A Roman holiday
Quest to visit must-see destinations opens doors to some off beat spots on whirlwind adventure
Four churches claim to be in possession of the head of John the Baptist, so I like to think there’s a 25 percent chance the encased head we saw at San Silvestre in Rome once rested on a plate, per Salome’s request. If not, well, the stained-glass windows at the church depicting his decapitation are nevertheless arresting and worthy of admiration.
Just outside the church doors, in the midday heat, an Italian couple sits on the steps, making out like a couple of movie spies.
That’s Rome for you, teeming with history, mythology, ancient artifacts and warm blood.
At every turn, Rome offers reminders that we’re all going to die — a by-product of visiting in a city marching toward 3,000 years old. What one makes of that unavoidable certainty defines the experience there.
Take the crypts at Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini, where the skeletal remains of some 4,000 Capuchin monks — an offshoot of the Franciscans — are on display. The Capuchins weren’t much for possessions: books, maybe a pocket watch, a robe made to specific dimensions, that’s about it. But if the Capuchins were lacking flair in their ascetic dayto-day, the passion that informed their lives transformed into pizzazz in death. The bones in the ossuary have been organized into intricate patterns that resemble old Spirograph designs. They’re as mesmerizing as they are macabre.
Not too far away, outside the church of San Pietro in Vincoli — home to a famed Michelangelo sculpture of Moses, horned and ripped like a boxer — a guide prepares a group for its visit to the Colosseum.
“Sometimes the gladiators fought the gladiators,” he says. “Sometimes the gladiators fought the animals.
“And sometimes,” he says, pausing for dramatic effect, “the women fought the midgets.”
So there you go.
BBB Rome is a tricky place to navigate. The major sites — the Colosseum, the Forum, the Vatican — are mobbed, regardless of the hour. Imagine being immersed within the crowd for an NFL game but in constant slow, shuffling motion. Yet these sites are essential. To travel across an ocean to Rome and miss the Colosseum would be unthinkable. So we tried to cram as many of them into three days as possible and then expand our travel outside the ancient landmarks.
But the public transit system leaves something to be desired. The buses are hot, cramped and they abide by a schedule with the structure of freely improvised music. The Metro system comprises two lines that form an X. The farther your destination is from either axis, the more screwed you are.
But the upshot of the touristdense cluster sites are some offbeat spots that offer more space.
At the foot of the Spanish Steps — which are carpeted with sunburned tourists — is the shamefully under-visited KeatsShelley House, home to a few poets and writers of note.
Talk about passion and death: John Keats died of tuberculosis in Rome at 25, but not before defining Romantic poetry for ages. Oscar Wilde called Keats’ grave site in the city’s Protestant Cemetery “the holiest place in Rome,” tartly antagonistic praise. Even still, Wilde’s zinger pales compared to the insult Keats hurled from his tomb: “This grave contains all that was mortal of a young English poet, who, on his death bed, in the bitterness of his heart, at the malicious power of his enemies desired these words to be engraven on his tomb stone: ‘Here lies one whose name was
Top: Tourists line up to visit the Colosseum. Above: Bones of Capuchin monks decorate the ceiling of the crypt of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Giorgio Cosulich / Getty Images
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If proximity to the Pope is a big deal to you, that’s an attainable goal. My wife approached one of the Pontifical Swiss Guardsmen just outside St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. The members of this elite centuries-spanning group are easy to spot: Their uniforms are a bright mix of blues, red and orange. “How many tickets do you need?” he asked. “Three.” Simple as that. The next morning we arrived a little before 7. The gates opened at 7:30 and there was a rush from the metal detectors to the sitting area. Around 9 a.m., Pope Francis rode past the crowd, waving, kissing babies.
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You’re going to see scads of men offering “skip the line” tours at the Vatican and the Colosseum. We zipped into the Colosseum midday without a wait. We tried a “skip the line” tour at the Vatican. Turns out “skip the line” really just meant moving to a different line. The people in front of us in the original line got in before we did. Then we were tethered to a tour that made navigating the Vatican a miserable experience.
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Use the Metro as often as you can. Walkable distances become tougher as the day goes on.
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More modestly priced lodging can be had walking distance from the Termini train station.
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Throughout the city, spigots spill forth with cool, fresh water. They’re restorative on a hot day. writ in water.’ ”
Poems, death and a few hundred years are sometimes all that’s required for renown.
