We’re all feeling extra blessed today! After an early morning, we walked right over to the Vatican again and checked through security to join the Pope’s audience! We filed in a very large auditorium welcomed by (you guessed it) more wonderful arches along the roof- these ones strategically utilized for lighting purposes as well. The pope  walked down the center aisle (which we were about 6 seats away from), and stopped to talk and pray with people, as well as bless some religious articles. After he sat down, he said his passage in Italian, and cardinals followed with translations for other languages. After what was about an hour, he started his procession back up the aisle, this time taking much longer to work his way along. He took this time to bless articles that people brought along-things like jewelry, rosaries, bibles, among other things. Unfortunately, he only walked passed us, not stopping close enough to us. However, we did snag these pictures and videos of him!

The Pope is all smiles as he walks down the aisle. Credit: Becky Reinke

The view from our seat, we were about 2/3 back in the auditorium. The pope is seen sitting in a white chair at centerstage just in front of a massive Bronze sculpture of Christ.

Click on the following link to see a short video clip of the Pope walking by our row.

https://twitter.com/Deb_Besser/status/819263065975902221

Next, we walked over to John Cabot university to meet with their president, Franco Pavoncello. We joined in a classroom where he gave us a brief overview of the area surrounding the university, as well as the history of Italian politics. What a great way to see the other universities here in Rome!

And there you have it! A short, sweet, and blessed day. Ciao!

It has officially been a whole week since we left Minneapolis for our little Italian adventure – I can’t believe it! Today, our visit to St. Peter’s Basilica left us in utter amazement. We started off the morning descending into the depths beneath the basilica where we found the Vatican Necropolis and the tomb of St. Peter. In small groups, we were guided through narrow passages, into musty nooks, and under layers of history. Our guide highlighted the varying areas of brick. Each section had its own unique style and characteristics identifying it as part of a particular century of construction. As the tour continued, we learned about the concept of a sarcophagus shop, a place where families could purchase pre-decorated stone coffins for their loved ones. These final resting places were incredibly detailed, requiring long ours of meticulous sculpting. Our guide shared that a few parts of each sarcophagus were left blank in order to personalize it for the person who had passed. How interesting! (As Gino would say if he could have joined us.) We finished off our tour in a room that looked into the tomb of St. Peter. With the use of a laser pointer, our attention was drawn to the mandible of St. Peter. Hearing the stories of the investigative research required to make such a claim was fascinating.

After our tour of the Scavi, our three small groups joined together for a walk throughout St. Peter’s Basilica. A seminarian led us across the vibrant marble floors from mural to mosaic to mural to a pope’s body to sculpture to mural. Did you catch that? We saw the decaying bodies of three previous popes. They were not necessarily on my list of things to see in Italy, but Italy has yet to disappoint. As we stared in awe at the ceiling encased in gold and the walls tastefully decorated with murals, I could not help but to notice the beauty of the coffers utilized in the vaults of the St. Peter’s Basilica. Centering a gold flower in each coffer as a finishing touch, only added to the absolute elegance of the building. Although these coffers serve as an artistic element, we have learned that they were sometimes necessary in creating a reduced load and a more stable structure. In addition to the numerous coffers and vaults, we saw eleven domes in total! Each with a small oculus acting as a keystone does in an arch.

We wrapped up our full day with  four-course meal at Professor Zell’s favorite restaurant: Pizzeria Piacere Molise! The thirty-one of us sat in small clusters almost filling every table at the quaint Italian restaurant. With grumbling bellies and excitement, we enjoyed baskets of bread, bowls of caprese, two pasta dishes, pork, gravy, and roasted rosemary potatoes. We ended our lovely, authentic meal with a dish of fresh tiramisu.

Ciao!

If you’re itching to read what we did today, I’ve got just what you need, and there sure is a lot!

To start off our Monday, we left the hotel around 9 am, and took a short (much warmer) walk over to St. Thomas’s Bernardi campus just a few blocks from our hotel. There, we spent around an hour taking a look around the campus, as well as chatting with one of the faculty members, Thanos.

Shortly after, we walked a few more blocks and across the Tiber river to the Castel Sant’Angelo. Here, some engineering feats we studied were:

• Slanted stairs that led up to the tower that allowed horses and carts to roll up the incline.
• Tall, open passageways that were essentially skylights to the top of the tower.
• Drawbridges (multiple of them; as the ground level increased, they built more entrances to the tower).
• Holes designed at an angle to allow cannons and rifles to aim toward an enemy invasion.

Hitting the road again (I tracked over 9 miles-and counting!), we walked through some shopping areas and grabbed a quick lunch (some of us got a whole pasta dish for only 5 euros-what a deal!). To quote Gino, ‘around the corner is a big surprise!’, and a surprise it was! We turned our heads around toward the next street and there it was- the Pantheon. It’s safe to say it took my breath away. For being one year shy of 1,900 years old, the Pantheon is in beautiful condition.

