tour di Roma! part one

 Hey ya'll,
   I know it's been awhile since I last updated, but I'm about to make it up to ya'll. I'm updating today/tonight about our trips into Rome the past few days. We've all been super busy with Experts of the Day and our Scavenger Hunt. Below are all the places we visited on our first day into Rome. The second update will be our second day in Rome, and the thrid update will be today's Scavenger Hunt and what I have to say about it all. Thanks for reading!

{Capuchin Crypt}

Capuchin Crypt...yep that's all bones.

• The Capuchin Crypt is a small space comprising several tiny chapels located beneath the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini.
• It contains the skeletal remains of 4,000 bodies believed to be Capuchin friars buried by their order.
• When the monks arrived at the church in 1631, they brought 300 cartloads of deceased friars. Fr. Michael of Bergamo oversaw the arrangement of the bones in the burial crypt.
• Bodies had to be buried typically 30 years before they could be dug up.
• There are six total rooms in the crypt, five featuring a unique display of human bones believed to have been taken from the bodies of friars who had died between 1528 and 1870.
• Crypt of the Resurrection, featuring a picture of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, framed by various parts of the human skeleton. The key to interpreting the crypt's displays of funereal art lies in the Christian belief in the Resurrection of the body and everlasting life.
• The Mass Chapel, as an area used to celebrate Mass, does not contain bones. The chapel contains a plaque with the acronym DOM, which stands for Deo Optimo Maximo ("To God, the Best and Greatest"), a term initially used to refer to the pagan god Jupiter but claimed by later Christians. The plaque contains the actual heart of Maria Felice Peretti, the grand-niece of Pope Sixtus V and a supporter of the Capuchin order.
• Crypt of the Pelvises.
• Crypt of the Leg Bones and Thigh Bones.
• Crypt of the Three Skeletons each soul resembles something and the plaque in the middle says What you are now we used to be; what we are now you will be..."

(via Elizabeth Verdone)

Mouth of Truth

{Bocca della Verità}

[the mouth of truth]

• Carved from Pavonazzetto marble.
• Takes the shape of a man.
• Known to be a lie detector in ancient times, now just a tourist spot for many to come take pictures with.
• Thought to be part of an ancient Roman fountain or a drain cover.
• Represents various gods such as Oceanus in particular.
• From the middle ages, if someone told a lie and put their hand in the mouth it would be bitten off “they say”.
• It has appeared in many films such as Audrey Hepburns Roman Holiday.
• There are many replicas some of which are in California, Paris and many electric coin operators at various train stations.
• Been in the church since 1632.
• The legend is from a Roman noble who thought his wife was cheating on him.
• He made her stick her hand in the mouth and before she did a man came out of the crowd and kissed her.  It was a trick because she knew that she hadn’t lied because she announced the only man she has ever kissed is her husband and this man from the street who was her actual lover.
• Her hand was not bitten off and so now it does not carry out the function of a lie detector just a tourist attraction!

(via Alex McCall)

Jewish Ghetto

{Jewish Ghetto}

• The (Roman) Jewish Ghetto in Italia, Ghetto di Roma, was located in the Rione Sant'Angelo.
• Papal Bull, a proclamation and rule issued by the Pope Paul IV in 1555 segregated the Jews in a walled quarter with three gates that were locked at night, and subjected them to restrictions on their personal, professional and religious freedoms.
• The measures that were included in these Papal restrictions, were implemented solely to segregate the Jews from the Christain majority of the population with space and laws.
• Many Jews were led to believe that the restrictions were made to protect the Jews and their beliefs from Christain mobs that were sent to harm them.
• In the revolution 1848, the Ghetto was abolished temporarily.
• Jews petitioned for permission to live there, and were disabled from owning any property even in the Ghetto, and in turn had to swear yearly loyalty to the Pope by the Arch of  Titus.
• The requirement that Jews live within the Ghetto was abolished when the last remnant of the Papal states was overthrown on September 20, 1870.
• Rome tore down the Ghetto's walls in 1888 and demolished it almost completely, before the area was reconstructed around the new Synagogue of Rome.
• The ghetto of Rome was the last remaining ghetto in Western Europe until its later reintroduction by Nazi Germany.
• Now the Jewish Ghetto is one of Rome's most charming, up and coming neighborhoods, with restaurants serving up some of the best food in the city. (Friend Artichokes!)  There is one remaining piece of the Ghetto wall, which was built into the wall of one of the courtyards off the Piazza delle Cinque Scuole.

(via Sallie Robbins)

The whole group on Tiber Island

{Tiber Island}

• The Tiber Island or The Isola Tiberina  is an island in the middle of the Tiber River which runs through Rome.
• It is one of two islands in the Tiber River, the other is located near the mouth of the river.
• The island is linked to the rest of Rome by two bridges, one on each side.
• It was once called Insula Inter-Duos-Pontes which means "the island between the two bridges"
• Tiber Island has long been associated with healing.
• Tiber Island was once the location of an ancient temple to Aesculapius, the Greek god of medicine and healing.
• According to the legend, it was created from the accumulation of mud over the crops that the Romans threw into the river after they had driven Tarquin the Proud, the last king of Rome. 
• Because of its association with medicine, Fatebenefratelli hospital is located on the island.
• In 294 B.C. a plague hit Rome and the island became a place of refuge for those who didn't want to catch it. 
• The Roman Senate as instructed to build a temple so the delegation set sail to Epidauros get the statue of the deity. The delegation put a snake on board and it climbed the ship's mast. When they got back to Rome the snake is said to have gone into the river so the temple was built there. 
• The island is boat shaped because it became so closely associated with that story.
• The island is 270 meters long and 67 meters wide.
• The Ponte Fabricio is the only original bridge in Rome.

