Italian Vacation – Rome

We spent ten days in Italy with a very specific agenda in mind. We had been to Italy and Rome a few times earlier and wanted to see specific sites that were not open to visitors on our past visits. So we spent three days in Rome and seven days in Sorrento. It was a mix of archeological sites and recreation.

Our primary objectives were to visit the Coliseum underground and the baths and new exhibits in Pompeii and Herculaneum. The Coliseum visit required a specific guided tour. The baths were more problematic as both Pompeii and Herculaneum baths were not open to the public again.

So we flew Aer Lingus to Rome on April 22 leaving at 5:45 PM and arriving in Rome on April 23. We were fortunate and had a limo pick us up at the airport and drop us off at our Airbnb. It was a third floor walk-up, a short walk from the Coliseum. It was a three bedroom flat with three bathrooms. Wink, Meg, I and a friend were on the trip and this flat worked well for us, Here is the info sheet. The arrival day was designed as a crash and burn day.

Our first full day in Rome involved three museums. We went to Casa Romane del Celio in the morning. This was a church with Roman ruins under the church that was excavated by an amateur (priest) who ultimately destroyed the archeology. So go ahead and skip it. The next stop was Tour Domus Romani Palazzo Valentini. This was a spectacular villa that used mixed media to present what it looked like in Roman times. We all enjoyed it very much.

The next stop was Trajan’s marketplace, overlooking the Roman Forum. I will admit that I didn’t know much about Emperor Trajan. He was Emperor while Rome was still expanding. He was famous for subduing the Dacians in modern day Romania. He had a triumphal arch and a column built to commemorate his victory. They looted enough plunder from the Dacians that he was able to forgive tax debtors. The column tells the story of his great victories.

So there were two campaigns to subdue the Dacians. On the second campaign they built a stone bridge across the Danube to facilitate troop movements. And they were temporarily able to control the Dacians. Vespasian had the bridge destroyed after a rebellion.

There was a good view of the Forum and we could access the Forum’s grounds from the Trajan marketplace museum. We enjoyed wandering around.

The next day was our tour of the Coliseum. This was the highlight of our stay in Rome. They carefully control access to the Coliseum underground and so a guided tour is required. It is worth it.

We started on the main floor of the Coliseum with its great galleries. The stone columns had metal fittings that were scavenged in the middle ages.

We went down some steps to the underground.

There was a passage that the gladiators used to enter the Coliseum from the Gladiator school.

The underground evolved over the life of the Coliseum. Initially, it was plumbed to handle nauticum, which were staged naval battles, the last of which were circa 89 AD, After that the basement was filled with cages and lifts for staging the games. Up to 7000 people worked to stage the games for 75000 spectators. There were cisterns constructed near the Coliseum to provide water for the naval events. The Coliseum plumbing is a marvel in Civil Engineering.

The exterior of the Coliseum is just as spectacular.

After the Coliseum tour, we walked through the Imperial Forum.

Of course we had to sustain ourselves. It was an ongoing endeavor.

So day three in Rome was dedicated to Roman mosaics. We had a mosaic class scheduled for the afternoon and wanted to prepare for it in the morning. So we went to the baths of Caracalla which were said to have great mosaics.

So we took a taxi from our Airbnb to Termini and took an express train to Naples for the next phase of our Italian journey.

Mark, Wink and Meg