Thursday, October 12, 2023

9/20/2023 ROME: Mercure Roma Centro Colosseo, Key Master's Tour of Vatican Museums, breakfast Coming Out, Santa Maria Maggiore, pool time, dinner Ad Hoc

We are up super early at around 4:30 am.  Ouch!  Our meet time for today is 5:45 am.  To be on the safe side we will have a taxi pick us up around 5:00 am.  There's no way I want to miss this.  I booked this tour for us before we arrived in Italy.  Reception calls a taxi for us and it arrives within minutes.  While waiting outside the hotel for the taxi we can see the Colosseum still lit up.  Cost 19€/$20.37.   It's very dark out!  Not much traffic.


Our taxi from the hotel to the Vatican Museums



Key Master's Tour.  Cost $892.70.  We arrive at the meeting place at 5:15 am.  I thought we were early but there are a few others here already.  Group size is supposed to be limited to 20.  Tour starts at 6:00 am and is supposed to be for 2 hours but our tour ended at 8:15 am. Vatican Museums-54 museums, 1400 rooms/chapels/galleries.  No way to see it all.  It would take much more time! 


Entrance to the museums


Opening the door for our group












First we see this spiral ramp with metal balustrade.  Quite something to view.  Built by Giuseppe Momo in 1932.  Shaped like a double helix.  Two interconnecting spirals-one leading down and one leading up.  Before entering the main galleries of the museums we pass by the terrace.  Can see the dome of St. Peter's church.  If it had been light you would also be able to see the Vatican gardens but unfortunately it's still too dark to see them.  We are introduced to the 2 Key Masters who will be accompanying us.  I don't remember their names but they were both great.  Then we see all the keys that open all the doors.  We're shown the key that opens the Sistine Chapel.  We each get to hold a set of keys.  There are many Key Masters so several sets of keys.






Terrace before entering main galleries-can see dome of St. Peter's church-picture taken at 6:12 am


Sets of keys


Key Master holding the key to the Sistine Chapel


Our guide and the 2 key masters who walked with us




Museo Pio Clementino.  Classical sculpture housed in the Cortile delle Statue/Octagonal Court.  Named after the 2 popes who oversaw its foundation-Clement XIV and Pius VI.  The museum is several large exhibition halls.  This is the Vatican's biggest exposition area.  12 different rooms.  Some:  Apoxyomenos room, Octagon Courtyard/Apollo Belvedere, Laocoon and his sons, Sarcophagus of Saint Helena, Sculpture Gallery/Mattei Amazon, Nero's Bathtub, Masks room/Aphrodite of Cnidus,  Muses room/Belvedere Torso, Round room/Hercules from Pompey's Theatre.


Sala a Croce Greca.  The first door is opened by my husband Richard.  He also got to turn on the lights.  As we go the guide will ask for volunteers to open the doors.  Per tour information each tour member is supposed to get a chance to open a door.  But not everyone volunteers.  Some have difficulty with the key opening their door.  Not us.  











Sarcophagus St. Helena-mother of Emperor Constantine.  Devout Christian.  Led pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  Made of red porphyry.  Decorated with military figures and barbarian slaves.  May originally have been intended for a man like Constantine's father.













Sala Rotunda/Round Hall.  Oldest door.  Second one.  I get to open this door and I surprise myself with how easy it was despite the heaviness of the door.  Imitates the Pantheon in its hemispherical shape.  The walls have niches which display huge statues between which are small columns supporting busts.  The floor is a collection of mosaics from 3rd century A.D.  At the center of the room is a huge red porphyry basin.   




























































Nero's Bathtub-Found at Domus Aurea.  Purple marble/red porphyry-rare. Probably was fountain not a bathtub.



Sala delle Muse.  Intended for the display of a series of sculptures found in Villa of Cassius near Tivoli. Many statues of the Muses, an Apollo holding a lyre, an Athena-all dating from the time of Emperor Hadrian.  Belvedere Torso.








Belvedere Torso-many believe this is Ajax.  Found late 15th century A.D.  Ajax contemplating his suicide after losing competition with Odysseus from the Iliad.  Body in motion contorting to his left side.  



























Ceiling-frescoes representing Apollo and the Muses as inspirers of the arts.  Painted by Tommaso Conca between 1782 and 1787.

 





























Sala degli Animali.  Two rooms.  Set up under Pope Pius VI with antique works of art.  Links with nature and the chase.  Here the animals are the protagonists.  Colored marbles used.






















