Dispatch # 35 Rome, Italy

Dispatch # 35 Rome, Italy April 2005 “Artistic Treasures, Cabin Fever, a New Pope and his Ceiling” This dispatch is dedicated to the memory of Jane Baldwin who recently passed away. The Baldwin’s are life long friends of the Parkinson’s and Frank and his brother, Brent, grew up playing with the Baldwin boys, Scott, Tim and Tyler, and sharing the warmth and laughter that filled their next door neighbor’s home. Jane was such a wonderful person and a bright light in so many lives. She will be remembered not only for all of the things she did for the community, but most importantly for her kindness, compassion, her bright and easy smile and wonderful laugh. When we hugged her goodbye late last summer, we worried that we might never see her again. As with the recent passing of our cousin, Mona, and our Uncle, Vic, we are profoundly sorry that we were not home to assist in some small measure and to say our last farewells to people that we love. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Baldwin family as we send this dispatch. We arrived in Rome on the morning after Pope Benedict XVI’s selection by the conclave. The newspapers in the airport announced the “Nuovo Papa” with huge headlines and there was still a noticeable buzz in the air after several weeks of international media coverage and millions of pilgrims descending on the city. We found our hotel, the Villa Del Rose, tucked on a side street not far from the main transportation terminal. It had been a day and a half since we slept and we had been through a bomb scare at the Barcelona airport in route, so we were all a bit physically and mentally exhausted. No matter how tired we are when we reach a new destination, especially a new country and a city as clearly vibrant as Rome, our excitement fuels a second wind. So, we walked the streets surrounding the hotel, grabbed some pizza slices and a quick espresso at a local cafe and took in some of the sights and sounds of our first day in Rome. After the adrenaline wore off, we retired to our hotel and enjoyed twelve hours of a sleep of the dead. The next morning we awoke refreshed and invigorated and set off on a big day of exploration of this archeological, artistic and historical treasure trove. Our modern exploration of the remnants of the 2,500 years of history that surrounds Rome found a mixture of ancient ruins and Renaissance wonders. The city was loud, bustling and exciting. At first blush, it appeared a bit time worn and neglected, the buildings in need of a good power washing, and the transportation in need of a little spit and polish. Nothing a bid for the Olympics wouldn’t cure. We had been impressed with how clean and sparkling 2012 applicant, Madrid, had appeared and later in our trip we would have the same impressions of one of its main competitors, the city of Paris, with each of its monuments and plazas cleaned and polished, its buildings washed and gleaming, no litter, and lots of new buses and trains. Despite a bit of untidiness, overall, we were very impressed with Rome and found it to be a wonderful and exciting city to visit. We loved walking among its historic structures, bustling piazzas, shaded gardens, sparkling fountains and Rome’s lively and animated residents. Our ancient Rome walking tour took us first to the Roman Colosseum and Forum, which together provided glimpses of the glories of the Roman Empire. Even after centuries of neglect, and considerable looting, much remains of the legendary Roman Empire and its marble white city (at least those portions of it that the Popes didn’t tear down to build the Vatican). As we wandered among the remnants of the Colosseum and the physical outlines of the ruins of the Forum, we could close our eyes and imagine the wonder and splendor that had once been the “Caput Mundi” or capital of the world. Two thousand years ago, most of the known world was directly affected by decisions made within the gleaming white marble grand palaces, senate halls, temples, and courtyards surrounding the Roman Forum and Colosseum. Today, as tourists we wandered among its ruins, conjuring up the glory that was once Rome under the guidance of ancient leaders such as Julius, Augustus, Trajan and Marcus Aurelius. Standing in the now barren interior of the Colosseum, we got a sense of the enormity of the structure. We viewed the subterranean passages where combatants, human and beasts, once were transported to the many hidden entrances on the Colosseum floor; and we could envision the grandeur that it once embodied, and the awe that it must have once inspired in the residents and visitors to ancient Rome. Precious few of ancient Rome’s monuments have survived in such good condition as the Colosseum. A massive amphitheatre, the Colosseum was once the setting for gladiator combat, lion-feeding