A front view of the outside of the Pantheon. The translation on top of the facade reads ‘Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, in his third consulate, made it’, which honors it’s original builder, Agrippa.

Another view (taken from the front left) of the Pantheon. These walls, now showing brick, used to be covered in stucco.

As we entered the dome, originally built as a Roman Temple and is used now as a church, our attention immediately went to the very eye-catching opening at the top of the dome, called the oculus. The oculus is 29.1 feet in diameter! This ring shaped centerpiece allows for extra reinforcement of the dome (and clearly it worked, this thing isn’t going anywhere!), you should also note that the concrete is around 5 feet thick at the top of the dome, and around 19 feet thick at the base (which has a diameter of 142’6″). All around the dome, there are square coffers (If you’re keeping up with us regularly, you’ll remember these were present in the Basilica Maximus at the Roman Forum on Saturday), they are present again to reduce the weight of the (very thick) dome. This is the oldest and largest unreinforced concrete dome to exist today. Also interesting, with the concrete we typically use in construction today, we could not make another dome like this! The concrete used when the Pantheon was constructed was much thicker and dryer, therefore less air bubbles were integrated in the concrete, and much less likely to crack. You might also be wondering what happens if it should start to rain; and so did the Romans! The floor of the Pantheon is convex, and has little drain holes in the marble floor to allow for any water that comes through the oculus is drained and there is no standing water.

It was so wonderful, I had to stop in again on the way home to see it in the evening! It looked very different this time (due to the lighting differences, since the only light that comes in is due to the sun).

(My poor attempt at) A Panorama of the dome. Here, you can see the coffers and the oculus. On the bottom (straight ahead) is the part of the structure that houses the church’s pews and altar.

Next, we stopped in the church of St. Ignacious. This church was absolutely gorgeous (I have yet to find an eyesore here in Rome). What was most impressive about it was the beautiful paintings on the arched ceiling above, not to forget the dome! This dome is actually flat (whaaat?), and the brilliant artist painted what you see in darker tones in a completely mind-blowing way. The dome appears rounded due to his use of perspective drawing, and moves to satisfy wherever you are standing in the church. Even we engineers were amused!

You can see the ‘top of the dome’ at the top/center of the darkened area.

(another poor attempt at a panorama-I’m working on improving my skills, I promise!)

For the last stop of the day, we popped into what seemed like a little gift shop just near the Trajan column. But what lay underneath was a huge surprise! The Domus Romane-a large area under what now is now shops and restaurants, archaeologists had excavated a few ancient buildings. We walked on glass floors, while looking below our feet to see the ruins of beautiful mosaic floors, massive marble pillars, baths, halls and courtyards. We saw how ancient Romans used hollow bricks to trap and store heat for baths and rooms- a genius idea for such early times (I’m starting to sense a theme here). We also saw again how ancient roads were build with gravel, sand, and stone. Unfortunately no cameras were allowed inside, so you’re going to have to take my word on this one!

That’s (exhaustingly) all for today! Ciao!

Well, we have survived our first weekend in Rome! This last week has been filled with lots of sightseeing, engineering, traveling, and eating. Yes, eating. Gnocchi, pizza, risotto, caprese, gelato, and so many other dishes have filled our eager bellies in the last few days.

Today, we had our first day off. I don’t think I’m alone when I say that it was a very necessary break. With all of the traveling, touring, and readjusting that we have experienced in the last five days, I think we all required a bit of time to get back on track. We had a lot of different options with how to savor our free day: Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, Lazio soccer game, Scavenger hunt exploration, and essentially anything else you could imagine. Many of us spent part of the day nestled in our warm beds trying to regroup before all the fun begins again tomorrow.

A group of us did venture out to watch Lazio vs. Crotone at Stadio Olimpico this afternoon. It was quite the experience! We were all amazed when a trained eagle flew around the stadium before the start of the game and landed at a podium next to its trainer The Lazio fans engulfed in blue apparel surrounded us in the stands. They cheered loudly and passionately for their beloved team and joined together for various chants and songs. We had a blast trying to join in on the fun even with our inability to translate. The game ended with Lazio scoring their only goal of the game in the 90th minute. Yay, a win for Lazio!

Chloe and I can’t wait to continue sharing our adventures with you all!

Ciao!

