Italy, Day 7, May 17, 2024

It was our final day in Italy and we intentionally left it unplanned so that we could see anything else we decided might be interesting but didn't necessarily need tickets for or didn't need to purchase tickets well in advance.  Sometimes it's just nice to see where the day takes you.

And in this case the day took us to the Catacombs. The Catacombs are underground burial places and there are at least 40 of them in Rome. They were used from the second century to the fifth century and were for burying Christians and Jews. Christians didn't believe in burning bodies like the pagans so they needed a place to bury them. The catacombs are made up of a vast labyrinth of underground passages with niches dug out on the sides.  The bodies were wrapped and placed in these niches and the niches were covered with a stone or clay.  Because Roman law wouldn't allow burial in the city wall the Catacombs are all outside of Rome so even though the city has since expanded it was a trek from our AirBnB so we had to take a taxi to get there. We toured the largest one which is the Catacombs of St. Callixtus.  It also happened to be on the Appian Way which is one of the earliest roads in Rome.

The catacombs were cool - literally and figuratively.  It was a little spooky but there were no bones just hundreds and hundreds of niches of all sizes depending on the wealth of the family doing the burying. It definitely made me appreciate a graveyard as I can only imagine how dark and stinky the catacombs were almost 2000 years ago! Also, Saint Cecilia is buried there!

After our tour, we took a taxi back to the city and visited St. John Lateran. It's the oldest public church in Rome.  It was founded in 324AD  and is the catholic cathedral of the Diocese of Rome and is the seat of the Bishop of Rome, who is, of course, The Pope!  

And like every church we stepped into in Rome it was absolutely breathtaking on the inside. Inside were massive sculptures of all the apostles that were made in the 1700's as well as the tombs of 6 popes.

Adjacent to St. John Lateran are the Scala Sancta or the Holy Stairs.  According to Catholic tradition, the Holy Stairs were the steps leading up to the Praetorium of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem and are the step Jesus took on his way to the trial during his Passion. The Stairs were brought to Rome by Saint Helena in the fourth century.

Since the 1700s the marble stairs have been covered over with wooden planks to protect them but there are openings so that you can see the marble.  You are only allowed to ascend the stairs on your knees slowly and pilgrims do it while praying. I had really wanted to do this but wasn't sure if we were going to be able to have the time to do it.  But everything worked out and we were able to pray our way up the steps.  It was a highlight of the trip for me.  I wish that I had a picture of us praying on our knees up the steps but the sign said no photography.  

The wood was relaid over the marble in 2019 but so many people have gone up these steps on their knees  that the wood was already worn down into hollows (like the shape of knees). It was really special to be going up the same steps that Jesus took to his Passion and to some how feel a part of it or at least to feel closer to it.

After this we met up with Sarah's boyfriend, Joe.  If you will recall, he arrived in Italy the same time we did for a study abroad program.  He was meeting us for lunch and to spend the rest of the day with us.

After lunch we headed to the Pyramid of Caius Cestius. We took the train and then walked. It was quite a hike from the city center but it was very cool.  It was built around 12BC as a tomb for Cestius.  He was a magistrate in Rome at the time.  At the time it was built, the pyramid would have been in a field away from the city because no one was allowed to be buried in the city limits.  It is very well preserved now because it was built into the Aruelian Wall around 271AD.  

Even though it is well preserved, the park that it is in is a little unkempt.  There was really no one around looking at it.  It seems forgotten by Rome and it's many tourists.  Although it did undergo renovations in 2015 and has since been opened to the public to go into 1 Saturday a month.  It's just so cool to me that something that was built 12 years before Jesus was born is still standing and we got to see it.

Afterwards we headed to The Baths of Caracalla. We took the train here and walked as well. This public bath house was built around 212 AD and was in operation until the 530s.  It was massive.  It sits on 62 acres and had a daily capacity of between 6,000 and 8,000 bathers.  And apparently could hold 1,600 people at a time.  That's a lot of baths!  :)  There was an Olympic sized pool. There was a hot room and a cold room used to provide hot baths and cold baths and of course,  all of the water was brought in using aqueducts. There were still remnants of all the many tile mosaics on the floors and walls as well. 

There was a lot of walking because these baths were huge and I'm not going to lie, we were all getting tired.  We were up early, had already done a lot of walking and were just exhausted in general.  The baths were very cool but we did the tour ourselves but probably should have gotten a guide.  There weren't a lot of visitors to the baths so it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves (minus a few tour groups).  It was really neat to see.  

After we left the baths, we took the bus back to our AirBnb for a quick rest and then we had appertivo at Hostoria Fratellini near our favorite Piazza Novona and then walked around a little more and found the perfect dinner spot - Trento Quatro, also near Piazza Novona. Dinner was yummy and like every other restaurant we ate at, the vibe was awesome - lots of people, music, good food and pleasant wait staff.  And it didn't hurt that after our meal, the maitre d' brought us all glasses of Prosecco.  If you know me, you know I love Prosecco.  And if it's in Italy and it's free  - it's all the more delicious!

Afterwards we headed back reluctantly to the AirBnB because we knew our time in Italy was over. We were heading out super early the next morning to go home.

 It was such a lovely vacation that 2 and half months later, I am still  thinking back on it daily (every time I look at my lock screen) and feeling so grateful and blessed that we had this time together in Italy.

Fino alla prossima volta...

These images are from the tombs but are not ones I took because there was no photography allowed.


Long dark tunnels with niches on the sides...each niche equals a body or bodies! 

 
The nicer niches meant your family had more money

The obelisk outside of St. James Lateran.  The Romans loved to bring in obelisks from Egypt and this just so happens to be the tallest one in the world. It dates from 15t century BC and was brought to Rome in 357AD It was a symbol of Christianity in Rome

The entrance to St. John Lateran. In typical fashion, it's very unassuming on the outside but so gorgeous on the inside.

The Grand Altar at St. John Lateran

St. Peter

St. James the Greater

St Andrew (You can see by the chairs below the size of these statues!)

St. Thomas

St. John

St. Phillip

St. James the Lesser

St. Bartholomew

St. Matthew (Again, use the people below for size comparison!)

St. Simon

St. Jude










These giant doors are over 2000 years old!.  They were built in 80BC and located in the Roman Curia.  Julius Ceasar would have walked through them on his way to work.  They were moved to this church in the 1600s.








Outside of the Pontifical Sanctuary of the Holy  Stairs

This is a stock photo of the Holy Stairs.  I wish I had asked someone to take our picture going up them because even though the sign says no photos there are plenty of photos on the internet of people praying up them.  Oh well, maybe next time!  ;)

 

This is St. Paul's Gate and is one of the southern gates in the 3rd century Aurelian Wall. The gate has since been separated from the wall and now looks like a castle.

Me, Dan, and a cat in front of an Egyptian Pyramid in Rome!

Just a casual street in Rome with an Egyptian pyramid beside it. 

These two are just the cutest. And Joe was very helpful with navigating the bus and trains as he had been using them all week and was a pro! 

Outer walls of the bathhouse.

Interior chambers in the bath house.

This place was massive and my pictures don't convey the size of the bath house.  But it did hold 1600 people at a time so....

Remnants of some of the mosaics

Sarah and Joe

Appertivo time with these cuties!

This appertivo came with salads!  Every place is different.

Santa Maria della Pace.  It wouldn't be Rome if there wasn't always a church in site.  This one was near our dinner spot.

Santa Maria after dinner.

A restaurant on our way back to the AirBnB.  It was very... purple!