Some suggestions for minimizing the difficulties of Rome
Written: Oct 18 '00 (Updated Aug 20 '07)
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Pros: So much to see
Cons: So crowded: so many others trying to see the same things
The Bottom Line: A city that must be seen, but doing so is exhausting.
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| Stephen_Murray's Full Review: Rome |
At the beginning of the 21st century (Rome's 28th), "eternal city" seems to mean "pereptual traffic jam." Rome really is clogged with cars and overrun with visitors, especially in this Jubilee Year. The great pagan and Christian sites are mostly unavailable for solitary contemplation, so visitors should be forewarned that the major sites are swarming with people.
This matters least at the Colosseum (the Flavian Amphitheater). (The symbol of Rome (preserved primarily because of the mistaken belief until recently that it wase the site of martyrdom of early Christians, the Colosseum is a mandatory stop on a first visit to Rome.) After all, it was built in the first century A.D. to seat 50,000+ spectators, so a few thousand tourists wandering around in it don't need to trip over each other. Streams of people around Constantine's Arch, just outside the Colosseum, don't much matter either.
They matter more at St. Peter's (San Pietro) Basilica, though it, too, is huge and can accommodate many. The wait to pass through the Sacred door (sancta puerta) was not much longer than the wait to get in through any other door. At the end of 2000 it will be sealed until 2025. It was also feasible to file by the statue of St. Peter to touch the toe. Michelangelo's Pietà is sufficiently raised that one can see it, and since the attack on it at the 1964 New York's World Fair, it is protected by a glass wall so no one can approach really close to it.
On a clear day, the view from the dome is spectacular. There are 537 steps to negotiate. Any time, Bernini's baldaquin over the tomb of St. Peter is spectacular, even to someone like me who is less than enthralled with baroque art.
Where the crowds get really oppressive is in the Vatican Museum. The main corridor is a queue to the Sistine Chapel. Most people do not get off this path, even to visit the Logge di Raffelo (Raphael's loggia), and the ancient art that is not in the main corridor is visited by relatively few. I love Etruscan art and hardly anyone branches off to see the splendid collection of it.
The Vatican Museum is one of the greatest collections of art in the world. Anyone interested in art can easily spend a whole day there. And one really does have to go to the Sistine Chapel. It contains so many iconic images, including the various sibyls, not just "The Creation." Since my previous visit, "The Last Judgment" has been cleaned. I think that I liked it better dark, even though some of the figures were entirely invisible. The oddness of the composition is more obvious now. . .
The best way to see Michelangelo's ceiling fresco would be to lie on the floor. This is not possible, given the number of people in the room whenever it is open to the public. The next best thing is difficult, but not impossible: that is, to wait for a seat on each side, lean back, and look up.
To get to the Pinacoteca (the main collection of paintings (including the angel musicians of Melozzo da Forlì, three huge Raphael paintings, and Fra Angelico's Scenes from the Life of St. Nicholas of Bari), it is best to leave the Sistine Chapel at the left at the far (from the entrance way) end and proceed past the painted cases of the Vatican Library (and some displays) and to go left again just before the end (there are signs).
A walk around the ancient Roman forum is mandatory (as is a visit to the Trevi Fountain , for Americans at least). The Capitoline Museum has a major collection of ancient sculpture. The side of the Capitoline Hill away from the Forum has the Renaissance Campidoglio and double staircase down towards the massive Vittoriano (monument to Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of Italy (re)united in the 19th century. Widely regarded as "an unfortunate example of an unsuccessful attempt to insert a modern structure in a classical context," I think it is entertaining kitsch. At least it faces away from the Capitoline Hill and the ancient forums.
