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Intro

All roads lead to Rome! The old saying has its origins in former times when the Roman Empire was "the" leading Superpower in the known western world and around the Mediterranean Sea. Starting from small tribes located on the hills at the river Tiber in Italy, the Romans made their way up to a technological, cultural, scientific and of course military superpower dominating large areas from what is today called Europe and Middle East. The very center of one of the biggest empires the world has seen by that time was still the city at the Tiber - Rome. Of course these times have left their remains in the city, still visible - and some even still in use today, more than 2000 years later!

But there is also another topic which is strongly linked to Rome - it is Christianity and especially the Roman Catholic Church with its center the Vatican. For the rise of this Religion to the World religion which it is today, the Romans also played a key role. So apart from the nice weather in spring, Italian Pizza, Pasta and Gelato there were two more reasons for me to visit the city. While booking the trip I was lucky to be able to arrange it as I planned, because availability (and with it also prices of course) were already influenced by the upcoming Easter weekend which was roughly 2 weeks after my trip....and you definitely don't want to be in this city during Easter if not for the religious part ;)

For my trip I booked several different accommodations spread throughout the city to keep walking distances short to the sites I wanted to visit (especially in the morning to be there before the bulk of the tourists arrive). Going through history I started with Roman Rome, then the Roman Catholic Rome and some other places of interest at the end.


Rome | The Roman Empire

On my first day I visited the Roman Rome which also represents the origins of the city. Of course the history of the Roman Empire is too long to recapitulate it here (and it's not the purpose of this blog), but I want to highlight some events especially the ones where you can still see remains today. Through all the times Rome was very much influenced from Greek and their achievements. So during the first major period the Roman Empire was a Republic, led by the Senate. It was an aristocratic polity with democratic elements, the abbreviation "SPQR" (Senatus Populusque Romanus - Senate and People of Rome) is from these days, and it's still in Rome's emblem today. Later the polity evolved to the imperial rule of a single emperor - but even he needed to collaborate with the Senate if he did not want to be assassinated (which happened to some).

Although Rome was in war with its neighbors during most of the time, the state and public was very open and tolerant in cultural and religious aspects, compared with other empires at that time. If a region was conquered, the Romans did not kill the population and wipe out their heritage, they rather assimilated them and integrated the newly won area as one of the so called "provinces" into their empire. A garrison army was stationed, Romans settled in the region, but the native population was in many cases allowed to continue living their traditional life, culture, religion etc. - if the region was not uprising or in oher ways resistant. In this case they wiped them out completely, Carthage is the best example...but exceptions confirm the rule is also a famous saying. The benefit of this open and tolerant politics was, that combined with Roman technology and wisdom in terms of governance, trading, tax system, infrastructure,  etc. the regions flourished bringing money, goods and also cultural influence to the rest of the empire and Rome itself - boosting the progress. They knew that the resources - not only mineral but also from the local population - were beneficial to the empire. It's a bit comparable with the Prussians under Friedrich Wilhelm, who granted asylum to the Huguenots - a protestant minority persecuted in France, and then benefited from their experience and labor in many ways.

In the 1st century AD the Roman Empire was at its peak, controlling provinces from Portugal to the Iraq, from Scotland to Egypt...the barbarians, how they called the people living north of their borders, did not even have a uniform consisting scripture by that time... To this date many things have been influenced by the Romans. For instance the judicial systems of many European nations and also the UN Charta are based on principles from them Roman judicial system, they invented concrete and opened the first multi-stage shopping center for instance. Also our calendar is based on the Roman calendar even with the names of the months...it's obvious especially at emperor JULIus Cäsar and emperor AUGUSTus...

Colosseum, Circus Maximus & Palatine Hill

Rome wasn't built in one day (you know it, a saying), and as I said before some leftovers of these times are still visible today. Let's start with constructions which were absolutely vital to the city, and without them the city would have never been able to grow to this extent, while keeping the hygiene and health standards at such a high level - the Aqueducts. In the last development stage 11 Aqueducts brought water from the mountains to the city, distributing it to sewers, public fountains and the houses of the rich and the emperors' palace directly. It was enough water to provide every inhabitant an equivalent of roughly 180 liters per person and day. The rich paid for the direct delivery to their houses, for the not-so-rich public it was free. The Aqueducts were built with a constant gradient of -0,3° which was enough to keep it running, but with such a low speed that in bigger pools the dirt deposited at the ground. The fact that every household and person had flowing water available on a daily basis was never reached again through the whole Middle Ages in Europe - which makes this achievement even more remarkable. And some of them are still in use today, walking around I also found many smaller fountains with drinking water for free.

