Rome on the Silver Screen

Rome has been the setting for many movies, so for our self-created walks I decided to hit some of the places seen in movies such as Roman Holiday, Angels & Demons, and La Dolce Vita, among others.

• Start at Piazza Navona. Right in the center of the piazza is the Fountain of the Four Rivers, which plays a critical role in the new movie directed by Ron Howard, Angels & Demons, based on the bestselling book of the same title by Dan Brown.

When facing away from Sant' Agnese in Agone (the big building with the grand facade that takes up most of the piazza) and the fountain, walk down the little nameless alley and make a left onto Corso del Rinascimento. Cross the street using the crosswalk and stay straight on Via Salvatore. Make a right onto Via Del Dogana Vecchia and walk a little bit to then make a left onto Via Seminario.

• The Pantheon will be straight ahead. This spot is relavant to the Italian NeoRealist film Umberto D. In this movie, Umberto is down on his luck and is forced to ask for spare change, but he runs into an acquaintance and acts as if he was just passing through. It's a sad time for Umberto because he feels like he is losing his dignity along with his pensione.

From the Pantheon, continue down Via Seminario, which turns into Via Caravita. Stay straight and you run right into Via del Corso. Make a right and follow this street all the way until you come to the mouth of Piazza del Popolo.

• In Roman Holiday, Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck spend the day on Via Babuino, another road that leads directly to the piazza. This is an fun experience for Hepburn, since it continues the excitement the two shared the previous night.

From the piazza, walk down Via Babuino, one of the three roads extending from del Popolo. If you continue for a few minutes, you will run right into Piazza Spagne and the Spanish Steps.

• It was here that inThe Talented Mr. Ripley Matt Damon pretended to be his former friend and crush while on a date with a woman, when in reality he had really killed Dickie and only sought to inherit his fortunes.

From Piazza Spagne, walk to the left where the road splits onto Via Due Macelli and turns into Via Trafuro. At about the fourth street on your right, make a right onto Via Arcione. This turns into Via Lavatore and leads you directly to the Trevi Fountain.

• This is probably Rome's most famous fountain, and it is the setting for what many people wish they could do. In La Dolce Vita, Sylvia and her companion Marcello wander the streets around the fountain and happen to stumble across it. She immediately jumps in, calling for him to join her, but as he does the water shuts off, effectively ending the fun night they were having.

Here is the end of the walk, so make sure you throw a coin in the famous fountain to guarantee your trip back to the Eternal City for hopefully many more walks!

1. "In Italy Online - Rome in the Movies." In Italy Online - Hotels in Italy, Villas in Italy, Lodgings in Italy, Traveling to Italy and Information about Italy. 17 June 2009 .

Cittá dei Ragazzi

Instead of having a discussion in class today, we took a field trip about a half an hour outside of the city. We took the public buses, which led us to Cittá dei Regazzi, or Boys' Town. Boys' Town of Italy is a place which houses close to 60 orphaned boys from countries all over the world. It was founded in 1945 by Monsignor John Patrick Carroll-Abbing, an Irish priest in the Vatican Diplomatic Services. It became incorporated in 1951 and is recognized as an American Charity with service abroad.

It was a really interesting place to go; it's sort of like a city within a city, but the boys run where they live. The orphans are responsible for certain chores, such as cleaning their rooms and keeping the main road clean, and also for governing themselves, running the kitchens and shops and keeping themselves organized. The boys go to school and also learn to work with computeres, ceramics, glass, etc.

While we we getting a tour, we met with the mayor of Boys' Town, a 17-year-old from Afghanistan who had been living in the community for two years. He was elected by his peers for a term of two months. Once elected, the mayor gets to choose his cabinet as well. The mayor explained in Italian some of how thier government worked and we got a pretty good translation and picture from our tourguide.

Even though it was extremely hot walking from building to building, I really enjoyed going to see Boys' Town. I think it's a great place for kids to come and learn responsibility and still be able to have fun. It gives them a chance to interact with other young men from similar backgrounds and gives them a chance at a better life than what they most likely would have had.