frenzies, and public entertainment whose exoticism and cruelty were noted characteristics of the Empire. All three of the ancient world’s classical architectural styles, Doric, Ionic and Corinthian were represented in the façade of the noble Colosseum, each superimposed in tiers one above the other. It once accommodated over 50,000 roaring spectators, who packed the amphitheatre for games and exhibitions, like the one staged by Trajan around 100 AD which lasted for 117 days, during which more than 10,000 gladiators and an even larger number of exotic beasts fought to the death before the raucous and blood thirsty crowds. Pausing in the morning sunshine, amidst the mountainous shell of travertine marble, its size and architectural grace still impressive after two millennia, we found it a challenge to square the majesty and dignity of the structure with the barbarity and cruelty of the events it hosted. Young Frankie got a big kick out of the many armor clad Roman centurions standing outside the Colosseum in full battle regalia, complete with shining swords, posing for pictures with passing tourists. He slowly approached one from behind, measuring his steps as he slowly drew his plastic sword. Frankie’s stealth was for naught and just as he neared the centurion, the soldier whirled around and brandished his sword in Frankie’s direction that sent our intrepid gladiator squealing away with delight in his eyes as he beat a hasty retreat. From the Colosseum, we walked along the cobblestone ancient paths that passed through the ruins of the Roman Forum, past grand arches, craggy shells of temples and haunting remains of buildings and courtyards where the Roman Emperors and Senate once made decisions that affected the Western world. We paused at historical spots like the courtyard where Marc Anthony once asked his countrymen to lend him their ear, and the steps where Julius Caesar was murdered in 55 BC, and the temple of Casa delle Vestali, once home of the famous and revered Vestal virgins whose job it was to keep the sacred flame alight at all times. Walking among the marbles and timeless forms of the past, we began to get a sense of the magnificence that was once ancient Rome. It was, however, Italy’s more recent contribution to the world, ice-cold gelato that seemed the garner the most interest from the children. We all had a scoop of the creamy treasure while we sat in the shade of the Colosseum’s towering ramparts. On the way home, we grabbed a delicious pasta feast from a local restaurant, Florian’s, and retired to our hotel for the evening. The Hotel Villa Del Rose was a tidy, old rooming house, with an attractive Romanesque lobby and lounge area. The rooms were reasonable, if not cheap; compared to the prices we were quoted by other Roman accommodations. Located just around the corner from the main transportation terminal, it was a good choice by Elizabeth. The room was a duplex with a sleeping loft and the lower level had a pull out couch, so we were fine with just one room. A few days before our arrival in Rome, we noticed in our records that we had mistakenly booked the room for May instead of April. Not the best time and place to experience one of the few miscues of the trip planning. There was a little thing called the Conclave going on in Rome, and hundreds of thousands of pilgrims had flocked into town during the preceding two weeks. Luckily for us, the Cardinals made quick work of the process and chose a Pope in the nick of time, so by the time we arrived in Rome, a room had become available allowing us to narrowly avoid a potential problem. The next morning, after grabbing a couple of piping hot espressos, some warm focaccia and a few pastries from a little panificio around the corner, and with a little caffeine induced bounce in our steps, we set off on an exhausting, but extremely satisfying, whirlwind walking tour of some more of Rome’s highlights, the Spanish Steps, the Piazza Di Spagna, the Piazza Navona, the Pantheon and the Fontana di Trevi. First stop along the way was at the Spanish Steps, so named for its close proximity to the Spanish Embassy, which was originally built to connect the public plaza below with the church built high on the hill above. The stairway was draped with flowers and the wide ascending marble steps were packed all the way from the plaza to the church of Trinita dei Monti with beautiful Italian men and women enjoying a leisurely lunch or some reflective moments in the afternoon sunshine. Apparently, the steps have been a prime people-watching venue for quite some time. For hundreds of years, the leading artists and sculptors of the day have come to these steps in order to select their models from the crowds that sat along the steps. At the top of the massive steps was the church surrounded at its base by