Playing catch-up: Assisi, Ostia, and a few miscellaneous items

Buona sera, tutti. I'm sorry I've been neglecting the blog; it's been a whirlwind few weeks of schoolwork, trains, food, tombs, etc. I'll try to be both brief and thorough, but in all likelihood the "brief" quality will be compromised. Oops.

On Sunday, October 6, I took a train to Assisi with a large group of Saint Mary's girls for our first independent, out-of-Rome trip. It was a beautiful sunny day, and what I noticed first as we stepped of the train that morning was just how quiet and peaceful it was compared to Rome! Assisi is two hours northeast of Rome by train, deep in the agrarian region of Umbria (nicknamed Umbria verde for its excellent farmland and delicious products). There are lots of small mountains (or large hills?), and Assisi is situated on top of one of them, largely the same as it has been for a thousand years. We walked from the train station - at the bottom of the valley - to nearly the top of the city, which was quite a hike. Pope Francis had been there just two days earlier, celebrating the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, and there were still lots of banners, balloons, podiums, Vatican flags, and signs left over from the event.

Vatican flags making a cameo

Umbria in the background

Church of Saint Francis

We enjoyed a beautiful (and surprisingly modern) Mass in the ornate Church of Saint Francis, with a gorgeous view of the Umbrian plains around us, before enjoying a relaxing afternoon of wandering through the medieval streets, shopping for souvenirs and finding lots of little historical treasures (including the body of Saint Clare, one of Francis' closest friends, and the remains of Francis' father's house).

The next weekend, on Saturday the 12th, I went with four friends to Ostia, a gorgeous set of ruins in one of Rome's most important early cities. Established as Rome's first "colony," it sits at the mouth of the Tiber as it flows into the Tyrrhenian Sea.  It's a short train ride west from Rome, and again we had perfect weather as we explored the ancient city. Unlike the ruins at the Roman Forum and other places within Rome, you can actually touch, climb, and engage with the buildings in Ostia, which for me was a boatload of fun. We ate our lunch in the actual amphitheater the Ostians used and saw the beautiful mosaics on the floor of their baths, still preserved even in the open air. The trip was made even more enjoyable when we took the wrong bus not once but twice, thereby getting an accidental grand tour of Rome before and after our Ostia adventure; I say this totally without sarcasm, because it was a real pleasure to see parts of the city I hadn't seen before.

Old tomb at the Ostia necropolis!

Gorgeous floor mosaics still preserved at Baths of Neptune, Ostia

Freestanding ancient statue without a head!

Just this past weekend we got on an early bus as a full group to tour Tarquinia and Cerveteri (formerly known as Caere) to see several Etruscan tombs, which we've been studying ad nauseam in my archaeology class and the art history course. (I'm complaining in jest; it was actual very, very neat to see these tombs in person after studying them for so long.) The Etruscan civilization was gradually overcome by Romanization, but it was a powerful presence in Italy for many centuries before Christ and heavily influenced the later Roman culture with its art, its customs, and its architecture. However, since most Etruscan buildings have been lost over the thousands of years, almost all that remains of them is found in the subterranean tombs they left behind, especially those at Tarquinia and Cerveteri. Tarquinia is home to dozens of painted tombs belonging to wealthy families who could pay for elaborate, colorful scenes on the walls of tombs; Cerveteri's elite instead constructed massive rock-cut tombs (not built, but actually carved out of bedrock) in a giant necropolis eerily similar to the living city nearby. Like Ostia, we could actually go inside the Cerveteri tombs, which was simultaneously haunting and fascinating. For lunch we had a picnic on the shores of the chilly Tyrrhenian, enjoying some much-needed quiet and fresh air.

Tyrrhenian Sea with lovely friends

Painted tomb at Tarquinia

Rock-cut tomb at Cerveteri

Meanwhile in Rome, I've been continuing to adapt and explore and learn on a daily basis (which is both exhilarating and exhausting)! Last Wednesday a few friends and I took an after-dinner passeggiata to the Vatican and ended up chatting with two young Swiss Guards who were outside. (Pope Francis' personal secretary also walked past, which was quietly incredible.) They told us about their duties and their life in Rome and what it took to be a Swiss Guard (Swiss, male, Catholic, and of a certain age). That was definitely an "only-in-Rome" experience, and one of which I hope to have many more.

