Pops’ Rome Travel Guide, Sites Around Piazza Navona

You have just been to the Piazza Navona and walked the beautiful piazza taking in the church and the fountains. You maybe took a break at one of the cafes to relax and had a glass of wine and something to eat. Is there something close by that I can walk to? Actually there is a lot to do and see within walking distance.

The Pantheon is only about 2 blocks east of the center of the Piazza Navona. Along the way you will pass many shops that may temp you to go inside. The Pantheon is a building in Rome, commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus as a temple to all the gods of ancient Rome, and rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian about 126 AD. The building is circular with a portico of large granite Corinthian columns (eight in the first rank and two groups of four behind). A rectangular vestibule links the porch to the rotunda, which is under a coffered concrete dome, with a central opening the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. The height to the opening and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 43.3 metres (142 ft). It is one of the best-preserved of all Roman buildings. It has been in continuous use throughout its history, and since the 7th century, the Pantheon has been used as a Roman Catholic Church dedicated to "St. Mary and the Martyrs" but informally known as "Santa Maria Rotonda." The square in front of the Pantheon is called Piazza della Rotonda. In the square, which is usually crowded with tourists, you will find some nice cafes. If you can find a table it would be another place to relax and enjoy the view. I was told that a lot of the Roman ruins like the Forum and Coliseum had their marble taken to build new churches. Places like The Pantheon were already designated a church and saved. The same was true of the Roman Senate in the Forum. The senate building was repurposed as a church and spared from be demolished for the marble. The Pantheon is an architectural marvel as well as being a beautiful church and is a must see.

If you walk another 4 to 5 blocks east of The Pantheon you will find the Trevi Fountain. This is one of the top tourist spots in Rome and is a must see. The Trevi Fountain is a fountain in the Trevi district in Rome, designed by Italian architect Nicola Salvi and completed by Pietro Bracci. Standing 26.3 metres (86 ft) high and 49.15 metres (161.3 ft) wide, it is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world. The fountain has appeared in several notable films, including Federico Fellins’s La Dolce Vita. The fountain is beautiful both day and night but for me at night, when it is all lit up, is the best time to see it. Have dinner in or around the Piazza Navona or Piazza della Rotonda and then walk over to the Trevi Fountain.

I like to walk and have made the walk from the Trevi Fountain to the Spanish Steps but I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone. You may be tired by the time you get to the Trevi Fountain. If not the Spanish Steps are about 8 to 10 blocks north of the Trevi Fountain. The Spanish Steps is a set of steps in Rome, climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinita dei Monti church at the top. The Spanish Steps is the widest staircase in Europe. The stairway of 135 steps was built with French diplomat Étienne Gueffier’s bequeathed funds of 20,000 scudi, in 1723–1725, linking the Bourbon Spanish Embassy, and the Trinità dei Monti church that was under the patronage of the Bourbon kings of France, both located above — to the Holy See in Palazzo Monaldeschi located below.

If you don’t continue the walk to the Spanish Steps then I would recommend seeing it on the same day you visit the Borghese Gallery. It is just past the southwest corner of the park that the gallery is in.

I do have one restaurant recommendation to add. Just south of the Piazza Navona is the restaurant iL Bacaro. It is a very small restaurant with limited seating. The night we ate there I had the best risotto I have ever had. The food there is incredible. One note, they don't open until 6:30 pm, but it is worth the wait. Their address is Via degli Spagnoli 27 and their website is www.ilbacaroroma.com .

If I missed anything in between let me know and I’ll add it.

Next up will be the Church of the Gesù. It is close to the Pantheon but in the opposite direction from the Trevi Fountain or I would have included it above.

Pops’ Rome Travel Guide, Piazza Navona

One of my favorite works of Bernini outside of the Borghese Gallery is in the Piazza Novona.  Piazza Navona is a city square in Rome. It is built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian, built in 1st century AD, and follows the form of the open space of the stadium. The Piazza Navona is in the shape of an oval track. The ancient Romans came there to watch the agones ("games"), and hence it was known as "Circus Agonalis" ("competition arena"). It is believed that over time the name changed to in avone to navone and eventually to navona.

It features important sculptural and architectural creations: in the center stands the famous Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi or Fountain of the Four Rivers (1651) by Bernini, topped by the Obelisk of Domitian, brought here in pieces from the Circus of Maxentius; the church of Sant’ Agnese in Agone by Borromini, Rainaldi, and others; and the Pamphili palace, also by Rainaldi, that accommodates the long gallery designed by Borromini and frescoed by Pietro da Cortona.