a busy plaza, the Piazza Di Spagna, which was crowded with people strolling about, reading in the sun, enjoying an espresso or a slice of pizza at one of the outdoor cafes and browsing the artists kiosks, vendor carts and nearby swanky shops. From the Spanish Steps we continued along the narrow brick sidewalks to the Piazza Navona, a beautiful plaza surrounding a wonderful pool with several magnificent fountains and sculptures running down its midline, including a masterpiece by the famous 17th century sculptor, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (the Fountain of the Four Rivers), the stone personifications of which symbolized the world’s four greatest known rivers, the Danube, the Ganges, the Della Plata and the Nile. The plaza was lined with open-air cafes, espresso and gelato shops and was full of lounging Romans and tourists spending a siesta in the sunshine. Our next stop was at the Pantheon. The domed masterpiece rose above the lively Piazza della Rotunda. The Pantheon was the most intact of all of ancient Rome’s great buildings that we visited. Built in 27 BC by Marcus Agrippa, it was reconstructed by Hadrian in the early 2nd century AD. It was a splendid symmetrical structure, 142 feet wide and 142 feet high with a perfectly spherical dome resting on top of the outer foundation. The Pantheon is considered to be one of the ancient architectural wonders of the world, designed by Hadrian himself, a renowned architect in his own right, who used a design and materials that were unique for its time. The dome was a perfect, massive hemisphere of cast concrete (the Romans were some of the first to make use of this revolutionary building material). The ribbed dome was a series of cantilevered supports and was once covered with a golden gilded dome shell. Michelangelo studied the dome extensively before designing the cupola of St. Peter’s. The thick bronze doors of the Pantheon, each weighing 20 tons, provided a dramatic entry to the two thousand year old architectural marvel. Originally, it was dedicated to all of the Roman Gods; the name uses the Greek words, “pan” (meaning “all“) and “theos” (meaning “god”). Its interior was a spectacular open space. The enormous Corinthian columns stretched from the marble floor towards the great dome vault above and as we allowed our eyes to draw further upward toward the dome’s perfectly circular oculus located at its peak. As we stood in the middle of this well-preserved ancient temple, the vast dome seemed to float magically above us. The Pantheon was saved the neglect suffered by other ancient Roman temples and buildings only because it was consecrated as a Christian church in 606 AD. However, it was not entirely spared because in the 16th century, Pope Urban VIII allowed the architect and sculpture, Gainlorenzo Bernini to strip the ceiling for reuse in the construction of St. Peter’s Basilica. Many Italian notables, including the artist Raffaello Santi (Raphael) as well as the first Italian king, Victor Emmanuel II were buried beneath the marble floor of the Pantheon. Surrounding the Pantheon was a maze of narrow streets and alleys dating from the Middle Ages filled with churches and palaces built during the Renaissance era. Around the corner from the Pantheon, located down one of those narrow, cobblestone alleys was another one of modern wonders of the world, the Giolitti Gelateria where we had some of the best gelato we have ever tasted. Keep in mind that we didn’t have any bad gelato during our time in Italy, and we sampled it daily, but the creamy delights served up at Giolitti were especially delicious. The long day was drawing to a close, but we had one more sight to see before dark, the Trevi Fountain. The beautiful Fontana dei Trevi occupied most of the area in the small, crowded piazza. The fountain was sublime, one of the prettiest we have seen in our travels. The fountain may have recently refurbished because the water was crystal clear and the white marble glistened in the late day sunshine. The location of the fountain marked the terminal point of one of Rome’s most ancient aqueducts, which has supplied Rome with water for over two thousand years. The centerpiece of the fountain was the gleaming white statute of Neptunus Rex on his chariot drawn by winged horses and led by tritons. As with most fountains, the water was filled with the coins, each representing a wish made by a visitor. The kids took turns making their wishes and tossed their Euro into the water. Carmen’s experience was one worth mentioning. After she tossed her coin into the water, she walked back to the stroller, picked up her book, opened it and then sat it down again and plopped back into her seat. Immediately we noticed that she was hanging her head and upon further inquiry found that she was actually in tears. “What