On our final day in Italy, we woke up early (as always!) and headed to Vatican City. Before we left for Italy, Dave made a list of foods he wanted to eat while in Italy and Maritozzi (a cream filled roll) was on his list. And yes, with every bakery we visited, it seemed to elude us. On our final morning walking toward Vatican City.... Eureka!
Worth the wait!
We pre-purchased our tickets once again expecting large crowds and a long wait to get in as is normally the case. But alas, our luck continued and we literally walked right in with no wait at all. Yay!!
Our first stop inside the Vatican Museums was the Pine Cone Courtyard. It's a huge open-air piazza dominated by that big green pine cone behind Dave. The pinecone is 2000 years old and originally stood near the Pantheon to honor Isis, the Egyptian goddess of fertility.
This hallway is immediately off the Pine Cone Courtyard and is full of statue busts.
Laocoon. This sculpture captures the dramatic end of the Trojan War. Laocoon, a priest of Troy, has warned his people that a Trojan Horse sent by the Greeks is a trick to get into the city. The Greek gods send huge snakes to crush Laocoon and his two sons to death, which is shown in this statue. Laocoon was one of the most famous statues in the ancient world. After the fall of Rome, however, the statue was lost for a thousand years. It was unexpectedly unearthed in 1506. Michelangelo was hired by the pope to reassemble the work of art. Two years later is when he started work on the Sistine Chapel.
The Belvedere Torso.
If you look closely at the base, you can see that it is signed by a sculptor named Apollonius from the 1st century BC. Michelangelo loved this torso, all that remained of the original work. He recognized that the sculptor was supremely talented and he respected his deceased peer. It is said that he would caress this statue lovingly and tell people, "I am the pupil of the Torso." In fact, he used it for the torso of Jesus in the Last Judgment.
The Round Room.
This room is modeled on the Pantheon, complete with dome. Along the walls, stand artifacts from ancient Rome. The mosaic floor is 1700 years old. The purple basin, the focal point of the room, is over 15 feet across and was carved from a single bock of stone. It was originally placed in Emperor Nero's Golden House. It is so massive that when it was brought here in the 1700's, this room had to be built around it. The purple stone is called porphyry and is extremely valuable. There is only one place in the entire world where purple porphyry has been found - a particular mountain in Egypt. And that mountain has been completely quarried out, making this even more rare.
Imperial porphyry was also used for the coffins of the imperial family.
Here is one of two large sarcophagi made in the 4th century made for the mother and daughter of the great Roman emperor Constantine.
An Egyptian mummy housed in the Egypt room.
Gallery of Tapestries.
This gallery's walls are covered with tapestries that depict scenes from the life of Jesus.
This one shows the horrible decree being carried out by King Herod to slaughter all baby boys to prevent the rise of the Messiah.
The Raphael Rooms.
Raphael decorated four rooms.
This painting, "The School of Athens", Raphael's undisputed masterpiece is housed in the Room of the Signature and was formerly used as the pope's private study and library. Shown here are Plato, Aristotle, Socrates and Pythagoras.
Raphael septics Constantine humbly kneeling before the pope. Constantine went on to legalize the previously outlawed religion of Christianity.
And then, the Grand Finale of the Vatican Museums..... Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel.
This was my second time seeing this, but the first time was 22 years ago and there were hoards of people. This was Dave's first time seeing this. So for him to see it for the first time and for me to see if for the first time in over 20 years with only a couple dozen people in the room with us was pretty magnificent. We took our time. We didn't feel rushed. We listened to Rick Steve's podcast about it while we soaked it all in. Michelangelo worked on this masterpiece for four straight years from 1508-1512.
From there, we made our way to St. Peter's Basilica.
Wow!!
The Dome of St. Peter's is 448 feet high and was designed by Michelangelo. Sadly, he died before its completion.
Michelangelo's Pieta, now protected by glass due to an attack on the sculpture in 1971. It was created in 1499 when Michelangelo was just 25 years old.
I think this sculpture perfectly captures that while the world may have been mourning their Savior, Mary was mourning her son.
Below St. Peter's Basilica lie the remains of dozens and dozens of Popes.
Shown here is the Tomb of Nicholas V.
Then we made our way outside and decided to climb to the very top of the dome for 8 euros/person.
Keep on climbing......
Half way there!
We made it!
And the view was absolutely worth the effort!
I loved that we had a bird's eye view of what the Pope must see when he goes out on the balcony for his weekly audience with the people.
The residence and gardens.
Time to make our way back down....
We made a pitstop on the roof (below the dome) to enjoy the view from this vantage point as well.
St. Peter's Basilica Dome selfie.
The roof is lined with Jesus and his Apostles.
We finally made our way back down and had a Swiss guard sighting.
We found it a little odd that the guard had to wear a mask when he was outside and literally 50 feet or more away from another living soul.... 🤷
From there, we decided to meander through the Trastevere neighborhood.
It's located across the Tiber river from downtown.
It's colorful, vibrant and has hidden treasures such as the church of St. Cecilia, 17th century fountains and the Church of Santa Maria, one of Rome's oldest.
After touring the streets of Trastevere, we made our way back home. And that is where our luck (no crowds, great weather, etc) ran out. We purchased bus passes and climbed on the back of the bus to make our way back to the hotel to turn into bed for an early night due to our 3am wake up call to catch our 3:45am cab to the airport for our 6am flights home.
We got on the back of the bus. Due to Covid, you can't get on the front of the bus and show your pass to the driver, so you're supposed to stamp your ticket at the machine on the back of the bus. But there was no machine on the back of the bus and nobody else was stamping any tickets and nobody was collecting or checking tickets, so we just didn't worry about it. And next thing we knew, the bus stopped and it was like a SWAT team. Italian Polizei bombarded the bus from the front, middle and back and demanded everyone produce their tickets. We produced our tickets, but because they weren't stamped, they made us get off the bus and demanded our "papers." We had to hand over our passports and they told us there was a 100 euro fine/person (the bus ride is only 1.5 euro - which we paid!). It was a very unfortunate, stressful way to end the trip and cast a dark cloud on our moods as we made our way "home" for the final time of our trip. But I guess, it's either a good time or a good story! And it really does make for a good story! 🚌😏
But all in all, our Italian adventure was awesome. It was thrilling and beautiful and exciting and insightful seeing ancient works of art and palaces that were all new to us. It was wonderful for Dave and I to experience all of this together and to be able to share it with Seth and Cari.
And a special thank you to Dave's sister Heidi and his parents for helping with the kids, which made this possible!
Arrivederci Italy. Thanks for the memories!
