The Best of Italy: Rome, Florence, Venice

 

I had a wonderful time on The Best of Italy tour.  It was my 51st program with Road Scholar.  Click on the tab to see the entire list. We've met several RS 'centenarians' over the years and one man who'd been on 150+.  My parents went on a dozen Elderhostels (as it was then known) so I am second generation.

Saturday, October 11:   overnight flight from O'Hare to Rome.  

Sunday, October 12:  Seven of our 19-person group arrived around the same time (one on my flight, the others on different flights). The Road Scholar driver took us to the hotel and we all checked in to the Hotel Diana about noon.  Since the official welcome wasn't until 4:30 p.m. there was time for lunch and a little exploration.  Five of us had lunch at a restaurant down the street from our hotel and got to know one another.                                        

There was a very old and very huge brick structure around the corner so we went to see what it was.   The Diocletian Baths were the largest of the imperial baths. The site is now part of the Museo Nationale Romano. We walked around the grounds but didn't have time to go in.

  Our group of five then went to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. We went through the Holy Door that is open this year. (When Stevens and I were in Quebec in 2013 the basilica had a Holy Door.) Pope Francis is buried here.

From the Jubilee 2025 website: "Passing through the Holy Door expresses the decision to follow and be guided by Jesus, who is the Good Shepherd. The door is a passageway that ushers the pilgrim into the interior of a church. For the Christian community, a church is not only a sacred space....it is a symbol of the communion that binds every believer to Christ: it is a place of encounter and dialogue, of reconciliation and peace which awaits every pilgrim, the Church is essentially the place of the  community of the faithful."  

My roommate had arrived when we got back to the hotel.  (RS will assign roommates for single travelers if they request.) Janet is from Texas and we got along well.    There were 19 in our group from Colorado, California, Kentucky, North Carolina, Indiana, Minnesota, Florida, Georgia, Texas, and four from Illinois.  (There were some small world coincidences that I'll write about further down.)    The group leader, Cristina, was excellent. She's from northern Italy and has been a tour guide/coordinator for 25 years.  

Monday: walking tour of the Forum and the Colosseum. So much history. I understand the centuries-long fascination. Modern archaeological excavations began in the 1880s and of course they are still uncovering layers and finding artifacts. 

We arrived early (8:30 a.m.) for the Forum but by the time we left it was mobbed. We didn’t go into the Colosseum but our guide told us about it from the vantage point of a convenient place whose name completely escapes me.  

 At the Museo del Foro (on the Forum grounds).  The halo, or nimbus, is square because the person was still alive.  Round haloes are for the dead.  

After lunch together at a restaurant we returned to the hotel in time for a lecture by a retired professor (Italian) who told us about the history of Rome and Italy.  He was entertaining and informative.    

We had dinner at a restaurant near the hotel. 

Tuesday, October 14, morning:   walking tour with local guide Giulitta.   Spanish Steps (which are actually French). Trevi Fountain. Pantheon.

Lower right: the oculus (eye) in the dome of the Pantheon.  

There's a big crowd along the fence at the Trevi Fountain and a long, long line to get to it.  We didn't get close enough to toss any coins.

Guide Giulitta at one of the many public drinking fountains in Rome.  Their water is excellent--a millenia-long reputation. 

I kept up with the NYT games each day. These were Wordle and Worldle for Tuesday.  Good omens!  

Tuesday afternoon:  Tours of the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s were on our own. One couple and I got our tickets for Tuesday afternoon (several others did for Wednesday).  They booked a different reservation than I did (I used the official Vatican and StP websites). So once the taxi dropped us off we split up. I was on my own. And, whew, I made it!   

Entry to the Vatican Museums. 

It is timed entry and they scan purses and bags. I booked a guided tour. Once I got in and presented my ticket it was just a few minutes wait for the 3:00 group to assemble (from Austin, Germany, Scotland, Slovakia, a couple of others, me). Very pleasant guide. We had Whisper audio —totally necessary because the place is mobbed with dozens of other tour groups at the same time.

