Palazzo del Quirinal

Ciao
Sorry, I couldn't get on to blogger for the past few days, but that is ok because my dad finally realized that I can't spend the morning walking around Rome and then go and swim hard at practice, so now it is just little adventures then swimming. The big adventures are for the weekends. So, last weekend my friend Marco took me to see Il Palazzo del Quirinal. It used to be the summer homes for the popes and is now the residence of the King of Italy. The palace was started in 1583 by Pope Gregory XIII. It was built on the tallest of the seven hills of Rome so that the pope could see and be seen by all of Rome. Gregory XIII did not live to see it completed, isn't that sad when that happens?, Pope Sixtus V (1587) continued the building of the palazzo but he too didn't live to see it finished as he died in 1590. The next pope to take over didn't do any building to the palazzo so we won't even mention his name. Pope Paul V became pope in 1605 and he continued the vision of Gregory and Sixtus. The palazzo wasn't fully finished until the 18th century when Clemente XII. There are many chapels in Quirinal Palace, the most famous is the Chapel of the Annunciation. It was built by Sixtus V and has beautiful frescos painted by Guido Reni. Pauline chapel, built by Pope Paul V, obviously, has frescos by Martini Ferabosco, but this isn't as big or as grand as the Annunciation Chapel.(I didn't take any photos because I felt funny using my camera so I will find some links for you)
September of 1870 the Papal States were overthrown, basically the popes lost their power over the people, and Italy became a Kingdom. Now the Palazzo is home to the king of Italy. A funny fact, not all the kings have lived there. Most keep living in their own homes and the Palazzo is mostly used as a meeting center. It has also been used as a papal conclave several times, this is when all the  College of Cardinals meet to elect a new pope. Another thing that I have noticed is that quite a few popes didn't live very long, I wonder if they were killed to make room for another pope. Um........Christian Cardinal killing a pope to become pope, I am pretty sure that happened.
Ok, now the fun stuff.  This house was AMAZING!!!!!!!! The palace was HUGE, there must have been at least 30 or more rooms. Imagine it, each room with gold leaf ceilings, marble everything,  and the chandeliers having real crystals. This was about what every room looked like, plus paintings and sculptures. This Palace was more like a museum or gallery than a home, must have been nice to be a pope, on second thought, I would be afraid that I would spill juice on a 1000 year old rug and break some priceless artifact.
 When we were there, we also saw a free cello concert,  the musician  was easily the best cellist in the world. It was a really amazing place and  I had a great, jaw dropping time.
Ciao ciao
                                                 This album is called "Living like a pope"

Central courtyard

Gold gilded ceilings with frescos

Oh, the ceilings? Yes, we are thinking of having them redone, they are a bit dated.

One of the smaller lounges

You have to admit, those popes loved the bling bling

Annunciation Chapel

Can you say dizzy. This is the ceiling of The Pauline Chapel, where we had the free cello concert.

my day at Nemi

Ciao,
Sorry I haven't done my blog for a while but I haven't done any sight seeing since Sunday. On that day , my friend Marco took me to 2 lakes. The first one was called lake Nemi. It is named for it's biggest village and it is famous for testing Roman battleships. In fact, Emperors Caligula and Tiberius often sailed on this lake, and ordered the building of these ships.They were very advanced for their time and just recently archaeologists found some remains of one of these ships. Engineers decided to build a replica of it based on the remains and it sailed  perfectly. (Archaeologists are always finding more and more ships to study). The second Lake was called Albano. This lake is home to the Pope's summer house, which is called Castle Gandolfo. I guess when you are the pope it is only right that you live in a castle =] Lake Albano is most famous for hosting the rowing and canoeing events at the 1960 Olympics. Ok, now you know the facts, now it is time for me to tell you how much FUN I had!!!!!!!!
I kept telling my dad that I wanted to see an old Roman village and I finally did because.Nemi is a medieval village. It looks old and the streets were all cobble stones, pretty cool huh? It is also a sacred place for the Goddess Diana, there is even a temple built in her honor, but we didn't get to see that =[  When we first arrived at  Nemi ( we really didn't get to go that close to the lake) ) we went to the village and saw some folk dancers having  a festival, they werw all dressed up and dancing away. After watching the dancers for a while, we got hungry and we found  the BEST GELATO EVER!!!!!!!!!!(see the picture)  Nemi is known for it's strawberries called "fragoline di bosco" which are very small, wild strawberries. Naturally I had to have some......uummmm....very sweet and tasty. We also saw a pizzeria that offered some unusual toppings (I took a picture of the menu so you can see what we could've had to eat, instead of strawberries and gelato). Nemi lake was beautiful and surrounded by trees....everyone was very happy, I am glad Marco was able to take me here. My next visit was to lake Albano,(it was a very short visit, but it was still nice to see all the green trees and blue water this close to a big city like Rome). Something I learned from Marco, about Lago Albano, is that when the Pope is at his summer home, no one is allowed on the lake, must be nice!
When I was there I  saw a funny plane that could land on the water and, of course, Castle Gandolfo. It really was a nice relaxing day and I finally got to see an old village!
Ciao