If it is possible to get tickets (and I'm told that this is very difficult), the Galeria Borghese, reopened after 15 years of renovation has another incredible collection. Cardinal Borghese was a patron of Bernini and Carvaggio and also acquired some splendid classical sculpture (he seems to have doted particularly on Dionysus). Admission is in two-hour blocks, and the museum is cleared every two hours. This means that most everyone rushes in at the stroke of the hour on their tickets and clog the first rooms. I can't recommend arriving later, but once inside, I would advise going up to the second floor. The groups with guides will be crammed into the rooms near the entrance and will be filling the upstairs room at the end of the two hours. So go backwards (even if you are in a group, you don't have to stay with the guide droning on about his or her view of what is important!).
Relatively nearby is the Etruscan Museum and the Modern Art Museum. . . and the zoo is also in the great park of the Villa Borghese. The Spanish Steps, above the Piazza di Spagna, another obligatory stop for American visitors, is near the southwest corner of park.
There are many other museums and baroqued churches. After St. Peter's Basilica the most artistically important Renaissance church is San Pietro in Vincolo (St. Peter in chains). properly known as the Basilica Eudoxiana. The tomb for Pope Julius II (in the right transept) seems to have been done mostly by Michelangelo's students, but the sculpture in the middle of Moses is one of Michelangelo's own greatest achievements. Of greater religious significance are what are allegedly the chains used to restrain St. Peter in the Mamertine Prison miraculously fused with those with which he was bound in Palestine. I have to say that my background is far too Protestant to believe this, but the pair of chains have a considerable history of being venerated.
I cannot report on the museum in the Castel San Angelo (originally the Emperor Hadrian's tomb) on the banks of the Tiber east of the Vatican. The building is impressive and next time. . .
In my three visits to Rome, I don't recall having any bad food, but no restaurant particularly stands out in my memory (for food; for opera between courses, Thalia is justifiably popular).
The two main side-trips are to Tivoli and Pompeii. Tivoli is closer and more satisfying. Hadrian's villa was largely stripped (the best of the mosaics are in the Galeria Borghese) and other than wall and ceiling paintings, the Villa d'Este is empty. But the gardens! Classical gardens are geometrical and devoid of flowers. The gardens below the Villa d'Este have an amazing set of fountains. (At the top of the modern town of Tivoli is a Greco-Roman temple and some excellent restaurants.)
Pompeii is farther away. I was disappointed in it, expecting more to have been preserved (on site -- much of what was preserved has been carried off to the museum in Naples). Perhaps I have seen too many ruins. This one has some mosaic floors and wall paintings. Though my visit there was disenchanting, I am not sorry that I went to check it out. (It is also overrun with tour groups, though most fled during a spectacular thunderstorm.)
For walking around and looking at the exteriors of the ancient buildings (the Pantheon bears special mention, being largely preserved), I am sure that the best time is the Easter weekend. The Romans and their cars are mostly gone, and except for St. Peter's Square, where multitudes are being blessed, the city is deserted. (A corollary is that it is nearly impossible to find anywhere to eat.)
I have been in Rome in the spring and the fall. The summer is unimaginable: given how crowded most sites are "off-season", not to mention the heat. For lower crowd density, the wet and cold winters are probably the best time to visit.
The city is choking with cars. Rome's traffic is the most frustrating in my experience, and I have experienced hideous traffic in Bangkok, D.C., Jakarta, Taipei, Mexico City, and Istanbul (and gridlocked California freeways). The Romans actually drive well. If they didn't, no one would be able to move at all!
There are two subway lines. These are major venues for pickpockets, and I would strongly advise anyone taking them not to wear jewelry or to use fanny-packs or backpacks, and to carry money, cameras, etc. inside clothes. This is good advice for other crowded locales (which is to say most everywhere anytime in Rome), including the square of St. Peter's.
Outside the Colosseum subway station is the most notorious site for attacks by "gypsy children." I did not see any when I went by it on this trip, but on a previous trip, my friend and I were beset by a pack of children pawing at us. They failed to get anything from us--except a cut. The watch I was wearing had two clasps. A child got the first one loose and cut himself on it. And was extremely outraged at me as a result.
Recommended:
Yes
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