In general, water played a key role in Roman society. In all parts of the empire they built public thermal baths, the common phrase "SPA" (sanum per aqua - healthy through water) describes a concept still in use today. They also had public toilets with water supply - and requested a fee from the "customers" - guess where the saying "money has no smell" comes from ;)

The next is a famous one - the Colosseum. A building, famous and celebrated like not many else, is in its core a place of mass murder. Rough estimations calculate an incredible amount of ~300.000 people killed here for the joy of others (excluded the animals where you can estimate an even higher number). From logistics, technology and architecture standpoint it was the symbol of power and progress of the Roman Empire, from an ethic standpoint it was death as entertainment, and entertainment was politics. It's a must see, so I booked my tickets online and for the early morning which obviously was a good Idea. I did not participate in a guided tour, but there are so many tours, you can't avoid it, so I was able to catch some information... 

Colosseum - Inside view

Constructed in less than 10 years, it was comparable with a football stadium today, serving many emperors to satisfy the people with "Bread and Games", and you can take this by word because entrance was free for everybody and they handed out bread to whomever wanted. 

Spectacles lasted the whole day starting with executions where prisoners or slaves have been killed by animals (the "Opening Party" lasted 100 days in a row...). The highlights were of course the Gladiators at late afternoon, but against what you expect 9 out of 10 Gladiators survived their fights (often injured of course). Raising a Gladiator was expensive and if killed - accidently or not - the owning Gladiator school had to be compensated, so the different schools avoided to kill their "players", and the people were often satisfied enough to raise their thumb when the fighter showed 100% effort. Especially the known ones had their fans which often prevented them from being killed even if they lost a fight. A Gladiator had to fight 2 - 3 times p.a. on average, slaves could win their freedom, but other Gladiators could get rich or at least famous, if they reached the end of their contract with the school. 

Right picture: The way from life to death! Entrance for all (Gladiators, slaves...) was the opposite door. Dead bodies were pulled out through this door...
Life expectance was not more than 30 years, but if you made it you could have grown a Popstar by then, Archaeologists found graffiti with the names of famous Gladiators not only in Rome. Members of the Senate had their own reserved seat, which was given to the next when the person died. 

Going from bottom (Senate) to top (the Plebs) you can see the different classes in Roman society. As I said entrance was free for everybody but you needed a ticket which then of course indicated your seat according to your class.
The stage was highly sophisticated to be able to change the settings quickly, they could also flood it to simulate sea fights imagine that. 

Countless waited here for their death...

There were amphitheaters spread throughout the whole empire, but this was the very center, and by the time many of the things which we know from modern professional sports also evolved, like player markets, agents, voluntary professional fighters, betting, bribery...
Closing I have to say that I think we should have the history  more present in our minds when we are walking through this building...I would wonder if you would laugh and do smiley-selfies on any other place where so many people lost their lives on such brutal ways...

After visiting the Colosseum I went to the Circus Maximus, but unfortunately there is almost nothing left. From the big whole you can still get a glimpse of the former size but that's it. So I went to the Palatine Hill - the place where the rich and mighty ones had their homes during the Republic, and later the emperors built their forums and palaces. Remains especially from the Roman Forum and the leftovers of the different palaces are still accessible today. 

Roman Forum from Colosseum

Emperor Nero - which normally would never have been emperor but his mother Aggrippina - which was niece AND wife of the former emperor Claudius - persuaded him to to declare her son from a former marriage to his predecessor (and 4y later she poisoned him). Nero exaggerated it with his planned palace on the Palatine Hill - I`ll come back on that later. He also played an key role in the burn of Rome. Rumors say it was him who ordered to burn it (never proved) but after the burn he needed culprits and so he declared a small but tolerated community as guilty and sentenced them and their leader to death - it was the small Christian society in Rome with their leader the apostle Petrus. He had no clue what he started with that back then... 

