Saturday, May 18, 2013

Ancient Beauty of Rome: Italy Part 2

While the Vatican is a palace full of glorious riches, Rome rivals the Vatican in it's beautiful ruins. Just walking around the city, you are surrounded by history.

One thing I had expected, was a lot of dirty, black, old relics, but surprisingly Rome has been cleaned up in the past decade. The fuel is green, there are fewer drivers. In short, they have done a heck of a job cleaning and maintaining its state of beautiful, arrested decay. In short - amazing.

Anyhow, there is so much history in Rome I'm not sure I could see it all in a year, much less a day, but our guide sure did try.

Here are some of the amazing sites we saw. I hope you enjoy the continuation of my photo tour. :)
These are the famous Spanish Steps from my favorite movie, Roman Holiday. I wanted to have my Audrey Hepburn moment. Not quite what I had in mind.You should've seen them later. You couldn't even see the actual steps there were so many people.
The Roman Forum at night is ethereal.
More of the Roman Forum.
Chariot racing anyone? The Circus - almost three football fields wide.
The church that sits atop the catacombs.

Inside the Catacombe di San Domitilla - the oldest of the catacombs found in Rome.

Markings assigned to Christians in the catacombs.
More markings outside the burial chambers.
Frescoes indicate the burial site of someone of some importance during the period.
Sadly, the frescoes were vandalized to remove the images of the figures long ago.

The Chains of St. Peter Basilica (San Pietro in Vincoli) house the chains that shackled Peter when he was imprisoned for preaching about Jesus.
A beautiful, ancient keyhole on the door for a garden of the Order of the Knights Templar.
Reveals a garden that overlooks the Vatican. Read more here.
Me - in the rain - looking up at the stands of the Colosseum imagining my seats.
Lower level of the Colosseum where the fighters would prepare and animals would have been kept.
These arches are a feat of architectural marvel. Can you imagine the craftsmen that were used to build this?
Beautiful moss-lined corridors are so melancholy - especially in the rain.

View of the new Vittorio Emanuele II National Museum (built in the late 19th-early 20th century) from atop of the Colosseum.
View of Mussolini's office balcony from atop the Colosseum.

Remains of the massive bronze statue of Constantine on display inside the Colosseum is from 1100's.
More views of the Roman Forum from atop of the Colosseum.
I cannot remember what building this is. I'm sure it's important. I just loved the architecture of it, though. :)
Domed ceiling of the Pantheon - the temple of all the gods, was built with it's open top in the 2nd century. It was raining that day so the water was streaming in. Very cool.

 I have to give credit where credit is due. My husband, Steve, took almost all of the pictures while we were in Italy. He's gotten quite good I think. Don't you?

I hope you enjoyed these pictures. I have some incredible ones coming up of a spectacular garden in Florence.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

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Thursday, May 16, 2013

Italy Part 1: Il Vaticano

My father was born in Italy. My mom from Uruguay. And while I spoke Spanish, I've always felt more of a connection to my Italian roots. Anyhow, visiting again after so many years - it's been 13 years - was absolutely amazing. I had forgotten how incredibly beautiful Italy is.

As many times as I had visited, however, I had never been to Rome. It was not at all surprising that I loved it. How can you not!?! Everywhere you look are the reminders of all of our histories over the past 2000+ years. It's truly incredible.

No trip to Rome would be complete without a visit to Vatican City. So that is where we will begin this photographic tour of Italy. First of all, I will say that visiting the Vatican really works the neck muscles - I think I spent most of my time looking up at the ceilings as you will see from my pictures. Just to be clear, no photograph can capture how breathtaking it truly is, but I hope you enjoy them none the less. Also, I didn't include many pictures of the Sistine Chapel (just one) because they just do not do it justice.

One last thing I will mention - instead of spending a lot of money on our accommodations (we stayed at the Marriott in Rome and it was terrific) we opted to allocate that money to private guided tours. Our tour of the Vatican started at 7:45AM before the crowds are allowed in. So for about an hour, we had the museums and chapel all to ourselves. It was worth every penny and I highly, highly recommend it!

Before you even get to the main halls, you have to gaze up at the incredible ornamentation. I love the beautiful workmanship that you see carved into the marble moldings and reliefs. And the glow of the lighting truly makes you feel the grandeur of this place.

Egnazio Danti, Hall of Maps, Vatican Palace, 1580s, commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII, the Hall of Maps is 400 feet long and featured dozens of maps of states and cities with a focus on Italy. Considering they didn't have satellite imagery, the accuracy of the maps is truly amazing.

Ceilings in the Hall of Tapestries - Vatican Museum. The ceilings have a gorgeous 3D trompe l'oeil affect. 

Walls and ceilings of an almost empty Sistine Chapel. The best Bible picture book in the world!
The Fontana della Pigna (Pinecone Fountain) outside the basilica. The symbolism is everywhere. The lions - authority and power, the peacocks - immortality, resurrection and guards of the Gates of Paradise, the acorn - possibly representative of the third eye.


The sculptures found all over the museum are incredible. This is the serpent biting Laocoon from the sculpture, Laocoon and His Sons was discovered in 1506 and is thought to date back to 140 BC. 
  
Zoo Garden - all animal sculptures in two rooms. I just loved the incredible detail of this particular one - Animal Sacrifice.

A view of Rome from the top of the Bramante Staircase.

Even the most utilitarian of hallways are majestic. This is the exit out of the Sistine Chapel.



The Bramante Staircase, inside one of the Vatican Museums, is a marvel of Renaissance architecture, commissioned by Pope Julius II in 1505

Outdoor halls into St. Peter's Basilica. Can you tell I'm just in awe of the incredible artistry and craftmanship of these ceilings?

Incredible.

Pieta (Mary and Jesus) was sculpted by Michelangelo in 1499. It is both breath-taking and a heartbreaking depiction of a mother holding her dead son.

The Dome of St. Peter's Basilica.

Exterior of St. Peters Basilica.
Upcoming blog will be about my tour of Rome. I have a couple of unique images to show you - something most tourists don't see.

Please share your thoughts, or images, with me. Love to hear from you.


If you would like to see more of my design stuff and inspirations, you can follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter.

Thank you for visiting My Head Space!


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