Thirteenth Day - Rome

October 2, 2008

The next morning we started with a walk along the famous Appian Way - we wanted to see the catacombs. But unfortunately, we started walking from the wrong point - after we crossed underneath the old Roman city walls at Porta Ardeatina, we turned onto via Paola instead continuing forward to Via Appia Antica. We probably spent an hour of wrong turns, and looking at a map, and trying to understand directions in Italian from some guys at a gas station. But we had an early start, and so got correctly oriented.

There are two sets of famous catacombs along the Appian Way: San Sebastiano and San Callisto. We decided to take the underground tour of San Callisto. Unfortunately, they forbid tourists from taking photographs during the tour, so I have no pictures here. I did write down a few notes from remarks made by the tour guide. The San Callisto catacombs were named after their first administrator, Saint Callixius. Nine of the early popes were buried here. Contrary to Hollywood depictions, the Romans knew perfectly well that the Christians were here, but they respected the burial grounds. 40% of the tombs were small - they were for children, who had a high mortality rate. The catacombs were dug into a type of volcanic soil that hardened into rock when exposed to moisture and air. The oldest tombs were closest to the top, more recent catacombs were dug on deeper layers. The catacombs at San Callisto go as deep as 40 meters underground, though our tour did not go to the deepest point. There were up to 500,000 people buried here over the centuries!

After our tour of the catacombs, we walked further along the Appian Way and visited the Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella - it was a huge building that was converted into a fortress in medieval times. By Roman law, the dead could not be buried within the city limits, so just outside the city walls the roads were lined with tombs and necropolis.

Also near the Appian Way are the ruins of Circus Maxentius (not to be confused with the Circus Maximus). This was a venue for chariot racing, it was built by the emperor Maxentius around 306 A.D.

From the Appian Way, we decided to walk to Aqueduct Park. This was a mistake, because the roads that we walked beside had no sidewalks and had a lot of busy traffic. But we weren't sure how else to reach the park, and I really wanted to see the iconic aqueducts. It turns out that Aqueduct Park is less than half a mile from a subway station (which we discovered after leaving the park.) I have drawn a map here if you want to see the park, which I recommend visiting. It is free, and there are some nice photo opportunities here.

Aqueduct Park is an open green area with picnic tables, a nice place for lunch. The ruins of several aqueducts run through here. The aqueducts run right next to each other, I am not sure why they didn't just build on large aqueduct, but maybe they were added over the centuries as demand for fresh water grew. Apparently the water in the Tiber was too polluted to be drunk? This park is not mentioned in a lot of the guidebooks, I only heard about it from a friend who had previously visited. It was worth checking out.

Rose and my Mom had visited St John Lateran earlier in the week while we were doing our obelisk-and-fountain walk across the city. After hearing their descriptions of this marvelous basilica, we decided to make our visit. It is indeed wonderous to behold. The interior of this basilica is full of wonderful marble sculptures. It is like a mini-Vatican. There are beautiful mosaics in the floor and ornate artwork on every inch of the walls and ceiling. Of course the altar boosts elaborate art work and gold leaf. Quite an impressive chuch! In the piazza behind St John Lateran stands another obelisk, so we checked that out too.

By this time it was close to 5 PM and most of the tourist attractions closed, but we still had nice daylight in the early evening. We decided to visit the large park near the Borghese Gardens. It is entered from Pincio Hill, near Piazza del Popolo. We spent a while wandering through these grounds, looking at the statues and fountains. There are plenty of paths, so it would take a while to walk them all. The Borghese Villa has been converted into a museum and now holds a world class exhibit of sculpture. Unfortunately, it was closed at that hour, and we never got a chance to visit it. After touring the Borghese Gardens, we returned to the apartment for dinner and conversation with Rose and Mom, telling stories about our explorations for the day.