The Three Romes - Roman Rome
Many people ask "What should I see in Rome in my 3 or 5 or whatever days there?" The answer is "There's no way you're going to see everything in a
year, much less 3 or 5 days!"
Every civilization in Western Europe in the last 3,000 years has left its mark in Rome. So there are many Romes. What you should ask yourself is "Which Rome will I visit this time?"
I think of there being 3 Romes: Classical Rome, Christian Rome, and Renaissance Rome. Yes, it's a generalization, but it helps to filter all the possible places you might visit into something that you can manage.
Classical Rome is all around you: the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, the Circus Maximus, the Pantheon, even the Cloaca Maxima (extra points if you know what that is!) - a single day's walk will take you by the outside of the wonders of what was the Western world's largest empire.
The Three Romes - Christian RomeAlthough Christianity did not begin in Rome, Rome is where the classical world and the Christian world collided - and eventually became the center of the early Christianity and later the Roman Catholic Church, by far the largest Christian denomination in the world.
Although Catholics know Rome as the home of the Pope in Vatican City, virtually all Christian faiths trace their roots back to the believers who struggled against the old Roman culture and government until conquering them from within in the 4th Century A.D.
You can see the lives of the early Christians in the catacombs just outside of town, in the expanse of the Circus Maximus (where most Christians were martyred, not in the Colosseum), and even in the excavations under St. Peter's itself, where church archaeologists believe that they have found the tomb of St. Peter himself.
But don't miss the medieval church still hidden in the corners of Rome, that remind you that during the centuries of darkness that followed the fall of the Roman Empire, Rome - although a decaying village - was still the center of the only pan-European organization trying to hold Western civilization together.
The Three Romes - Renaissance RomeThe Renaissance began in Italy first of all - the "rebirth" of Western civilization after the centuries of barbarism and darkness after the fall of Rome. The political, economic, and cultural climates had evolved enough so that citystates arose that were wealthy and stable enough to encourage the arts - and these arts looked to classical Rome for their inspiration. Much that was lost was rediscovered, in art, in literature, in architecture.
Although I call this "Renaissance Rome", I really mean the period that began with the rebirth and ended with the rise of Fascism, which mimic'd Roman architecture's power, but not its art. This era saw the creation of world treasures in painting (Sistine Chapel), in buildings (St. Peter's), in the cityscape (Piazza Navona), in literature (Divine Comedy), in sculpture (Michelangelo's Pieta') - in so many ways!
Everyone knows that the Italians have a sense of style that is rarely matched elsewhere. The Renaissance enabled the Italians to be the leaders in rebuilding the Western world.
As you can tell, gee, I like this place. In the Western world, there just isn't anyplace like it. Talk to me about it!
Bill