It occurred to me that with all of my travels, I've neglected to write much about some of the cool stuff I've done in Rome, the best of which was visiting St. Peter's Basilica, the seat of the Catholic Church in the Vatican City. We actually waited until mid-February to go for the first time, mostly because Claire has never been to Rome before, and I wanted to make sure she saw plenty of other stuff first. St. Peter's is so incredibly breathtaking that everything else seems pretty insignificant by comparison. It was designed in multiple phases by some of the greatest architects in history and became a model for future Renaissance and Baroque churches throughout Italy and Europe.
The original basilica (Side note: Basilica comes from the word for Roman law courts that were located in the forum and could be entered from all sides. Early Christian churches adapted the same basic plan but you could only enter from one of the short sides on axis with the center.) was begun by the first Christian Roman Emperor Constantine in the 4th century over the supposed site of the tomb of Peter, therefore literally making Peter the rock on which the church was built. After centuries of deterioration and instability in the church, Pope Julius II decided to demolish the old basilica and begin rebuilding new St. Peter's. Starting with the plan for a centralized church by Bramante, successive Popes for more than 100 years enlisted Michelangelo, Giacomo della Porta, Domenico Fontana, Carlo Maderno and Gianlorenzo Bernini to complete the church and the colonnaded piazza in front.
Knowing what talent went into building St. Peter's made the climb to the top of the dome all the better. The first glimpse we got of the vast interior was from the circular walkway ringing the dome where we were able to peer down on the the high altar and the many small people below. From there, we entered the dome and climbed between the two structural shells (not for the claustrophobic or the faint of heart) towards the top. The cupola is roughly the size of a tiny, circular church designed by Bramante to mark what was thought to be the spot of the crucifixion of St. Peter, the Tempietto, which happens to be around the corner from my apartment. (St. Peter was crucified upside down because he felt he was not worthy to be martyred in the same manner as Christ. Similarly, St. Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross.) From there, we were able to get an amazing 360 degree view of the city from its tallest point, and thankfully, it was an unseasonably warm, sunny, and clear day.
As I mentioned before, St. Peter's is not a cathedral, because the seat of the bishop of Rome (the Pope) is actually at St. John the Lateran on the opposite side of town. This became significant during the Middle Ages when a new pope was coronated because he would have to process through town from St. Peter's to the Lateran to complete the process. We've been talking about this papal procession route in class as a kind of armature through the city where property owners often dressed up their property not only to make the route more formalized, but to emphasize their importance in the hopes of gaining lucrative positions in the new administration. Churches along the route also dressed up their facades, added bell towers, etc. so that you get a series of visual cues that lead you along what would otherwise be just another curvy street. The procession is very visually and symbolically rich, starting at the Vatican and going past the fortress Castel Sant' Angelo, over the "Bridge of the Angels" by Bernini whose angels bear the instruments of the crucifixion, past the Bank of the Holy Spirit (the Vatican bank), up to the Capitoline Hill to the Campidoglio, down through the Roman Forum through two triumphal arches, past the Colossum, and onward south to the Lateran.
They don't do this anymore (not really sure why...), and during the 19th century, a more modern road, the Corso Vittorio Emanuele, was put in that parallels and eventually connects to the old route to the Campidoglio. It is one of the few roads in central Rome that is pretty similar to a typical American city street--four lanes, wide sidewalks, 4-5 story buildings fronting it--yet for some reason, it is incredibly unpleasant to walk down. This made waiting in line for an hour and a half to get into the Palazzo Massimo on March 16th even more painful.
This palazzo is one of the more famous in Rome because it was built on the foundations of a Roman theater and therefore has a curving facade. In order to have a symmetrical facade, the oldest Massimo actually had to buy a small piece of his younger brother's property. The palazzo is open to the public for free once a year to commemorate the miraculous recovery of one of the Massimo children during the 16th century, and they were having a mass in the chapel while people were touring the house. It was a bit of a let down because you could only see certain rooms in the house, but still cool to say we've been (at least among other architecture nerds).
I hope there will be time for more updates before I head to the UK and Ireland in a couple of weeks. We've done lots of great stuff and a few more day trips, so I will do my best.
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