Lago Nemi

Folk Dancers

Lunch! Can see the strawberries?

Yum! Reindeer pizza

Me and my dad goofing off above Lago Nemi

Lago Albano

Cobbled street in Nemi, try skateboarding on this.

Can you say "dizzy"?

colosseum

Ciao,
Sorry guys, I didn't get to do my blog because I was sick and haven't moved  for the past two days. ( apparently  when there is a sudden thunder and lighting storm with  pouring rain, going outside in it isn't such a GOOD idea. Not that I had much of a choice.  ) Anyway, on Saturday we went to the Colosseum and we went on a special tour which included the basement and the third floor. Ok here's some facts about the Colosseum.
The Colosseum is actually called the Flaviuman  Amphitheatrum. The  Flavium  Amphitheatrum  was the largest ever built in Rome and the Romans (slaves)  started building it in 72 ad and finished  in  80 ad.  (  I can see you saying  ONLY 8 years!!!!!!  Well we don't know how many slaves worked on it. )   It could hold  50,000 people and it was used for gladiator fights, mock sea battles, animal hunts,  and Christan executions. ( another "fun"  fact is back then there was a law stating that if you were caught worshiping God instead of the emperor you were executed.  Happy times right!?!?!?!!?!?! )   Later it was used for housing a religious order, as a quarry, and as a Christan shrine. Although today in the 21st century it stays partially ruined because of earthquakes and stone robbers, I think everyone knows that it is the most popular attraction in Rome.
So, my tour started with a very 'knowledgeable" (obsessed) tour guide giving us instructions on how to use our walkie talkies, too bad I didn't understand Italian! We walked down a dark hallway to a ramp that took us down to the "ground level". This ramp was actually where the ships were floated out into the amphitheatre for the sea battles. It was pretty cool to imagine how it must have looked. The Romans would flood the underground chambers using water from a man made lake, thank you Nero!, then the interior of the theatre was flooded  and the  boats were then floated out. When the battle was over, flood gates were opened and the water was  channeled back to the lake. While I was there it was raining and water was naturally gathering in the canals under the theatre so it was easy to see how it would have worked. The first hall our guide took us through was the main entrance that the Gladiators used to enter the arena. Basically it was long, narrow, and dark. the only way out was into the arena and most likely the only way out again was on a cart full of other dead gladiators. I took a picture so you can have a feeling of what it was like for these poor guys. Next our guide started getting very excited about some holes in the stone floors, my friend Dario explained that these were for wooden pillars which were wrapped with thick rope. These pillars had handles and wooden pulleys attached to them. Basically these were the first elevators! Slaves would turn the pillars using the wooden handles, the ropes would then wrap around the pillars and in turn lift wooden platforms up to the arena floor. It is kind of hard to explain, I will try to find a link....Ok, these elevators were used to bring animals and other fighters to the arena floor above. The arena  floor was made of wood and covered in sand, the floor was supported by columns and arches underneath.   These in turn were used as stables and slaves quarters. (The slaves played a huge part in all the productions....) So...next we saw the part of the Colosseum that everyone  gets to see, did I mention that when I was down below I made it a point to stand where  everyone above could see me and wave? well I did! After viewing the partially rebuilt arena floor( pretty cool) our guide took us up to the 3rd level, again a place where only a few get to go. It was so cool, I could see all of the center of Rome and again I made it a point to wave to all the people not lucky enough to be where I was. ( I swear the people were jealous of me =] )   The Colosseum was built in such a way that everyone had a good view of the show. The closest to the arena were the richest, then the business men, then so on and so on until the last level. Now you would assume that this is where the poorest sat but it wasn't. This is where the women sat! Yep, us poor women had to sit as far away from the violence as possible because it was believed that for women to be closer would be more dangerous for them, as the men would be all excited form the fighting and they might try to 'harm" the women.  ( not fair right?!?!?!?!? )
Any way this is where the tour ended but I wonder how many of you are asking  " why is the Colosseum called the Colosseum when it was actually an amphitheater?"  That is easy enough to answer. At one point during his reign, Nero erected a huge "colossal" statue of himself right next to the amphitheater. This statue no longer exists but can't you just imagine what might have happened? "Hey, lets meet near the Colossal statue" "I'll see you in front of colossel" and when the statue wasn't there any longer, The amphitheater flavium was, but that would be a bit long "I'll meet you at the amphitheater flavium" Nope, it was just called the colossel or Colosseum by then, as it is still today. Here is something you might think is funny. When an Emperor was overthrown or killed, the new Emperor would get rid of his "memory". He would demolish buildings, paint over any fresco's with the old emperor in them ,etc. However, the Colossal statue was so well done that all the Emperors after Nero just took off the head of the previous emperor and replaced it with his own likeness, pretty funny huh? Well, I have to go blow my nose now, yep, I'm still sick.
Ciao

