Italy Day 7: Florence to Rome

Our last stop in Florence was the beautiful Medici library, designed by Michelangelo, including a set of elliptical stairs by Michelangelo.  It was adjacent to the Church of San Lorenzo.

 These benches served as both reading area and book storage.

We went back to our hotel, gathered our things and walked to the train station just a couple of blocks away, this time finding a tunnel under the street that made getting there much easier.  I'd wished we would have known about that when we arrived in Florence in the driving rain.  We were there in plenty of time (we didn't want to repeat the running-to-the-train-station experience of Venice), but they didn't post the track location for our train until just a couple of minutes before it left, so it was still a bit of a scramble to get to the right place.

The train trip to Rome was interesting--pretty countryside and some not-so-nice areas with graffiti and such.  It was about an hour and a half train ride.  I listened to a Rick Steve audio about Rome on the way.

When we got to Rome, we got a cab to our hotel since it was quite a ways from the train station.  We stayed at Hotel Sofitel Villa Borghese, which was very fancy and the nicest of the three hotels, although all of them were nice.  After we got settled in our hotel and got a good map of the city, we first ventured to the Spanish Steps which were about a 7-8 minute walk from our hotel.  Nearby was a metro stop, so we figured out how to buy tickets.  We got a three day pass and decided to get on for a test ride.  We accidentally got on going the opposite direction than we intended, so we decided to ride to St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican.  We had a tour scheduled there for early the next morning, so we thought we would figure out how long it would take to get there.

It was a pretty impressive place.

St. Peter's Square in Rome

St. Peter's Basilica

We took a walking tour of the square with our handy Rick Steve's audio guide.  Because it was right after a big rain storm, it was pretty empty.  Here are some facts about St. Peter's Square:

In Roman times, this square was used for chariot races.  At the center of the square is a four-thousand-year-old Egyptian obelisk, erected at the current site in 1568.  Bernini designed the square almost 100 years later, including the massive Tuscan colonnades, four columns deep, which embrace visitors in 'the maternal arms of Mother Church.'  A granite fountain constructed by Bernini in 1675 matches another fountain (on the other side) designed by Carlo Maderno dating to 1613."

St. Peter's Square facing away from the Basilica

4000 year old Egyptian obelisk in St. Peter's Square

From this spot, all the columns surrounding the Square line up.  

One of the snappily dressed Vatican guards

Statue of St. Paul in front of the Basilica

Because the crowds were small, the line to enter the Basilica was pretty short.  Even though we knew we would be back the next day, it was too tempting, so we ventured inside.  It did not disappoint.

St. Peter's Basilica was built on the spot where Peter was supposedly crucified and he (maybe?) is buried in the basement.  This is technically the second St. Peter's, built starting in the 1500s around the original St. Peter's that was erected in the 4th century AD.

Everything about St. Peter's Basilica is big and grand. Big doors,

amazing ceiling.

The entry area alone is larger than many churches.  

These doors are only opened in the year of Jubilee, which occurs every twenty five years.  The pope opens the doors, they stay open for the whole year inviting catholics to come for a pilgrimage and walk through the doors.  Then at the end of the year they are sealed up with cement on the back and they have to wait 25 year to open the doors again.

Views from inside.

The letters in this photo are 7 feet tall.  

The nave is either the longest or second longest of any church in the world (it is a little disputed).  On the floor is marked the length of other major world churches.  We found the mark for the National Cathedral in Washington DC.

This canopy was also designed by Bernini.  Some historians say that the bronze used was taken from the dome of the Pantheon.

Michelangelo's dome.

One of the many popes buried in St. Peter's.  This is his actual body with a wax cover made of his face and hands.

A bronze statue of St. Peter.

St. Peter's is the home to Michelangelo's Pieta.  It was absolutely breathtaking and David decided this is the most beautiful sculpture he has ever seen.  I think I might have to agree.

In this Pieta, Mary, still quite young, holds Jesus, recently removed from the cross.  If you look close, you'll notice that Mary is much larger than Jesus.  Michelangelo may have been envisioning Mary as a young mother holding her infant Son and imagining His future.  I like to think of her holding Him in her arms, knowing what would happen to Him.  Her face seems to have a sort of acceptance and understanding.  This sculpture portrays such a beautiful and intimate moment.  The carving work is so detailed and beautiful and and polished to a shine.

Another guard as we exited the Basilica.

On the side we exited, we saw the statue of St. Peter, holding the key.

A view of the Vatican wall.

We left the Vatican and strolled around the city.

The Tiber River

I loved all the streets lit up at night.

We went to Campi de Fiori where they have a big market, but it was all cleaned up for the evening.  It is supposed to be quite a busy place at night, but I guess it was still too early in the evening.

So many of the restaurants had these canopies set up, often with heat lamps inside.  Yep, it was pretty cold that day.  On warm days they take down the walls and have dining al fresco.

Then we popped over to Piazza Navona, which has a cool Bernini fountain called The Four Rivers.

We were getting tired, so we opted for some pizza from a pizzeria that sold pizza by the kilogram.  We tried some ham and cheese, bacon and tomato,

and a salad pizza eaten cold.  It was delicious!

We just pointed to what we wanted and they warmed it up for us (except the salad pizza of course.)  It cost 8 Euros for three big slices.  And we had to find some gelato before we called it a night. That gelato is some seriously good eating!