1. Boys' Towns of Italy, Inc. 14 June 2009 .

Protestant Cemetery

We held class outside the Sede today, and on the agenda was the Aventine Hill area. We went to the top of the hill and got a beautiful view of the city, the Roseto Comunale - a rose garden in the shape of a menorah because it was built over an old Jewish graveyard, and the Knights of Malta priory, which has a keyhole that shows a miniature view of St. Peter's dome lined by trees. All of these were beautiful and definitely worth the walking, and I don't think I would have ever seen these had it not been for our class.


But the first thing we stopped at was really interesting. Right across from the Piramide Metro station is the Protestant Cemetery, where centuries of non-Catholics have been buried. Walking through the cemetery is a very peaceful experience, with birds chirping and room to walk along all of the numbered rows, housing hundreds of headstones. Cats are everywhere; the cemetery is yet another cat sanctuary in Rome, the other being right near Campo de' Fiori. Many of the epitaphs tell of people who were born elsewhere but came to Rome and wanted to rest forever here. I really liked this quote from Longfellow, which pretty much sums up many people's feeling about the city:

"There is the centre to which all gravitates
One finds no rest elsewhere than here.
There may be other cities that please us for a while,
but Rome alone completely satisfies.
It becomes to all a second native land by predilection,
and not by accident of birth alone."

The old cemetery is right next to the new one, but it doesn't hold nearly as many graves in the shadow of the Pyramid that is the memorial to Caius Cestius. It's path weaves in a distorted circle around a central grassy area, and in the upper left hand area is the grave of famed English poet John Keats, whose epitaph reads "Here lies OneWhose Name was writ in Water."

We got to spend about thirty minutes walking throughout the damp grass of the cemetery, and it made me really appreciate my family and the life I get to live everyday.

1. Publishing, DK. Rome (Eyewitness Travel Guides). New York: DK Travel, 2006.

Festa della Republica

This year, I'll get to celebrate two countries' birthdays! In just over a month, I'll be home for Fouth of July barbeques, beach trips, and buddies. But today, while in Rome, we celebrated the 63rd year of Italy as a reublic. In 1946, the citizens of the country voted for a republic over a monarchy by nearly 2,000, officially ending the 85 year monarch.

Instead of going to class this morning, we headed to to Via dei Fori Imperiali to stake out a good spot for the parade. Jackie, Aimee, and I were able to get a view from up on a hill and watch the goings on down below. All different segments of the military marched during the parade, some showing some very unique formal attire.

Although this was the official parade day, the girls and I got a sneak peak Friday night while walking home from Piazza Navona. At around 3am, the main road was closed and we stopped to ask the esercito what was going on. Here, they were having a practice for the main event that took place today. When we walk by security personnel during the day, sometimes they look pretty scary; Friday we were laughing and joking around with them. The carabinieri even pulled us aside for a picture.

I wish the cop who pulled me over in May would have liked to laugh a little bit.

1. "The “Festa della Repubblica” is the Italian national holiday." Welcome to Italian Week 2009 in Brisbane - THE ITALIAN FESTIVAL. 02 June 2009 .

A Really, Really Detailed Recap. Mi Dispiace.

I realized I haven't written about my life in Roma yet, so I'm going to give a recap of what's been going on for the past few weeks.

The first week was a time to settle in, have orientations, start the first few classes, etc. It wasn't too taxing, other than all of us getting our bearings in our new home. We all walked around taking in the sights, trying to see as much as we could as soon as we could. Luckily, I walk by Il Colosseo, Il Foro Romano, and Il Vittorio every day on my way to class, and later that first week a few of my classmates and I went to Il Fontana di Trevi, the Spanish Steps, and Rome's equivalent of 5th Avenue, Via Condotti. That was our first Thursday, and we realized we would miss the Grey's Anatomy season finale. We set out to figure a way to see it, and Sam (housemate) came to our rescue when her dad suggested watching it in real time with a special program. We woke up at 3am to watch 2 hours of American television, something we haven't been able to do since, and without giving anything away, it was well worth it.

