study who happened to be from Milwaukee (Go Packers!) so communication was simple. To keep clutter and damage to a minimum, our group had to be split in two and separated by about a half an hour. After a brief intro, we dove right into the site and began the tour. Pictures weren’t allowed so I’ll have to do my best to briefly describe it. It’s a ways down underground, and actually under two churches. First is the visible basilica and then the Constantine church that was built in the 300s. Finally at the bottom is the necropolis which was originally like an open air city filled with sarcophogi and urns. The excavation couldn’t make it very open, so space was an issue. Let’s just say that someone with claustrophobia wouldn’t enjoy it but it would be tolerable. Our explorable area consisted of a long hall with some branches of rooms that were decorated with some artwork and had coffins piled in. I was informed that every body had been removed from the dig site, so no need to worry about spooky skeletons. It wasn’t all that long before we emerged into the remnants of the Constantinian church, still under the Basilica and with that the tour was over.

After a bit both groups had finished their tours and had emerged outside. Right away we met with our tourguide for St Peter’s basilica. Like before, he was a priest in his second year, but I didn’t catch where he was from. He talked for a while about the basilica’s construction and the external features and then we got in a line to reenter the Basilica territory. To get into the church, visitors have to go through metal detectors and send their personal items through a small scanner like you would find at an airport. They take their security seriously but I don’t know how long they’ve been doing that for. Five minutes went by before we were all through security and we finally got to the meat of the tour.

The students huddle around their guide

The guide talked about the outside a bit, led us inside, and within 5 minutes was told he needed to leave. That’s right, the basilica guards were telling a priest he couldn’t stay there. It may sound a bit odd, but let me explain. Apparently, there is supposed to be no talking within the basilica past 4:15, which we had barely exceeded. This meant no guides could be inside no matter the sound level. We could have been speaking at less than 1 decibel and they still would have kicked him out even though every other tourist there could be heard well above our whispering priest. We tried to ignore their request to leave and carry on the tour but five minutes later they were back with one more guard so we caved and stepped outside for the rest of the tour. Out there the priest tried to do his best to describe the rest of the material he had planned to talk about, but of course it just wasn’t the same as if we had been inside. For about 40 minutes he talked about the major points of the basilica but I won’t go into all that detail since I couldn’t do it justice and since I probably don’t remember a lot of it due to exhaustion from the day. That time went by and we went back in for a quick drive by of everything he had told us, but we were all so tired and it was 5 already so we didn’t spend as much time there as it deserved. We’ll surely be back like in the great words of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

It looks huge, doesn’t it? That’s because it is

Fun fact about the dome, it’s really quite tall. As told by our guide, there’s a few comparisons we could make. You know the size of space ships with booster rockets and all? Two of those stacked tip to tail wouldn’t reach the top. You know how tall the Statue of Liberty is? Not as tall as the dome. As I said, it’s realllllllllly tall.

It sure is a long way up…

Anyways, that was it for the past two days. This weekend will be free for everyone to do what they will, and so we have some people sticking around Rome but most leaving for Venice or Assisi. We’ll be sure to get back to you on how all that goes as soon as we hear about it. To those of you who stuck out this entire post, I salute you.

– Chris Apfeld

January 9, 2015 by

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