Today is a travel day. We’re taking the train to Rome and then catching the train to a hotel at Fiumicino airport for the night. Tomorrow we head home. We had a lovely, if brief visit to Florence. Jan booked a great room in a central location, overlooking a piazza.
The view from our room
We had wondered about the building at the end of the piazza, but hadn’t looked it up, until today. Our train didn’t leave until 12:48 and we were only a five minute walk from the station so we were looking for nearby things that might be of interest. I can’t believe we almost missed this.
Basilica Di Santa Maria Novella
The art works in the basilica date back as far as 1285. We spent 45 minutes looking around and left wishing that we had more time. Another reason to come back to Florence.
I’ll start with a closer view of the area behind the altar.
I’m going to show a number of pictures from the basilica without much explanation, to show the range and quality of the art. Most of these are from 1285 to 1550.
The next mural shows heaven and the one after shows purgatory and hell. These were painted a few years after the plague of 1348, which may have influenced the depiction of hell.
HeavenPurgatory and Hell
The basilica also had a table listing the exact time for solar noon for every day and mention of a camera obscura. There were brass meridians in the floor with markings for the astrological signs. I was curious, so I did a little investigation. A small hole in the wall casts a shadow that shows the discrepancy between the calendar date and the true solar date. When this was built, the Julian calendar was still in use, and it was causing problems with the date for Easter. Data from this device was presented to Pope Gregory XIII and influenced the adoption of the Gregorian calendar that we still use. That alone made it worth the visit.
In Basilica Di Santa Maria Novella
I’m writing this on the train to Rome, so probably won’t post later today. And I’m definitely looking forwards to high speed trains in Canada.
It was not an auspicious start to the day. Jan’s cold was worse today, and the rain had started again. So I was on my own, with no particular plan for the day. I wandered, starting with the Duomo. Yesterday the queue went around the block and I was prepared for the worst. But as I approached, the queue was short and moving. I jumped in line.
Queue for the Duomo
I almost got in straight away. But as I approached, they put the rope across the entry. There were only two people ahead of me. I was so close. But I only had to wait for ten minutes, so I’m not complaining.
Once inside, it really wasn’t what I had been expecting. The floors were impressive, but no more than many other places we’ve seen.
Inside the Duomo
And the art on the dome was impressive, but that seem to be everywhere.
Inside the Duomo
There were impressive sculptures, but I continue to be surprised by the themes of the sculptures. In this one, someone … presumably a saint … is writing on a book, supported on the back of a person who is also holding up an ink pot for them. I’m trying to decide if this was supposed to be inspirational somehow, or if it was a message to the “little people” reminding them of their place in the world. Sort of like today maybe?
What exactly is the message here?
What is impressive about the Duomo is the shear size of the enclosed area and the fact that it feels like one continuous space. That truly is impressive, and perhaps the decorations were kept simple to emphasize that. I think the tiles on the floor definitely help to create that feeling.
Massive interior to the Duomo
Just as I was getting ready to leave, I spotted the clock, which was the other thing that impressed me. An early 24 hour clock. Alas, it didn’t appear to be working (I stayed long enough to check) but I’m still glad I saw it. On the other hand, maybe I just don’t understand how to tell time with it.
The clock inside the Duomo
Outside the Duomo there is scaffolding for restoration of some sort. When I had a closer look, I realized it was probably just getting a cleaning. If you look at this next picture, you can see that the area on the left is gleaming white, while on the right it is more of a cream colour. I guess that centuries of soot and pollution will do that.
Cleaning the Duomo
I had visited the Duomo and it wasn’t even noon yet. So I thought I’d see how things looked for seeing David, another must see in Florence. About a block and a half before the museum I encountered a crowd of people, which turned into the queue. I said “screw this”, and went for plan B, which was to wander. Or maybe that was plan A.
I immediately spotted a Medici Museum sign. We’re in Florence, so learning about the Medici seemed like a good idea. I followed the signs until I came to the museum. There were exactly zero people ahead of me waiting to go inside. It was a good omen – I bought the ticket and headed in. The first section dealt with highlights of the Medici and their rise from bankers (very successful bankers, I might add) to eventually becoming aristocrats (somewhat less successful). Along the way there were suspicious deaths, outright murder, intrigue, and arranged marriages – some successful, but most less than idyllic. By the end of the sequence, it was easy to see where Machiavelli got his inspiration for The Prince.