is wrong honey?” I asked. “The girls told me that if I made a wish, and threw the coin into the fountain, that my wish would come true, but it didn’t.” Carmen replied. “What did you wish for?” “I wished that I could read, but my wish didn’t come true.” Talk about pulling at our heartstrings. We comforted her and assured her that it was only a matter of time before she would be able to read the words in her books. Elizabeth and I both agreed that it was time to try to teach Carmen to read. Progress has been slow, but we have been able to teach her how to “read” through memorization. The smile on her face when she had learned to read her first book, “Party Fun,” was priceless. She is anxious to return home so she can show her grandparents her latest triumph. After another action packed day we returned to our relatively diminutive accommodations and enjoyed our thin pizzas, “Portour llevar” (to go). Lately, the tell tale signs of cabin fever or, more appropriately, the pressures of spending 24/7 with each other, have been showing. The kids have been great for most of the trip, playing with each other and relying solely on each other for games and interaction. However, the constant lack of personal space and private time wears on all of us at times and we have found that it is more important than ever to get out and about as much as possible during the day. The kids have grown much closer to each other during the trip, but with this intimacy comes periodic moments of frustration and argument. Both Elizabeth and I have also experienced the anxieties brought on by lack of any private time or personal space which have revealed themselves from time to time through disagreements over relatively trivial matters. Traveling around the world with my children and my spouse has produced stresses that are not readily relieved. My sense is that we have begun to reach a point of travel exhaustion. Lack of individual emotional legroom and private moments of personal reflection, combined with the periodic hassles of confined space, accommodations without a readily available phone, internet, or laundry and a perpetual need to forage for food, has at times been frustrating. This is offered without any desire for sympathy, rather just as an observation and acknowledgement that traveling for an extended period of time is not always wine and roses. Just in the nick of time, midway through our stay in Rome, we moved across town to the luxurious Marriott Gran Flora hotel. We had used some of our Marriott points and booked four nights at the Gran Flora. The hotel was located in a swank part of the city. The streets of the neighborhood were lined with high-end restaurants, outdoor cafes and expensive retailers. The hotel itself was adjacent to the Villa Borghese, one of Rome’s most pleasant parks that were once the grounds surrounding the amazing chateau of Cardinal Scipione Borghese. Passing through the Villa Borghese and its vast haven of greenery, immaculate landscaped gardens, trickling fountains and tranquil reflecting ponds, we reached the former residence of the Cardinal, now one of Rome’s outstanding art museums, the Galleria Borghese. One of the many highlights of my time in Rome was my evening spent with Madeline and Isabella at the Galleria Borghese, a wonderful museum packed full of Renaissance paintings and sculpture. Considered one of the most impressive private art collections in the world, the treasures were set within the former palatial residence of Cardinal Borghese. Not only was the art work magnificent, part of the fun of visiting the Borghese was to see the opulent and extravagant tastes of the Cardinal Borghese, who apparently used his Papal connections in order to amass great wealth and one of the largest private art collections in the world. Some of the highlights of the visit were the paintings by Caravaggio, Raphael, Titian and Rubens, as well as sculptures by the likes of Canova, Correggio, Borromini and Bernini, including the Bernini’s sculptures “David,” “Truth,” “Pluto and Proserpina,” and his delightful “Apollo and Daphne.” Throughout our journey, both Elizabeth and I have thoroughly enjoy our “big kids” dates with Bella and Maddie, which usually have involved excursions to museums and other mature points of interest requiring relatively long attention spans. Although we probably have not been able to spend as much private time with each of our children, we always take the opportunity to make the most of any private moments that time has permitted us during the trip. The big moment for Bella, Maddie and myself, however, came on Sunday, the inaugural mass of the new Pope Benedict XVI. Another “big kids” outing, Maddie, Bella and I got up at 5:30 AM and headed off for Catholicism’s most sacred shrine, the Basilica of St. Peter’s. As we neared the Piazza