Notable Times: Europe 5: Rome and Bagnoregio

Having completed our weeklong tour of northern Spain the day before, on Saturday, July 2, 2022, we repacked and prepared to head to Italy for a week. Our plan was to hit Rome for one night; Siena for 3 nights; Florence for two nights; Venice for one night; and then return to Madrid for the last two nights before heading back to New York City.

On the way to the airport, we went to a Chinese/sushi buffet where you order as many dishes as you want as long as you'll eat it all.

Isabel was great at chopsticks, perhaps partly because we use chopsticks at our house for lots of things, including ice cream.

Speaking of which...

Nico and Mari dropped us off at the airport, and we kidnapped Isa for the week.

Rome

When we arrived in Rome, there was a man waiting with our name on a sign. He didn't seem to speak a lick of English, but spoke Italian with big-bellied gusto and dropped us off at our AirBnB. The owner was very nice and spoke both English and Spanish well.

The AirBnB had a balcony with a view of the domes of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

In the other direction, further in the distance, we could see the dome of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.

Since we only had one evening in Rome, we hurried out to go see some sights before we ran out of time.

As we stepped out of our AirBnB, we saw the Torre dei Capocci, built in the 12th Century by a noble family for safety during times of turmoil. Since it's in Rome, though, nobody pays it much attention. ("Another 900-year-old structure? Meh.")

The sun was just starting to set. It set in Italy at about 8:45pm instead of the 10:18pm we were seeing on the west coast of Spain.

We saw that there was a skateboarding event going on, but they were between things, so we didn't stop to watch.

After a 20 minute walk, we arrived at the impressive Roman Colosseum. It was the largest ancient amphitheater ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheater today. It was built from 72-80 A.D. under emperors Vespasian and Titus, and could hold 50-80,000 spectators. They had gladiator contests, animal hunts, executions, and re-enactments of famous battles. They would even fill the bottom with water and have mock sea battles.

Earthquakes knocked down parts of the Colosseum, and people stole stone to use for other buildings. In 1749, Pope Benedict XIV said that since the site was used for executions of early Christian martyrs, it was a sacred site, so people stopped swiping stone from it.

Eventually work was done to stabilize the remaining parts of the structure so it could be safely visited.

Here's Sienna taking a selfie...

...and here it is. :)

It looks cool at night when the sun goes down and the lights come on.

Right next to the Colosseum is Arch of Constantine, built in 315 A.D.

Just up a walkway is the Arch of Titus, constructed in 81 A.D. to celebrate the victory of Titus and his father Vespasian over the Jewish rebellion in Judaea. This arch overlooks the Roman Forum (which was closed at this time of night).

I noticed that the statues nearby had birds on their heads.

Here are Linette, Isabel and Sienna coming back from the Arch of Titus towards the Colosseum, down the "Via Sacra", which was an avenue used by Roman emperors as a parade and funeral route.

SPQR stands for Senātus Populus-que Rōmānus, referring to the government of the ancient Roman Republic. A video projection of some of the history of the Roman Empire was being shown on the walls in the background, which are the backdrop for the "Foro di Augusto", ruins of a structure built in the 2nd century B.C.

Trajan's Column (Colonna Traiana) is a Roman triumphal column that commemorates Roman emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars (101-106 A.D.), which scored Trajan 5 million pounds of gold (!). The column was built in 113 A.D., and is 98 feet (30m) high.

Right next to it are ruins of Trajan's Forum, built about the same time.

As we walked along, we came to a restaurant in the street with mist machines blowing down.

So we decided to sit down and have some pizza and pasta.

A guy dropped by to play an accordion for a bit, which added some nice atmosphere. (Short video:)

Then we continued our evening walk towards Trevi Fountain.

On the corner just before we arrived at Trevi Fountain was a great ice cream place called "Gelato in Trevi", so we got our first gelato in Italy. But oh, how it would not be our last.

Trevi Fountain is always very crowded, but we eventually got a chance for a picture by the fountain.