I also learned that the Medici had a fabulous collection of jewels, especially pearls. What I didn’t know was that at that time, pearls, especially ones of uniform size, colour, and shape, were exceedingly rare and valuable. Fewer than one in 10,000 oysters had pearls of any kind, so perfect specimens had amazing value. Of course, that value dropped overnight with the invention of cultured pearls.
Next I went to see a mural of the last supper.
The last supper
There were a number of pieces of art in the room. If you look at the previous picture, you can see them on a shelf under the mural. It was an exhibition and the artist was there.
On an earlier post, I mentioned the 1966 Florence flood. The 60th anniversary of the flood was last week, and it was a major event in Florence. The artist, Jean O’Reilly Barlow, takes pieces from 17th and 18th century buildings that have been degraded to the point where they cannot be restored, and combines them with other artifacts, often fossils, to create art. We had a fascinating discussion and it was wonderful to see the art in the context of the Florence flood that damaged so many buildings sixty years ago. Here are some examples to give you an idea of what they are like.
We talked about Florence and how buildings that are beginning to show their age, also have a special beauty. Here is a picture from the courtyard inside the museum where you can see the original frescos looking great in some places, but that have aged away in other places.
Here is the view from inside the courtyard.
We discussed things to see in Florence, and she suggested another basilica just a short distance from the Duomo. This next picture is taken in front of the basilica, and you can see the Duomo just a few blocks away, but I never would have found it if I hadn’t stumbled on the Medici museum. You can also see a couple taking their wedding photos, in spite of the rain.
Wedding photos, on a rainy day in Florence
When I visited the Duomo earlier it was almost austere inside, but this basilica was the opposite, with art and sculptures everywhere.
The dome also had a painting, but the thing that impressed me the most was how it opened up before you as you slowly walked to the front. It amplified the impact. Click through the photos to see what I mean.
Here is a mural of Adam and Eve.
Everything had such incredible detail.
Here is a closeup. This type of detail was everywhere.
Inside the basilica
Today was a good example of the way we like to travel. No particular agenda … just looking for interesting treasures that come your way. I only wish that Jan had been able to join me.
A rainy day in Florence
Heading out to dinner, I took this picture on the square our room overlooks. The perfect end to a rainy day in Florence.
When we went for dinner last night, there were a number of people outside the restaurant drinking wine. We didn’t think too much of it until we were inside eating our dinner.
Wine Window
We discovered there is a window in the wall that opens into the restaurant. Every few minutes one of the servers would hear a knock on the window, bring a glass of wine, open the window, take their money and hand out the glass of wine. You can stand … or sit … on the sidewalk and enjoy your drink. If the weather was nicer, and Jan was feeling better, we would definitely try it. And don’t worry Stu – you can get beer too.
Yesterday Jan felt like a cold was coming on, but she woke up today feeling quite a bit better. The forecast was for rain and it was overcast, but no rain. Most of the museums are closed on Monday, so we decided to just wander the city. First stop was the Duomo, which is open on Monday and is free. Unfortunately the queue to get in stretched around the corner and down the block. We decided it could wait till a less busy time.
The queue
We were wandering down toward the Ponte Vecchio, and spotted an interesting building. We went to have a closer look.
Palazzo Vecchio
It was open, and free, so we went it.
Palazzo Vecchio
As often happens here, the buildings are as interesting as the art works they display.
And this one had some modern art works, as well as old masters. All around the inside, there were paintings and one sculpture. We learned that a local art class had been invited to create works commemorating the disastrous flood of the Arno in Florence in 1966. I looked it up when we got back to the hotel – it was the worst flood in the city since 1557. Here is one of the paintings that appealed to me, showing people cleaning up with water still running in the street.
There were also copies of various sculptures that were originally displayed in Florence. This next one is titled Samson Slaying a Philistine, commemorating the time Samson killed 1000 philistines with a donkey’s jawbone. You can see the original in the Victoria and Albert museum in London.
Samson Slaying a Philistine
I’m not sure what it is with all these gruesome statues. This next one shows a lion with a person’s head in its mouth. Seriously?