That weekend we stayed in the city and went to the Capitoline Museums, climbed the Aracoeli Staircase, and spent some time in Trastevere. All were very cool; I loved seeing the history and conquering the stairs. Sunday I went to Mass at Basilica di San Clemente, and although I couldn't understand anything other than the sign of the cross, I really enjoyed it. The main road, Via dei Fori Imperiali was closed for Race for the Cure, so it was awesome to be able to walk down it without the zooming mopeds or honking cars.

Our second week here we really got into class, discussing our readings and doing our journals and blog entries, but we also took some "field trips" as a class and on our own. We visited the Pantheon, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, and Sant' Ignazio on Tuesday and then the girls all headed to Campo de' Fiori for the open market. After that, Sam, Aimee, Jackie (all roommates) and I went to Piazza del Popolo and Pincio Gardens, which are all the way at the top of the Via del Corso, a main road. On our way back, our tired feet took us to Giolitti, a famous gelato place. Although my order got a tad messed up because I don't understand Italian, it was still delicious. The is, until I ate like a child and spilled some cherry and cream on my white shirt. I'll never learn.

We had big plans for Wednesday, until it became incredibly hot and the thought of planning our weekend took over. The girls and I planned a trip to a town near Sorrento, at Marina del Cantone. Thursday we went to the Vatican to see Saint Peter's Basilica, which was just unbelieveable to actually see it in person. The six students in my program wanted to go to the Museum, but decided to grab lunch first to fuel our bodies for the no doubt long trip inside. After paying at least 10 euro a person for a slice of pizza and a drink, we were told the museum was closed due to it being a Holy Day (Ascension Thursday). We didn't want to leave on such a sour not, so we decided to climb to the top of the dome. After a short elevator ride and 320 winding, narrow steps, we got out and had a panoramic view of the amazing city we are calling home.

Thankfully we didn't have class on Friday so we were able to go away for the weekend. Here is a little recap of how our Friday went:
1. Woke at 4:45 to be out by 5:30 to catch the 6:12 train to Napoli
2. Information boards were broken, so we missed our train, only after just jumping off the wrong one as it started rolling away
3.Finally made a train at 8:15, which went pretty smoothly
4. Took another train from Napoli to Sorrento, filled with an accordion playing teenage gypsy and a breastfeeding woman, both coming right up and asking for money. Also, a third gypsy decided it was too hot so she took off her pants and showed everyone her black training bra and undies
5. Train broke down for 20 minutes, 5 stops from Sorrento
6. Get to the station, only to have to board a bus for what we thought was a 20 minute ride. It was 50
7. Reach our destination, the Villagio Nettuno Resort, only to find that all the restaurants and markets are closed for siesta, and there are hundreds of jellyfish, deeming the sea untouchable
8. Later on, we got some good sandwiches and gelato in our stomachs, shared a bottle of wine, and got ready for a better weekend than our hilariously frustrating Friday

We spent all day Saturday on Isola di Capri, which was absolutely gorgeous. We had to have climbed at least 500 stairs to reach the top of the island and the main town, but it was well worth it. After getting our fill of the town, we headed back down for food and relaxation, and finally some swimming. Saturday night was the same as Friday; we came home from our excursion, showered in our private bungalows, grabbed some pizza (did you expect anything else?), and hung around beautiful scenery.

Sunday was another travel day, although it was admittedly much smoother than Friday. We got back to Termini and our our walk back to the apartment, Aimee, Sam, and I saw Tony Parker and Eva Longoria lunching. We were starstruck and couldn't stop talking about it the whole way home. After almost 60 hours of being away, we were home in Rome and our beds were calling us louder than ever.

Yesterday was a low key day; we had class from 9-11 and broke for about two and a half hours, in which we grabbed some food for our growling stomachs. Joe, Jackie, and I walked around Piazza della Rotunda until we had to get back for a class movie. The computer wasn't working, so we got to go home early where the weekend caught up with me and I hit the bed for a good 3 hours.