In 19 B.C., Roman technicians finished the Aqua Virgo, running water from a pure source through 14 miles of aqueducts to provide a fountain at the "intersection of three roads" ("Trivium" in Latin, which is where "Trevi" comes from). This water source supplied the Baths of Agrippa for 400 years.

There was a fountain here for centuries, but in 1629, Pope Urban VIII thought there should be a cooler one, so he asked Bernini to sketch some ideas. The pope died, but some of Bernini's ideas still made it in. Later there was a contest for who should design the new fountain. A guy from Florence won, but the locals didn't want a Florentine to do it, so they chose the runner up instead, Nicola Salvi. He started work in 1732, and when he died in 1751, other sculptors were hired to finish the decorations, and Giovanni Panini was hired as the architect. It was finished in 1762.

There are cool statues of people doing stuff.

This guy seems to be punching a horse. I assume he had a good reason.

This guy seems to be scratching a Pegasus behind the ears. Niiiice horsie....

People who know art and stuff can probably provide a better explanation. But I thought the statues were beautiful.

Since it was 11:30pm and Isabel had to get up at 6am to catch a flight, we decided to head home.

Along the way, we saw the cutest 3-wheeled pickup truck. Perfect for hauling things on those narrow ancient streets.

It was about 100 degrees (38 C) in Rome that day, so it was pleasant to walk around at night.

Back at our AirBnB, I thought the lock and key were great.

After we already had everything for Italy booked, Isabel learned that she had to take a test in person near Brussels, Belgium, on Monday, July 4. So she decided to come with us to Rome for the one evening we would have there, and then fly to Brussels Sunday morning, take the test on Monday, and take trains and busses to meet us in Siena on Tuesday. So she made her way to the train station Sunday morning and caught her flight. (She later reported that she loved the little town where the university was located. We will see what happens with that.)

Meanwhile, Linette, Sienna and I checked out of our AirBnB. Sienna and I took the elevator down, which was an exciting experience because of the horrifying noises it makes as it moves. In this 1-minute video clip, you can just barely hear me say, "This is...The Tower of Terror" as the "ride" begins. (The first few seconds give you the idea).

I assumed that if it hasn't broken in the last 100 years, it was unlikely it would break on our watch.

We walked to the train station and picked up a little Corsa rental car, which Sienna named "Beatrice" (Bee-ah-TREE-cheh). We decided to have Linette drive, since she's been driving since she was 3, and I would navigate when I wasn't taking pictures out the window.

Rome Temple

We attempted to attend church at a ward that met at 11 a.m., which was a bit past the temple, and then come back, but we took a wrong turn and ended up going right by the temple, so we decided to pull over while we were there. It was beautiful!

We started talking to a sister missionary, but then learned from her that the church building next door also had a sacrament meeting at 11 a.m., so we busted a move over there to catch the last half of their testimony meeting. A nice man gave us devices and translated for us. He turned out to be a tour guide and gave us some good tips for our trip.

Rather than go to Sunday school and probably not understand much, we decided to go to the Visitor's Center and have the awesome sister missionaries teach us, which turned out to be wonderful.

The visitor's center included this cute little house to represent the importance of families.

A wonderful young sister missionary named Sorella [sister] Revill from Texas showed us through the center. Inside the little house was a living room with pictures on the wall of real families from Italy. They sometimes get to use the couches in that cozy room to teach discussions, which seemed like the best thing ever.

They had a kitchen that had backlit pictures of the Tuscan countryside that looked like you're looking out a window or between pillars from your porch.

One of the coolest things there was the Christus surrounded by statues of 12 apostles. All of these statues are replicas of those done by Bertel Thorvaldsen in Denmark. Sorella Revill said that these are the most accurate replicas ever made of these sculptures, as they were 3-D scanned.

Each of the statues of the apostles has symbols that represent them.

Peter has keys, representing the keys of the priesthood.
James has a shepherd's staff or walking stick. The Church News said: "Tradition has James preaching in Spain, with many Christian pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago route to Santiago de Compostela, believed by some to be the apostle's burial location." (The Way of St. James keeps popping up, now that I'm aware of it).

John has no beard, indicating his youth, and is looking heavenward as he writes his gospel and the book of Revelation. An eagle is mentioned in Revelation as well.