Octagonal/Inner courtyard.  Apollo Belvedere.  Here since 1508.  Owned by Pope Julius II before he was even pope.  Shows the sun god having just let go of an arrow and is watching where it will land.  This is a Roman copy from mid 2nd century A.D. of a Greek bronze by  320 B.C.   Under restoration as I don't remember seeing the actual statue.  I've posted a picture of what it looks like.   Interesting story about statue Laocoon.  When originally found it was missing its right arm.  Most were saying the arm should be pointing straight up except for Michelangelo who said that looking at the motion of the body the arm should be bent.  When the original was located it was indeed bent as Michelangelo had believed.  So when they restored it to the statue Michelangelo's replacement version of a bent arm was placed on the back of the statue.  I'm intrigued by Laocoon as we had seen it on our trip to Greece back in 2011.  Think it was in Rhodes.

Apollo Belvedere




Virgil's Aeneid.  Citizens of Troy welcome the Greek gift of the horse into the city.  The priest Laocoon warned that accepting it would be the downfall of Troy.  Sea serpents were sent to kill Laocoon and his sons in order to silence Laocoon.  









Michelangelo's bent arm




















































Richard needs to sit down for a bit





































For the life of me I can't remember the name of this room.  I did some research and I think this is the Gregorian Egyptian Museum.  After the door was opened and the light turned on we see a long corridor/room with many works of art that are Egyptian.  Among them is a statue of Tuia who was the wife of Amenhotep III and mother of Ramesses II.  














Ceiling









Tuia



Looking out a window can see the Pinecone which is in the Pinecone courtyard





Pinecone Courtyard








Information on mummies and embalming 


















Galleria dei Candelabri.   Greek and Roman artworks-statues, sarcophagi, reliefs, and candelabra.  Enter through beautiful bronze gates to beginning of hall of rooms.
























































































Mosaic of Pope Leo XIII's coat of arms which you are not allowed to walk on due to the blue lapis lazuli used in the design.  Very expensive stone that can only be mined in Afghanistan.




Galleria degli Arazzi-Tapestries.  An enormous amount of tapestries produced by Raphael Sanzio realized by Belgian tapestry makers.  Decorated carpet.  Popular form of artwork in the 14th century.  These examples are earlier-from the Middle Ages.  Made of wool, silk, silver and gold thread.  On the right are scenes from Pope Urban VIII's life as pope.  On the left are tapestries depicting the life of Jesus.


Right wall

Left wall
















Left wall-Slaughter of the Innocents  Series of 3 tapestries.  Tells the story of how King Herrod ordered all the male babies under the age of 2 to be killed.

Left wall-Resurrection of Christ

Right wall

Right wall





Left wall



Galleria delle Carte Geografiche/Maps.  Dramatic when lights turned on.  Extremely long corridor that seems to go on and on.  Frescoes on both sides of maps depicting Italy.  Lands Tyhrennian coast on the left.  Adriatic coast on the right.  Featuring different regions of Italy including Corsica and Sardinia.  Also important battles-Battle of Lepanto, Siege of Malta.......




Before the lights turned on

After the lights turned on






















Map of Sicily








I'm looking out the window-7:04 am


























Leaving this room




Sala Sobieski.  Large canvass by Polish painter Jean Matejko.  Victory of the Polish king John III Sobieski against the Turks  in Vienna in 1683.














Victory of Sobieski over the Turks





Sala dell'Immacolata Concezione.  Walls painted with fresco cycle that has the Immaculate Conception as its subject.  Painted by Francesco Podesti between 1885 and 1864.  He also painted the ceiling frescoes.  Large display case. 



































Stanze di Raffaello.  Originally created as a suite of apartments for Pope Julius II della Rovere.  There are 4 rooms-Hall of Constantine, Room of Heliodorus, Room of the Signatura, and the Room of the Fire in the Borgo.  The only room we saw was the Signature room.  Wish I had known there were more rooms as I would have returned to them after our tour was over.  Oh well.  The frescoes depict various religious and mythological stories.  His most important masterpiece is the frescoes "The School of Athens" which we see.  Truth, Good, and Beauty here.  
















Disputation over the Most Holy Sacrament-theology.  God the Father, and Christ between the Virgin and St. John the Baptist.  Patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament alternated with apostles and        martyrs sit in a hemicycle on the clouds.  On the ground at the sides of the altar on which the Most Holy Sacrament dominates you can see the Militant Church.








School of Athens-In the center Plato points finger upward and holds his book Timeus.  He's flanked by Aristotle with Ethics.  Diogenes is lying on the stairs with a dish and Heracleitus is leaning against the block of marble writing on a sheet of paper.  Euclid on the right side is teaching geometry to his students.  Zoroaster represented holding the heavenly sphere while Ptolemy is holding the earthly sphere.  




Raphael painted himself here seen in the black/green hat





















Don't remember this room but I did take a few pictures.
