I saw a small part of a huge art collection. Much of came from early popes who were from wealthy families and brought family treasures with them. The Sistine Chapel was magnificent but photos are strictly forbidden. I know there are books about these places and I’ll check them out to learn more about what I saw.  

 Part 2: St. Peter’s Basilica.  "Right next to the Vatican" but actually a 12-minute walk.  Another looonngggg line, timed entry, bag scan. But once inside:  wow. They were setting up chairs in the plaza for a papal audience the next day.  Thousands more would be standing.  This is a jubilee year so there are more pilgrims than usual (and "usual" is a tremendous number anyway). 

Center top: a baldachin is a decorative canopy; this over St. Peter's term. Right center: a confessional. 

The Pieta 

The Pieta has been behind a barrier since it was vandalized in 1972. 

I took a cab and got back to the hotel about 7:30 p.m. 

 Wednesday, October 15, morning: Borghese Gallery. Cardinal Scipione Borghese was an avid art collector (especially Caravaggio) and a patron of Bernini. The villa was partly a summer retreat but also a museum to house his collections. 

Treasures at the Borghese.   

Lower right: St. Jerome, Bible translator and patron saint of librarians.  

 

Wednesday afternoon: lunch on our own and free time. Janet and I walked to the Capitoline Museum, about a mile. We had lunch at a restaurant along the way. (There are restaurants everywhere).

Looking out (and down) from Capitoline Hill

The Capitoline Museum is on Capitoline Hill very near the Forum and the Colosseum, but obviously very much uphill. It opened to the public in 1734. Collections include Roman sculpture and Renaissance paintings. New displays recount the archaeological research ongoing since the 1880s.

The gigantic statue is the Colossus of Constantine.   Center:   Romulus, Remus, and the she-wolf (who does have a head, but not in the photo). Lower right: a chariot. 

Busted! 

We walked back along the Forum to the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains).  It was built to house the relic of the chains that bound Peter in the prison in Jerusalem. The original structure from the sixth century has been expanded and renovated many times. The two side aisles are being worked on now.   

 In addition to the chains the church is home to Michelangelo’s sculpture of Moses.

Top: the reliquary.  Left: the baldachin over the reliquary.  

 

Several links have been given to other churches named for St. Peter. One is in Rutland, Vermont. 

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This was not the only sideways parking that I saw.   

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Thursday, October 16:   we traveled from Rome to Florence on the Frecciarossa—high speed train.  1-1/2 hours, half the time of driving.  

Photo: countryside seen from the train.

After lunch in our hotel we checked into our rooms.  The Hotel Rivoli is a former convent, quite old, and the rooms are different sizes and configurations. Our room was spacious.   

We had free time to explore.  Old downtown Florence is very walkable.  It was only a few blocks to the Piazza Santa Maria Novella and I had enough time to go inside the church. It was established by the Dominicans in 1279 and completed in 1420.   Beautiful frescos and stained glass.

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Motorcycles parked along a street in Florence.

Florence is more compact than Rome (particularly the historical old city).  There's a lot less traffic.  

 

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Friday, October 17:    guided tour of the Baptistery, the Cathedral, and the Duomo Museum. Mosaics and sculpture and frescoes and painting and bronze doors!

Brunelleschi won the commission to build the dome (1420-1436). It is an architectural wonder and is still the largest masonry vault in the world.   People can climb 463 steps to the viewing platform.  (We did not.) 

 The exterior is both white and green marble.  Pieta by Michaelangelo with Jesus, the two Marys, and Nicodemus.  Left:  Penitent Mary Magdalene. Baptistry dome.  Bronze doors.   Lower center: entrance to the 463-step staircase.

Later on Friday morning we visited  to a jeweler and leather shop—the really, really good goods, not the stuff available in every little souvenir stand.  

Mary Ann and Janet modeled.  