(Most of the rest of the symbols indicate how they were martyred. You can read them if you want, or just skim the names).
Andrew, brother of Peter: X-shaped cross represents the legend of his death in Patras, Greece.

Philip: Small cross indicates how he died by crucifixion.
Bartholomew: Knife conveys the legend of his death by king of Armenia.

Thomas: Holding a builder's square, showing his need for things to be measured. (He was also rumored to have helped build a palace for King Gudaphara in India)
Matthew: Slate and pencil represent the gospel he wrote. Sack of money by his foot show his original profession as a tax collector, which he straightway left when invited.

James, son of Alphaeus: Holds a staff or fuller's club, with which he was said to have been beaten to death near the temple in Jerusalem.
Judas Thaddaeus [not Iscariot]: Halberd (axe/spear combo) represents his death in Persia.

Simon Zelotes: Saw represents the tradition of his death in Persia.
Paul: Takes the place of Judas Iscariot (tradition says he was spared crucifixion and beheaded instead)

Sorella Revill said that people are used to being able to go inside cathedrals, so they usually ask if they can go inside the temple, and are surprised when they can't.

However, there is a cutout model of the temple in the visitor's center that shows most of the rooms of the temple. Once people see that, they realize that you don't just go in and look at it, but people are in there actually doing stuff. It is not for show, but for doing God's work. She hasn't had anyone complain about not being able to go inside once they see that.

The model has cute little versions of the various rooms, including the telestial, terrestial and celestial rooms along the middle.

The baptistry has the 12 oxen with the baptismal font on their backs, like Solomon's temple, as described in the Old Testament.

There's a sealing room showing at the top as well, where couples and families are sealed together forever.

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour with our sister missionary.

When we were done, we found out that Sorella Revill's companion, Sorella Murdock, grew up in Smithfield, Utah, in the ward of Linette's brother Larry (and his wife Amber). We texted this picture to Larry, and he said, "She is amazing, and comes from the best family!" He also said he sent this picture on to her dad.

Linette asked if she could play the piano there. Here's a little video walkthrough of some of the visitor's center while she plays.

Another thing I thought was cool was the stained glass display by Tom Holdman that has over 100 gospel stories and symbols in it. They had a little booklet that showed where to look for all the different stories.

For example, if you look close, there's the lost coin tucked under one of the floor tiles.

Sienna also got a chance to play some background Sunday music in the visitor's center, which was lovely.

I like these pictures of the Christus and the temple.

We had a wonderful time there, and felt the Holy Ghost as we listened to the testimonies of the sister missionaries.

Civita di Bagnoregio

After that, we headed north towards Tuscany through some pretty areas.

About an hour and a half outside of Rome, we arrived at Civita di Bagnoregio (chee-vee-tah dee ban-yo-REH-jyo). This tiny town sits atop a volcanic plateau with steep drops all around it.

It is mostly reachable only by a footbridge (plus a tunnel that goes down to the "badlands" valley below).

It was a hot day, so the walk across the footbridge and up the hill was a bit brutal.

From up top, you can see the surrounding city of Bagnoregio (which means "royal bath") that overlooks the tiny town on the Plateau.

From up high, you can see how far we walked to get there.

The town is adorable. It was first founded by the Etruscans (pre-Roman people) over 2500 years ago. The town still uses the original Etruscan layout. Romans arrived in 265 B.C., and it was the birthplace of Saint Bonaventura, though "the location of his boyhood house has long since fallen off the edge of the cliff."

In fact, sometimes the town is called "The dying city" because erosion is slowly causing the cliffs to crumble around the edges, taking buildings with them. There were once Etruscan tombs around the edges that have fallen off in landslides. (Fortunately, there are plans to insert steel rods to stabilize the cliffs.)

Wait, where did Sienna go? I only see her head!

I liked all the flowers that the residents apparently water by hand. Speaking of residents, apparently the population is between 11 and 16, not counting guests at the bed and breakfasts!

The church of San Donato overlooks the main square (which mercifully had a faucet where we could refill our water bottles). It was built in the 600s by the Romans.