Piazza Navona has two additional fountains: at the southern end is the Fontana del Moro with a basin and four Tritons sculpted by Giacomo della Porta (1575) to which, in 1673, Bernini added a statue of a Moor, or African, wrestling with a dolphin, and at the northern end is the Fountain of Neptune (1574) created by Giacomo della Porta. The statue of Neptune in the northern fountain, the work of Antonio Della Bitta, was added in 1878 to make that fountain more symmetrical with La Fontana del Moro in the south.

At the southwest end of the piazza is the ancient 'speaking' statue of Pasquino. Erected in 1501, Romans could leave lampoons or derogatory social commentary attached to the statue.

Now the piazza is a place for restaurants which attract tourists which in turn attract street vendors and street artists. Some people recommend staying away because it is too touristy but then you would miss the artwork and architecture in the piazza. I would recommend ignoring the touristy aspect and walk the piazza, take in the history and beauty of the piazza then grab a drink or eat at one of the many restaurants there, and sit outside if the weather is nice.

When you look at Fountain of the Four Rivers take a close look at the faces on the fountain. When I had the tour with the two priests they told me that Bernini and the artist that was commissioned to do the Sant’ Agnese in Agone had a feud going on at the time. If you look at the stature at the top of the church you will see that she is looking away from the fountain to signify that the fountain was not worth her looking at. Then look at the faces of the fountain. One is shielding his eyes to signify that he can’t look at something as hideous as the church. We never would have known this if not for the priests. It was nice to know some of the folklore even if it may have been embellished.

Next I will talk about the sights around the Piazza.

Pops’ Rome Travel Guide, Borghese Gallery

I usually don’t want to get into recommending when to see something when in a particular city but in this case I’ll make an exception. On my last trip to Rome a friend recommended that I go to the Borghese Gallery. I would recommend that you go here before seeing anything else in Rome. The Borghese Gallery is one of the top museums in Rome. The museum is housed in the beautiful Villa Borghese mansion in the Borghese Gardens on the Pincio Hill and contains marble sculptures by Bernini among other works of art. It is a large museum, three floors, and in a park in Rome. They only allow so many people in the gallery at a time in blocks. When you buy tickets it is for a block of time and when it is time for your block they let you in to walk the three floors and enjoy the art during your allotted time. At the end of your block they clear the gallery and then let the next block in. That way you get to enjoy the art and not fight huge crowds. The blocks tend to fill up and if you don’t have a reservation you probably won’t get in. I would suggest buying your tickets before you leave home and print them off. This is true for most museums in Italy. It is easy to exchange the printed copies for the real tickets.

Arts patron Cardinal Scipione Borghese, who was the nephew of Pope Paul V, commissioned the building of the Villa Borghese and its lush surrounding gardens from 1613-1616. Borghese used the villa as a home for entertaining as well as a place to display his growing art collection. The Cardinal collected antiquities and was among the first patrons of Baroque sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini. Bernini happens to be my favorite artist.

The Bernini sculptures that are in the Museo Borghese collection are some of his best works. They include "Apollo and Daphne," a stunning piece that conveys movement in marble, and "The Rape of Proserpina," an equally stunning composition in which Bernini managed to make marble appear as supple as skin. Bernini also sculpted a "David," the face of which was modeled on his own. “The Rape of Proserpina” happens to be my favorite. The statue is so lifelike from the hand prints on her thighs to the tears coming down her cheeks it is one of the most lifelike statues I have ever seen.  

Other works of art in the Museo Borghese include a reclining statue of Paolina Borghese by Antonio Canova; the "Sleeping Hermaphrodite," a Roman bronze from 150 BC, and Roman mosaics from the 4th century. On the upper floor, which is often referred to by the name Galleria Borghese (the Borghese Gallery), visitors will find paintings by Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, Rubens, and other notable names from the Renaissance. The painting gallery also contains a couple of self-portraits by Bernini.

Now why would I recommend that you see this first? Bernini had such an influence in Rome that you will see his works in almost every area of Rome. There are the fountains in Piazza Navona, Statues in St. Peters Square and statues and fountains at various other areas around Rome. After seeing the Borghese Gallery I would then recommend taking the hop-on/hop-off bus tour. As you ride around Rome the guide will mention the various fountains and statues you will see.  After seeing the gallery you will have a better understanding of what you are seeing.

I would also recommend doing a lot of research before you go to Rome on the various artists and their works. It will make the trip a lot more interesting when you understand what you are looking at.

