One of the big challenges for groups or individuals traveling in Italy is to handle the mob scenes at the Vatican Museum. There are a few sights in Europe (Versailles and the Vatican Museum come to mind) where there’s almost no way to experience it without a constant and raging commotion of tourists. Even in the worst of crowds, these sights are correctly considered “must-sees.” It’s up to a smart tourist (or tour guide) to do whatever is possible to visit away from peak times or get reservations in advance when possible. Even with the crush of crowds, I find the Vatican Museum one of the most exciting in all of Europe. And the adjacent St. Peter’s Basilica is so big, it can handle the crowds (once you get through the security line to actually get in).
There is just one relatively small entrance to the Vatican Museum. You can find it by looking for a long, long line snaking around the towering fortified walls of Vatican City–still an independent country. Only sanctioned Vatican guides are allowed to take groups through the museum, and the tour must use sanctioned whisper systems. You’ll see boxes of these sets–each with a transmitter for the tour guide and 30 or so receivers for each tour member–ready for groups with reservations as they enter.Thankfully the great art is higher than the tallest tourist. After the grand halls showing off some 15 centuries of art collected by the popes–and before the climax of the experience at the Sistine Chapel–you pass through a series of rooms frescoed by Raphael. The Raphael Stanza (or Raphael Rooms) are a great example of how the Renaissance popes embraced the classical, pre-Christian art and philosophy of the ancient world. Here in Raphael’s “School of Athens,” the great Greek thinkers from about 300 years before Christ are celebrated (and are portrayed with the features of the greatest artists of the Italian Renaissance from Raphael’s generation–around the year 1500).Museums across Europe are doing their best to handle the crowds. This sign, with “silence” in Russian and Chinese in addition to English, Spanish, and Italian, is a reminder of a big change in the last few years: Lots of people from emerging economies are tourists, too. Even if most people in Russia or China are too poor to travel, there are huge numbers of economic elites who can and do.Thankfully, the Vatican lets tours (and slippery individuals) slip from the Sistine Chapel out the back and down this grand staircase directly to St. Peter’s Basilica without needing to retrace their steps way back to the museum’s entry. From there, you must literally walk around the country (which is not so small when you’re on foot) to get back to St. Peter’s. Slipping from the Sistine Chapel directly into the basilica is a huge time-saver if trying to visit the museum, Sistine Chapel, and basilica in one go. Thank you Vatican officials for offering this!
As guides, we love the challenge of introducing 25 Americans to a new subway system. While we could hop on our big tour bus, it’s a great and empowering experience for our group–most of whom have never been in Rome and many who’ve never used a big city subway–to learn to do Rome as the Romans do. Here we get to the platform with one minute to spare.
If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.
With just under two days in Rome, our Best of Europe in 21 Days tour needs to be very well designed. We do what I call the “Caesar Shuffle” upon arrival (Colosseum, Forum, Capitoline Hill, and Pantheon). We go together to Campo de’ Fiori and disperse to find dinner on our own before embarking on the romantic night walk (lacing together floodlit spots like Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, and Spanish Steps). The next day is all about the Vatican (with the afternoon and evening free). After two exhausting days, we are ready for the Italian Riviera.
The main street of ancient Rome cuts authoritatively through the heart of the forum today like it did 2,000 years ago. I love to imagine the pageantry that filled this street when generals returned home after successful campaigns with all their booty, plunder, slaves, and caged barbarian kings to the delight of the crowds and the appreciative emperor.Unlike other tour companies that just take the next available guide on the sight’s roster, we carefully select our local guides. Francesca Caruso (who’s helped me with our guidebooks and TV shows, as well as tours, for well over a decade) is one of our favorites. With Francesca as our teacher and the top ruins of Rome as our classroom, our Caesar Shuffle is the best three hours of Roman history you could imagine.Various details help humanize Roman society of 2,000 years ago. I find this a particularly impressive sight: the only original doors from the ancient world still hanging and swinging on their original hinges. You’ll see these when you visit the Roman Forum (assuming you have a good guide or guidebook).
At Rome’s E.U.R., the Museum of Roman Civilization has no actual artifacts, but it does have dozens of rooms full of plaster casts and models which illustrate the greatness of classical Rome. The highlight is a plaster model of Trajan’s Column sliced up and laid out so you can actually see the scenes. The original is one of the first great examples of “continuous narration” — when a relief is carved into a column as if winding a scroll around and around a huge pillar.
If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.
When they call Rome the “Eternal City,” I always think “eternal” means I’ll find visiting it fascinating and rewarding forever. At the risk of offending a billion people, I have to say the city’s cuisine is head and shoulders above any cuisine I’ve experienced so far on this trip.
In a city as densely populated as Rome, only the wealthy have a garden. And even then, it’s likely on the rooftop. Strolling, it’s important to look up as well as out. And when you do, you’ll see intriguing rooftop gardens like this.
In Milan and the north of Italy, it’s long been a tradition for bars to put out little buffets of appetizers which are offered free with a drink during happy hour. The tradition has now traveled south to Rome. Perhaps it’s a sign of the economic challenges faced by local watering holes — and the stiff competition — but now, throughout Rome, you’ll find bars competing by offering enticing buffet spreads free with an €8 drink. That can make for a cheap and tasty light dinner in an otherwise expensive city.
Lately I’ve been thinking that the caliber of politicians has a determinative effect on the well-being of a society. And poor Italy is really struggling. I have a friend who just told me, “We’ll take your losers. After the election, just send them over to us.” Here, comedians are viable candidates. And, I noticed, the local elections in Rome are featuring people who are nothing more than pretty faces. People seem to just vote for the sexiest poster.
Speaking of weak politicians, Benito Mussolini portrayed himself as just the opposite. Given the wacky nature of Italian politics, it’s no wonder that out of desperation, many will vote for a bombastic strong man with big promises. Consider Silvio Berlusconi in our times and Mussolini back in the 1920s. When you’re in Rome, Mussolini’s planned and futuristic city, E.U.R., is a fascinating place to explore. This “people’s palace” (the Palace of the Civilization of Labor), which comes with statues to fit, says it all: Fascism — monolithic, melodramatic, no questions asked — either you’re with us or you’re against us, superpatriotism. It’s potent…and scary. If Hitler and Mussolini had won the war, our world might look like E.U.R.