Then lunch on our own and some free time.  Adrien and I had great salads at a restaurant on the Piazza Santa Croce and then gelato from the best gelateria in Firenze (recommended by our group leader).

Thus fortified, Adrien and I went to the Bargello Museum.   Built in the 13th century, used as a prison and police headquarters, it's been a museum since 1865 for Renaissance sculpture and Florentine decorative arts. Blissfully uncrowded! 

What I wanted to see was the chair with the original Bargello needlepoint. The guard said when someone asked to see it she didn’t realize its importance to embroiderers; she knew it as “punto ungarico” or Hungarian point. Now she’s learned how to do it.  

Among the many treasures at the Bargello.  

After the Bargello Adrien and I joined the rest of the group with a guide at the Galleria dell' Accademia for 4:00 p.m. admission.  They had very elaborate and effective crown control, much needed and well worth it. 

Michaelangelo used a less-than-ideal block of marble.  The statue was intended to be placed near the top of the Duomo (cathedral) and viewed from below, hence the disproportionate hands. But the officials decided it would not be appropriate to have a nude atop the cathedral. (Other records say that it was far too heavy to hoist up that high.) Instead it was hauled a half mile to the Piazza Della Signoria. It was outdoors until 1873 when it came to the Accademia.   

 We didn't get this close to his head. Our guide showed us this picture--heart-shaped pupils! 

The Accademia also houses the Museum of Musical Instruments. 

Harpsichords, clavichords, Amalfi and Stradivari. Top center: a hurdy-gurdy.  Bottom left: some kind of horn. 

 

 

 

Saturday, October 18,  morning: an art historian (faculty at the Syracuse Florence program) proved us with a Highlight of the Uffizi lecture. We then walked to a restaurant for lunch and to the Uffizi Museum for timed entry at 3:00. We used the prof’s handout for a self-guided tour.

Uffizi means “office” and the building was built (1560-1581) to hold Cosimo de Medici’s administrative offices. It also housed the Medici family art collection. In the centuries since its collections have grown. It is the most-visited art gallery in Italy.

 

Botticelli: Venus and Primavera.

We went through the Uffizi at our own pace but this group of us stayed together. 

After the Uffizi, with some free time.  Arno River and the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge). The first bridge at this site was in Roman times. The bridge is lined with shops and tourists. We crossed it, walked some more, and got a treat from a gelateria.   (The gelato was better than the place the day before.)

Lower right: along the Ponte Vecchio. The shops are two-story. 

Sunday, October 19:   up early to board the Frecciarossa to Venice.   The train was delayed and then cancelled.  Cristina, our resourceful tour leader, was able to get us tickets for another train. We only lost an hour.  The Principe Hotel was in walking distance of the train station.

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Venice is entirely  car-free.  All services come by water, including police/fire/ambulance, deliveries, and even garbage collection. The boats pull up to the dock and everything is offloaded to handcarts.  People who live on the mainland and work in the old city can drive to a huge parking garage and then commute in by vaporetto (ferry). (The name comes from the steam engines that powered them before diesel.) 

Left: a garbage boat hoisting a bin at the canal outside our hotel. 

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I took a short walk in the neighborhood, making sure not to turn too many corners lest I get lost. I went into  the Church of St. Lucia and a park.  

We gathered in the hotel meeting room for a lecture about Venetian history.  The presenter was American, a faculty member at one of the (many) American university study-abroad campuses.  

There was time for a walk before dinner (the earliest we dined anywhere was 6:30).   A couple of people wanted to see the Jewish ghetto so that was our destination.  

The first ghetto anywhere was established in Venice in 1516.  Venice was a very cosmpolitan trading center and Jews were welcome but with some restructions.  The word "geto" means foundry, which was what was on the site.  It was chosen because there was no church in that campo (square). The multistory apartment buildings accommodated a dense population. Gates closed at night. Though the restrictions were lifted in 1797 the neighborhood is still a center for Jewish life and culture.  

