In the post about the afternoon segment of our tour of Rome, I wrote that tickets for the Vatican Museum were to be purchased for September 17. THAT IS INCORRECT, as a faithful reader of this blog pointed out.

Buy your Vatican Museum tickets for September 16 at 2 PM.

Sorry for the mistake.

Rome and its numerous centuries of history officially begin in 753 B.C. on the slopes of the Palatino hills, when the Etruscans and Greek colonies occupied areas nearby. Tradition gave Romulus the paternity of the village, tracing in the boundary with a plow.

From 509 B.C. until 27 B.C., the republican supreme authority governed and was elected each year by the citizens, establishing the base of civil law. Rome, once a village, became the capital of an empire in a few centuries and, with the Punic Wars, the undisputed ruler of the Mediterranean Sea.

The territorial and population expansion called for a redefinition of the "republic", or the state. After the assassination of Caesar (44 B.C.) affluent men disputed over the next successor of the new regime-the princedom: Marc Anthony, Cleopatra's ally, or Caesar's adopted son Octavian, both of who shared the rule after Caesar's death. Eventually, Octavian became Emperor calling himsel Caesar Augustus. The "princeps" (from primum caput" or "first citizen") founded an empire in a unified and peaceful order that lasted until the III century A.D. ("pax romana"). It was during these centuries that the Roman empire reached its splendor.

With the III century A.D. Rome gradually lost its central role as a kingdom of vastness and universality, until Diocletian separated the empire into two parts, profoundly restructuring economy, finance, politics, and bureaucracy. This guaranteed Rome a new century of prosperity while Christianity became officially authorized in 313 A.D. by Constantine the Great when he issued the edict in Milan, contributing to the support of the regime.

In that period, Rome had about 4 million citizens (free men, slaves excluded) and an empire of over 50 million.

In the IV century the nucleus of the empire began to move toward the orient, after successive invasions by Barbarians, Visigoths, and Vandals, that also came to plunder the city of Rome.

In the VI century, the Roman empire began to disappear, leaving its mark in history as having created and unified the so-called "civil world".

So our tour of Rome will include the Republican Era (753 BC to 27 BC), the Empirical Era (27 BC to 313 AD), and the Christian Era (313 AD to present).


First stop will be the Pyramid of Cestius. The pyramid was built between 18 and 12 BC as a tomb for for Gaius Cestius Epulo, a magistrate and member of one of the four great religious corporations at Rome, the Septemviri Epulonum. There are only three larger pyramids in the world - the pyramids of Giza in Egypt.



We will then go to the Circus Maximus. Chariot races were one of the Roman's most popular form of entertainment. Romulus, the first of Rome's seven kings, is said to have held chariot races.

The origins of the Circus Maximus go back to the 6th century BC when Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome, created a track between the Palatine and Aventine hills. The first permanent starting gates were created in 329 BC. In 174 BC the gates were rebuilt and seven wooden eggs were placed on top of the spina, the central wall in the arena. The eggs were used to count the number of laps; after each lap one egg was removed.



Next up, the Colosseum. The Amphitheatrum Flavium, a.k.a. Colosseum or Coliseum (though in ancient times Romans referred to it as to Amphitheatrum Caesareum or hunting theater), was built by the Flavian emperors Vespasian, Titus and Domitian between 71-72 and 80 AD as a gift to the Roman citizens, in the place where the previous Emperor Nero (37-68 AD) had built his residence, the Domus Aurea.

The Colosseum is the place where many anti–death penalty demonstrations take place. The local authorities decided to support the campaign against the death penalty - the color of the Colosseum's night time illumination changes from white to gold, when a person condemned to the death anywhere in the world gets their sentence commuted or is released, and also when a jurisdiction abolishes the death penalty.



The Roman Forum is next on the list. The Roman Forum, is located between the Palatine Hill and the Capitoline Hill. Citizens of the ancient city referred to the location as the "Forum Magnum" or just the "Forum". It is part of the centralized area around which the ancient Roman civilization developed.

According to tradition, the forum's beginnings are connected with the alliance between Romulus, the first king of Rome (753 to 717 BC) controlling the Palatine Hill, and his rival, Titus Tatius who occupied the Capitoline Hill. Accordingly, an alliance formed after combat had been halted by the prayers and cries of the Sabine women. Because the valley lay between the two settlements, it was the designated place for the two peoples to meet. Since the early forum area was mostly pools of stagnant water, the only accessible area was the northern part of the valley which was designated as the Comitium. It was here that the two parties laid down their weapons and formed an alliance.



