La Bella Roma!

Outdoor gallery of the Villa Giulia, the Etruscan Museum;
Villa gardens;
Married couple sarcophagus;
Etruscan ornamentation;
View of St. Peter’s Dome from the Vatican Museum

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Ciao!

And WOW, what a day! We actually got up rather late this morning (about 7:30-ish) – R was suffering from a whopping case of jetlag, and I’m still storing up my sleep bank against the flight over. At any rate, up, showered and to breakfast – and let me say again, this place has the BEST breakfast buffet we’ve ever seen! SO much to choose from – and if you have bread, salami and cheese – and some wonderful hot chocolate and sautéed mushrooms – who needs more than that?

Our first stop was the National Etruscan Museum at Villa Giulia in the Borghese gardens. Turns out, this is a 1550 palace of a Pope which has been turned into an exceptional museum! I didn’t know much about the Etruscans – we saw some funerary things in Sienna several years ago with Linda Norlan, and then last year, visited some tombs at the base of Orvieto. But today’s visit to the Villa was quite a surprise! This culture was SO advanced; much more so than the Romans. Their tools, utensils and pottery were incredible! Saw a double sarcophagus with statutes of a husband and wife on the top – just incredible, and one of the major sights of the museum. Took several hours to tour thoroughly and well worth it! Would recommend it very highly as a truly great museum! (Also nice that it was very, very empty, and only one school group; lots of room to move around in!)

We had a drink (lemon soda and water) in the café and then headed over to the Vatican, for our 1:30 p.m. tour of the necropolis. Took Tram 19; very nice, easy way to get across the river! Found the right gate – took a bit, and of course we were early and told to come back! So, walked down the road a bit until we found a cafeteria – I got gelato (chocolate & stracciatella) and we headed back.

Met Anthony, our seminary student/guide from Minnesota, and the other 10 members of our tour – two guys from Sydney, OZ, a couple from Ireland, the rest Americans. The tour of the necropolis beneath St. Peter’s was truly amazing.

We got a very good view of how the basilica was built on top of an old cemetery. Saw some old tombs that had had their tops removed, and then filled in with dirt. Then, as we got closer to underneath the high altar of St. Peters, we heard the story of how, after one pope died around 1939, that they’d run out of room in the basement, and requested permission to dig out and down from the current level. This brought the workers to what appeared to be a pauper’s grave, where tradition said that St. Peter was buried. However, upon examination of the bones in the grave, it was determined that St. Peter was not among them. Further work brought to light a “graffiti” wall which had continuous references to Peter. A Roman graffiti expert examined things, as well as a niche in the wall, and was able to discover the bones that had been buried in the niche. These were subsequently examined, and, while the church will not say specifically, these are St. Peter’s bones, it is believed that this is indeed the case. We were actually able to see the graffiti wall, the niche, and the bones – which have now been preserved in airtight cases, compliments of NASA. Just amazing. Cannot remember when I have been moved by anything so much.

From there, we moved into the basement of the church, and were able to see Pope John Paul II’s grave; a very moving sight, for sure. This brought our tour to an end – as I say, a very, very moving experience for me.

From St. Peters, we decided to walk around to the Vatican Museums, as it was about 3 in the afternoon, and we wondered what kind of line there might be – turns out, NO line at all! We were able to walk right in!! Visited the Sistine Chapel as well as the Egyptian collection. Always nice to see old sights again! It now being around 5-ish, and both of us exhausted, we headed back to the hotel – this time, the direct route, on the Metro A to Barberini.

Rested for a bit, and then met Pat and Joe from Naples, FL for dinner. Wanted someplace fairly close, so we headed down to the corner of the Via Veneto, and across the street. VERY nice restaurant!! R and I both had bresaola for starters (as did Pat, who was trying it for the first time!). Joe had octopus … and, while he was willing to share, actually didn’t get any takers! Everyone had pasta, and enjoyed very much! I ordered tagliatelle with cream sauce with mushrooms and black truffles – YUM! Have asked for a truffle for Christmas!! Headed back to the hotel around 9:30, after exchanging addresses. Really lovely couple who love to travel! Sounds good to me!!

Will now turn in…tomorrow we’re picking up the car at the Villa Borghese and heading south out of town – along the Via Appia Antica to Sperlonga!!

More later!!
Love,
m