Last night at dinner we tried ribollita, a traditional Tuscan soup, and loved it so much that we had it for lunch. It wasn’t quite as good as last night, but still hit the spot. Maybe we will need to search out the best ribollita on this trip, or perhaps on the next.
Ribollita
Unfortunately this afternoon the rain started, and Jan’s cold got worse, so it was a quiet afternoon. Hoping tomorrow will be dry and healthy.
Another travel day. We checked out of our lovely apartment in Rome and made our way to Termini train station. Fortunately we had left ourselves lots of time because the Rome marathon was today and a lot of streets were blocked off. The taxi had to take a very roundabout route to the station. The upside was that we saw new parts of Rome.
The train ride to Florence was uneventful. That means “good”. High speed trains are such a pleasure. I’m looking forward to the day when we have them in Canada. Jan did an excellent job in finding a hotel once again, and we had a five minute walk from the station. The room is lovely, overlooking a large square.
After checking in, we went for a stroll around Florence. I noticed this sign warning about scams. It appears that scams are everywhere, and you can never be too careful.
We are in a very central location in Florence. When I went for a walk, I turned the corner and immediately saw the Duomo.
Five minutes later, I was in the square. Wow. We will definitely come back for a longer look and probably go inside tomorrow.
Duomo
Right beside the Duomo there was a pharmacy, and it had one of the most impressive signs I’ve ever seen.
Then I headed toward the Ponte Vecchio, the famous covered bridge in Florence. But along the way I came across a square with a carousel. Tempting, but I’m sure I’m a little too old for it.
And then I arrived at the Ponte Vecchio. I didn’t cross it – we will save that for tomorrow. But I caught this image of the bridge with the lights reflecting in the river. The water was like glass.
Then back to the hotel, past the restaurant where we have reservations for dinner. It looks to be a charming little spot, even though it is unassuming from the outside.
Based on what I’ve seen so far, Florence seems to be a beautiful city that we’re looking forward to exploring over the next couple of days. Now it’s off to dinner.
We are staying less than a minute’s walk from the Campo de’ Fiori in Rome. During the day, the square is a giant outdoor market, with stalls selling everything from food (vegetables, cheese, meats) to clothes, to flowers, to toys, to souvenirs.
Campo de’ Fiori
Sometime around 4:00 pm the market starts to wrap up. You can hear it when it starts – something about the bustle changes. Around the edges the vendors start packing up their wares and breaking down the stalls. And then they cart everything down the side streets to small storage spaces in the buildings.
Closing time
Then the street cleaners come out…
And by the time it is dark, all the market stalls are gone, the square is clean and filled with people. This picture is early evening. Later it is much busier.
Campo de’ Fiori
And then the next morning, all the stalls are set up again, long before I’m ready to get up. When I head out to get cappuccino I’m greeted by this.
Campo de’ Fiori
After a busy week, we were tired and opted to relax in the apartment all morning. After a light lunch of arancini we decided to explore, with no particular agenda. I suggested we head toward the river, and then enjoy the sunshine.
Walking along the Tiber
We stopped for a gelato because what else would you do walking around Rome on a sunny day. We came across a number of restaurants displaying fresh artichokes and advertising traditional Roman recipes.
A table was set up with the artichokes trimmed and ready for cooking.
Artichokes
We weren’t looking for Roman ruins today, but it is really hard to avoid them in Rome. Jan found a museum (unfortunately closed today) about the history of the Jews in Rome. It was in the area that had been the center of the Jewish ghetto in Rome. I also discovered a walkway at what had been street level during Imperial Rome. Of course, now it is well below street level. It starts at the Portico of Octavia, which was where triumphal marches began, and goes to the edge of the Forum. Two things that we will need to investigate on a future trip. Here is the Portico of Octavia.
Portico of Octavia
All and all it was a very pleasant day. Tomorrow we take the train to Florence.
Last year when we were in Rome we visited a small fish restaurant that was highly recommended by friends (thank you Lisa). It was a good half hour walk from our hotel, but it was well worth the effort. This year we discovered that it is only a four minute walk from our apartment. It is very popular, so you can’t always get in. They don’t take reservations, but after we dried out from our walk back from the Ara Pacis museum, we decided to risk it, even though it was a Friday evening.
