Hello again from Roma! It’s Monday morning here, and I’m so stuffed full of information that I can hardly decide which great adventure to relay first. Our second weekend in Rome held trips to Ostio Lido Beach, a wonderful birthday celebration, an excursion to Florence, cooking classes in the apartment of a Roman chef, and most importantly – a very enlightening tour of Vatican City.
On Friday afternoon, we met our wonderful tour guide, Teresa, at the Vatican museum. Not only did we get a chance to see the Sistine Chapel, but we also toured the Raphael Rooms and the newly renovated Museum. Teresa was so knowledgable that we could hardly believe one person could contain so much information about such a historically and culturally dense space. We learned much about Michaelangelo and how he came to be known as Rome’s most beloved painter (despite the fact that his true love was for sculpture), and a lot about the politics surrounding Vatican space and why it is now still its own country, separate from Italy. We were also eager to see the Vatican Library, however, due to our outsider status, we were not able/allowed. Although we were certainly bummed not to see it, this idea of access fueled some interesting debates in Professor Saunders’ Intellectual Freedom class the next morning. In fact, the entire tour served as an interesting case study for issues like censorship, access, and knowledge sharing. We were able to see the famous School of Athens fresco by Raphael, which on its own, stands as a unique and controversial relic of precisely these same issues. To start off with some photos, I’ll give you a few good ones of us checking out School of Athens:
Utterly mesmerized!
There it is!
It all its glory.
awe-struck.
We all loved the map rooms – go figure!
Laura, Kristy & Sarah.
Jordan at the Vatican entrance.
In the courtyard learning about how the Sistine Chapel was created.
20th century art additions to the Vatican courtyard.
Lacoon
Snapping some photos!
Our guide Teresa explaining the courtyard construction.
Museum staircase.
Basilica from the courtyard.
Bas-relief sarcophagus.
Tub.
Hallways.
Hercules!
Incredible!
You aren’t supposed to photograph the ceiling, but we did it anyways, then talked about it in Intellectual Freedom!
The group after the tour – looking a bit tired, but happy!
After the tour, we were ABSOLUTELY exhausted. That being said, it was time to fuel our minds and bodies with the best pizza in Rome! Because we are all amazing librarians, we have been using our search skills to find some of the best authentic eateries in the city. I have to say that Pizzarium was definitely my favorite pizza so far. However, if I were to try and explain to you, in depth, my feelings about the food in Rome, this would no longer be a blog post. It would be a romance novel of epic proportions. With that being said, I’ll leave you with more photos:
Emily, Amna & Kate are amped to try their pizza!
Ricotta, rocket, pomodoro and chili pepper pizza.
Best, pizza, ever.
Ciao for now,
Bethany