In my excitement to post the last blog, I forgot to fill everyone in on Sunday's activities. I had not intended to go into Rome again on Sunday, but Mike invited me to join him at Sunday mass. They offer mass in English at Santa Susanna's in Rome. This being the only Sunday available to me to attend, I decided to join him. After mass we went in search of more places I had on my Rome "bucket" list. These were places and things that I never had a chance to see two years ago.

Before mass the first stop was the Baths of Diocletian and Santa Marie degli Angeli. Actually the first stop was at Trompetta's for a cappucino and coronoti with cream. We walked past the Moses Fountain. Then on to Santa Maria della Vittoria which contains Bernini's The Ecstasy of St. Theresa. I have seen the sculpture many times but it never ceases to amaze me. The first stop after mass was at the Palazzo Barberini. The Barberini name crops up often in any tour of Rome. But I never had the opportunity to stop and visit the old homestead. Maffei Barberini became Pope Urban VIII. See pictures below of the front and rear entrances of the palazzo.

From there we traveled up via delle Quatro to via Quirinal for Mike to see the Le Quarta Fontane, another Bernini fountain. Actually it is four different fountains on the corners of the intersection of the two streets. From there we traveled down via Quirinal to Sant' Andrea at Quirinale which regretably was closed for noon mass. We continued down via Quirinale to the piazza. Here there is a great fountain with statues and an obelisk. Down through Fontana di Trevi area swarming with tourists.

We were heading to the Temple of Hadrian pictured below.

Somehow I missed this last time. It is literally a 2nd century AD temple flanked by two 17th century buildings. They just sort of built around it.

From there we were able to find Fontanella del Facchino pictured below.

And the Pie di Marmo. A marble foot that is displayed in an alleyway near Piazza della Rotonda. See below.

Our excursion ended at Piazza di Sant Ignazio, Sant Ignazio di Loyola, and Gesu all devoted to the Jesuit priestly order of the Catholic church.

Gesu is pictured above. but it was closed when we arrived. We headed back to Termini to catch the 4:23 train to campus. The train was running late according to the station information. That departure ended up being cancelled altogether and we had to wait for the 6:23. We waited in the train station for two hours and then took the 6:23 back to campus. Hope everyone is enjoying the blog

Today is Monday of our second week. We have gotten off to a great start. The students all had great fun on their excursions to Paris, Barcelona, and Assisi. We had planned a bike ride today over the old Appian way, the oldest road in Europe. The same road traveled by Sts. Peter and Paul. The weather is not cooperating, too cold and rainy. We have postponed the bike ride to another day. Probably Thursday because the activity planned for Thursday is impossible because everything is shut down for All Saints day. In Italy with a population that is over 90% Catholic, a holy day of obligation is treated like a Sunday. Everything is closed. So one learns very quickly here to be flexible. You have no choice. 

I have not posted anything since last Friday, so |I have to fill you all in on my weekend. Mike Cinson, the Director of Student Life on Rome campus, and I spent two glorious days in Rome. We wandered, got lost, found old places and new sights, and were lost again. That is the way it is in Rome.

First, there were a few sights around Piazza Navona that I missed when I was in Rome two years ago. But, I had no intention of visiting Navona. It is always packed with tourists, venders and so forth. But we happened upon San Luigi dei Francesi right around the corner from Piazza Navona. Mike had never been there so I encouraged him to go inside and see the three paintings of St. Matthew in the chapel inside. They are on my list of favorites. "just go inside and follow the crowd I told him". Below is picture of the church and one of the three Caravaggio's that are inside the Contarelli Chapel of the church. Caravaggio caught some flak for depicting a saint with dirty feet. But the painting is so incredible, the "heresy" of dirty saintly feet was ignored. No picture from the internet can do the paintings justice. You have to imagine the painting is large enough to cover a whole wall.

 

 We then decided to cut through Navona. What I wanted to see was on the other side. We had approached the piazza from the wrong direction. Not uncommon in Rome. But, even this happenstance turned out for the best. When I last visited Rome, the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi was covered with scaffolding and I never really got to see it in all its glory. But, there it was, straight ahead, totally uncovered of the scaffolding. A great surprise.

The fountain of the four rivers, by Bernini, was first unveiled in 1651. It was nice to see it unveiled again.

From there we walked over to the Piazza Paquino to see the rough chunk of marble pictured below. The statue served as a sort of tablet for people to leave messages. People would write out their grievances toward the government and hang them on the statue. People still leave these treatices but now they are clipped to a bulletin board next to the statue.

Then on to Chiesa Nouva. The church contains three paintings by Rubens and has a most distinctive facade. See below.

From there we traveled down via Coronari to the Piazza S. Salvatore in Lauro. Then back to the train station and back to campus. We spent dinner at a wonderful restaurant in the city of Albano. The restaurant is Calderini. Wonderful food, reasonably prized with the perpetually cheerful staff of small Italian restaurants.