Today was a busy one. As a class, we saw the Colosseum, Basilica di San Clemente, and San Giovanni in Laternano. Our two TAs, Mia and Una, our teach Dr. Browne, Jackie and I all decided to go to Scala Santa, the holy staircase. These 28 stairs are said to have been the ones Jesus Christ ascended on his way to Pontius Pilate during his trial, and no feet can ever touch the stairs. They have been covered by wooden boards, and if one wishes to go up the stairs, one must go up on one's knees. Jackie and I decided to do this, and although it hurt a bit, we were both really glad we completed it. After hitting home for some food, Jackie and I went to Palatine Hill, the Roman Forum, and the Colosseum. Unlike during class, we were able to walk inside and throughout these ancient places. Seeing where the gladiators and animal were kept before the fights was pretty ridiculous, and it's hard to imagine such things ever happened.

We came back and were home for about 3 hours before we decided to go to the beach soccer game on Viale Aventino, played between Brasil and Italia. It was an exciting game; Italia came back to tie it at 5, but then Brasil prevailed in extra time. This free game was part of the European Champions Cup week, which culminates in the game between Manchester United and Barcelona tomorrow night.

I apologize for what looks to be a novel, but hopefully now I won't wait two weeks to write about my life. Love and Miss you all!

Papal Prince

The man behind many creations throughout Rome is Gian Lorenzo Bernini, a favorite artist of three popes in a row. He lived from 1598-1680, and during his lifetime created brilliant works of art and planned many spaces which we marvel at today.

One huge impact he had was on the Church, where we can see Bernini's influence right as we step into the Vatican. He designed Piazza San Pietro, where enormous colonnades create the makings of an open circle, welcoming people into the Basilica with the Church's open arms. Inside is his famous baldacchino, a "magnificent canopy of gilded bronze" which stands over the papal altar.

Bernini's work is found in many other piazzas; he not only designed the Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona, but also the piazza itself. His work inspired the Trevi Fountain, and the obelisk in front of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva is held up by the marble elephant he carved to be the base.


Gian Lorenzo Bernini gave so much to the city of Rome, and I think it pays a great deal of respect to him to continuously see people flocking to his creations, even hundreds of years after their beginnings.

1. Publishing, DK. Rome (Eyewitness Travel Guides). New York: DK Travel, 2006.

Basilica di San Clemente

This past weekend I went to my first Mass in Rome. I was excited to be able to go to church here and head to a new chiesa every Sunday to celebrate my religion in the city which is famous for bordering the center of the Catholic faith, Vatican City. I chose to attend Basilica di San Clemente for the sole reason that it was conveniently located near my apartment and I wanted to be able to find it easily so I wouldn't show up late. However, after researching the Basilica, I found out that it is a tourist attraction that many flock to.

What makes this church so unique compared to the others around the city and one that many put on their list of places to see is the fact that is is actuallt three layers, all with a story of its own. One enters through the street level of Via San Giovanni in Laterno into a 12th century church, beautifully kept and a place where Mass is still celebrated. The ceiling shows an intricate Apse Mosaic, Triumph of the Cross, and where Mass is currently held was preserved from where the choir sang in the 6th century.


Go down a level and one reaches the 4th century church, where frescoes detailing the life of St. Clement can be found. It is also where a"deep pit" was discovered, which is thought to be a baptismal font. The street level church was built over the original in 1108. These first two levels are dedicated to this martyred fourth Pope.

The bottommost layer are ancient Roman buildings and a temple of Mithras. Mithraism was an all male cult brought from Persia in the 1st century, which was a rival to Christianity. When the 4th century church was built, the Temple of Mithras was deilberately destroyed but a room used for ritual banquets still remained. The sound of rushing water can still be heard, which is attributed to a lost spring or an ancient aqueduct.

This rich and unique history is definitely draws people to Basilica di San Clemente. All three layers are open for visitors to roam throughout, with a 3 euro charge. Excavations are still being completed by the Irish Dominicans, since much of the bottom layers have yet to be uncovered.


1. "Basilica San Clemente Roma." Basilica of San Clemente Rome. 19 May 2009 .

2. Picture of mosaic and info. - "Bailica di San Clemente, Rome." Basilica di San Clemente - Rome, Italy. 2005. Sacred Destinations. 17 May 2009 .

3. Publishing, DK. Rome (Eyewitness Travel Guides). New York: DK Travel, 2006.