Top left: there's a cistern/pump in every campo (square) and the water is potable.  Center left: a synagogue.  Center: blown-glass rabbis. Right: the tall apartment buildings. No elevators!

 

Monday, October 20:  we boarded the vaporetto and went along the Grand Canal for a guided tour of the Basilica of San Marco and the Doge’s Palace. Magnificent!!! First: the Basilica. St. Mark is the patron of Venice.

Exterior.  Were we here in May/June the plaza would be full. 

 Interior.  Golden tesserae (mosaic tiles) glitter.

These horses came from Constantinople in 1204.  They once stood above the entrance to the basilica.  They are now indoors with replicas outside.  

On the balcony at St. Mark's 

The Doge's Palace is adjacent to the Basilica of St. Marco with a passageway connecting the two.    The Doge was the elected duke/governor of Venice.  

The palace housed the city council chambers, the courts, the prison ..... and huge, mural-sized paintings. First structure built 1310. Rebuilt 1340. Additions and remodeling over the centuries.  It's been a museum since 1923.  

 

The Bridge of Sighs where prisoners were marched from the courtroom to the prison.  The 'letterbox' allowed witnesses to anonymously pass information to the judges.  Lower: a prison cell. 

Before lunch we went to a glassblowing demonstration by one of the Murano companies who have a showroom a short distance from St. Mark’s. This is the good stuff, not tourist tchotchkes. Yes, shopping followed. Then lunch on our own ( most us went to a pizza place).    

Afternoon:   "Who would like a gondola ride?" Cristina asked.  We all did, so she got tickets for everyone.  Bucket list check off!    Our gondolier, Luca, was 8th generation and his son is a gondolier, too. (The ride is 30 minutes.)

 Lower left: mussel shells on a foundation. 

Tuesday, October 21  : Venice in the rain. Umbrellas out! (It turned out that I used everything I brought.) We walked to the Basilica is Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. The Franciscan monastery and church were completed in stages and  consecrated 1492. It is still a parish church. I’d say it was filled with monuments and chapels but it is so huge that it it can’t be actually full.  

 Top left: Bellini.  Bottom right: Titian. Lower left:  reliquary containing drops of Christ's blood. Center:  choir stalls.  

The monuments are truly monumental.  Top right: Pesaro Madonna by Titian.  Center: closeup of the Pesaro Madonna. The boy is Leonardo Pesaro. His eyes follow the viewer. 

We had a free afternoon but because of the rain it wasn't a good day to explore.  We saw the fish and produce markets. Our small group found our way to the vaporetto (ferry) and went 2 stops back to the hotel.  

Bottom left:  chestnuts in burrs (husks).

Our farewell dinner was at the hotel.  It was so nice to recap the week with our travel companions and new friends. 

Wednesday, October 22:   Foggy morning.   We took water taxis to the airport.   Checkin and security were swift. 

I flew from Venice to Munich to Chicago. Everything went smoothly.

I walked in the door at 8:00 p.m.  Home, with wonderful memories of the trip.  

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The group in Rome.

Some small-world coincidences:  Mary Ann was on the same flights as mine. She's a former school librarian who lives in the town next to my sister (west of Chicago).  Gail, who now lives in Louisville, lived in Zion in the early 1970's and was a reporter for the Zion-Benton News.  Bucky is a musician and historian whose specialty is American folk music and the labor movement (think Woody Guthrie). I recognized him (the tall white-haired man on the right) because he is on the Illinois Humanities Council speakers bureau and performs at schools, libraries, etc. statewide.  He and his wife live in Chicago and are familiar with the Zion area.  

A few snapshots.  

Umbrella pine or stone pine, pinus pinea.  Pine nuts come from these trees.  They grow this way!   

Book stall in Rome 

Sewing machine at the jewelry/leather store.

Dance at a Wedding Party, 1450

Rose-ringed or monk parakeet in Rome.  The birds escaped from aviaries in the 1970s and 80s and established breeding colonies in city parks.