Alright, we’ve seen two places now: Chamonix, France; and Massa Lubrense, Italy. Next place? Rome!! Dun bum da duuuun! This by far was my favorite part of the tip. Rome is loaded with so much history, and facts, and cool places, and food, and sights, and people, and – it’s just an amazing place. I can’t wait to tell you about it! Here are 12 highlights from my week in Rome!
1) Exploring the City Right Away!
Boom! Off the train and into the city we go! I love that when we travel with friends, or even alone, we get into it first thing! Within the afternoon, I had seen the Trevi Fountain, Piazza del Biscione (a big market), Piazza Navona, Paranoia, The Pantheon, Piazza di Spagna (the Spanish Steps), and the Roman Subway! Not to mention the afternoon snack of Gelato! Phew, so much walking, but it was all totally worth it. Not only did we get a crazy good amount of exercise, but we also saw so many amazing and freakishly old sights in one of the most historic and famous cities in the world!
2) The Pantheon
Wow wow wow. This building… it made my jaw drop when I first saw it. The building was built by an old rich dude named Marcus Agrippa between 25 – 27 B.C. It was originally a temple dedicated to the twelve main Roman gods and the living man Sovran. The way it looks now is due to a major renovation by Hadrian between 118 and 125 AD. It is the oldest structure in Rome, and it also has a non-reinforced concrete dome! Which is SO cool. Speaking of the dome, the seven rings on the inside of it are said to represent the seven original planets in ancient times. Don’t even get me started on the amazing acoustics in this structure!! It has a full pipe organ inside too. One last fun fact, the Pantheon is the final resting place for many Italian kings!
3) The Appian Way
Constructed in 312 B.C., the Apian Way is still used today and is regarded as one of the most spectacular places in the world. We visited the Apio entrance, which was one of the main ones leading to the heart of Rome. Appius Claudius Caecus holds all credit for building the highway. He wanted to make something that outlived him, but that could be used by both commoners and high officials. Something for everyone to share! It is amazing that we still use the road and roads off of it to this day. Our group was fortunate enough to go for a stroll on the ancient stones – now I might have said stroll, but I actually mean a two-hour walk. We saw so many cool sights along the way including random old structures and a safe house for one guy dubbed “the roundhouse”. We don’t actually know why it was built, but we know that it was built by a man hiding from the ruthless King Henry VII who was out for his head. There are speculations that he built “the round house” as a safe place to hide, or as a monument to God for keeping him alive. It’s quite interesting! So there is some random fact you probably didn’t know. 😉
4) Peter’s Church
Along the Appian Way, we stopped at a super cool church dedicated to The Apostle Peter. Peter was one of Jesus’ most devout followers and it is said that he had a vision of Jesus telling him that he was gonna go back to Rome and get crucified again. When Peter awoke from the vision, he realized that he was the one who had to go to Rome and get crucified. At this church there is a block of… something inside a cage that is said to have Jesus’ footprints from the vision. So Peter went to Rome and was crucified upside down because he didn’t want to be killed like his righteous father and king.
5) Roman Forum
So you know those parts in the city with the worst traffic, and where all of the shops and buildings and cars and all the craziness happens? Well, guess what, they had that back then too! The city center was typically called The Forum instead of “city center” or more community “downtown” these days. Rome had one of the biggest “downtowns” in history! Started in the 7th century B.C. by seven groups of people all living on the seven hills, this is where the highlight of Rome was born.
Another story – which is actually a legend, but I like the sound of it better – is the story of Romulus and Remus. You probably know it, but if not, here’s a summary: two boys were children of a mortal woman and a god: Mars (or Ares for those of us who prefer Greek mythology). The mortal king of the land ordered the boys killed, but their mother saved their lives by putting them in a basket and sending the twins down the Tiber River. They were found by a she-wolf and raised by her command till found by a shepherd and his wife. When the boys were grown, they overthrew the king who ordered their death and decided to make a city on the hills beside the Tiber. The boys quarreled over who would rule, and Romulus ended up killing his brother in a fight. Romulus named the city after him: Rome. And there ends the story!
The Roman Forum served as the hotspot for politics throughout the millennium but was eventually abandoned as other cities became more popular throughout Italy and people ended up leaving. Over the next few hundred years, the great city was grown over by dirt and buried. Then – found again! Now it is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Italy!
6) Colosseum
Ahh! I honestly can’t believe I have the bragging rights now to say that I have actual photos of the Colosseum on my phone. No – I didn’t take these from the internet, they are mine! The Colosseum was built in 72 A.D. during the reign of the Flavian emperors as a gift to the Roman people. It took just 10 years to build, and the mechanics of how it worked are fascinating! First off, yes – the great old structure does look like any other football stadium, and it was used in relatively the same way! Anyone could come to see the great shows of the gladiators (slaves or young men trained to kill or be killed)! In the same way, we have tickets today, they had tickets back then. When you want a seat at the show, you must get a brick with your house number, which section of the stadium you can sit in, and which row then seat you have. The lower/closer to the stage you are, the more wealthy the people are. It was all so organized and proper, it just made so much sense! It’s amazing we still use the same system today! It makes me wonder, will people still use the creations we made today in hundreds of years?