Engineering among the Roman ruins and renaissance masters’ works has been a phenomenal opportunity to understand the foundation of our field. Yet, mass today at St. Peter’s Basilica held an unanticipated gift. We may not have understood everything that was said in Italian, but the significance of the worldwide church held a new, nuanced meaning as we participated in the mass with people from around the world. Yes, the soaring space creates the effect that the designers intended, but a stronger much more essential sense of what it means to be present in one’s faith exists in this space, regardless of the structure. Our families are celebrating the Epiphany today; it may be viewed as a celebration of the fulfillment of hope. Experiencing the hope of the Epiphany in this sacred space is an extraordinary opportunity and gift. (Friends back home, the Epiphany was officially celebrated on Friday in Italy.) As we left the Basilica we joined the crowd, mass if you will, in St. Peter’s square. The Pope appeared at noon and addressed the packed the crowd who waited to see and hear from him. This has been a phenomenal day.

Buon Sabato! Happy Saturday!

While most of you are just getting your mornings started back at home, we have already had quite the day!! Around 9:30, we bundled up and took a coach over to Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum, while getting in some fabulous tidbits of information on the way from our lovable tour guide, Gino. We all have come to adore him, and it has been so great having him lead us though the beautiful city, as he not only has a lot to teach us about the architecture, but he has an incredible amount of knowledge on mythology, religion, history, philosophy and always manages to slip in some comedic relief!

One of the greatest Engineering ‘takeaways’ today came from Basilica Maximus, a massive structure. The basilica is so large and sturdy thanks to the usage of fewer columns and wider vaults. On the ceiling of the remaining vaults, you can see octagonal coffers, which were designed and used to reduce the weight of the structure (Gino also informed us that the octagonal shape was important to the romans, as it symbolized the connection between humanity and the divine).

A distant shot of Basilica Maximus- It is HUGE!

A closer view of the vaults and octagonal coffers.

Next, on the walk towards the forum, Gino showed us a few temples that had been dedicated to emperors and their wives, children, parents, etc. It is amazing how well preserved they are, considering how high the ground level was when they began to excavate the area hundreds of years ago. This was all hidden underground!

Temple of Romulus. It is circular in structure, and features a massive (now green) Bronze door framed by detailed carved marble and large columns made of porphyry- which was only used for the very important members of society.

Temple of Antonius and Faustina. Originally a temple dedicated Faustina, it later became a christian church. The structure is still in great shape today, due to the use of the marble columns and crushed brick foundation.

Another fun tidbit of information from today; Gino went through the process of the road construction, the sewer system, and wells throughout the forum. It continues to amaze us how well-planned and executed the Romans were able to construct what did they did, considering the resources available to them at the time. Many of these streets and buildings are 1,700-2,500 years old!

Gino explaining the construction of the ancient roads (seen on the right). A trench was dug roughly 2 meters deep, filled with gravel, then sand, and finally finished off with Tufa- a volcanic rock used to build a lot of the roads and structures here in Rome.

Finally, we walked up to the top of Palatine hill to capture this gorgeous view of the ruins of the forum below, as well as a backdrop of the city and the colosseum.

Hello to all of our friends and family back home! Yesterday, we took a bus tour around Rome with our fabulous tour guide, Gino Mazzone. We spent lunch in a small strip of Jewish cafés and restaurants. Here, a group of us quickly learned that 30 minutes isn’t enough time to grab a meal at an actual restaurant when Gino brought our whole group into the restaurant to share his advice and encourage us to finish up our still very full plates. A few of us passed around what we couldn’t finish to our observant classmates which helped speed up the process. Afterwards, we traveled to Capitol Hill and learned about Michelangelo’s influence in its design and execution. We continued on to take some pictures with a bird’s eye view of the Roman Forum and later saw the Trajan Column.

Today, we visited the most famous structure in Italy. Drumroll, please…. The Colosseum! It was breathtaking to walk through a structure that was built over 2,000 years ago. Gino pointed out how that the restored elements of the Colosseum were purposely made with different materials in order to preserve its authenticity. With the structural engineering concepts we have been learning, this was the perfect place to test out some of our new terminology. We had the chance to study the arches, vaults, and arcades that were integrated into the Colosseum. After grabbing a bite to eat, we visited the church of St. Clemente where we saw beautiful mosaics, ancient murals, and lots of straight arches (we were so impressed to see the variety of architecture they were able to achieve so long ago).

To finish off the day, we had the chance to surprise Chris for his birthday! We all enjoyed celebrating with some delicious cake and champagne after our long, busy day.

Ciao!

Good morning all! It is the start of Day 3 and we have finally gotten a little bit of time to connect to the wifi and update you all! After a flight to NYC, a very long layover, and another long flight, we arrived in Rome yesterday around 11:00 am local time. A little jet-lagged and very exhausted, we got checked in at the hotel and had our orientation followed by a well-deserved nap! We spent the early part of the evening on our own getting dinner (or snack, as Italians usually eat around 7 pm!) and around 7 we all walked to the Vatican and Piazza Navona- where Professor Zell treated us to some gelato! Delizioso! Today we are spending a little bit of time in the classroom for some presentations and then going on a panoramic bus tour around the city!

Ciao!