San Pietro, we could see the crowds of spectators filling the streets leading to the square. It was an awesome spectacle to enter the Piazza San Pietro and catch a glimpse of St. Peter’s for the first time. With the exception of the religious sites in Jerusalem, St. Peter’s in the Vatican is Christendom’s most visible and important building. The huge size of the basilica was daunting and the magnificent arch of 284 colonnades stretched out before us like two great arms of the church, hugging the mass of visitors and pilgrims. We felt fortunate to be in this place on such an important occasion, knowing that for many of the people around us, attending this mass in this square was a spiritual highlight of a lifetime. We were some of the first thousands to arrive and we had several hours until the mass would begin so we laid out a blanket, pulled out some books and camped out. There was a buzz of activity and excitement as thousands more arrived and filled in the empty spaces around us. The massive bells sounded out each passing hour. People of almost every nationality and ethnic background crowded into the square, many of them were holding and waving their country’s flags. Camera crews from around the world were passing through the crowds filming the spectacle. We are still not sure whom they were, but the girls were filmed and/or interviewed by four different reporters and their camera crews. We stood among the hundreds of thousands of well wishers and witnessed the investiture of the 256th Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI who earlier in the morning, while we were camped out in the square, had completed one of the many rituals of the investiture ceremony by visiting the tomb of St. Peter located deep under the Papal Altar of the great basilica. The investiture marked the beginning of the papacy for this son of a Bavarian police officer. Of the many spectators, a large contingent had traveled from Germany to honor their fellow countryman, who the papers were calling the “Panzer Pope.” There was great pageantry, tradition and symbolism for us to witness and absorb. After several readings, the Pope, dressed in the his white robes with gold trim, wearing the Papal Stoll (made of special wool from sheep blessed by Pope John Paul II, raised by monks outside of Rome, woven by nuns, and bearing five red crosses representing the five wounds of Christ, adorned with the symbolic yolk of Christ) and Papal headdress, or miter (decorated with the red cross of the Shepard’s staff, its two peaks representing the old and new testaments) was presented his Papal scarf and the sacred “fisherman’s ring.” The ring is symbolic of the miraculous fishing expedition when Peter and other disciples were greeted with a vision of the risen Christ who commanded them to go forward and be “fishers of men. “ The ring serves as the official Papal seal and each new Pope designs and is issued a new ring. The ring of his predecessor is then destroyed. Surrounding the stage was a sea of white, red and purple robes that were worn by the many Cardinals and Bishops seated on each side of the Pope. As we stood under the morning sunshine in the middle of this surprisingly acoustical plaza, the Sistine Chapel Choir sang “Gloria” as the Pope embarked on a processional through the crowd in his “Pope Mobile” as a tidal wave of affection and cheers arose from the crowd. Elizabeth is Catholic and our children have to date been raised in the catholic church and, therefore, this was an exciting moment for Madeline and Isabella. As the Protestant representative of the family I can say in all sincerity that being present in the plaza during this very emotional ceremony, and sensing the wave of spirituality and affection emanating from the thousands that filled the plaza, was a very moving experience for me as well. The event illustrated the genius of the piazza’s designers, Bernini, Maderno and Fontana, who had centuries ago conceived such a functional and well-planned public square (actually an oval). St.Peter’s has long been a popular pilgrimage site, however, Bernini could never have imagined the number of visitors that filled the square that morning, let alone the millions of pilgrims and mourners who had filed through the piazza in the days and weeks prior. We were very impressed with the organization and staffing for the event. Our passage into and out of the piazza was orderly and without interruption. Every two blocks of so, there were trucks full of bottled water being passed out by police and volunteers. Although nearly a half a million spectators filled the piazza and the area within Bernini’s great flanking colonnades on that crisp, sunny April morning, there wasn’t an intolerable crush and getting into and out of the piazza was surprisingly easy and devoid of the typical