Dar Filettaro a Santa Barbara
They have a simple menu – deep fried cod and puntarelle salad – but both are excellent. They complement each other, and when you add in a half liter of white wine, you have the holy trinity … the basis for a religious food experience.
Cod, puntarelle salad, and wine
You can get wine by the bottle, but the local wine is excellent. The taps on the wall pour water, three types of beer and two types of wine. Simple and delicious.
Wine on tap
This was not a leisurely Italian dining experience. The place has a certain energy to it that encourages a quick meal without ever pressuring you to hurry up. It is THE place to go for a great local meal. When we finished eating, we went for a stroll down the streets enjoying the ambience. A light mist was falling when we decided to pick up a gelato to bring back to the apartment for dessert.
Gelato
Gelato with a light sprinkling of Italian mist makes the perfect end to the evening.
There have been many days this trip where rain showers were forecast. Every time, the forecast was wrong and the weather was great. Today that streak ended. But once again, I’m getting ahead of myself.
The first day we arrived in Rome we saw signs for a Keith Haring exhibit. The museum was only a four minute walk from our apartment, but we were busy seeing Roman ruins, so we hadn’t gotten to see the exhibition. But some of us were “Roman-ruined-out” and besides, with rain forecast, a museum close to home seemed like a good idea.
Jan was familiar with Keith Haring’s work, but I confess I wasn’t. I was impressed and found the exhibition fascinating, especially some of the videos showing him working on street art in realtime. He was a contemporary of Andy Warhol, and seeing his work, this wasn’t a surprise.
Sculptures by Keith Haring
Keith Haring had a very distinctive style, developing a number of iconic images that appeared frequently in his work. Here is a sample of some of the most famous.
I’ll include one example of a piece that incorporates some of these ideas into a larger picture. This piece was part of an exhibit in support of victims of a 1980 earthquake. Look closely at the images in the lines.
Keith Haring died young, in his early 30’s, from complications due to AIDS. What might he have achieved if he had lived longer?
The weather held for the morning, and after lunch, in spite of the fact that some of us were “Roman-ruined-out”, we decided to risk a somewhat longer walk to see the Ara Pacis – an altar dedicated to the emperor Augustus, celebrating Pax Romana (basically celebrating the end of the Roman civil war, which Augustus won). It is a relatively small museum dedicated to a single subject, but that was perfect for us. And the museum had a wealth of information about how the altar was rediscovered and pieced together.
Ara Pacis
What you see is a mix of original pieces, plaster copies of originals held in other museums, and a bit of interpolation. It is put together in a way that allows you to see the altar as it would have appeared in the time of Augustus. Where there are gaps in the material, they try to show them, highlighting the pieces that are original. These pictures show some of the gaps.
The detail in the remaining images is amazing. Here are a few to give you an idea.
I started this post hinting at rain, but so far we had been lucky. But while we were in the museum, the skies opened up and we got quite wet on our walk back to the apartment. But it was definitely worth it.
I wasn’t at all sure I wanted to brave the crowds to see the Vatican Museum, but in the end we decided to check it out. I’m really glad we did. I suspect we may visit again on a future trip to Rome.
But first we had to get there. We booked “skip the line” tickets, but when we showed up at the entrance there was a huge queue. This did not look good at all. We followed our guide and then our guide handed the flag to Jan and went ahead to check on things.
Jan’s new job???
Turns out that most of the people in the queue were for the 11:00 AM entry, and we were for 10:30. Once that was sorted, we jumped forward and were soon having our tickets scanned and going through security. It was quite a production, and I was glad we paid the extra to have someone guide us through the entry, even though once we were inside we were on our own to explore. And oh my, was there ever a lot to explore. The first area we saw was Egypt. Wait, what? I thought this was about the Vatican. Turns out that when hieroglyphics were finally decifered, Europe suddenly became fascinated with everything Egypt, and the Pope asked Catholics around the world to send Egyptian artifacts to Rome for a new museum.
One of the “must see” items in the Vatican is a white marble statue dedicated to Hadrian’s favourite, who drowned in the Nile.
It was very impressive, but some of the others were at least as interesting from my perspective.
Here is another one. This statue represents the Nile.
