Italy 2000
ROME
In September, 2000, before heading to Assissi for the elderhostel
"Medieval Splendor: hill towns of Umbria,"
Donna Keaton and I spent a week in Rome and loved it.
Here are pictures showing why.
During our week in Rome before the elderhostel, we stayed at Il Rosario, a convent on the Via dei Goti, right in the heart of Rome, with wonderful nuns who sang every morning at 6:30, and a delightful roof terrace where we relaxed every afternoon. Holy Year Rome was crowded and hot. Walking back from St. Peters, we came to the Piazza Navona, where Donna put her feet in the fountain. Everyone followed her lead. |
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The Forum was right around the corner. |
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Il Rosario B&B (Rome): a roof terrace! |
Outside on Via dei Gotti | Lining up for the Holy Year at St. Peters |
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The Coliseum was just down the road. |
Vatican Museums |
Donna puts her feet in to cool off. |
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Sometimes we headed in different directions for the day--Donna to the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, I to churches with early Christian mosaics. Donna was videotaping, and I was surprised to see that she had videotaped and photographed even in the Sistine Chapel! On Sunday, we joined the Romans for a holiday in the Borghese Gardens, and the Villa Borghese, where we were given a tour of the period gardens--entirely in Italian. |
Undercover photo of the Sistine Chapel |
Mosaic at St. Praxides |
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Villa Borghese |
Roberto knew flowers. |
Sunday afternoon in the Borghese Gardens |
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Walking back from the Borghese on Sunday, we found the crowds we had missed--at the Trevi Fountain. We walked everywhere and another outing took us to Trastevere, where we had a very expensive orange juice waiting for Santa Maria to open to see the mosaics. Walking back, we followed the Tiber and felt that we were strolling in the countryside, until we looked at the traffic. |
Piazza del Populo on Sunday afternoon. Where are the people? |
Donna wanted to put her feet in here too. |
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Still smiling--before we got the bill. |
Sta Maria in Trastevere |
Strolling back in history, along the Tiber |
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Night at the Piazza Venezia |
St. Peters on the Tiber |
St. John Lateran--A Holy Year Must |
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We had spent a full week, immersing ourselves in the swirl of life in Rome, noting its glorious classical art and pagan spirit. Now we would move on to Assissi and to medieval Italy and a more somber medieval spirit. Come with us to experience medieval Assissi. |
Circus Maximus and the Pines of Rome |
A last look at pagan art before we go to Medieval Assissi |
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