This is the main entrance for the Gladiators, no other way out!

This is where the boats were floated out.

Looking up to all those not lucky enough to be on my tour. The Pillars were the main support

for the arena floor. These were then turned into pens for the animals and slaves.

Looking down onto the arena. You can see the partially rebuilt wooden floor. You can also see

how the columns and arches could have been used to house the animals.

One of the interior walkways.

Me, on the top level, making everybody below jealous

Check out this link, you can see how the elevators worked and you get to see where I was on my tour.

.http://science.discovery.com/videos/what-the-ancients-knew-coliseums-elevators.html

My time underground

Ciao,
Yesterday I went to the City of the Dead, also known as the necropolis, underneath the Vatican( Scarrrrrrry Right?????? ). I also visited the chambers under the Colosseum. Both of these places were appropriate to visit yesterday because it was dark, overcast, and misty. OK, the first adventure... The City of the Dead was actually an area in Rome where, instead of cemeteries, people were buried in Mausoleums, some of which were as big as houses. This area was partially torn down and then filled in to become the foundation of the first Basillica of St. Peter, which was built during Constantines reign about 320AD.  Now its time for some little known facts about the City of the dead and Saint Peter's tomb.  Saint Peter's tomb is near the west end of the complex of Mausoleums that date between AD 130-300. The place was torn down and filled with dirt to build the foundation of the 1st Saint Peters Basilica, during the rein of  Constiane the 1st.  Pope Pius XII said in december 1950 that " that none of the bones could be comfirmed that they were really Saint Peters bones "  and still today no one really knows. ( even though there was  some really old grafitti near the tomb stating that " Peter is here. " )  Now, more of my visit.. The first basillica, which is now known as the crypts, was torn down in 1506AD and then the present Basillica was built. It was really amazing to see how well preserved the "necropolis" is. Starting in 1953, Archeologists were able to clean out and restore the actual streets. When I was there I could look all the way down a street and see the windows, doors, and actual cobbles to walk on. It really was a small village of dead people's houses. Now another fun fact. When people were buried in the mausoleums, a small hole was drilled through the tops of the crypts. These holes were for the family of the dead to feed their deceased ones twice a year. Basically, everyone who was alive met in the mausoleum to celebrate those who had died. All the food was placed on the tombs and then some of it was pushed down into the tombs so that the dead could eat with them. I know, a bit creepy huh? So I bet some of you were wondering why all these people were buried here, the answer is simple. The Catholic church says that the bones of St. Peter are here and obviously, the closer to St. Peter that you are buried, well the closer to God you get. I can say that I was within 10 feet of his bones, St. Peter's that is, and it was pretty cool.  Oh...Who is St. Peter? Well to put it bluntly, he was one of the 12 apostles, then known as Simon, he was on the boat when Jesus preformed his "fishing" miracle. People needed to be fed but there were no fish. Jesus was on Simon's boat and he told Simon and his brother Andrew to lower their nets, when they did, the nets were over full with fish. This was when Simon decided to follow Jesus. Simon, after Jesus was killed, went on to preach and lead the church but was eventually put to death by Emperor Nero in 67ad. Why? Well, christians were pretty much always put to death because they were breaking emperial law by worshiping "God".  You see, Nero was to be worshipped, not God, it was the law. Romans believed that christians couldn't worship both nero and God so all christians were killed.  So, now you know a bit about christains, St. Peter, and why people are buried under the vatican. Tourists are allowed to view the crypts in the old basillica but only about 100 people a year are allowed into the necropolis. My friend Dario is into everything Roman and he knows alot of important people so he arranged for my family to go down and see this most awesome site. I wasn't allowed to take pictures but I will try to find some links so that you can see what I saw when I was down there. This was a long entry so I am going to tell you all about the chambers under the Colloseum (which just opened 2 months ago and again thanks to Dario, I was able to see) tomorrow.
Ciao