Remains of Forums and Palaces on Palatine Hill

Nero was one of these strange happenings in history, how he came into this position, furthermore he declared himself as an artist rather than emperor. Nero's house was model for the famous Pantheon, and shows an amazing architecture inside especially the dome which was the largest free standing dome for a very long time. 

Planned Domus Aurea

The end of the story is, Nero killed his mother because he didn't want to share his power, and eventually he was sentenced to death by the Senate because as I said even for the emperors which all loved luxury and built their palaces, temples and so on but his palace - the planned "Domus Aurea" - was simply too much extravagance for the public treasury and people to accept. Also his last words are kind of special considered his position as emperor...

Vespasian won the following civil war and built the "Flavian Amphitheater" for the people of Rome. Well...in the end Nero won somehow, because this Amphitheater became globally known by another name which is linked to a Statue which was located next to it: Nero's Colossus Statue showing him - and the Amphitheater became known as... ;)

Finally Western Roman Empire was vanquished by barbarian invasions, the city itself was raided several times, but the Eastern Roman Empire later became Byzantium with its capital Constantinople, and lasted another 1000yrs until 15th century. What remains from the western empire, apart from the history and achievements is - thanks to Emperor Konstantin - Christianity as the dominant religion in western hemisphere.

When I was walking home that evening - it was about 9 pm - I encountered many people with Irish hats, but I didn't think about it until I arrived at the "Scholars Lounge Irish Pub". There was a party going on to celebrate....St. Patrick's Day! Good to know Irish Pubs are also present in Rome. And in the same street (Via des Plebiscito + Corso Vittorio Emmanuele II) a Pizzeria "Alice" which would have well deserved a Tripadvisor Star, I can really recommend...


Rome | The Roman Catholic Church

The next 2 days I visited the Vatican, and other stuff linked to the Catholic Church in Rome. But first I have to come back to Nero, he killed the apostle Petrus. The place where he was crucified and buried then became cemetery for many more people of this small community. According to the story Petrus said he wanted to be crucified head down, because he has so much respect for Jesus that he does not want to die in the same position.

Sometime later it was again civil war between several emperor candidates, and in 312 AD Konstantin dedicated an important victory, which gave him control over Rome, to the god of Christianity. He said in his dreams he has seen a sign, and he promised to convert to Christianity if he wins the battle, and so he did. The story repeated itself roughly 200 years later when the Franks King Chlodwig promised to convert if he wins a battle against the Alamanni...and so he did and with him the whole Franks Empire which eventually evolved into France and Germany.

Konstantin also declared Christianity as the new state religion, and built a cathedral directly above Petrus' grave. This cathedral - known as "Old St.Peter" became a place of pilgrimage, and it stood there for more than 1000 years, until it was destroyed and re-built by the Catholic Church...it is today known as "St. Peter's Basilica" (Petersdom).

Later events lead to the separation of the Roman Empire into a western and eastern part with different emperors, that's one of the reasons why Christianity is dominant only in the western hemisphere.

View from St.Peter's Basilica

The basilica itself is open to public every day as long as there is no special event. If you visit it go there early morning or late afternoon, and don't forget to go up into the dome, it provides a great view over the smallest state on earth and also Rome of course. The basilica and its' catacombs are also cemetery to some former popes. 

The building itself is huge, 15.000 m² floor space, enough room for up to 60.000 people. And everything is filled with marble, gold, statues and so on. It took around 100 years to build it, during this time the Catholic Church had 18 different popes. If you compare the sizes, you can say that 3,4% of the Vatican State is used by one single building... 

Entering the Vatican City itself is not forbidden, but the friendly guys from the Swiss Guard want to see a special permit or reason why you want to enter, just saying I'm a good Catholic is not enough believe me I tried (or maybe they somehow knew I'm not ;) ).

