Colosseum

We began our morning by passing quickly by the monument to Giuseppe Mazzini, one of the two men who founded the Italian republic. Our first real treat came at the Circus Maximus, Rome’s entertainment capital before the construction of the Flavian Amphitheater. One circuit of the course covered one Roman mile, a distance just a wee bit shorter than our Anglo-Saxon mile. Every time I come to this place I’m always more interested in the palace overlooking the racetrack.

Augustus built a palace here. It wasn’t exactly small, but it wasn’t nearly as large as some of the additions made by Tiberius, Nero and Titus, who followed him. Before Augustus, the ruler was his great-uncle Julius Caesar, who never was declared Emperor, but was a member of the First Triumvirate and essentially a dictator from 49 to 44 BC. As ruler he assumed the title of Pontifex Maximus, that is, the bridge or connection between the gods and men. As such he was required to live in the house reserved for the Pontifex Maximus located in the forum. Caesar’s family home, where he was born and which he never sold, was located in a slum. His grand-nephew Octavian (later titled “Augustus,”) succeeded him after a turbulent transition and actually did declare himself Emperor. So he got the palace.

We next went to the Colosseum (actually called the Flavian Amphitheater), the Trevi Fountain and to the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo to see its two magnificent paintings by Caravaggio, “The Conversion of St. Paul,” and “The Crucifixion of St. Peter.”We grabbed a quick lunch at the Campo della Fiore and finished up at the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. (We were not allowed to take photos, so those included are borrowed from the web.) In the central panel the finger of God is about to touch an inert Adam with the gift of life. The divine Father is portrayed over the exact shape of a human brain holding all of God’s thoughts, which are momentarily to be created. His left arm surrounds Eve, whom he is about to present to Adam. Michaelangelo had seen a human brain. Many of the artists of the renaissance, including Leonardo da Vinci, broke church rules to dissect human cadavers. Only in this way could they learn how a human body really looks, inside and out.

Unfortunately the queue to go into St. Peter’s Basilica stretched out into St. Peter’s Square. I doubt that half the people waiting to get in could do so by closing time.

Still, it was a great day and as usual Rome gave us more beauty and history than one person could possibly absorb.Read more