Last day in Rome

October 10, 2022

Sunday October 9 - 2nd day of Rick Steves tour, first full day.

We headed out at 830 this morning as a full tour group and walked about 15 minutes to our Capitoline Museum destination. But first we stopped and talked about how Romans hate the Victor Emmanuel monument( which I liked and took many pictures of). He was their first king. They say it is ugly, but they also know that it and the roadway around it sits on top of many ruins, that now can’t be excavated. It was an interesting thought.

Then we spent about 2 hours in the Capitoline Museum with a fabulous guide - Francesca. Christine and I had her as a guide for other things back in June . She would agree that Francesca is the best guide ever! She is passionate and makes everything that she talks about come alive! She made a walk through a museum - fun and interesting. For example, the piazza outside and part of the buildings that houses the museum were designed by Michelangelo. It was also supposedly the first public museum.

Afterwards, we walked a short distance to what is called the Jewish Ghetto. It is not run down in any way now, but it is the area where in 1555, all Roman Jews, about 2000 of them, were forced by the pope to move in this 4 block area. It was gated and they were locked in at night. It has a long and horrible history that I won’t get into here, but look it up if you are interested. This area is still mostly Jewish, and it is a very popular place to visit with unique shops and kosher foods and restaurants. I ate lunch here with some people from the tour.

The rest of the day was free and I took the opportunity to travel up to a high hill and beautiful park overlooking the city, then I wandered through more city streets that were overflowing with people. There were restaurants, street musicians, tourist traps, outdoor bars, family and tourists intermingling and it just had a great atmosphere.

Tomorrow we head out of Rome and into the countryside. I am so glad I came back here a few days early to enjoy the sights and sounds of Rome.

Street view on walk to museum

Since I wrote about it above, here is the Victor Emmanuel monument, the first king of Italy. I probably already posted a picture of it, but…. Why not!!

Our tour group on the way to the museum. On the balcony on the building in the background is where Mussolini used to give his speeches.

Our guide for the day, Francesca, describing “how” to look at art. In this huge head guy, we were supposed to imagine him on a body in a large 30 meter high recess in a grand entrance hall or a Basilica.

400BC head (bust was added later) Capitoline Museum .

I was doing crazy eyes with him!

This is a picture taken from the Capitoline Museum, looking through some stone pillars and looking down on the Roman Forum. The forum is the old over 2000 yr old Main Street that eventually heads to the roman colosseum .

This is the only bronze emperor left on a horse from Ancient Rome in the world - the rest have been melted down. This original has been on display for 1900 years, and except for the last 40 years or so, has been outside. Even though most bronze statues, especially non Christian ones, were melted down, This one, Marco Aurelio, was never melted down because they thought he was Constantine and was a religious statue.

Silly statue on a sarcophagus

Wall is from 500BC and part of the original temple that the Capitoline museum building was built around. The bronze in the background is Hercules (not bc).

The Porticus Octaviae is an ancient structure in Rome. The colonnaded walks of the portico enclosed the temples of Jupiter Stator and Juno Regina, as well as a library. The structure was used as a fish market from the medieval period up to the end of 19th century.

Where 2000 Jews were gathered on Oct 16 1943, and shipped off to Auschwitz

Tripping stones. Christine had posted these before on our other trip. Throughout Europe, these stones are placed in front of the house where these Jewish people lived before they were taken by the Nazis. It is their way of keeping their memories alive.