This is a view down the recovered street, see the doorways and windows?

One of the mausoleums, this one is about the size of a small house.

St. Peter's tomb, the one everyone gets to see. The real crypt is directly under

this and that is where our tour finished, pretty cool right?

Little Easter

Ciao
We spent "little Easter" exploring Rome with Pier. He took us to San Luigi dei Francesi and Santa Maria in Trastevere, two churches that are each famous for different reasons ( ha ha right about now you are thinking what are those 2 reasons.?!?!?!??!?. ) San Luigi is most famous for it's paintings in the Contarelli Chapel. These paintings were done by the artist Caravaggio in 1599-1600 ( long time ago right?!?!?!?!? ) They are all of Saint Matthew:  "The calling of St. Matthew", "The  Inspiration of St. Matthew" and "The Martyrdom of St. Matthew". These paintings are pretty cool but the interesting thing about them isn't the topic, which is St. Matthew, who the church is dedicated to, but Caravaggio. He was a womanizer and known murderer but the powers that be looked the other way because he was a great artist. ( interesting right?????? ) Needless to say he got away with alot! The second church we went to was Santa Maria in Trastevere, which I just found out almost ceased to be a church.  In around 230AD Emperor Septimus Severus decided to give the church back to those that honored God over some tavern owners. Can you Imagine what would have happened to the church if it turned into a bar? Anyway, it is one of the oldest churches in Rome, probably built around 220AD. It was built to honor the Mother of God by Pope St. Calllixtus 1. The reason it is so famous is because most of the artwork isn't painted but is actually Mosaic Tile, how cool is that? I guess anybody could paint a ceiling but to actually create an image using colored tile? Amazing! Anyway, that was your history lesson for today, now for the fun part. When we went to the first church  ( San Luigi dei Francesi  )  it was amazing,the church had gold leaf  every where you looked. This next fact is going to blow your mind......... (this place was humongous!)  It  was built by a family to show how rich they were!  (  " were " as in  they probably spent all their money on the church. =] )    The next church, Santa Maria, was cool!!!!!!  When you first looked  at "the  paintings  " they sparkled and then when you looked closer, you could see HUNDREDS of little tiles instead of paint. Santa maria church also had  domes, most churches in Rome do,  and if looked realllllllly closely you saw that the domes had a holes in them.  When I asked about it, Pier said that they probably hung candles in the domes at one point but now we have lights so....no more candles
anyway I got to go! =[
Caio

San Luigi dei Francesi

Center fresco San Luigi dei Francesi

Mosaic ceiling Santa Maria in Trastevere

Me staring at a moasic column in Santa Maria

Easter

Ciao,
Sorry guys, I have been really busy for the past 2 days and I haven't had the chance to do my blog. =]
On Sunday ( which was Easter!!!!! ) Pier invited us to have lunch with his family.  When I said lunch  the word " lunch " was used abit loosely, we actually had about 6 main courses.  Ugggggggggg! I totally feel fat right about now because I haven't exercised since Friday and after that HUGE MEAL I guess I put on about ten pounds.  In Italy, EASTER is a big holiday and is celebrated by spending time with your family. Pier's family is pretty cool. His mom was really nice and funny. Moni,  his sister, is a great cookand was really nice too. Fabio is Moni's husband and he has a really neat job. His family has had a business of moving all the really big statues around Rome. Fabio had pictures of himself and his dad moving big iron doors into and installing them at the Vatican, actually into St. Peter's Basillica. He said that it takes about 3 months just to plan to move something! I thought it would be a bit awkward having lunch with Pier's family because none of us could speak Italian but it was really fun. Pier's mom spoke english very well and what little needed translating, Pier did.  Anyway after about 3 1/2 hours of surviving through the 6 courses we decided to walk it  ( it meaning the fat ) off abit afterwards. It took me a couple attempts but I finally got out of my chair. =]
We walked around a reserve near Pier's family's home. Pier said that when his mom's home was built there was nothing around but sheep. Her home was at teh edge of Rome. When you see the pictures you will be able to see how much rome has grown in 40 years. I hope you enjoy the pics of my "suffering"
Anyway to keep my blog fun, I have decided to do Monday's blog tomorrow morning ( tomorrow is my "off " day  =  no sight seeing so I will do Mondays blog instead. =] )
Ciao