anxieties that accompany being a part of a large crowd as it heads for the exits. We were exhilarated as we walked back towards our hotel; the girls were so excited about our adventure and having been a part of the historic event. I was giddy with the enjoyment of having taken the opportunity to experience the moment with them. Our final day in Rome found Elizabeth, Madeline, Isabella and I visiting the Vatican; it’s museums and the interior of St. Peter’s Basilica (all of which had, until our last day, been closed to visitors because of the Conclave). We hired a professional guide who did a wonderful job of shepherding us through the day. His wealth of knowledge not only about religious history, but also art history added much to our experience. Although the highlight of the tour was the Sistine Chapel, no place invokes the spirit of the Italian Renaissance like the Sistine Chapel, built and decorated at a time of unparalleled artistic greatness, the entire tour of the Vatican Museum, with its rich and dizzying collection of art and sculpture, as well as the massive and majestic St. Peter’s Basilica, were each in themselves a fascinating experience. The Vatican Museum was packed to the rafters with treasures accumulated over the centuries by the Popes, including paintings by all of the Renaissance greats, as well as a seemingly endless collection of European masters, corridors lined with priceless sculptures, rare maps, enormous tapestries and rooms whose walls were completely frescoed by none other than the great Raphael. Although we could have spent a week surveying the inventory of the Vatican, we only had a day, so with some regret, we pushed on past countless works of art as we sought the highlights of the Vatican collections. During our stay, Elizabeth, Madeline and myself each read the book “Michelangelo and The Pope’s Ceiling” by Ross King. It was a fascinating story about 16th century Europe and the epic confrontation between Pope Julius II and Michelangelo which produced arguably one of the finest frescoes the world has ever seen. It was April 1508 when Michelangelo Buonarroti was summoned back to his small, cramped workshop behind the modest Santa Caterina delle Cavallerotte located near the Vatican. He was thirty-three years old and Pope Julius II had ordered him to Rome to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It had been two years since he left Rome in a huff over the Pope’s decision to postpone the construction of his tomb, for which Michelangelo had been originally commissioned. The Pope had become distracted with a much larger and seemingly pressing project, that of demolishing the old basilica and constructing a grand new basilica. Two and half centuries after his death in 67 AD, the bones of St. Peter had been brought from the catacombs outside of Rome to the location along the Tiber River where he was believed to have been crucified and a basilica bearing his name was built. Unfortunately, it was build on a marsh and by the time of Julius II, the basilica had sunk, its walls were six feet out of true, and the cracks in the structure were impossible to disregard much longer. The competition to rebuild St. Peter’s was won by Donato d’Angelo Lazzari, also known as Bramante, and work was in progress when Pope Julius II summoned Michelangelo back to Rome. Although Michelangelo tried to avoid the commission, he was after all a sculptor, not a painter; the Pope was not a man to be denied. No Pope before or since has enjoyed such a fearsome reputation. He was known as “il papa terrible” or the terrifying pope for his ruthless treatment of his enemies and the “warrior Pope” because he engaged in numerous military forays throughout the Italian peninsula in efforts to bring independent duchies and rogue Papal States under the rule of the Vatican. The magnificent fresco of the Sistine Chapel is even more impressive when we kept in mind that Michelangelo was not a painter by trade and more importantly, he had never done fresco painting, an extremely difficult medium, so difficult in fact that the great Leonardo Da Vinci had failed miserably in his attempts to master the art form. Compound this inexperience with the logistical nightmare of trying to fresco a vaulted ceiling and even the famous Michelangelo was predestined to fail. But fail he did not, he mastered the tricky chemical mixtures of fresco and over the course of the ensuing four years, most of which were spent lying upside down in a harness, Michelangelo created one of the most famous masterpieces in the history of art. Perhaps ironically, this project, which was undertaken against his wishes, turned out to be his most enduring legacy. The panorama of the Sistine Chapel was one of the most inspiring and impressive works of art we had ever seen. Glorifying and depicting the