Rome

In early September, I took a 10-day tour of Italy with Perillo Tours, with stays in Rome, Florence, and Naples, and day trips to Venice, Capri, and Pompeii. Overall, it was a good-to-great tour, and the tour was executed as advertised. The logistics were flawless, the lodging and meals were great, and the tour leader, driver, and daily guides were excellent. If I had my druthers, there probably would have been more activities and fewer big meals (that said, I was a member of the “clean plate club” throughout). I appreciate the complexity of getting a 35-person group “staged” and lodged in major cities, but it led to a “fits and starts” flow to the tour, and it seemed that I had been in the country for 1.5 days before I was able to do any serious exploration, and the last two days (in Pompeii and Rome) were almost too full in tourism (e.g., in St. Peter’s Basilica, I found myself more focused on taking pictures of the Pieta than on viewing and appreciating this great work.) One of the great, great advantages of the Perillo Tour was the preferred status our group was given during its tour of the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica.

I flew into Rome on Monday, September 8, and after checking into our hotel (Hotel Cicerone), I had a couple of hours to explore independently. At the recommendation of niece Sarah, I walked over to the Piazza del Popolo and to the Spanish Steps, before grabbing a beer near the Piazza Cavour, a few blocks from the hotel.

The next morning we left for Florence, returning to Rome on the following Sunday afternoon, September 14, and staying at the Hotel Victoria.

Piazza del Popolo


The Spanish Steps


On Sunday afternoon, I participated in an optional excursion, touring San Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains), where Michelangelo’s Moses is found, along with the chains that bound St. Peter in his prison cells in Rome and Judaea; the Trevi Fountain; the Pantheon; and Piazza Navona. As with my explorations in Florence, the time I spent touring the streets of Rome was like walking in a living museum. My first glimpse of the Pantheon, as we walked to it from the Trevi Fountain, was memorably stunning, almost a two-dimension movie backdrop, until the entire structure came in to view.

San Pietro in Vincoli




Trevi Fountain




first view of the Pantheon


The Pantheon


Piazza Navona

After our tour of the Vatican on Monday, we headed over to the Colosseum. The formal tour completed, I spent the rest of the afternoon on some independent exploration, heading back over to the Spanish Steps, then over to Piazza Barberini for a beer at a sidewalk restaurant, and back to the hotel via Via Veneto.

Colosseum






Arco di Costantino

It wasn’t until I reviewed my trip photographs after returning home that I was able to appreciate how much I had seen and done in so little time.