7) Fully Gluten Free Restaurant
Italy… I’m telling you guys. They got it down!! We found this amazing gluten-free restaurant one of our nights, and the whole place was amazing. The waiters were super kind, and not to even mention the food but… I’m not sure how I’m eating in America, I miss the food from Europe so much. I’m putting this specific restaurant on my top 12 for this part because they had the best gf pasta I have ever had. And – I had lasagna for the first time in my life that I can remember. Now I know what you are thinking. “What?!?! Emmy?? How can you NOT have had lasagna by now?? or ever?!?! Huh??” And yes, you would be right. I never have! I tried to make ravioli out of a frozen package once… that didn’t end well. Most of the pasta we have at home is made out of chickpeas or something… not exactly the most delectable thing we’ve ever eaten. But this – this was on a whole other level. I guess I should say levels. Get it? 😀 It was a pork sauce lasagna with extra yummy sauce and a little sprinkle of love and magic. I couldn’t get enough.
8) The Vatican
Ever heard of the great Pope Frances? Yeah, well we got to see his whole country!! How crazy awesome is that?! This awesome place serves as the founding place and home of the Catholic Church. It began with the construction of the famous St. Peter’s Basilica, which houses the Apostle Peter (remember that guy?) in the 4th century A.D. The Vatican City became an independent country on February 11th, 1929 by the Lateran Treaty signed by the Holy See and the Italian government. The area became a popular visitor center over the years as people wanted to see what it was like inside the great city! The city even has its own pharmacy and museum! There are no actual legal citizens of the Vatican State because there isn’t actually a hospital so no babies could be born there… but we got to go inside so many places including the museum, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica!! It was crazy awesome. The museum even has an entire section devoted to the Pope’s cars/vehicles! Pope Francis’s (the current pope) car is named the Pope-mobile! How awesome is that! The best part by far was St. Peter’s Basilica though. This place is the largest church in the whole world!! The dome is the most famous part though, it is the largest dome in the world reaching up to 136.5 meters or 448.1 feet! Its construction started in the 1300s under Emperor Constantine’s rule.
9) DIY Pasta
If you want a fresh taste of Italy to bring home with you along with some skills, take a pasta-making class! This was certainly a highlight For all of us. We spent 2 hours in a kitchen with a professional chef who taught us how to make ravioli, spaghetti, and curl pasta! For those of us who are gluten-free, we just made ravioli in the curl pasta, but those of us who are glutinous in our group made the spaghetti in the ravioli. not to mention the tiramisu we also made! this delicious dessert is an icon of Italy. a delicacy among all the delicious cuisine. tiramisu is fairly simple to make, the only Ingredients you need are vanilla, biscuits, eggs, cream, and some other things I actually can’t remember right now. Nevertheless, it only takes about 2 hours to make with a set time of an hour and a half. maybe even less time for making it! we used.. as our baking extravaganza experience.
10) Trevi Fountain Date Night
Alright… how many of you know teenagers who are dating, not to mention get to go on dates in other countries?? You can add one more to your list! As Mrs. deBlois said to us when we got back “You have reached the Pinnacle of your dating life. This is it. This is the best it’s going to get.” and what was the best? going on a date at the Trevi Fountain in Rome. Now, as you might know, I am a huge sucker for sunsets. and Jacob took me to a super awesome spot with a really amazing view over the whole city of Rome. but the night didn’t stop there. We walked to the Chevy Fountain where we got an incredibly amazing dinner at Pizza at trevi. The gluten-free pizza there is the best pizza I’ve ever had in my entire life. The gluten-free crust was so thick! Well… The thickest I’ve ever seen it before. Jacob even said it tasted like a really good gluten pizza! After dinner, we got gelato at the neighboring store and admired the fountain at night, then headed home. It may not sound like too entirely an eventful night, but let me tell you, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I’ll never forget it. and it is certainly one of the biggest highlights of our whole trip.
12) Shchedryk (Carrol of the Bells)
So, many of you know that the Whitmore family is very musical. Well, we just took it to a whole new level. My sister KB, has been fairly interested in Ukrainian culture lately, which is so cool. She’s become a proficient speaker in the language, and learned the entire alphabet so now she can read Cyrillic, and has even joined a singing group in Ukrainian! Fun fact, did you know that Carol of the Bells was originally a Ukrainian song? Once Kb learned this, she became devoted to learning it. So devoted that she looped the rest of us into singing it! So on our last day in Rome, while we were visiting an art museum, we decided to film Shchedryk on the park lawn! KB even posted it on her YouTube channel! I highly recommend checking it out. don’t forget to subscribe to Kb’s channel for more videos!