S/V Mojombo: Roma (Rome)

Our campground was just inside the ring road with a shuttle service to the Vatican City – we thought we were in luck until we saw that we had to camp on coarse gravel next to a construction site while paying through the nose! However Rome’s archaeological heritage was wonderful. The key sites – the Roman Forum, Palantine Hill and the Colosseum – were a combination of ruins and awesome intact buildings. Added to this were the many less well known sights that showcased the ancient Roman’s engineering achievements and promotion of the arts. The historic centre of Rome is of course a World Heritage Site as is the Vatican City.

Saturday 31 August
Our first day began by walking right past the Vatican heading for the Roman Forum, some 5kms away. Along the way we admired the Castel Sant Angelo.

The Castel Sant Angelo, once a Roman fort but now a papal palace guarded by Swiss Guards.

Crossing the river we decide to take a short detour to the Piazza Navona – an oval circus of three storey housing and shop fronts – but get lost in the narrow streets. Eventually arriving, the centre of the piazza has a magnificent flowing fountain surrounded by street vendors arriving for the day.

The fountain in the Piazza Navona.

Back on the Corso Vitorrio Emanuele we again aim for the Roman Forum only to be distracted by our first ancient Roman ruin, the Area Sacra.

The Area Sacra: this excavated and partially reassembled site of three temples was a late discovery, the result of 1980s development ambitions. The current street level is 1.5 metres above the ground level of the temples. Pediments, columns and other foundations are only one fifth of the original area of this precinct.

Back on track we are once again distracted by the Monumento Vittorio Emanuele (Tomb of the Unkown Soldier)

The Tomb is a huge white marble edifice. Soldiers stand on guard next to the eternal flame and upstairs on the terrace great views can be had of the Roman Forum and Palantine Hill.

This is our first glimpse of the Forum ruins and we are awestruck by how extensive they are after almost 2000 years.

Finally inside the Roman Forum we find the audio guide really helps us understand this complex place. The site is full of temples and monuments celebrating various emperors’ defeat of their enemies.

We reckon the single most astounding building is this, the Senate House – it mightn’t look much but this mightily significant building in Roman democracy is still intact and standing, albeit minus its white granite cladding. Preservation is this instance, and for a few other temples, was due to it being converted to a Christian church.

Vast columns stand in rows, worn paving stones and avenues of brickwork show how densely the building covered the site.

The Arco di Tito still stands in full but weathered glory, marking the entrance of the Roman road into the Forum.

It is hard to image that once the Roman Empire fell this complex, sophisticated city was gradually dismantled, converted to housing and even became quarries in the Middle Ages. The city slowly disappeared as the ground level rose around it until the late 1800s when archaeologists began their explorations. Major excavations only began in the 1930s.

The history of Palantine Hill is not so well interpreted and signs of continuing archaeological digs are everywhere. The subterranean tunnels criss-crossing the hill, from Nero’s era, are interesting, but after hours of wandering our enthusiasm is waning in the heat.

Sunday 1 September
The Colosseum is getting busy when we arrive, but no queues for us because we bought our ticket the day before. The size of this amphitheatre is huge, even in modern day terms.

In its heyday the Colosseum could seat between 45,000 to 75,000 people!

The amphitheatre is a construction marvel given the building technologies available at that time. Built in the Flavian era by three successive emperors the amphitheatre is an oval shape that had a sunken floor below the arena and many tiers of seating all the way to the columns holding the awnings overhead. The lowest tiers were for the Senators and the highest for the poorest inhabitants.

The Games were popular free events – entertainment was paramount. Each person was allocated a seat and entered through a specific gate/archway – four archways have been renovated and are marked. Senators scratched their names into the granite to mark their seat and names can still be seen today!

The Colosseum has also suffered the pillaging of building materials, conversions and changing street levels. Time has weathered away many aspects and earthquakes (c.1349) have taken a major toll. Nonetheless enough of it stands to be totally impressive. All that we survey has been saved, remarkably, as a result of the efforts of a Pope who considered it should stand as a monument to Christians who died there for their faith.

As light relief we hit another icon of Rome, the Trevi Fountain. Along with a few hundred other people Zeke, Nina and I push our way to the fountain edge, sit and throw a coin over our shoulder as tradition dictates (if you want to return to Rome someday). Gary sits this one out – too many people. Lunch is consumed in Piazza di Petra admiring the surviving edifice of Tempio Adriano whilst we watch a guy dressed as a centurion work the crowd to make a few dollars.

Our pentultimate stop is the Pantheon, the least changed and surviving temple of ancient Rome (it too was converted into a church). You enter through the portico with its rows of huge white granite columns. The souring central dome, at 35 metres, would have collapsed by now if made of concrete.

The floor is covered in large slabs of coloured granite, the walls are clad in granite veneers, and religious icons and paintings are from later periods. The throng of tourists has managed to show their respects and speak in hushed tones. The overall effect is outstanding and we are truly impressed by those ancient Romans.

Finally we make it to the Vatican City and Saint Peter’s Basilica late-afternoon as the crowds are thinning. The fore-court is half filled with seating for the Sunday morning service – only for true devotees under the scorching sun. Wearing our best clothes, from our limited traveling wardrobe, we head to the first security checkpoint and pass through. At the second checkpoint we see people being turned away – that skirt is too short. We’re nervous but again we are waved through. In through the grand double doors and then another set of doors we enter the cathedral empty of pews, just people. Nuns and monks are amongst the sightseers and devotees.

The inside is dark and somber, statues of former popes abound, and religious iconography fill every niche and surface. The size of St Peter’s is immense but having seen a few dozen grand churches we are perhaps a little blasé.