A step in Rome. Italy

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22/8/2005

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Exit the station Tiburtina (10.45) we found large and crowded, we head towards the 492-that to that of the hotel with whom I had spoken first-days very quickly leads to the hotel.
The driver confirms the stop near the Termini Station, just after the ticket (€ 1 each lasting 75 minutes and also use the meter) climb to the middle. (ore 11.10)
See slide Verano cemetery monuments of the city, the Hospital Umberto I, La Sapienza, but, despite half of the screen there are the stops to come, as the terms do not ever arrive.
In fact, the stop was just one of the first, and now we have to take the metro line A.
ROME looks like a quiet city and among other things, there is not many people around (other stores are still closed for holidays).

We decide to go to Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the four papal basilicas in ROME
The church is very beautiful. Released sit on the stairway.
Refreshed by the rest we head towards the Vittoriano, the altar of the imposing home that much despised Ricciotti Canudo and from there see Venice Palace with the legendary balcony where Mussolini faced, not very large balcony to tell the truth!
From there we drive to the holes Trajan, the Roman forum, see the Arch of Constantine and the Colosseum, we pass by the Basilica of Ara Coeli and Campidoglio where is the copy of the bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius.
Tourists around the city are mostly foreigners: British, American, French and Spanish, but the Japanese are inevitable, and many Germans and Slavs, mostly Poles.
The jobs there are many non-Romans and the real start to return from vacation until late afternoon.


23/8/2005

The phone's alarm clock rings at 8.10 but it gives us half an hour more in bed.
Piazza dei Cinquecento A look at the Baths of Diocletian, then we head on via Barberini to reach the Quirinale, but first move away from Four fountains.
The Quirinal palace is an immense, not architecturally beautiful.
The photo is rite for battleships, the square is almost empty, perhaps for security reasons.
We enter the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, located in Piazza della Minerva, where lies St. Catherine of Siena (after a maze of streets with outdoor restaurants and trattorias so dear to tourists from overseas, we arrive at the Pantheon. In Pantheon observe the tombs of King Vittorio Emanuele II, Umberto I and the painter Raphael.
Then we arrive in Piazza Navona, repeatedly immortalized in the film Fifty years, close by, there is ongoing Renaissance palazzo Madama, seat of the Senate of the Republic.
We also typical streets of the city and in other shops see a butcher, then, by way of the Mastro, a fountain collect precious water for drink.
Lungotevere emerge on the Tor di Nona, from where there is green and the river melmoso.
On a boat, on shore huts and deck chairs on th 'river beach, imitation of that of Paris.
Along the bridge outside the Castel Sant'Angelo in most color varies sell merchandise ready to run away as soon as it looks shyly car finance.
There are also statues of living: an Egyptian mummy, the statue of liberty all buildings.
Along the path of conciliation, there are shops and hawkers with souvenirs of the two popes (Wojtyla and Ratzinger).
Towards the basilica of St. Peter there is a human being composed Serpentona queue: conditio sine qua non to get anti-terror laws due.
We also aligned.
Towards the staircase, the row is divided: those who enter into the basilica, who goes to visit the tomb of John Paul II and who rises to the dome.
Behind us a group of Polish descend into the caves and finally we can see the tombs of several popes, some rich sarcophagi but abandoned by time, and other simple linear
. Heading in the vault of the basilica, also besieged by tourists and always beautiful; see the Pietà always superprotetta, I see John XXIII, serene and smiling in his casket transparent, I see the statues and baroque Veronica Elena Augusta.Il ciborium of the church and the stairway leads to the crypt are very similar to Santa Maria Maggiore.
Returning to the Tiber, we find a dead mouse (Bleah!).
The city will be filling out: witness the traffic, constantly increasing.
Enter the Napoleonic Museum The museum is small, this is a collection belonging to a descendant of Napoleon, which consists mainly in moving more than historical relics really ...
That is the central, crowded street in the walking and shopping street of Corso, close to Via Condotti, literally assaulted and therefore not taken into account by us, Piazza del Popolo, a large busy square from which the Pincio, via Babuino of a strange mythological figure that has made the World Heritage by UNESCO. Then through the streets of tourism Spanish Steps and Piazza di Spagna crowded with carriages, then pass by the small and crowded Fontana di Trevi.

24/8/2005

Even this short holiday period is over! We have no clear ideas on dive go but then we move along the path Merulana (known for the novel of Gadda Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana) at a time of St John Lateran.
St. John is more linear and straightforward of the two churches already papal views.
Take the road to the Coliseum and we rest in a garden of Colle Oppio where the seat of the Domus Aurea, then before returning to the hotel and think about the departure, pass the Colosseum and Roman Forum besieged by tourists of all ages and nationalities.
It is very hot and tiring walk.
We decide to stop for lunch in Piazza dei Cinquecento, at the Baths of Diocletian, imitated by other people. In particular, the focus falls on a northern family, whose eldest son, a teenager of about 12 years, does not seem very attentive to the cleanliness of the rooms.
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We arrive at Tiburtina station

18 to decide to move toward the train and turn a tunnel that leads us to the fake tapis roulants.
The train is there, ready for us.
At 18.40 the train while the conductor to the microphone, hopes good trip in style airliners.
The journey is quiet, the only flaw the air conditioning "on manetta" We arrive in Bari, tired but happy at 23.45 with a few minute's delay on the forecast.
Outside is still dark, as when we left but there is certainly some 'of people more.
Hello ROME was beautiful again you're always beautiful, even if slightly 'changed ...