The grand Papal Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls is nobody’s idea of a quaint stop. Still, it offers a striking contrast to the Vatican experience. Crowds make traversing the Vatican feel like being pushed through a caulking gun. But St. Paul’s is so spacious and grandly cavernous that no mass of people can break the contemplative quiet that it offers.
And for the doomsday inclined, well, 266 portraits of Popes circle the interior, leaving just 11 empty slots after the illuminated portrait of Pope Francis. Whether that results in the construction of some new papal wing of the church or the End Days (there are a few believers) will likely be determined after I’m dead. But it’s something for somebody else to look forward to.
Other sites and totems abounded in such great reserves as to require a stay of longer than a week.
And to each his own as far as the authenticity of the relics. The Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore claims to have a piece of the manger, as in The Manger from Bethlehem.
Considering most of Jesus’ years were missing years, I find it remarkable somebody would’ve had the foresight to stash a manger, y’know … just in case he did something with his life.
We saw chains that allegedly bound Peter, as well as an indentation in the wall of the prison Carcere Mamertino, where jailers are believed to have rammed his head. The church at the Catacombs of Saint Sebastian claims to have an arrow that pierced Saint Sebastian during a failed execution. The church also has two basalt stone footprint indentations believed to have been left behind by Jesus.
I found the art more compelling and easier to appreciate. The Basilica at Saint Sebastian also houses the final sculpture by the great Bernini. His sculpture of Jesus is dramatic, with the deep folds of his robe and the long twists of hair and beard. It’s a remarkable work.
The tour of the catacombs there also is highly recommended, both for the breadth of the tunnel system and the refreshing cool air that courses through it. Also, getting there provides an opportunity to walk part of the Appian Way, which is refreshingly removed from the busier city center.
Another striking stop was the church of San Luigi dei Francesi, home to Caravaggio’s aweinspiring three-painting cycle: “The Calling of St Matthew,” “The Inspiration of Saint Matthew” and “The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew.”
Caravaggio’s work is bold, brooding and beautiful when reprinted on a page. To see it up close, in its context, is a revelatory sensory experience.
BBB On a more modern, artistic tip is the legendary Cinecittà Studios, where the great filmmaker Federico Fellini shot many of his films.
The site is just steps away from the Cinecittà Metro stop, and guests are quickly greeted by the statue head from Fellini’s “Casanova.” I recommend the more elaborate tour, which in addition to the museum offers a visit to the back lot. We got to see the inside of Teatro No. 5, Fellini’s favorite of the 22 soundstages, where his funeral was held. The stage numbers go up to No. 23. Our guide informed us there’s no No. 17 — it’s considered an unlucky number in Italy.
The enormous set of HBO’s “Rome” is on the tour (it also stood in for Pompeii in a great “Doctor Who” episode), as are a few remnants of a set from “Gangs of New York.” Houston native Wes Anderson also filmed his “The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou” there, though he didn’t leave behind any artifacts.
If you’re dragging a kid along, as we were, Cinecittà is a good way to break up the ancient stuff. Cinecittà also has an amusement park nearby, but I can’t vouch for it.
Kids may also enjoy Largo di Torre Argentina, not because it’s believed to be the site of Caesar’s stabbing, but rather because it has become a sanctioned cat colony, a mix of grave history and slapstick hilarity worthy of Monty Python. Men at some time are meowsters of their fates.
All this represents just a few stones in a larger structure that is Rome. One should make sure to balance visitation to the sites with time spent eating. With the exception of one ghastly and expensive lunch just outside the Vatican, we found every little restaurant to offer, at bare minimum, a zesty take on cacio e pepe, the cheese-and-pepper heavy pasta dish. You can even sidestep the restaurants. The grocery nearest our hotel — too small to be called a “supermarket” — nevertheless had a dozen different cured meats hanging at its impressive deli.
Even that counter — the next to last stop for a pig’s hind leg — proved a place enhanced by the passing of time. Prosciutto doesn’t attain its salty wonder overnight.
Top: The Cinecittà Studios in Rome served as the setting for a number of films by legendary director Federico Fellini. Middle: Caravaggio’s cycle of Saint Matthew (“The Calling of Saint Matthew,” left, “The Inspiration of Saint Matthew,” center, and “The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew,” right), is on display in the Contarelli Chapel Above: The grave site of poet John Keats can be found in Rome’s Protestant Cemetery.