They say that “Rome wasn’t built in a day!”

True enough. But we like to see Rome in a day! Here’s how we did it a few days ago: We woke up at 4:30 am and left home at 5:20. We each had a small knapsack for the overnight trip. At 6 am we boarded the first bus from Fiesole to Florence and arrived in Piazza San Marco by 6:20. We were a little earlier than we’d planned, so we had enough time to enjoy a morning coffee and pastry. Then we hit the sidewalk. 15 minutes later, we arrived at the train station, validated our ticket that we had purchased a week earlier, and boarded the 7 am Frecciarossa (Red Arrow) fast train bound for Roma Termini Stazione. A stop in Arezzo put us in Termini by 8:45. So at that point, we were 4 hours into our day and just starting our visit to Rome.

The first stop was to grab the #86 or 92 bus and emerge near the Catacombe di Priscilla, Catacombs of Priscilla. We’d read that those catacombs are less-visited and more “as they probably were.” Other catacombs are larger, more extensive, more prestigious and older. But, the “human” scale of Priscilla was definitely what we had in mind. We entered through an old convent and waited on a park bench for the tour guide to take the 4 of us (English speakers) into the underground. It was really interesting to learn facts to replace legend, such as the fact that Christians worshipped openly and buried their dead, according to Roman law. There were no secret societies. No underground temples. The catacombs are cemeteries, intricate mazes of shelves and tunnels, with each additional lower level more geometric and organized. The first level tunnels took advantage of pre-existing caves, so were more free-form and meandering. Interesting.

Then, because we were on the northwest side of the city, we went to see the Parco della Musica,Auditorium in the Music Park. We like the contrast of the ancient versus the ultra modern, so this was a great second stop. We saw the cluster of 3 music halls, designed by world famous Renzo Piano, each for a particular type of music or performance. The structures are near the Olympic Village and are constructed of brick, wood, and then capped with large amorphic lead roofs. Again, really interesting.

Lunch was at da Gino. To get there, we asked one police officer who directed us toward another. We asked the second officer who sent us in the opposite direction. Finally, we asked a local in a bookstore who got us close enough. We were only 15 minutes late for our lunch reservation, which means right on time in Italy!

After lunch we started toward our hotel, which was across town, near the Colosseo, Colosseum. We intended to take a combination of bus, the metro and walk. We walked. About 2 hours later, we found the little hotel and checked in. The room was about an 8-foot square space. The bed was about 2 feet shorter than any we’d ever seen. Must have been a special order for Napoleon. We unpacked our knapsacks and headed out for Trastevere, the area of Rome across the Tiber river.

We had always heard how “original” Trastevere is, and frankly, we were surprised. Sure the neighborhood seems to be pretty much intact, but it is tourist-ified. Little shops alternated with wine bars. Ice cream shops alternated with souvenir shops. You get the picture. Just to get our bearings, we dropped into a cathedral, Santa Maria della Scala. Beautiful. A few blocks beyond the first church, we discovered a very active piazza, filled with local folks. Alongside the far edge of the piazza was a second church that we found intriguing.

Santa Maria in Trastevere has a fantastic interior! Gold leaf seemed to be everywhere. Off to the rear left side inside the church there was the statue of a saint with notes and scraps of paper at his feet. Apparently, patrons consider this saint the “Dear Abby” of the Church, so they’d left requests for prayer, advice and intervention in their lives.

Our last stop was a tough one to find, but we eventually made it to La Chiesa della Santa Cecilia,  The Church of Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music. We walked through the doors at 7 pm, just before they locked them at 7:15. Whew!

After a 20-minute walk back toward the hotel, we were just in time for an early dinner at a nearby restaurant. The usual Tuscan dinner time is never before 8, but we held tickets for a tour of the Colosseum at 9:20, so an early dinner was necessary. At 8:45 we tucked back into the hotel to retrieve our umbrellas, since an unexpected downpour had just started.

We walked to the Colosseum and arrived at the ticket window at 9 pm. At 9:15 our guide appeared and began the tour. Wow! She did a fabulous job of explaining things. As a Roman, she knew local history really well, and immediately began weaving stories of emperors and gladiators. She pointed out a cross that had been erected to commemorate Christian lives martyred in the Colosseum. She told us that there are many legends that exist today that are simply not true. For example, the gladiators were from various areas of the empire, and were not free men. Their freedom could only be granted by the emperor following a victory in the Colosseum, but wasn’t guaranteed. There were no mock sea battles. It just wasn’t physically possible with the configuration of the structure. We weren’t disappointed that stories were dispelled. Just the opposite. It was more interesting to know the truth. And who better to tell us the real history of Rome than a Roman?

The tour ended at around 10:30 and we returned to the hotel to get some sleep. We reviewed our day—all 18 hours of it. Rome may not have been built in a day, but we certainly absorbed as much as possible in less than 24 hours. Rome in bite-size chunks is our preference. She is a veritable museum and a very sweet city, even though, a bit raucous at times.

Posted on September 27, 2010

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