First course: Bread, cheese, salami, eggs

Second course: Lasagna with little meatballs

Third course: Turkey (that is Pier's mom and Fabio) plus..

Baked artichokes

Fifth course: tart berry pie, Corn pie. There was a fourth course of sweet bread

but I forgot to take a picture.

I survived! Actually by this time I was getting hungry again.

St. Peter's and an ever growing Rome. Pretty much all you see in front the dome

is where sheep and goats used to roam free and feed 40 years ago.

Climbing and walking off Easter lunch

Sant'Ignazio

Ciao
Sorry no blog yesterday, I got home late from practice and then had an awesome dinner that Pier cooked for us. It was tuna eggs with tomatoes and pasta, sounds weird but it was good. We didn't get to sleep until after 11pm so...Today Pier took us to Sant'Ignazio. This is a church that we had passed before on one of our trips , but didn't know what it was. Now I do know and I'll tell you.
Sant'Ignazio was built between 1626 and 1650 to honor Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order.
Originally it was just a small room that was built as an add on to the Collegio Romano. Collegio Romano was a school for the arts that was built in 1551. When the Jesuits decided to build a church  to honor Saint Ignatius, they hired a Jesuit priest to design it, when it was done the church that was once a small room now took up an entire city block.
The neat thing about the church is that is covered with frescoes, most of which were painted by Andrea Pozzo. There is a huge one that goes down the center of the Church's ceiling. (it is pretty cool because depending on where you are, the fresco changes, the closer you move to it's center the more life like the paintings become). The fresco that the church is most famous for is it's "false dome". It is actually a flat piece of ceiling that Pozzo painted to look like a real dome. There is also a big pipe organ and an organist was playing while we walked around the church.
Pier told me how the frescoes were painted, here is how they were done. First a huge tarp is laid out on the ground and then the design is drawn onto the tarp. Next, pins are pushed through the tarp to create an "outline" of the drawing. Next the tarp is hung up on the ceiling and then black paint is sponged over the pin holes, this makes the ceiling look like a big coloring book, now all the artist has to do is paint inside the lines.
Sounds easy but it probably wasn't as the ceilings are huge. So that was my lesson for the day.  Now we can talk about the fun stuff..........  the church was one word..... AMAZING!!!!!!! When you first entered the church the first thing you saw was gold............the ceiling had a huge 3d ( well it was 3d if you tilted your head back and looked at it upside down ) painting and there was gold leaf molding everywhere you looked. The coolest thing I have ever seen was this " dome ".  When you entered the church you saw the dome, but when you walked towards it you saw it was fake. ( it was just a normal ceiling painted to look like a dome.  The painter that painted the dome was a true genius for his time. )  Here is the fun part, when I was taking a picture of the dome,  I leaned back on my boots and one of my heels broke off.  So here I am walking through Rome ( after we left the church )  clomping through the streets , Ok, scratch that HOPPING through the streets looking for some glue so that I can put my heel back on. Well lets just say that we found another church, a cool antique shop, a pasta shop, multiple bakery shops and a guy who was pretending to be a statue ( have a video of him ) before we found the glue to fix my boots.
Tomorrow is Easter and Pier ( a friend of mine ) invited us to dinner at his house. He warned us there will be more than 15 main courses for dinner. I have prepared myself  (I barely had anything to eat today) so I think I will make it through tomorrow.  Did you know that the day after Easter, here in Rome, is called little Easter? No shops are open so everyone eats left overs from Easter Sunday. The pools aren't open either, so I don't have to swim.......Yea!!!!!!
Ciao

The "dome" as you walk in to the church

Looking up at the dome from directly beneath it

Sant'Ignazio

video walking towards center of fresco, painting comes to life

Statue that comes to life (sorry it was filmed sideways)