In future posts I will go into more detail on the specific areas of Rome and the history behind it.

To book a reservation at the Borghese Gallery please go to their site.

http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/en/edefault.htm

Pops' Italy Travel Guide, Rome

On one of my trips to Rome I arranged through a friend of mine to have a private tour of the Catholic churches of Rome by two Catholic priests that he knew and were living just outside Rome. We agreed to meet at St. John Lateran's Basilica which is the church of the Bishop of Rome. This is where we learned our first fact. The Bishop of Rome is also the Pope.

It is the oldest and ranks first among the four Papal Basilica's. It was the primary basilica before St. Peters was built. It is not within the Vatican City but is within the city limits of Rome. However it enjoys extraterritorial status as one of the properties of the Holy See. It also claims the title as the mother church among Roman Catholics.

The tour had just begun and we already had learned a lot. From there the priests took us on a tour of churches that were home to religious relics. During the crusades relics were brought back from the Holy Land.

• Santa Maria Maggiore houses the crib that Jesus was born in and a piece of the true cross. It also has the tomb of St. Mathew. It is located on Esquiline Hill. 
• Santa Croce in Gerusalemme houses Doubting Thomas's finger, pieces of the true cross and thorns from the crown worn during the crucifixion. 
• Saint John Lateran's and Santa Santorum house some of the holiest relics. These include the heads of Saint Peter and Paul, the Holy Stairs taken from the Palace of Pontius Pilate, and wood from the table of the Last Supper. On the Holy Stairs we saw many people on their knees praying on the stairs. I asked the priests what they were doing and they said that they walked up the stairs on their knees praying as they went. The priests had done it but it looked too painful for my knees and I opted out. 

Walking from church to church I had time to ask the priests a lot of questions. I am a Catholic and was raised one by my mother. However some things I had a hard time believing. One was the crib that Jesus was born in. I believe Jesus was born in a manger in a pile of hay. The priests told me that if you believe that the church has the real crib then it is the real crib,

We did a lot of walking that day. We ended up walking from St. John Lateran's to Piazza Navona for dinner. After dinner we ended up walking to the Vatican where we said goodbye to our guides. When I said it was a long day, we started at 8 am and left them at 1 am. We walked the entire day except for breaking for something to drink and dinner.  

Although it was a long day this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I would suggest if you are going to Rome and you are Catholic or know one it wouldn't hurt to ask a local priest. Odds are they may know of someone in Rome to give you the same kind of tour. 

Pops’ Italy Travel Guide, Pompeii Back to Rome

On the way back to Rome and just north of Naples is the city of Caserta. The Royal Palace of Caserta is a former royal residence in Caserta, southern Italy, constructed for the Bourbon kings of Naples. It was the largest palace and one of the largest buildings erected in Europe during the 18th century. In 1997, the Palace was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, described in its nomination as "the swan song of the spectacular art of the Baroque, from which it adopted all the features needed to create the illusions of multidirectional space".

We exited the A1 and found a place to park and then made the walk to the palace. This palace is huge with some 1,200 rooms, including two dozen state apartments, a large library, and a theatre modelled after the Teatro San Carlos of Naples.

Of all the royal residences inspired by the Palace of Versailles, the Reggia of Caserta is the one that bears the greatest resemblance to the original model. At the end of WWII, the royal palace served as the seat of the Supreme Allied Commander. In April 1945 the palace was the site of the signing of terms of the unconditional German surrender of forces in Italy. The agreement covered between 600,000 and 900,000 soldiers along the Italian Front including troops in sections of Austria. The first Allied war trial took place in the palace in 1945; German general Anton Dostler was sentenced to death and executed nearby, in Aversa. The Caserta Palace has been used as a filming location in a number of movie productions. In 1997 it served as a filming location for Star Wars when it was used as the setting for Queen Amidala’s's Royal Palace on Naboo in the 1999 film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. It featured again in the 2002 film Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones as Queen Jamilla’s palace. The same room was also used in Mission:Imposible III as Vatican City. In fact, the square where the Lamborghini is blown up is actually the square inside the Palace. The main staircase is also used in Angels and Demons as the Vatican's staircase. The Palace featured in Beautiful but Dangerous starring Gina Lollobrigida in 1955 and in the opening scenes of the film Anzio from 1968 starring Robert Mitchum.

Behind the palace is a beautiful park and gardens with beautiful fountains. Take the time to walk the gardens as part of the tour.



