After 4 days of pasta, pizza, cappuccino and a lot of culture it’s time to share my Roman snapshots with you 🙂 Last week my parents, Marie-France and I headed to the capital of Italy for a serious dose of antiquity. Even though it was already my fifth visit, there’s always something new to discover in this outdoor museum!

 

Day 1

 

We arrived Wednesday in the late afternoon in our cosy apartment in Trastevere, it used to be a more trashy neighborhood but a lot has happened since the last time I was there. It really has become a nice and upcoming district with many good bars and restaurants so if you’re ever planning on going to Rome, Trastevere is the place to eat, drink and sleep (try to choose an apartment in a more silent street tho). After we quickly dropped our stuff the first thing we did was heading to the closest gelateria for a huge Italian ice cream. I could recommend a few but you’ll find a good gelateria at every corner of the street so no endless lists here.

While eating our gelato we walked to the first stop: the Pantheon! It’s one of the many buildings that make me become silent. Did you know that till 1434 it was the largest dome in the world and that it still is the biggest one in unreinforced concrete? Till today it’s a mystery how exactly the Romans were able to create this dome. Every history book tells uw how the construction was made possible (thick bearing walls, panels and the oculus to make it less heavy) but we will probably never find out how it exactly happened.

From the Pantheon we continued our walk to the Fontana di Trevi which unfortunately was under construction. Talking about renovations, I read an interesting article this weekend about the fact that many big fashion companies are paying for the maintenance of all the historical buildings and monuments because the cost is too high for the city. Such a great initiative!

 

 

Day 2

 

Day two in Rome was by far the “heaviest” one. We started at the beautiful Piazza Navona with it’s famous Fountain of the Four Rivers from Bernini and the church of Sant’Agnese in Agone by Borromini. The legend tells us that these two were in fact rivals and that the God representing the Rio de la Plata River was positioned as if it was fearing the facade of Borromini’s church. Wherever that’s true will remain a mystery but at least it’s a fun story to tell.

From Piazza Navona we walked to San Pietro where we had to go shopping for a legging first because I forgot to tell Marie-France that showing legs and shoulders (and everything in between) isn’t allowed. It took us some time to find the right one but it was worth the 5€ 😉 San Pietro is still the most impressive cathedral worldwide if you ask me, being there just makes you become silent. And of course there’s Michelangelo’s famous Pietà (locked behind glass after someone tried to attack the sculpture with a hammer…) that you must have seen.

Our next stop was just around the corner: the Vatican museum! After we passed 500 Asian tourists we finally got to the Sixtine Chapel and we weren’t the only ones there. I read in the book I’ve bought that each day around 20000 till 25000 people visit the chapel famous for it’s fresco’s from Michelangelo, Perugino, Rosselli, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Signorelli. These fresco’s depict important events out of Christian history featuring God, Adam & Eve, Moses and Jesus Christ. An important advice I can give you when you’re ever visiting the chapel is: find yourself a quiet spot and buy a book to understand the stories. (I took the picture from Michelangelo’s ceiling secretly with my phone btw, it wasn’t allowed)

To treat ourselves after this cultural day we ended up at the Magnum shop in Rome for a huge DIY ice cream!

 

 

Day 3

 

Day 3 was reserved for the Colosseum and Galleria Borghese. Personally I think the Colosseum is only interesting from the outside since it’s just a very impressive building. I once waited for an hour to get in and it felt like a waste of time (this might sound a bit wrong but there are so many things to see in Rome that you better don’ stand still).

The museum that was on top of my list was Galleria Borghese so I already made reservations two weeks ago otherwise it’s impossible to get in. Reason why I made this effort is the Pluto and Persephone from Gian Lorenzo Bernini, my all time favorite sculpture. How he managed to create this masterpiece out of a massive piece of marble, I don’t get it! The expression on their faces and details such as Pluto’s hand in her thigh and Persephone’s curly hair… It’s almost unearthly beautiful. And let’s not forget about Bernini’s David, Apollo & Daphne and of course the work of Master Caravaggio. St. Jerome, David with the Head of Goliath and Boy with a Basket of Fruit are three of World’s most beautiful paintings.

After Galleria Borghese we decided it was time for a very late lunch, the Spanish Stairs (also under construction) and shopping! Since the area around the Piazza di Spagna is well-know for its expensive boutiques (check out the Via Condotti) we didn’t spend anything but there’s nothing wrong with watching some windows. We ended our last evening in Rome having a cosy family dinner at Osteria Romana which looks a bit old school but can be very much recommended (don’t forget to ask to have a look at their treasures in the basement).

 

 

The only thing I really missed when being in Rome was healthy breakfast and my bike. I’m not eating a brioche (some kind of sweet croissant) for the next month and Italians really go everywhere by car or scooter, it’s crazy!

But still… Roma, I’ll be back!

Pictures by me & Marie-France / Thanks mommy, daddy and MF’ke for the great trip <3