ROMA... for the 3rd time

Once again I found myself on a train headed for Rome- this time for a two day trip with my Renaissance Art class. I hadn't been to Rome since February and although I was a little worried about the speed of the trip (if you remember from my Padua post my professor literally had us RUNNING through the streets) I was excited to see the city again from a Renaissance perspective.

We checked into our surprisingly nice hotel and headed out for the first of many church visits. We did a incredibly quick paced tour through San Pietro in Vincoli (which houses the chains of St. Peter and Michelangelo's Julius II Tomb) and then went to the Villa Farnesia, a villa that was once in the countryside of Rome (now it's pretty much in the center) and was almost as ornately decorated as Versaille. After grabbing lunch in the Campo di Fiore (a piazza in Rome with a bunch of cute restaurants and market stalls) we set off to the Vatican. There we went through the Vatican Museums (again, pretty much at a sprint), seeing the Apollo Belvedere, Laocoon, and the Belvedere Torso along the way. Our professor slowed down the pace for us to see the Rooms of Raphael with famous frescos such as the School of Athens.

Belvedere Torso 

Then came the most important stop for a tourist- the Sistine Chapel. I hadn't seen this on my last 2 trips to Rome and was pretty pumped to see it. Ironically, about 5 minutes before going in a stopped to fix one of my contacts-- and ripped it. Brilliant. Obviously this was the one day I hadn't brought an extra or my glasses. Luckily, my vision isn't too horrible and by the end of the day I forgot I was only wearing one. For the Sistine Chapel I just closed the eye without a contact and looked like an idiot squinting to see the ceiling. Good thing everybody else was looking up too! The Sistine Chapel was obviously amazing to see in person, despite my little blip in my vision. 

Our final stop of the day was St. Peter's. I had gone inside on my first trip to Rome but hadn't spent too much time looking around and hadn't seen Michelangelo's Pieta, so it was nice to go back.

Michelangelo's Pieta

Our professor studied architecture before art history (and business before architecture!) so she knew a ton about everything in St. Peter's (and pretty much about everything we passed in Rome). After St. Peter's a bunch of us caught a bus back to the hotel. This alone was SUCH good luck because there was one of the incredibly common transportation strikes going on. They schedule strikes all the time here- in fact, there is one in Florence tomorrow. I don't really see how it helps them get what they want because they always are so nice to tell people when they are striking and exactly which parts of the bus system will be working. I've been told that their aim isn't to get anything out of it other than having part of the day off with pay. 

One of my roommates was on the trip with me so we shared a room with another girl.  The three of us were pretty much exhausted so we had a quick dinner at a restaurant near the hotel and went to bed by 10pm. I know what you're thinking- don't party tooooo hard.  To be fair we had literally walked the length of Rome and THEN some in one day.

Day two was just as full as the first day. We got up and after breakfast head out on what our professor called our "Fast Paced Baroque Walking Tour". Yippeee. I can't even remember which churches we saw- all I know is that there were at least five and they were ALL the same style. There were some standout moments, like seeing Bernini's "St. Teresa in Ecstasy" (anybody read Angels and Demons?).

St. Teresa in Ecstasy

During this marathon through Rome we also stopped by the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and Spanish Steps. Let me remind you that this was my THIRD time seeing all of these things and although the Pantheon is amazing and didn't get boring to see again, the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps aren't all that exciting the third time through. It was interesting to see how many more tourists there were compared to my first and second visits. They definitely multiply exponentially. (And I clearly say this as a tourist... even in Florence I find myself being like "UGH GO AWAY" to all the crowds even though I'm clearly not a local and can't even speak the language). 

Finally we got to our last stop of the trip: the Villa Borghese. Going into it all that I wanted was to be on a train home, but once inside I'm really glad we went. The Villa Borghese houses a ton of ancient, Renaissance, and Baroque art, including a ton of Raphael, Titian, and Caravaggio paintings and Bernini sculptures. Of all the museums I have visited it was one of my favorites both in what was there and how it was organized. The Villa itself was gorgeous too.

symbol of the Vatican

After a subway ride to the hotel and a quick stop at McDonald's for coffee we got back on the train and were home in Florence by 6:30pm.  The trip was whirlwind (seems to be a theme of my trips here) but we got to see a ton of things and it definitely wasn't wasted time.

I can definitely now say that I have seen Rome pretty well. In total I've done 3 days of tourist-ing with friends, a day with a Professor of ancient art, and 2 with a professor of Renaissance art. I've done almost all of the cliche tourist places (many of them multiple times!) a ton of cultural stuff, and some stuff that most people who visit Rome don't even know exist. Rome is such a gorgeous city and I definitely hope to go back someday.