Rome | Day 2

At 9:30 this morning, Celeste woke me up and asked, “Do you want to go down for breakfast?” I declined. She, brave girl, went down and even after two cups of strong, Italian coffee, still found her eyes closing when she got back up to the room. We didn’t fully wake up until around 12:30. Lazy, you say? Necessary friends, necessary.

Rested and motivated we hopped on the shuttle to head downtown and started our day’s tour in Vatican City. The Piazza San Pietro wasn’t as crowded as we had anticipated, and we were able to appreciate the space, designed in the 1630s by Bernini to “mimic a human embrace.” I don’t know about that, but the colonnade is breathtaking and features a giant Egyption obelisk in the center (more of those to come), that marks the spot where St. Peter was martyred in 64 A.D.









We then made our way into the Tomb of the Popes, which was kind of creepy. We were much more impressed with St. Peter’s Basilica. It definitely puts you in awe of what human hands are capable of, especially when you consider that everything in St. Peter’s is made of marble, bronze or gold. Even thing that appear to be paintings are actually mosaics with miniscule tesserae.












To me, one of the most impressive things in the basilica is Michaelangelo’s Pieta, which depicts Jesus’ mother, Mary, holding him just after his crucifixion. It’s extremely moving and even in stone, lifelike in the emotions that it conveys.



We had hoped to stop into the Sistine Chapel, but the Vatican stuff was closing down early and we decided to make our way east and hit the Pantheon. Before we switched directions, we stopped in at a local flea market to buy Celeste a wide-brimmed hat. She got a little too much sun the day before and this seemed like the perfect solution.



Now, the guide book considers the Pantheon “hands-down the most masterful architectural feat of ancient Rome,” and I think that’s in large part because it’s still in such great condition. You wouldn’t know that the concrete was first poured in the 120s A.D. Now a church, it’s lovely inside despite the fact that it’s not nearly as ornate as its counterparts throughout the city.









Exiting the Pantheon, we went on a nice piazza tour, stopping in…

[the Pantheon’s piazza]



[the Piazza Montecitorio]



[the Piazza Colonna, with its obelisk featuring Marcus Aurelius]



[and my personal favorite, the Piazza Pietra. Not only does it envoke my maiden name, Pietrangelo, but it is home to the Temple Adriano.]




From there, I convinced Celeste that as the wife of someone who graduated from a Jesuit college (and in solidarity with all our Jesuit school alumni friends), I had to make my pilgrimage to the Church of Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order. Being slightly off the beaten path, his church was not only beautiful, but silent, which made the experience that much more special.









From Loyola’s we walked to the Trevi Fountain and marveled with our fellow tourists at how lovely it is.







We’d picked up a fresh baguette to split earlier, but by this time we were pretty hungry, so we found a lovely little place with outdoor seating called La Locando del Tiempo. We each started with a pasta dish (spaghetti pomodoro for Celeste, penne quattro formaggi for me) and then had our “secundi piatti” featuring meat. I had chicken marsala and Celeste had a tasty fish with peas. We each had a glass of the house red and enjoyed a simple, tasty meal.






After dinner, we rushed back to catch the shuttle and made it, but the bus was too full to take us so we had to grab a cab…grr!

We’ll go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight and then I have the first of my seminars at 9 am.