The dome of St. Peter's Basilica

The decision to demolish Old St.Peter around 1500, and the fact that the rebuild was in such an expensive and extraordinary style, that the work stopped several times for many years simply because they ran out of money, became a big issue between the various factions inside Christianity. An Augustinian monk who was travelling to Rome was also upset by the situation that the old church was lost, and the new should be so ostentatious that it could not be built but laid there as unfinished ruin. On top came the fact it was partially financed by the sale of indulgences - which he referred to it when he proclaimed the Reformation....it was Martin Luther. The disagreement was about what's the right way of believing and the Protestants left the "common house" like the Orthodox did already before. You can still see these differences when you compare Protestant churches, priest clothing and rituals with Catholic ones..... less pomp...

So the "common house" which should just be renewed, became a symbol of separation between the different factions, just like the pope itself. This function is unique to the Catholics, and refers back to Petrus (the leader of the small Christian community in Roman time). Every pope is his predecessor to lead Christianity. Catholics refer this to the "Key Words" which Jesus said to Petrus, and the popes are continuing this assignment, where Protestants and Orthodox say this was only assigned to Petrus himself.

In the end, this does not influence the fact that the building is a masterpiece of art, architecture and waste of money back in the time. It's worth a visit which makes it not so much a waste of money today

Waiting line ca. 150m away from entrance

I also visited the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. The amount of people waiting to visit the Museum was insane. Even if you book tickets online (which you should do by all means) you have to wait, and inside the main route was completely filled all the time. So if you want to visit it - be aware of that. I would say you can plan half a day for the Museum & Chapel.

One-Man-Show...Incredible!

The Sistine Chapel is worth a story for itself. Picturing isn't allowed so I had to do it secretly...I will concentrate only on the most famous part - Michelangelo's world famous fresco with its' center, the "Creation of Adam". Mr. Buonarroti painted this whole 520m² fresco in standing position in only 4 years, but you have to have in mind that by this time he was a 33 years old sculptor without any experience in this type/technique of painting! When you enter the church for the first time, you can't find any words for it...just wow! When I saw the pillars in the fresco, for a second I thought are there pillars? - No it's a ceiling there can't be pillars...that's how real they look. It's definitely a must see! I want to quote Goethe who said: "Ohne die Sixtinische Kapelle gesehen zu haben, kann man sich keinen anschauenden Begriff machen, was ein Mensch vermag."

When I came home to my apartment that evening, I wanted to pay the remaining amount including Tourist Tax. The owner waived 5 € of my debts because he didn't have correct change with him and apparently he was too lazy to get it.....he said since It's my first visit to Rome its ok. Business seems to be going well there ;).



Rome | Other places of interest

At the end of my trip I chilled a bit in the city, and visited some single spots of interest. The grave of the Unknown Soldier is also impressive, next to it is Trajan's pillar (click the link, National Geographic made a brilliant job showing every detail of the story in an interactive way). 
When I arrived at the Trevi Fountain I immediately thought about Margarethe Thatcher and her famous sentence "I want my money back!" because it was in full renovation....bad timing.

Chilling on top of Trastevere

Trastevere is also a nice area, you can find many bars and nightlife there, it's kind of a trendy neighborhood a bit comparable to some parts of Eastern Berlin...

I also visited Piazza Navona - which was a former Amphitheater, and of course the Spanish Steps. While I was chilling on the steps in the sun, a band played and I thought to myself (without listening closer) that it sounds pretty German...

It became obvious when they played "Fisherwomen from Lake Constance" (Fischerin vom Bodensee)...I forgot the village where the band was from but it was fun to witness it there :). It's a nice place to chill during day and night, the steps are also a well-known gathering point for away football fans before the matches of their teams in Rome...

hehe... ;)

I had more things on my list, but time was running out and my feet were already hurting, so I skipped these for the next visit....Rome wasn't built in one day so it does not need to be seen completely in 3 days.

Summing up I stayed 4 nights, in 3 different apartments, was roughly 40 hours out on feet, shot 416 pics with 3 different cameras and walked around 35 km through the city (excluding routes inside attractions, f.i. the Vatican Museum has about 7 km if you visit everything).  

Closing I want to link a blog from a guy who would laugh about these figures, his blog "Walking to Listen" is about a trip from US East- to West coast....by foot! 

Arrivederci!

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Wherever you are, be all there.
Jim Elliot