Our second full day of touring Italy concentrated on ancient Rome. We started with the Piazza del Popolo, where the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo provided sensational views of art created by the likes of Carravaggio, Carracci, Bernini, and Raphael. We later saw other churches, including Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri (Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs) in part of what was the mammoth Baths of Diocletion, and San Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains), which contains the spectacular marble sculpture of Moses by Michelangelo and a reliquary containing chains that, according to tradition, were used on St. Peter.
Editor's note: We've posted more images from Dave's trip in our Online Reader Gallery's "Trips and Tours" gallery. Click on "Italy: Galileo's Tuscan Sky 2009" to see all the pictures.
The group set into full exploration mode with the Palatine Hill, where ancient Rome’s rulers lived, and the famous ruins of the Roman Forum, the center of the Roman world. We walked on the original paving stones of the Via Sacra (Sacred Way) and saw the great ruins of the Temple of the Vestal Virgins, the tomb and cremation site of Julius Caesar, the many temple ruins such as those of Saturn and Antoninus and Faustina, and arches such as those of Titus, Septimius Severus, and Constantine. We explored one of the symbols of Rome, the Colosseum, in great detail.
After hours of exploration of ancient history, there’s only one remedy, pizza and gelato. Boy, did we find those.
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Photo credit: David J. Eicher