The Nile
I’ll finish with this statue of the god bull Apis, dating from 1500 B.C.
God bull Apis
From Egypt, we moved into Mesopotamia. This is a clay cylinder with an inscription for Nebuchadnezzar II from 600 B.C.
Nebuchadnezzar II
And finally, here is a cuneiform tablet, wrapped in a fragment of the envelope that it was sent in. None of this was what I expected to see in the Vatican.
Cuneiform tablet
Next up was the map room, lined with maps of the regions of Italy. This picture gives you a sense of how long the room was. Also note how ornate the ceiling is, even though the focus is on the maps.
Map room
I wanted to show an example of the maps, so I picked this next map because we were just in Sicily. The interesting thing is that south is up on this map. It also has an inset for important cities, so I’ll include Syracuse because we spent some time there.
SicilySyracuse
The floors throughout the building were mosaics that you just walk on, but a few special ones were roped off to protect them. Here are two to give you a sense of their beauty.
Mosaics
There were also many wall mosaics, with tiny pieces the size of a mechanical pencil lead. I’ll show the entire mosaic, and then zoom in to show the fine detail where you can see the individual pieces.
MosaicDetail of mosaic
On the ceiling of one of the halls we were treated to an example of trompe d’oeuil where a painting looks like it is a three dimensional sculpture. It was so realistic that I couldn’t tell the difference. But I guess that is the point.
Trompe d’oeuil ceiling
Then it was off to the renaissance rooms with paintings by Rafael.
Of course, the other significant renaissance art is in the Sistine Chapel, which was painted by Michelangelo, but we were’t allowed to take pictures there. But very impressive to see.
We had expected to view the renaissance paintings, but we had not expected to see a significant body of more modern works. I’ll start with a giant sculpture of a globe within a globe in the courtyard.
In another courtyard a sculpture of a wave, or perhaps a tsunami was very impressive. Totally appropriate for the news this week too.
The wave
And finally, earlier this week I said that a sculpture of a Roman emperor reminded me of The Thinker by Rodin. Today I was able to see the real thing.
The Thinker
I’ll close on a sadder note about how people can be idiots. Even here, there were bits of graffiti.
Why would you do this?
Tomorrow will likely be a museum day since it looks like the weather is finally turning. But we can’t complain.
Last year we were in Rome for the first week of November and arbitrarily picked November 4th to visit the Forum. We were prepared to pay at the ticket booth but we were informed that this was National Unity Day, and tickets to the Forum were free. This year we’re also visiting Rome the first week of November and planned another visit to the Forum, so we made sure to schedule it for November 4th. Sure enough, admission was free again. We visited some of our favourite sites from last year, but we also saw many new areas. There is so much to see. I can’t show everything, but I’ll share a few pictures to give a sense of what you can see. First up, a bronze door that dates back to 307 A.D., and the lock still works. They don’t make them like they used to.
Bronze doors
We often see pieces of marble lying on the ground in the Forum and around the city, but we’ve never seen them quite like this. The pieces of marble were neatly stacked and labeled “Historic pile of marbles”. Technically true, but open to misinterpretation. We loved it.
Historic pile of marbles
One of the pieces had been used as a game board. I wonder if anyone knows the rules.
Game board
Here are a collection of pictures of some of the buildings to give a small sense of walking around the forum.
In the Forum
The scale of some of the ruins is awe inspiring. If you look carefully, you can see people in the picture to provide a sense of scale.
Of course, we didn’t just walk around the Forum. We read every plaque and discussed what we were seeing. Some people believe we also count how many stones there are. Not true, but we do spend a lot of time pondering the meaning of what we see.
Discussing the Ruins
We found a museum inside the Forum, so of course we couldn’t resist. It was a building that had been constructed inside the temple of Venus and Roma. It contained many artifacts from excavations within the Forum, dating back to before the founding of Rome. It also provided information on how the site had been transformed over the millennia. After learning all this, we walked around the site, marveling at the beauty and the scale. Pictures don’t do justice to the scale, but here is one picture with a detail from one of the huge niches in the temple.
Then we headed up the Palatine hill to get a good view over the Forum. Along the way we passed a fountain where the water flows through ferns before dripping into the pool below.
