St. Pietro e Catacombe
So last night we sorted out our day around our two tours. We figured out we could take the metro pretty early, directly to the Vatican and to the meet up point for our morning and afternoon tour. We could also use it for any other places as well as getting back to the hotel. For that reason, we got the 24 hour pass, which is absolutely worth it, since it's cheaper than a taxi, has frequent trains, and is on the direct route for the touristy spots.
I read that St. Peter's Basilica opens at 7am, and it's best to get there 15 minutes early (because even if there is no line, the most you wait is 15 minutes). Sounds great considering I read some people were waiting hours at mid morning and afternoon. We arrived in St. Peter's Square at about 6:40am, and there was a small queue of about 20 people waiting for the security check. I got in the queue while Pedro roamed around the square a bit. Most of the square was set up for an event with chairs, jumbo screens, and a stage in front of the basilica.
It was still a bit early, but they let us through security (a bag scan and metal detector) and on into the basilica.
For every place we planned to visit that we weren't taking a tour for, I looked up some information and fun facts to share with Pedro. So as we we walking in, I was whispering here and there, pointing things out for him. Here's a few of them:
The basilica as we know today does not stand in its entire original form, but the foundations are over 1700 years old, and took 120 years to construct. There were 12 architects who worked on the basilica, including Michelangelo, Raphael, and Bernini. Bernini's designs specifically required a lot of material like bronze, so Pope Urban had material taken from the Pantheon to complete part of it. Bernini's bumblebee family crest can be seen on these works. The dome of the basilica was actually inspired by the pantheon, and it is the tallest in the world; the statue of liberty can fit inside the dome, with room to spare! It may even be the largest church in the world, but I couldn't find a straight answer if St. Peter's is the largest or if it's The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace on the Ivory Coast. The sheer size of the interior is actually hard to see because everything was made in proportion. The statues at ground level are around 6ft tall, while the statues near the ceiling are close to 24ft tall, making it seem as though they are the same size from the viewer on the ground.
Guess, how many paintings there are in the basilica? 100? 20? Nope. Zero. Everything is mosaic, made from tiny pieces of tile or glass, which had to have been painstaking to create.
Giving Pedro some more facts, I told him St. Peter's Square is not circular, but an oval. Bernini designed it with the intention of the colonnades representing the open arms of the church. The square and the church together also create a key shape from above, which is very common in the papal symbol.
Today's weather was a lot more forgiving. It was like the cool before rain, but we only got a few drops here and there on the way back to the metro. The meeting point for our crypts and catacombs tour was at Piazza Barberini, at Fontana del Tritone.
We had breakfast at the square with plenty of time while we waited for the guide.
I have very little pictures of this tour, mostly just outside scenes, the rest are from other sources. Unfortunately, photo/video was prohibited in the crypt museums and the roman catacombs. This rule I can absolutely respect, as it was about respecting the bones and graves of friars and ancient peoples.
Our first stop was the Capuchin Crypts, located at Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini. The Capuchin friars are what most people picture when thinking 'monk'. They wore simple clothes, owned very little, and tried to live a very simple life (almost one of poverty). They lived by memento mori, which means "remember death". They didn't think of it as a somber thing, but more as a reminder that this life is the not the end, that they would all eventually die and join God. Around that time period, there were many artists among them that painted this concept. It was a movement of art that took on new concepts and materials while carrying on that idea of memento mori (and maybe looking a bit morbid). When the friars moved to the Church of Saint Mary in the 17th century, they carried with them the bones of all their deceased, accumulated over three centuries. And this is where it gets interesting. Using the bones of their own deceased, they decided to make art.
(More pictures here if you want to see)
There were five rooms, each somewhat dedicated to a certain body part, like skulls, leg bones, and pelvises. The bones come from almost 4,000 friars. I imagine the friars could come down to the crypts and see the bones of their fellows, knowing one day they would join them.
After they built these rooms, a new pope ended this practice, ordering any all future deaths to be buried in holy soil. Because of this, the crypts cannot ever be restored. If anything were to fall or break from the walls, it must be buried in the holy ground beneath it; the art will not last forever.
Oh, fun fact: the capuchin friars drank Turkish coffee, adding fresh milk, which created a light brownish color that matched their robes. And this is where we get cappuccino.
From there we got on a bus with A/C, and had a nice cool ride to the Catacombs of Domitilla. (I almsot fell asleep at this point because that cool air felt so nice.) Our guide explained on the way that the catacombs were built so the people could be close to the martyrs Nereus and Achilleus, who were killed for their faith. Until the 2nd century, early christians did not have their own cemeteries and were buried next to pagans. Running out of space, they dug the underground tombs, which also allowed the people to visit their loved ones without being persecuted for their religion.