Another O-i-R experience was commemorating the 70th anniversary of the deportation of the Roman Jewish community at the Jewish Ghetto on the evening of October 15. I enjoyed a delicious Roman Jewish meal (fried artichoke, cod, zucchini flowers stuffed with grouper, and a fruitcake-like dessert that I devoured) and then joined a procession through the streets of the Ghetto with hundreds of Jewish Romans. As we walked, a man spoke the names of every deported citizen (of which there were over a thousand), including a painfully long list of children. What struck me most of all was that as the names were read, there would be sometimes over a dozen of a single last name: entire families, completely wiped out. Just before the end, we paused for a while in front of a slideshow of the photographs of all the deported, of which only sixteen returned. It was a very humbling experience, especially as a non-Jew, and I'm glad I could participate.

One of these days I PROMISE I'll have a post about food. It's worth a blog post, that's for sure.

The city of seven...names?

Salve, tutti. It was a great weekend here, and I hope you all had a good one, too. Within a few days, I'll fill you all in on some of my recent trips - to Assisi two weeks ago and to Ostia this past weekend - with photos and nerdy explanations. But for now, here's a bit of trivia you can use to impress people.

I've discovered there are many titles for the city in which I now find myself living. Here are seven you may or may not recognize:

Roma: Obviously "Rome" is far too monosyllabic to encapsulate such a magnificent place! Though millions of people here speak English - at least well enough to understand what you mean by "Rome" - the name that has transcended nearly three thousand years is Roma. The same in Latin and Italian, Roma was named after its legendary demigod founder, Romulus, who chose the location for what would be the center of the greatest empire on Earth. There was also a goddess "Roma," the special protector and patroness of the city.

Amor: This is a bit of a stretch, but "Roma" spelled backwards is indeed the Latin word for love. D'awwww.

La Città Eterna (The Eternal City): From its humble beginnings as a cluster of mud huts to the peak of its imperial power to its modern hustle and bustle, Rome has seen millennia of kings, senators, dictators, emperors, popes, and prime ministers. Much of the modern West is owed to the remarkable people who lived here, and it shows no immediate sign of slowing down.

The City of Seven Hills: As mentioned in a previous post, the location for the city of Rome was chosen based on its proximity to the Tiber, which connects inland Italy to the Mediterranean, as well as the presence of seven large hills that were ideal for defense. They are the Palatine, the Capitoline, the Esquiline, the Quirinal, the Viminal, the Aventine, and the Caelian. (On top of the Palatine you can still find the imperial palace.) I live especially close to the Capitoline, in the "Campus Martius" by the Tiber.

The City of Fountains: The spectacular Trevi is not the only fountain in Rome; there are fifty "monumental" fountains and over two thousand others, including masterpieces by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Carlo Maderno.

Caput Mundi: Ancient Romans were - and modern ones also are - incredibly proud of their city, their empire, and their heritage. "Caput Mundi" - head of the world - described how they viewed their literal and figurative location.

Urbs Mirabilis: "City of Wonders." 'Nuff said.

Stay tuned for more this week!

Ciao!

Transition mode

Salve, tutti. I have now been in Rome for two weeks, and the gears of acclimatization continue to shift. I'm gradually transitioning out of the "Holy wow" amazed phase and the "Holy crap" overwhelmed phase into a state of being comfortable with my surroundings and eager to explore further. However, this also includes some awkward growing pains that crop up from day to day. Here is a list - in no particular order - of ten things I'm missing most about the United States right now:

1. Free water

Yes, you have to pay for water at restaurants. It's nice water - out of a pretty glass bottle and everything - but it can be anywhere from 1-3 euro extra, which is quite frankly annoying when you're trying to save money and calories (for gelato later, of course). Even if you ask for acqua naturale - tap water - they won't always give it to you.

2. Peanut butter

Almost nowhere to be found, except in tiny containers for almost six euro apiece (that's more than eight dollars). Nutella galore, but no peanut butter. Apparently it's a very distinctly American appetite.

3. Granola bars

Although we did manage to find peanut butter lurking in the back corner of a supermarket, none of us have been able to find a single granola bar anywhere. There are "yogurt" bars and "cereal" bars, which are tasty and filling, but these do not remotely resemble to the typical granola you can find at home.