Fountain
On this trip I have been learning more about the site of Rome before the founding of Rome. During the excavations they have found evidence of an Iron Age settlement on the site, with post holes from a hut dating back to the 9th century B.C. According to Roman legend, this was the site of the original hut built by Romulus and Remus. Based on the archaeological evidence they believe the hut would have looked something like this.
When Augustus became emperor, he built his house in this area because of its significance to the founding of Rome. As Ian noted, even the ancient Romans loved ancient Roman ruins.
I’ll close with a shot of the local wildlife. The seagulls were watching us all day and finally one came up to say hi.
One of my favourite memories from our visit to Rome last year, was walking down Circus Maximus. The streets of Rome may have been crowded with tourists, but we almost had the place to ourselves in Circus Maximus.
Circus Maximus in 2025
I wanted to recreate the same experience this year. But when we arrived, we were greeted by this… Not at all what we were expecting.
Circus Maximus in 2026
The entire place had been taken over by the military with a mix of military equipment and recruiting for the branches of the armed forces. Since we were already there, we decided to (briefly) check it out. There were lots of drones and autonomous vehicles, showing their leading edge technology. But I like this picture showing a drone mounted on a vehicle, with ruins on the Palatine hills in the background. Old and new in the same picture … though both very militaristic.
New and old – some things never change
There were also a selection of police cars available from Alfa Romeo and Maserati. Very cool police cars. Very fast police cars.
At one end of the Circus Maximus there are excavated ruins that you have to pay to see. Last year we passed, but this year we decided it was time to check them out. We think this picture shows the area under the stands. We spent a lot of time discussing why the arches had been sliced like this. Maybe for the seats but why had it then been bricked up. Who knows?
We had this sort of detailed discussion in front of every building and piece of marble. And we read every bit of information to help us figure things out. Here are two pictures that show how we operate when we explore. The first shows Jim and Ian deep in discussion about the ruins.
The second shows Jan looking on, slightly bemused.
By now it was time for lunch. The restaurant was near where we stayed last year, so we kept saying “I recognize this – I know where we are”. It was great fun. And after lunch … another museum, of course. We headed to the Capitoline Museum. There is so much to show…
I’ll start with the symbol of Rome – Romulus and Remus. This bronze statue is from the time of the Roman Republic.
Romulus and Remus
Next, two friezes I found interesting. The first shows Hadrian, and is in amazing condition. It shows a horse drawn chariot, which seems appropriate, given our tour of the Circus Maximus this morning. The second is of a similar age and is … interesting. No idea what it is trying to tell us.
Jan found a room with samples of all the types of marble that were used in Rome from all over the empire. There were hundreds of examples, most taken from existing ruins. It was fascinating to see the huge variety of colours. It became quite fashionable for the collectors of the time to build cabinets to display stone samples.
There were so many ancient statues. So many. This is Boy With Thorn from the 1st to 3rd century BC.
Boy With Thorn
This next one is amazing … and has an amazing back story. The bronze statue dates from the 4th or 5th century B.C. It was discovered in the 19th century when excavating a foundry from the late Roman or medieval period. It seems the statue was waiting to be melted down for scrap when the foundry was overtaken by events unknown, and the statue was saved for us to view today.
There is also a larger than life statue of Marcus Aurelius, dating from the time of his reign. It’s now in an enclosed room, but for 1800 years it stood outside in the elements. It held up rather well.
Marcus Aurelius
When we first entered the building, we saw a number of pieces of a colossal marble statue of Constantine. Using the dozen pieces of the original that have been found, along with various descriptions of the original, a replica of the statue has been created. It is, as you might expect … colossal.
Constantine
I’ll finish our tour of the museum with a picture of a Cabinet of Curiosities, with finely carved details and including a range of marble. Very curious indeed!
Cabinet of Curiosities
There was so much more to see, but we finally cried “uncle” and headed back to the apartment – though Ian stayed on until closing time. On our way back, we came across a lovely fountain in a small piazza. You come across this type of thing all the time while wandering the city.
Fountain in a small piazza
We love just wandering around cities, as long as they are interesting, and pedestrian friendly. Rome is perfect for that. And we’re getting to the point where we know our way around more and more of the city. We love it.
Tomorrow, the Forum, or the Ara Pacis museum, or maybe …