Cappella Sistine/Sistine Chapel.   Named for Pope Sixtus IV della Rovere who was pope from 1471-1484.  Main chapel in the Vatican Palace.  Portraits of Popes.  Frescoes by some of the finest artists of the 15th and 16th centuries.  The 12 paintings on the side walls by artists Perugino, Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, and Signorelli show parallel episodes from the life of Moses and of Christ.  Michelangelo-great altar wall fresco The Last Judgment.   This painting shows the souls of the dead rising up to face the wrath of God.  Pope Paul II Farnese chose this as a warning to Catholics to stay true to their faith in the turmoil of the Reformation.  Michelangelo frescoed the ceiling for Pope Julius II between 1508 and 1512.  The main panels depict the Creation of the World and Fall of Man.  Rebirth of mankind with the family of Noah.  Stories from Genesis.    They are surrounded by subjects from the Old and New Testaments-except for the Classical Sibyls who are said to have foreseen the birth of Christ.  The ceiling was restored in the 1980s revealing vibrant colors.  We are given a chance to try to pick the right key to open the door.  This door is very plain.  Unfortunately I don't pick the right key.  We enter the room.  We'll have 30 minutes in here.  Then-big surprise!  We're told we can take pictures but only until the lights go on.  Everyone is busy, busy taking pictures.  It's very dark so most of my pictures and my husband's don't turn out that well.  Lots of them were very blurry.   But we did get a few that I thought weren't that bad.  We also can get a chance to open the door after the fact!  Seeing this room was surreal for me.  My husband told me he thought it would be a larger room.  It's better to see this masterpiece with your own eyes.  Pictures don't do it justice.  In the room with us were 2 photographers-looked to be professionals-taking pictures.  This place is also where the conclave or gathering of cardinals for the election of the Supreme Pontiff-Bishop of Rome, successor of Peter-occurs.  



Lucky guy picked the right key!



The door to enter this amazing room is pretty nondescript

















The Last Judgment


I edited this just by lighting it up a tiny bit


This picture of The Last Judgment was taken by my husband and has no editing at all.  His phone took some really nice pictures in the dark!




Michelangelo's ceiling










Center, top to bottom-Creation of Eve, Creation of Adam, Separating Waters from Land, Creation of the Sun and Moon, God Dividing Light from Darkness.  This picture and the next one below were taken just as the lights were turned on so the colors are much nicer.  



Center top to bottom-part of the Sacrifice of Noah, Original Sin, Creation of Adam


And the lights go on so no more pictures being taken

















Sala degli Indirizzi/Room of Messages/Tributes.  No one volunteers to open this door so I do even though I've opened a door earlier.  Used to store messages in this room.  Gifts and cards that dignitaries and heads of state would give to the Pope.  Medals, diplomas...  Collections from the Vatican Library's Museum.  Chalices, patens, and other liturgical items that go back centuries.  


















































Room of Tributes-now contains silverware, ivories, enamels, vestments, chalices, crosses and religious objects from every era and type documenting tendencies and preferences in papal patronage throughout the centuries.  












































Museo Cristiano.  Founded by Pope Pius IX in 1854.  Various works of Christian antiquity.  Cabinets designed to display the items.  Heritage of faith and culture of Christians.  






























Ceiling

































Round of applause for the 2 Key Masters who walked with us




Gift Shop.  As we're walking through the rooms of the Christian Museum we come upon this gift shop.  Postcards, rosaries, all sorts of items.  I buy a rosary for 10€/$10.72.          But I forget to buy a postcard and a Vatican stamp for mailing it to the US.  There is a post office here where you can send mail with official Vatican stamp.  





Simple rosary I bought



Pinecone Courtyard.  My husband and I came here with the intent of getting breakfast but were informed only those with tickets for the Vatican Museum which included breakfast were allowed to be here.  The other place to get food still inside the museum doesn't open for another hour and we don't want to wait that long.  In hindsight we should have returned to the Raffaello Rooms and then could have had something to eat here.  Oh well.  The Pinecone Courtyard connects the main galleries leading to the Sistine Chapel with the Pio Clementino and Braccio Nuovo Galleries.  Sphere Within a Sphere-modern.  Artist Arnoldo Pomodoro.  This reflects our outer selves or the world we show to others and also our inner self.  The Pinecone-bronze.  Massive.  2nd century A.D. may have been built as part of a fountain.  Up close can see many holes where water could have poured out.  By now we're both tired and hungry.  We had such an early start to our day and I function better after coffee!  Even though we had tickets for the papal audience that I forgot to bring we could have just walked over to St. Peter's Square.  But I really need coffee so we decide to leave and take a taxi to breakfast at Coming Out.


