When in Rome...

Ciao a tutti! I just got back from API’s weekend trip to Rome. I had a great time and saw as much as I possibly could in three days in a city that has a history that dates back almost 3000 years. I kind of felt like everything in Rome was of historical significance. During the day, my roommates and I spent our time snapping pictures of anything that was old, large, or seemed important and then trying to figure out exactly what we were looking at. One thing is for sure though, I’m so glad I live in Florence and not Rome. I thought it was a hike when it took me 40 minutes to go from one end of Florence to another, but in Rome you can walk in one direction for an hour and not have gone anywhere.

Rome is HUGE. I’ve never lived in a huge city so I was kind of surprised when everyone kept telling me that Florence was so small, but now that I’ve been to Rome I realize why everyone thinks that. There are so many people in Rome that during some weekends the central part of the city just shuts down for automobile traffic, because you literally can’t get down the streets. I’m not talking about typical 10 foot wide Italian streets either, I’m talking about the modern streets that are 60 feet wide. On Saturday night we accidentally walked down one of these streets and it took us about 20 minutes just to walk one block and take a side street to get out of the crowd.

Another interesting thing to note about Rome is how dirty it was. I know it’s a combination of so many people in close quarters, Italian love for graffiti, and lack of foliage due to winter time, but the whole city was still pretty dirty. Maybe I have just been spoiled by how efficient the street cleaners are in Florence, but there were some parts of Rome that were pretty heavily littered with trash, cardboard, and graffiti. However, I did manage to find some art among the graffiti.

Besides all the walking, people, and graffiti, I actually really enjoyed Rome. There are so many things to see around every corner. We had a tour with a guide each day we were there. On the first day we saw the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and several other important buildings of the Italian government. It’s so strange to hear about these places all through school and then to get the opportunity to just walk up and see them in person like “Oh hey, that’s the Pantheon. Cool dome.”

I think I took over 500 pictures while I was in Rome, but it got to a point where I had to stop myself because I know that really the only way anyone can share Rome with someone is to actually take them there and show them around. I had no idea what I was taking a picture of half the time, but it just seemed like everything was just so beautiful and quintessentially Italian. I know, I know, of course everything was Italian because I was IN ITALY, but you just have to go and see it for yourself to understand.

One of the best experiences I had while in Rome was visiting Vatican City. It was such a surreal experience. I’ve been raised Catholic my whole life and growing up I always heard about the Pope, the Vatican, St. Peter’s and all those other important religious sites. The First day we were in Rome, my roommates and I wandered over to the holy city on our own and spent the afternoon soaking up the sun in St. Peter’s square. I literally got goose bumps just looking around at the Loggia and St. Peter’s Basilica. This is the same place I saw on TV when Pope John Paul died and it just didn’t seem possible that I could be standing in the exact spot where the PopeMobile drives around. Insane. We ended up taking a tour of St. Peter’s Basilica the next day with our tour group and it was amazing. It’s the largest church in the world and it’s so full of art and history that I could have spent all day in there and still not have been able to see everything. It was another place where I had to just stop taking pictures because the only way to comprehend the size and atmosphere of the church is to actually visit it. It was definitely one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life as far as my religious background goes.

While in Rome I also had some of the best food since I’ve been here. For dinner one night we went to a little place called Ristorante del Pallaro. I’m guessing Pallaro was the family name because a little Italian woman warmly greeted us at the door and showed us the set menu for the night. As is traditional in Italy, we started our meal with antipasti that consisted of various meats, cheeses, breads, olives, and vegetables. Next was the first course, it was a traditional Roman dish called penne alla carbonara and it was hands down the best pasta dish I’ve ever eaten. The sauces, olive oil, fresh pasta, and meat were delicious. Then came the second course, some kind of pork with chips, bread, fried cheeses, and some more vegetables. We ended our meal with a traditional Italian lemon tart and a shot of limoncello, a digestive beverage they drink after every meal. Even though the meal ended up being a little pricier than we had planned, it was still worth every euro.

To finish off our day of food we went to a place called Giolitti. Apparently, it’s the best gelato place in all of Rome. It’s so good that the pope even special orders all his gelato from them. It took us forever to push our way through the crowd to get inside and get our gelato, but after I tasted it I definitely knew that the pope thing was true. It was the best gelato I’ve had since I’ve been in Italy and the best part was that it was really cheap too. I paid 3 euro for a huge cone dipped in chocolate, then topped with three flavors of gelato, and then topped with hand-made whipped cream. DELICIOUS. I definitely think it would be worth their time to invest in opening a branch somewhere in the US, it could probably even shut down local culture (is that possible?)

Anyways, my weekend in Rome was wonderful. I saw as much as I possibly could in one weekend and I discovered a new appreciation for the “small” city of Florence that I now call home. I also put some of my videos down here in the bottom from some of the sites in Rome. Hope you enjoy! I’ll also make sure to update at least once more before I head to Venice in two weeks for Carnival. Caio!