Our next stop was interesting and a little weird. We were getting hungry and wanted to stop for something to eat. We saw a large shopping mall and decided to look at that also. As we were walking around we saw a restaurant that caught our eye. The restaurant was supposed to be modeled after an American restaurant. The weird part was it was also patterned after the area where we live. We live in Sacramento which is very close to the gold rush towns of the 1800’s. On the wall of this restaurant was a map of the gold country with highway 49 going through such towns as Auburn, Placerville, Jackson and Angels Camp. How weird was that? They served BBQ and had Pabst Blue Ribbon and Millers on tap. We had to stop there and grab some food and suds. I can’t remember what town it was in but it was just north of Caserta. You can’t miss the mall from the A1. As you are driving north it will be on the right.

It was a very long day but well worth it. If we were part of a tour we never would have found the restaurant.

Pops’ Italy Travel Guide, Day Trip to Pompeii

On a recent trip to Rome we took a day trip to Pompeii. We had our rental car so we made the drive of about 2.5 hours and headed south to Pompeii. The A1 is a great highway with many things to see between Rome and Pompeii. We drove directly to Pompeii but on the way back we made a few stops.

 

Pompeii was a Roman city on the west coast of Italy just south of Naples. In 79 AD Pompeii and Herculaneum were destroyed when they were covered in almost 20 feet of ash from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The site was lost for about 1500 years until the ruins were discovered. Since then, there has been excavation work being done that is still continuing.  Now you can tour the site and go into some of the buildings that were preserved by the ash.

 

As a lover of history this was a place I had always wanted to see and it complemented the trip to Rome. I have to admit it was a little eerie walking around the ruins where so many people lost their lives. It was also great to see the tile artwork in some of the villas preserved through time. One other fascinating thing was walking through the villas and seeing the architecture. Back home and watching movies and television such as Spartacus you understood why there was a hole in the ceiling and a pool underneath to capture the rain water inside the villa. It was also fascinating to see how the infrastructure was laid out. The streets were constructed so that they could be easily cleaned with water. Every once in a while there were stone steps so you could cross the street without getting wet. The stones were spaced so that the wheels of a cart could pass the steps. You can also see the bakeries, and other places of commerce. The clay pots and ovens are also preserved in the bakery. There is also a house of prostitution where you can see the menu still on the walls.  In another area is the arena that you can go into with seats preserved.

 

Then there are the remains of the people that died that day. The ash created a kind of mold that later was filled with plaster to show the people that died. There are also molds of dogs and other animals.

 

This is a must see when in Italy. One word of caution is that Pompeii takes a lot of walking. If you have difficulty walking, especially on cobbled streets up and down hills, you may want to avoid Pompeii.

 

They say that Herculaneum is even better preserved. Next trip I am going there.

Tomorrow I will talk about the trip back which was interesting.

Pops’ Europe Travel Guide, Ryan Air

If you are already in Europe, getting around Europe can be pretty inexpensive. One option I have used is to fly Ryan Air.

Ryan Air’s business model is different from other airlines. Most airlines take in money from ticket sales and pay expenses such as fuel, gate fees, maintenance, cleaning, food /beverage, and salaries. Ryan air flies into smaller airports and will guarantee a level of traffic through their terminal in exchange for the airport paying them to land there and in some cases even cleaning the planes between flights. They charge for food and beverages and have advertisements on the inside of the plane. This eliminates expenses such as gate fees, cleaning and food /beverage. In fact food/beverage could be a profit item.  They take in money from ticket sales, advertising, and food/beverage. Their expenses are fuel, salaries, and maintenance.

What does this mean to you? This is a no frills airline so you’ll have to pay for everything extra such as food/beverage and baggage check-in. Remember they are guaranteeing a set number of traffic through the terminal. Ryan Air will have to pay a penalty if they don’t meet that goal. Therefore, ticket prices are very low and in some cases (if you book early enough) you are only paying the tax. As they get closer to the goal the prices rise and after they reach the goal the prices are very high.

I used this to fly between Dublin and Copenhagen and only paid the tax on the ticket. Now I had to fly into Malmo, Sweden and take the train across the bridge back to Copenhagen but it was still worth it. Round trip was about $34 each way. I also used it to fly between Dublin and Cork. Price was only a few dollars.

Bottom line, Ryan Air flies all over Europe. If you can plan well in advance book your flights early and save a lot of money. For examples just go to their website and check out flight costs. Play around with the dates and go out as far as you can. Also, be aware that you will be charged for baggage check-in and anything you purchase on the plane. Factor that in if you don't only have carry on.