human body as only Michelangelo could do, he painted nine majestic panels depicting scenes from the book of Genesis and surrounded them with scenes depicting pagan sibyls or seers and portraits of prophets. One of the most famous of the overhead panels was the depiction of God touching the fingertip of his creation, Adam. The work and specifically the detail of the work and his use of the human anatomy were magnificent to behold. At one end of the chapel was a floor to ceiling fresco, “The Last Judgment” which Michelangelo painted as well. A quarter of a century after completing the ceiling, he was commissioned at age 61 to complete “The Last Judgment,” an equally impressive colossal masterpiece. Along the walls of the chapel were other beautiful frescoes, some by the likes of masters like Botticelli, Perugino and Ghirlandaio, but the show stealer was the ceiling and The Last Judgment. It was a unique feeling to stand in the middle of the chapel knowing that only a few days before, the Conclave of Cardinals had been sequestered in total secrecy within the same four walls as they went about the sacred ritual of selecting a new pontiff. We tried to imagine the scene, as it must have unfolded and to detect a scent of the lingering white smoke that had only recently filled the chapel before being vented through the ceiling in order to alert the outside world of the Nuovo Papa. Our tour through the Vatican Museums was equally extraordinary. Highlights included visiting the Raphael Rooms, a series of rooms that were once the living quarters of Pope Julius II that the great Raphael frescoed at the same time that Michelangelo was suspended upside down over the floor of the nearby Sistine Chapel. By far one of the most inspiring works by Raphael was his painting of the Stanza della Segnatura where we viewed the majestic “School of Athens,” one of his best known works, depicting scholars and philosophers from the ages of ancient Greece and Rome. Front and center in the work is the enigmatic figure known as “the thinker” which is believed to be Raphael’s tribute to his rival and nemesis, Michelangelo. Apparently, Raphael and Michelangelo were, to put it mildly, not friends, but Raphael was so impressed by the work of his rival in the Sistine Chapel, that Raphael could not resist the urge to honor his brilliance. Other highlights of this amazing repository of treasures were dazzling collections of Roman and Greek sculptures, including the splendid “Belvedere Apollo,” a fifth century sculpture rippling muscles of the “Belvedere Torso,” which was done in Greece in the first century B.C. and is thought to represent “Hercules” and the hauntingly beautiful 1st century B.C. sculpture of “Laocoon and His Sons” with its depiction of the eternal struggle between Laocoon, his sons and the serpents sent by the Greek gods to punish Laocoon for trying to warn the Trojan citizens of the danger of bringing in the wooden horse. In addition to courtyards full of priceless sculptures, there were enormous galleries dedicated solely to the display of subjects such as religious art, gilded maps, Egyptian treasures, tapestries, Renaissance masters, and much, much more. After a visual overload within the cavernous walls of the Vatican Museums, we ended our tour inside the largest church in the world, St. Peter’s Basilica. Interestingly, Michelangelo inherited the role of architect in chief at the age of 72. Claiming to Pope Paul IV “he was not an architect” he went on to design the most recognizable dome in Christendom, the majestic dome of St. Peter’s. Where Bramante, Raphael and Michelangelo left off, others, who followed, the likes of Bernini and Carlo Maderno, completed the task. If the Vatican Museums were not enough, the Basilica was packed full of amazing works of interior design, carving, and sculpture and painting. Some of the highlights included the Papal Altar, which stood over the crypt where St. Peter is believed to be buried, Michelangelo’s beautiful sculpture, “Pieta” and Bernini’s extraordinary sculptures like his monument to Pope Alexander VII and the canopy and stands of the Papal Altar. We left Rome with an appreciation for its splendid history and its legacy of art, culture, architecture and religion. Having just spent time appreciating the contributions of ancient Egypt, we felt as though we with our addition of Roman contributions, we had explored quite extensively, the major influences in the history of art, architecture and religion for the past five thousand years. It was exciting to be in Rome to witness many of the events surrounding the investiture of the new pontiff and although our stay seemed, in retrospect, too brief, we saw much of what we had hoped to see and in the process developed an affinity for this diverse and dynamic city. NEXT DISPATCH. TUSCANY, ITALY