4. Not sticking out like a sore thumb

Not all the SMC girls have this problem, but for me it's a bit wearing after a while. I'm taller than basically everyone I've met so far - as well as a lot paler - so I might as well have an American flag tattooed across my face. Plus, I seem to totally lack the European knack for accessorizing, which is key to a classy Euro-style outfit. Put all these together - along with the vacant expression of a foreigner trying to figure out where the nearest gelateria is - and you have a target for every street vendor in the Mediterranean (AKA me). 

5. Being able to buy shoes

One way you can spot native Europeans (other than their handbags and their jackets) is their shoes: always chic, always elegant, and often understatedly well-made. But when you have size-11 feet, the options are quite limited, especially when most of the women here appear to wear at least five sizes smaller. Rainboots in particular would be an excellent addition to my wardrobe...if only they came in my size.

6. Cheap postage

It costs 2 euro to mail a postcard. Never complaining about 49-cent stamps again.

7. Being able to read signs

Physical signs - street signs, shop signs, restaurant menus - as well as social signs. It's easy to give a very wrong impression to the people around you simply by smiling at them.

8. Being able to say what I want

It's like being three again, with adults using big words around you while you try to keep up. Wanting to express even a simple idea or pose a basic question is suddenly something you need to plan out carefully. It's a great humility-booster, that's for sure, especially when the person to whom you're speaking just gives up and starts speaking in English.

9. U.S. Internet

Being in Italian cyberspace means slower WiFi, fewer websites, and a lot of confusing language-changing. And recently, some sort of subterranean fire damaged the internet connection on several streets, including the street on which our classroom building and library are located (it's been repaired after several days of construction work and confusion). 

10. Knowing what's expected of me

This, I think, is the biggest difficulty for me right now. It's a struggle finding the balance between tourist and traveler, trying to shed the "temporary" mindset into a more longterm process of adaptation. Reading social cues is suddenly very difficult: knowing how to dress, how to address strangers, what to order, who to trust, where it's safe to be, what is acceptable to say...none of these are automatic anymore. It can be very disorienting and a bit of a blow to the self-esteem. This is when I'm most thankful to have chosen Italy as a place to study, where the people are friendly and very willing to help. But it's also difficult to blend in and feel like a local when you not only feel different but look different, act different, and speak in a different way.

But that's why I came here, in the end: to be challenged, to expand my worldview, to learn to adapt, to be culturally literate and globally familiar. So don't think of this as a list of things that are making me miserable, because I don't; I think of this as a set of things that attach me to my American home and that I'll learn to adjust to while living here. I have more than six months to go...I think I can do it. :)

A presto!

Sunday: Vatican cameos and the Jewish Ghetto

Buongiorno, tutti. I have now been in Rome for one week! Things are beginning to form a routine. I promise I will start writing posts about more contemporary Italian things - I realize not everyone is a history geek - but bear with me today as I share what I did on Sunday.

I got up and went to the Vatican for Mass. (Casually throwing that out there.) I honestly had no plan and no expectation of what I was doing, but everyone else was either asleep or out and I figured I needed to find a church...so why not St. Peter's? I followed a swelling crowd until I reached the great Tiber River, the lifeblood of the ancient city. Crossing over the Tiber, I literally ran smack into the Vatican City, which was already being blocked off for Mass. I slipped past crowds and officers until I got close enough to hear and see what was going on at the altar (it was standing room only by this point). Someone was reciting the rosary in Latin over a major speaker system, and several huge television screens were ready to go for the papal Mass. It seemed incredibly surreal to me that I had just woken up about an hour before and decided basically on a whim to waltz down here, but I didn't have much time to think about it; Mass started very soon afterward, and with it came Papa Francesco himself. Most of it was in Italian and Latin, with the first reading in French and the second reading in Spanish, but there were a few announcements in English which I appreciated. (I was hoping to understand enough Italian to figure out what the readings were, but all I really caught were "faith" and "hand." Not overly helpful.)

Il Fiume Tevere (Tiber River)

Here he comes!