Before the decent into the graves, we saw a wall full of ancient symbols. Our guide explained that simple symbols were often used to distinguish fellow christians, churches, and cemeteries. The fish was frequently used when meeting people on the streets. Using your foot in the dirt, one might draw a simple design, like a question, and if the other person did not respond, you could swipe it away. The symbol comes from the Greek acronym, ΙΧΘΥΣ, which spelled out is Ίησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ (Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior). And ΙΧΘΥΣ is the Greek word for 'fish', giving it the shape.
The above symbol is the shepherd. Early christians didn't like shepherds because they didn't live among society (thinking they were beastly, living among animals. But then Jesus included them in his teachings, saying even a shepherd could save humanity. The symbol is to remind people that no one above anyone else, that even the lowest in society can be saved and save others.
This one represents the deceased with arms outstretched (the way people prayed at the time), depicting the certainty that they would live on with God after death.
The anchor is a hidden cross symbol, representing a soul arriving in the harbor of eternal life.
This one is pretty common, as a symbol of peace.
Monogram of the Greek letters, chi (X) and ro (R) which are the first letters of "christ", with an alpha and omega on either side representing the beginning and end.
Then, we began our descent into the catacombs. Today, they are completely empty. This is due to the barbarians raiding the tombs in the Middle Ages. They some of the bones, contacting the church to claim they had the bones of their martyrs, and demanding money for their safe return. They did this several times, since they knew the value of the remains to the church, who at that point decided to have all of them removed and buried elsewhere. In the church's eyes, the holiness of the martyr's remains were not limited to those specific remains. Once the remains touched others, they all became holy. So, the church took all the remains together (which mean they were now all the remains of martyrs and therefore holy), and then spread them separately over several churches. We visited one of those churches as our last stop.
The basilica of Saints Sylvester and Martin ai Monti is one of the oldest churches in Rome.
In the picture above, in the gold ribbon running along the top of the columns, are pictures that describe the stories of christianity. They extend around the perimeter of the church, representing miracles in their religion, up until the construction of the church in the 4th century. These were used to teach children and those who couldn't read, making sure that everyone could learn the faith.
Some of the remains from the catacombs were laid to rest here, in a tomb that extends to two altars, one above and below ground (red circle above the altar is part of the tomb). In the picture to the right, you can see an inscription to the right of the stairs. This states that the remains includes known martyrs and unknown people taken from the catacombs. The church you see above was built in the 4th century, but even earlier in the 2nd century, the structure below it was used for prayer gatherings (most likely someone's home); a church built upon a church.
If you look closer on the sides of the walls, there are still faint remnants of paintings.
Our tour ended there and we got another air conditioned ride back to Piazza Barberini. From there, we walked to the Pantheon, where we had a reserved audio tour. On the way, we got a sneak peak of the Trevi Fountain, which was really crowded (which is why we plan to visit early next morning). The route from Piazza Barberini to the Pantheon is full of some really good looking shops, street markets, and food. We made plans to come back after the Pantheon.
Thankfully, I bought tickets for an audio tour which also reserved us a spot to get in. There were signs outside saying that there was no more appointments available today.
We were given phones with an app that gave the tour (interesting choice), which had a floorplan of the Pantheon, numbered for each snippet of information. With that, we moved around and played the tour as we walked around. Some interesting things were the tomb of Raphael, the altar, and (of course) the oculus in the center of the dome. Yes, rain does get in, but the romans thought it through and made the floor concave with a series of drainage holes.
We didn't stay a minute after the tour since Pedro's feet were really hurting. We sat outside in the square for a few minutes while his feet recuperated, and then went back up the street with all the good food and shopping. Instead of a restaurant (they can be really expensive because...tourism), we found a little deli where we got some sandwiches. These were the BEST. After this, very time I saw them, I tried different flavors and fillings. Definitely my favorite food of the whole trip.
We stayed at the deli for a bit (since they had some seating with fans) and enjoyed people watching. We also enjoyed looking at the crazy tourist gifts at the shops across the street. They had tote bags with phrases like "Mama Mia" and "Ciao Bella" along with pictures of the Mona Lisa blowing bubble gum, and other cultural travesties...
Since we had been up and going nonstop since 5am, we decided to go back to the hotel and rest for a bit before going out again, stopping to get some gelato along the way. I had a rather boozy cup, with flavors like limoncello, baileys, and passionfruit liqueur. Delicious.
Once we were back at the hotel, we...uh, accidentally...fell asleep for over four hours. Whoops. I blame all the good food and walking. We woke up around 9, but that is perfect timing for an Italian dinner. We walked down the streets near our hotel again, finding a restaurant without a problem. Tomorrow is a free day, so we don't have to get up early and can go at our own pace.