(via Katie Whitehurst)

{Trastevere}

Cafe in Trastevere

• Trastevere is the XIII district of Rome, on the west bank of the Tiber, south of Vatican City.
• It’s name comes from the Latin Trans Tiberim, meaning "beyond the Tiber"
• Its logo is a golden head of a lion on a red background, but the meaning is uncertain.
• Trastervere is separated from Rome by the river.
• Trastevere has many narrow cobbled streets lined with medieval houses.
• Trastevere is well known for its nightlife, rich in clubs, pubs, and restaurants.
• The Piazza Santa Maria is the most popular gathering spot, it’s nicknamed the “Piazza that never sleeps”
• They often have street performers entertain crowds with music, fire juggling, acrobatics and comic skits, late into the night.
• Basilica Santa Maria is also on the square and is one of the oldest churches in the area.
• There are 2 American Universities in the area.

(via Brittany Sims)

Piazza Di S.Maria in Trastevere

{Castel Sant’Angelo}

One Statue depicting a Sign of Jesus' Crucifixion

• Also known as the Mausoleum of Hadrian.
• A monument of Rome.
• connected to the Vatican through a fortified corridor of the "small step".
• The castle has been radically changed many times in medieval and renaissance on the right bank.
• Completed by Antonius Pius in 139.
• It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family.
• The building was later used by the popes as a fortress and castle, and is now a museum.
• The tomb of the Roman emperor Hadrian, also called Hadrian's mole,[1] was erected on the right bank of the Tiber.
• Hadrian's ashes were placed here a year after his death in Baiae in 138 AD, together with those of his wife Sabina, and his first adopted son, Lucius Aelius, who also died in 138 AD.
• Following this, the remains of succeeding emperors were also placed here, the last recorded deposition being Caracalla in 217 AD.
• Much of the tomb contents and decoration has been lost since the building's conversion into a military fortress in 401.
• The popes converted the structure into a castle, from the 14th century; Pope Nicholas III connected the castle to St. Peter's Basilica by a covered fortified corridor called the Passetto di Borgo.
• The fortress was the refuge of Pope Clement VII from the siege of Charles V's Landsknechte during the Sack of Rome (1527).
• The Papal state also used Sant'Angelo as a prison.
• Decommissioned in 1901, the castle is now a museum.

(via Rachel Simitherman)

Castel Sant'Angelo

{St. Peter's Crypt}
[vatican]

Vatican

• Located under St. Peter's Basilica that includes several graves and a structure that may have been built to memorialize the location of St. Peter's grave.
• Near the west end of a complex of mausoleums that date between about AD 130 and AD 300. 
• The complex was partially torn down and filled with earth to provide a foundation for the building of the first St. Peter's Basilica during the reign of Constantine I.
• Many bones have been found at the site of the 2nd-century shrine, as a result, two archaeological excavations began. Pope Pius XII started in December 1950 that none could be confirmed to be Saint Peter's with absolute certainty.
• Following the discovery of further bones, on June 26, 1968 Pope Paul VI announced that the relics of St. Peter had been discovered.
• St. Peter’s grave lies at the foot of the aedicula beneath the floor.
• Many of the popes of the Catholic Church are entombed at St. Peter's Basilica. Some of the tombs are up on the main level of the church.
• St. Peter, the first pope, is located in the crypt or Sacred Grottoes, one floor below.
• The crypt has long been a place of pilgrimage for the faithful, but after John Paul II was entombed there in 2005, visitation increased enormously
• The Red Wall, behind St. Peter, early Christian pilgrims scratched prayers, invocations, thanks, or simply their names in Latin. Behind this wall they found a small pocket of a tomb and a box filled with bones that doctrine now holds once belonged to St. Peter. 

(via Me)

Fountain in St. Peter's Square

{Knights of Malta Keyhole}

Knights of Malta Keyhole

• The Keyhole is located on the wooden doors of Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta.
• It is known affectionately by the Romans as the "hole of Rome".
• If you look through the keyhole, you get a perfect view of St. Peter's Dome. It is the key to the garden which is part of a structured design. The bushes on the garden path fan the dome. 
• Originally, the area was a fortified palace belonging to Alberico II.
• In 939, it became a Benedictine monastery.
• At the end of the 1600's, Cardinal Benedict Pamphilj transformed the area into a coffee house.
• In 1765, the famous architect Giovanni Battista Piranesi restored the building. 
• It became the retreat for the Knights of Malta.
• The Knights of Malta were on e of the last surviving orders from the crusade.
• The headquarters of the knights are now in Rome and they are considered to be one of the three nations of Italy. 

(via Leah Rainold)




{Other Places in Rome}

Great interior design shop!

teatro di marcello

Some of us on Tiber Island

to be continued....