Greeting an Orthodox official

Opening prayer

Approaching St. Peter's

When it came time for communion, dozens of priests were sent into the crowd to distribute the Eucharist, first to the people sitting down (who'd arrived HOURS before I had) and then to the people standing in back like me. It reminded me a lot of my World Youth Day experience in Madrid 2011: people of all ages, cultures, languages, and backgrounds gathering to receive; quietly working together to make sure as many people as possible got to the front of the throng; hearing "The Body of Christ" in a language that was not your own but knowing what was said anyway. At one point the priest distributing communion gave the bowl to a French priest in the crowd, who could reach more people. One elderly Italian woman helped push me to the front when it was my turn. On the whole, it was an incredibly beautiful and moving experience - especially with this particular pope presiding - that left me smiling.

After the Mass, the pope greeted several people (including someone who looked like an official from one of the Orthodox churches) and then got into his PopeMobile - without the protective roof! He drove through the crowd, waving and smiling, stopping to kiss a baby that somebody half-threw at him and pausing to embrace a child with special needs and his mother. He looked incredibly pleased that we were all there and seemed very grandfatherly - and I mean that in the best way. It was pretty thrilling.

When the pope had gone back to the basilica, I walked back toward the Campo de' Fiori, stopping briefly at an organic market on the way that sold cheeses and breads and different homemade sauces. Instead of turning back toward the hotel, though, I kept going until I reached the Jewish Ghetto. Today it's a vibrant neighborhood full of the rich Roman Jewish culture (including lots of kosher restaurants), but for many centuries it was a place of grim confinement where Jews were kept separate from the Christian population. Pope Paul IV instituted the ghetto in 1555, building a wall around one of the wettest and least desirable places in the city for the Jewish community to inhabit. And under the Nazi occupation of Italy, the ghetto was emptied in 1943, with most of its inhabitants never returning from the concentration camps. There are many reminders of the ghetto's tragic past throughout the neighborhood.

Found on a wall in the Jewish Ghetto with the date "16 Ottobre 1943"

Commemorating the deportation

A collection of Jewish heritage

Plaque describing October 16, 1943 (The seventieth anniversary is this year)

"SPQR" on a plaque commemorating the destruction of a Christian church by the Nazis near the ghetto

There are also some impressive ancient ruins that sit right next to the ghetto. The Portico of Octavia, built by Augustus in honor of his sister, is still relatively intact from its glory days, along with the Theater of Marcellus, which looks almost like a miniature Colosseum from the side. Both were incorporated into the medieval Roman life, with the Portico being part of the fish market and the Theater of Marcellus eventually incorporated into modern building structures. Take a look:

Portico of Octavia

Remains of a temple next to the Portico

Theater of Marcellus

Theater of Marcellus (looks like a mini Colosseum!)

Well, thanks for joining me, amici. I promise I'll start including more colloquial information soon. Can't help myself with the history, though. :) Have a great rest of your day!

Saturday: The Forum, the Palatine, and the Flavian Amphitheater

Oof! This was a very busy weekend in Caput Mundi. But it was a spectacular one, too, filled with many things I'd been very excited to see for a long time.  On Saturday, two Saint Mary's professors took us on a grand tour of the Ancient City.

Nestled among the modern buildings (or at least from this millennium) is a great square that was the epicenter of ancient Roman political life. The city of Rome, among other names, is the City of Seven Hills: the Esquiline, the Quirinal, the Viminal, the Capitoline, the Aventine, the Caelian, and the Palatine. While several are famous for various reasons, the Palatine was supposedly chosen by Romulus - the legendary namesake for the Roman people and also their first king - to be the main hill because of its central location and its proximity to the Tiber River, a major source of connection, protection, and economy. The landscape alone made the area excellent for a city; the hills would help defend against neighboring tribes, and the river would easily connect it to the Mediterranean. Eventually, the Palatine Hill became the home of the imperial palace - indeed, the English word palace comes from "Palatine." The ruins of the palace are still there, which provide an incredible view into the vastness of the emperors' wealth and prestige.

