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!
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| Ceilings in the Hall of Tapestries - Vatican Museum. The ceilings have a gorgeous 3D trompe l'oeil affect. |
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| Walls and ceilings of an almost empty Sistine Chapel. The best Bible picture book in the world! |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| Zoo Garden - all animal sculptures in two rooms. I just loved the incredible detail of this particular one - Animal Sacrifice. |
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| A view of Rome from the top of the Bramante Staircase. |
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| Even the most utilitarian of hallways are majestic. This is the exit out of the Sistine Chapel. |
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| The Bramante Staircase, inside one of the Vatican Museums, is a marvel of Renaissance architecture, commissioned by Pope Julius II in 1505 |
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| Outdoor halls into St. Peter's Basilica. Can you tell I'm just in awe of the incredible artistry and craftmanship of these ceilings? |
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| Incredible. |
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| 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. |
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| The Dome of St. Peter's Basilica. |
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| 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.
Thank you for visiting My Head Space!
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