Then we get to stop for lunch. Grazie.

After lunch we will pass by the Piazza Venezia. The one landmark dominating Piazza Venezia is Il Vittoriano, a monument dedicated to king Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of Italy.

Vatican City is up next. Vatican City State was founded following the signing of the Lateran Pacts between the Holy See and Italy on February 11th 1929. These were ratified on June 7th 1929.


We begin the afternoon with a visit to the Vatican Museums. There are too many to see in one day, so our focus will be on the Sistine Chapel, though there may be time to visit some of the other museums in the complex.

The Cappella Maggiore is recorded as existing in 1368, according to a communication from Andreas of Trebizond to Pope Sixtus IV. By the time of its demolition to make way for the present chapel, the Cappella Maggiore was in a ruinous state with its walls leaning.

The present chapel known as the Sistine Chapel, on the site of the Cappella Maggiore, was designed by Baccio Pontelli for Pope Sixtus IV, for whom it is named, and built under the supervision of Giovannino de Dolci between 1473 and 1481. The proportions of the present chapel appear to closely follow those of the original. After its completion, the chapel was decorated with frescoes by a number of the most famous artists of the High Renaissance, including Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Perugino, and Michelangelo.

Be sure to purchase your Vatican Museum Tickets here. Select September 2010 and the number of tickets, then click NEXT. On the calendar select September 16 and when the times come on the screen. select 2PM (1400). Follow the instruction from there. Note: No photos or videos are allowed to be taken in the chapel. If you really must have a short video, ask G and he will give you a copy of the one he swears he never took.


St. Peter's Basilica is next. St. Peter's Basilica is a major basilica in Vatican City, an enclave of Rome. St. Peter's was until recently the largest church ever built (since 1989 the largest is Our Lady of Peace, a basilica in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast) and it remains one of the holiest sites in Christendom. Contrary to what one might reasonably assume, St. Peter's is not a cathedral - that honor in Rome goes to St. John Lateran.

What’s the difference between a basilica and a cathedral, you ask?

Originally the term basilica described a large public building. Such buildings usually contained interior colonnades that divided the space, giving aisles or arcaded spaces at one or both sides, with an apse at one end (or less often at each end), where the magistrates sat, often on a slightly raised dais. After the Roman Empire became officially Christian, the term came by extension specifically to refer to a large and important church that has been given special ceremonial rites by the Pope. Thus the word retains two senses today, one architectural and the other ecclesiastical.

On the other hand, a cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop. In more detailed terms it is a religious building for worship, specifically of a denomination with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox and some Lutheran churches, which serves as a bishop’s seat, and thus as the central church of a diocese.

As for architectural considerations, a cathedral may be amongst the grandest of churches in the diocese or a modest structure. Early Celtic and Saxon cathedrals, for example, tended to be of diminutive size, as is the Byzantine so-called Little Metropole Cathedral of Athens.


In order to get the most out of your visit inside St. Peter's, I suggest you visit here for a great narrative of each section of the basilica, and print out a map of St. Peter's here or here so you know what you're seeing.



A visit to the Pantheon follows. The Pantheon is a magnificent ancient temple in Rome. Dating from about 125 AD, this is the most complete ancient building in Rome and one of the city's most spectacular sights. When constructed, the Pantheon was dedicated to pan theos, "all the gods." When it became a church, it was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and all the martyrs.

Until the 20th century, the Pantheon was the largest concrete structure in the world. Michelangelo studied its great dome before starting work on the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. It is the burial place of several important Italians (including the artist Raphael), and it remains an active church.


Then it's time to toss coins in the fountain, the Trevi Fountain. The Trevi Fountain, inspired by Roman triumphal arches, is the largest and most famous Baroque fountain in Rome standing 25.9 meters high and 19.8 meters wide. The Trevi Fountain as we know it today, was designed by Nicola Salvi in 1732 and competed in 1762.



The last stop on the tour will be the Spanish Steps. The Spanish Steps (Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti in Italian) are, as the name suggests, a long and grand staircase in Rome which connects two piazze – the Piazza di Spagna at the base and the Piazza Trinità dei Monti at the top. The stairway was built in the 1720s in an effort to connect the Vatican with the Spanish embassy. The building at the top of the steps is the Trinità dei Monti, a church built in the 16th century.

Next stop: Messina!