But first: back to the Forum Romanum, located just beside the Palatine Hill. We arrived in the morning, before most of the other tourists came, and took an all-too-brief trek down the ancient streets, past the ruins of shops and temples and important buildings of state. Ancient Rome had many fora - squares or gathering places for meeting and commerce - but the Forum Romanum was mainly for politics, religion, and expensive shopping. The Curia - the building used by the impressive Roman Senate - towered in the corner in its location first chosen by Julius Caesar. Near it was the temple to Saturn and a huge basilica (not religious, but secular) used for greeting and impressing important guests to the city. The temple of Vesta, guarded by the well-respected female priestesses, stood opposite Saturn's. At either end were two magnificent arches - built for the emperor Titus and by the emperor Septimius Severus, respectively - engraved with Rome's rich battle history. The Rostra - where grand speeches were made by some of history's best orators - stands next to the "Umbilicus Urbis" - the belly button of the city! - a round platform marking the center of the city. Later, the emperor Constantine would construct a gargantuan basilica with beautiful marble arches nearby. It's easy to imagine toga-clad Senators walking these streets, visiting the shops along the Via Sacra to buy exotic spices from the farthest reaches of the empire or mingling with diplomats from distant provinces. The Forum was designed to show off everything the Romans liked about themselves: their excellent architecture and engineering, their highly civilized and logical approach to life, their political genius and power, their piety, their wealth, their semi-divine history.

Poorly lit shot of the Forum Romanum

Remaining wall of the circular temple of Vesta, goddess of the hearth (and, by extension, the home and family life of Rome)

Remains of a temple

Temple of Saturn

Arch of Septimius Severus

The Curia, where the ancient Senate debated

This entire space on which we're standing would have been roofed by that enormous basilica of Constantine!

Basilica built by Constantine

Arch of Titus

Following the Palatine Hill up from the Forum, an ancient Roman would have been struck by the sheer size of the imperial palace. Entering into a towering atrium, decorated with larger-than-life marble statues, a guest would have seen the peristyle, an interior garden-courtyard flanked by colonnades that made for excellent walking and talking. Behind the peristyle, if you were a very good friend of the emperor's, you would have enjoyed a lavish meal in the triclinium, where Romans (being civilized freemen and not servants - or barbarians) would have reclined on couches to eat. Next to this enormous building was a separate wing - the more private courters of the imperial family - with an even larger peristyle and a sunken garden for more leisurely strolls. Behind the palace was the Circus Maximus, an enormous elliptical racetrack for chariot races. (Pictures to come.)

After exploring the Forum and the Palatine in heat uncharacteristic for late September, we headed past the impressive Arch of Constantine for the grandaddy of them all: the Flavian Amphitheater. (If you're not familiar, the colloquial term for the Flavian Amphitheater is "The Colosseum.") Built following a series of bad emperors and increasingly bad luck for the still-young empire, the Flavian father-son emperor team, Vespasian and Titus, used the Colosseum as morale-booster and as a sign to the outside world that Rome was back and better than ever. You've probably at least heard of the Colosseum - made famous anew by Russell Crowe and Gladiator - and have an idea of the kind of thing that went on in there: public executions, animal games, and, of course, gladiator fights. These games were free or very cheap for citizens of all classes to enjoy for entertainment, national pride, and the inculcation of Roman values of law and order, bravery, and military skill. Like many of its contemporaries, much of its original marble was recycled during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Take a look:

Arch of Constantine (half of it covered for cleaning)

THE COLOSSEUM!

Beautiful original interior. Really reminded me of Lambeau Field or Miller Park.

The amphitheater

The platform you see is what the original amphitheater floor would have looked like. The hallways and rooms below it were sort of a "backstage" area for keeping animals, gladiators, etc. that would be raised up out of trap doors in the floor.

The archways below the amphitheater floor

Those two raised posts (with the cross between) signal the area where the emperor would have sat. On the ground floor would have sat the Senators and other important people; the middle levels were for the middling classes; and the upper levels were for the poor, the sleazy, and the women.

Seats would have been here

Yay Colosseum!

Gorgeous view from the second floor of the Colosseum

Ancient graffiti! 

Spectators would carve their favorite gladiator or a particularly good fight into the marble seats.

All in all, it was a spectacular day spent walking where real Romans - Julius Caesar, Augustus, Cicero, Hadrian - walked and argued and lived. I'll post again soon, but in the meantime don't forget: SPQR!

"Senatus Populusque Romanus 

Incendio Consumptum Restituit"

("The Senate and the Roman People Restored what was Consumed by Fire")

Temple of Saturn

You can just make out the "SPQR" at the end of the very long inscription 

Arch of Septimius Severus

Arch of Titus