Today is Friday and we are coming to the close of our first week in Roma. Seven weeks from today we will return. But in the meantime there are more adventures. Today has been a catch up day for me. A chance to get organized for the coming week. We officially term this a free weekend. Many of the students are  traveling, some to Paris, some to Barcelona, and some to Assisi. Assisi is one of my favorites. Amy and I will visit Assisi in November when she comes to visit. I am currently planning my other two free weekends. One will be to Budapest, Hungary. The other is still in the planning stages.

Yesterday we visited the Baths of Caracalla. I have posted some pictures below. A very impressive area. And to think the baths were in operation for 300 years continuously.

The first picture is of the few marble reliefs that remain from 1500 years ago. These reliefs acted as a sort of crown molding which ran around the inside of the structure.

The picture above is a picture of the mosaic floor which once covered the entire surface of the inside of the baths. The tour guide reported it took 10,000 slaves five years to build the baths. the pictures below are intended to reveal the magnitude of the structure.

Today is Wednesday. There are no pictures to post. It is my day off. We did not go into Rome. If you notice the dates on the postings you will notice that I posted all these today. It is the first chance I had to sit down and work on my blog. We have been very busy. And I think that is an excellent thing. As we start bringing my first week to a close, tomorrow, Thursday, we visit the Baths of Caracalla, and then Friday starts the first free weekend of our trip. I am looking forward to exploring other parts of Rome.

Once again, I thank everyone who had a part in making this trip possible. As one student said today, "I do not understand why everybody doesn't do this."

On Tuesday Danilo Mori, the Rome site director, and I took the students on a walking tour of one section of Rome to give the students some examples for doing their own tours starting next week. We started in Campo de Fiori. Campo de Fiori is a market in Rome which sells many things including fresh fruit and vegetables, flowers, housewares, and more. The pictures below are a couple of the market place. In addition, there are many wonderful shops and bakeries in the area. Dr. Mori took me to one bakery where we picked up some olives stuffed with five different kinds of meat and cheese, covered with breading, and deep fried. While I am not much of an olive fan, these were delicious. I always trust Danilo for food recommendations.

The picture above is the arch of Constantine. The picture was taken from the porch of the coliseum. It is always difficult to project the size of a structure from a picture. Sometimes perspective helps. As one sees the relationship between the arch and the people passing by. Only then does one get a sense of the size of the arch.
The two picture below where also views from the coliseum. they are views of part of the Roman Forum. which is where we headed next. Because the Forum is much older, it is more like an archeological site. As Mason stated, one needs to use his or her imagination to picture what the forum might have looked 2500 years ago.

The Coliseum

The pictures above were taken from inside the coliseum. I think many are familiar with the view from outside the coliseum. I thought it would appropriate to offer a view from inside. Pictures 2 and 5 are a view of the same wall from different perspectives. In the fourth picture you have a view of the lower level below the floor of the coliseum. This picture also includes the area where the emperor sat. It is off to the left, and is marked by the large wooden cross. Pictures one and three present art work which were part of the coliseum interior. It is sometimes difficult to imagine a stadium built during this period which is large enough to hold 70,000 people. This is similar in size to Cleveland Browns stadium. Another stadium built with public money to watch "gladiators" square off against each other. And it is still standing almost 2000 years later. One is impressed with the engineering skills the construction required, and the same time one is troubled by the purpose it served. As Woodward said, the coliseum shows Romans at their most impressive and and at their cruelest at the same time.

back in Italy

Well, it is over two years later since I last posted on my blog. I thought about creating a new blog, but then just decided to add to my original blog. I am back in Italy, enjoying the food, the wine, and the wonderful Walsh University campus near Castel Gandolfo just outside of Rome. I arrived Sunday October 22, 2012. And was back in Rome on Monday the 23rd. I will be here for eight weeks.

Before I left North Canton and the comfort of my home, my wife and my dogs, my emotions were on a roller coaster. I was initially very excited for the opportunity to return to Rome. As the date of departure grew closer, I became anxious. "Why am I doing this again", I thought to myself. It was a wonderful experience the first time in 2010. Great students and great staff to work with. I also felt as though I was somehow tempting fate by returning. I should just keep the great memories of the first trip and not try and do this again.

I am so glad my wife, Amy, encouraged me to return. I think the encouragement was self-centered, how else could she return to Italy so easily if I did not do this. Now that I am here, I am unsure why I was ever anxious about returning. It is just as I remembered. And I have a wonderful group of students. The group is almost twice as large as the first time I came here. But I am happy each one decided to come. We have already begun to explore Rome together: the Coliseum, Forum, Campo dei Fiori, the Ghetto, and via Gulia, so far. And they are already exploring Rome independently on their free time.

I want to thank everyone at Walsh University who have contributed to making this happen: President Jusseaume, Dr. Doug Palmer, and others. A special shout out to all my friends in the School of Nursing. without their willingness to assume more tasks and responsibilities this would not be possible. The greatest gratitude goes out to my lovely wife Amy. Thank you dear for letting me do this the first time. And thank you for encouraging me to do it again.