Sphere Within a Sphere

People waiting to go in for breakfast before their tour



Pinecone










It's now 8:30 am

Another gift shop just before we exit



















Walking to get a taxi





















Coming Out.  Breakfast.  Taxi from Vatican area (we had to walk a bit).  Cost 19.60€/$21.01.    Since it is 9:30 am we have more choices than just the brunch menu.  In the case are pastries.  I order orange juice, cappuccino, and a filled cornetto.  It was really good.  Filled with apple maybe?   My husband orders a cappuccino and from the brunch menu-the speciale which is fried eggs, mushrooms, sausage, roasted potatoes, and toasted bread.  Cost 30€/$32.16.  We're feeling revived and decide to do some more sightseeing instead of just going back to the hotel.  We walk around the corner where we can find a taxi.  


Coming Out






Cornetto, orange juice, and cappuccino



Speciale



Santa Maria Maggiore.  UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Built to celebrate the Virgin Mary.  We take a taxi from breakfast cost 7€ and I pay cash as I don't want to put such a small amount on the credit card.  Blend of architectural styles.  Colonnaded nave is part of the original 5th century building.  The Cosmatesque marble floor and Romanesque bell tower with its blue ceramic roundels are medieval.  Renaissance-new coffered ceiling.  Baroque-twin domes and front and rear facades.  Famous mosaics.  Biblical scenes in the nave are 5th century.  Bernini is buried here.  We spend a little over an hour here.

Taxi from breakfast to the church













In the Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore is this column-bronze of the Virgin and Child was added to the column in 1615.  The column came from the Basilica of Constantine in the Forum.














































Cosmatesque floor



Coffered ceiling-gilded, a gift of Alexander VI Borgia at the end of the 15th century.  The gold is said to have been the first brought from America by Columbus.




Baldacchino 1740s  Columns of red porphyry and bronze were the work of Ferdinando Fuga












Aspe of the basilica.  Mosaics.






Altar of Sistine Chapel and Oratory of the Nativity




















Bernini is buried here






Pope Pius IX in prayer.  Pope from 1846 to 1878.



















Reliquary of the Holy Crib.  








Borghese Chapel with famous icon of the Virgin Mary known as Salus Populist Romani or Health of the Roman People due to a miracle in which the icon reportedly helped keep plague from the city.  The icon is at least a thousand years old and according to tradition was painted from life by St. Luke the Evangelist using the wooden table of the Holy Family in Nazareth.





















































Wraps for those to cover the shoulders














Our taxi from the church to go back to our hotel





























Pool time.  We arrive back to the hotel around 12:00 pm.  We decide to not do any more sightseeing today.  Going to just relax by the pool.  We spend several hours enjoying the coolness of the water that provides some relief for our aching bodies especially our legs.





Ad Hoc.  Dinner.  We take a taxi at 7:15 pm from our hotel.  Cost 9.70€/$10.40.  There's 2 locations.  The one I chose is by the Circo Massimo.  The other is by Piazza del Popolo.  Our reservation is for 7:30 pm.  This place has a very cool decor.  The walls have displays of mostly wine bottles and other liquors.  Nice table with comfortable seats.  Menu is varied and also offers different tasting menus.  Complimentary champagne.   I get a glass of house wine and Richard gets a beer.  Water.  Plenty of different breads.  Complimentary appetizer.  We order fried zucchini blossoms which are filled with seasonal mushrooms and ricotta cheese and asparagus.  We get 2 on the plate-one of each kind.  Yummy!   I haven't tried carbonara yet so I select cubed carbonara.  It's carbonara 3 ways-classic, with crispy bacon, and seasonal mushrooms with black truffle.  It was very good-filling.  I liked the classic version best.  Richard orders the catch of the day but I didn't write it down so haven't a clue as to what it was or what came with it.  He said it was very, very good.  Not what he expected but tasty nonetheless.  Too stuffed for dessert but surprise!  Complimentary plate of cookies.  They were so, so good.  Then another gift-small bottle of Ad Hoc olive oil.  This place rocks!  Cost 88.30€ but since I made our reservation through the website The Fork we get a discount!  Cost 80€/$85.76.  Both food and service were excellent.  Taxi back to our hotel cost 13.50€/$14.47.  I'll never understand how it's cheaper to get to the restaurant from our hotel than to return.  Time of return is 9:40 pm.  Do the rates go up after a certain time in the evening?? 


Entrance





Complimentary champagne































Bread

Complimentary appetizer

Bread



Appetizer-fried zucchini blossoms









Drinks-beer and house wine



Cubed carbonara

Catch of the day


Complimentary bottle olive oil

Complimentary dessert-cookies































































Taxi back to our hotel









What a day we've had!  I'm bummed that I forgot to buy a postcard, stamp, and mail it to myself from Vatican city.  Senior moment and heat and hurting legs taking their toll on me.






















































































































































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A bit about us.  My husband and I are both retired.  We like slow and easy travel best due to our age and physical shape.  My husband will b...