Rome

So what can I say, but another great city and another great experience, Rome, where history comes to life and the Italian culture just shines. We lost ourselves discovering this great city as around every corner was another great landmark, fountain, building or gelato stand. The city really is a mix of the very old roman ruins, renaissance architecture, piazzas with great restaurants and with and all the trappings of a tourist town. And we couldn’t get enough of it.

Piazzia Navona with its Four Rivers Fountain

Maphew at the Trevi Fountain

We discovered all the major attractions of Rome like the magical Trevi Fountain, the enormous Coliseum, the amazing Pantheon and the romantic Spanish Steps. But there are so many highlights in this town far too many to mention, as it truly is like visiting a living museum.. We visited countless churches, piazzas and museums in order to absorb the Rome experience.

Maphew at the Colosseum

Maphew at the Pope's House

A highlight for sure was our day at the Vatican, checking out the Pope’s house. This country within a city is a fascinating site for sure. After only an hour in the line we entered the massive Vatican Museum complex and toured all of the museums, the collection here is beyond belief. But the highlight was undoubtedly the Sistine Chapel with it’s over whelming ceiling by Michelangelo, after about hour of looking at the ceiling our head was spinning. Then we visited the largest church in the world St Peters Basilica and climbed to the top of the dome, to see the view and check out the pope’s residence.

The Taking of Christ by Caravaggio

But this trip to Rome was mostly about the art, and Laurence was in his absolute glory as around every corner and in every church we stopped at, famous works of art were accessible to him. We saw so many pieces by Raphael, Bernini, Canova, Michelangelo, da Vinci and of course his all time favourite Caravaggio. To his absolute joy he now has seen over 40 works by Caravaggio in person, this is certainly a highlight for him. In fact we even waited in line for over 4 hours to see a one of kind Caravaggio show that was in Rome for a short period with the largest collection of his works in one place ever. I know have learned so much about great art from Laurence and this trip that this show was well worth the long wait in the sun, Caravaggio is a master painter.

Statue at Stadio dei Marmi

But the highlight of the stop at Rome was that Laurence finally got to see the Stadio dei Marmi at the Foro Italico. Laurence has been mesmerized by this site since he first saw it in magazines over twenty years ago and studied it, painted pictures of it and is obsessed with it. So it was like a pilgrimage for him to finally see this truly one of a kind stadium. Built in the 1920s this stadium was built for Mussolini in the art deco style and has over 60 colossal statutes of nude athletes surrounding the seating area. We spent over four hours in the sun as Laurence photographed each stature separately and he broke a daily record of over 1900 pictures in one day. He was like a kid at Disneyland and I of course got a sun burn.

Roman Forum

Maphew at the Roman Forum

Rome was beyond my expectations, the art absolutely amazing and the experience memorable can’t wait to come back.

 Arrivederci Roma!