For our Spring Break, 10 of us packed up and flew to that giant boot of a peninsula known as Italy. There we hoped to find good food, rich history, and of course some good-old fashioned partying. Needless to say, we were successful on all counts.
ROMA
Our first stop was probably the most obvious: Rome. As the center of one of the world’s greatest empires for over 500 years, and the head of Catholicism for almost 1,500 years, it’s no wonder why there is so much to see in this great city. Walk down any street and you’re bound to stumble upon some ancient Roman ruins. It is, without a doubt, the most preserved of any modern city. The Coliseum and the Pantheon (both almost two millennia old) are still standing today for millions of tourists to marvel at annually. To this day the Pantheon still boasts the largest unsupported concrete dome in the world. While the two-thousand year-old Coliseum dwarfs most college stadiums of today.
Then it was on to Vatican City, home of St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. (VC is in Rome, but is technically its own sovereign state). As the largest church in all of Christendom, it’s no wonder visitors of St. Peter’s feel quite diminished upon entering. It’s no accident either. The original builders wanted worshippers to feel miniscule when compared to the awesome power of the church. Conversely, Michelangelo’s Sistine was much smaller than I had anticipated. This may have had something to do with it being packed full of people. But that doesn’t stop you from appreciating the vastness of his work, which covers the entire ceiling and every wall (See it). This was one of the few places that photography was not allowed. It was also weird to have the guards shush the crowd every few minutes or so.
The most unique place we saw though was an area dubbed ‘Area Sacra’, Latin for ‘Sacred Area’. It was just a fenced off ruin of an old Roman Temple. Like most ancient parts of the city, it was about 20 feet below the current street level. But the odd part was that it had been converted into one big cat sanctuary! The few minutes we were there we spotted about 50 cats just hanging out about the ruins. They have all been tested and vaccinated and live solely off of charity.
FIRENZE
After a few days there, we took a train north to Florence. Florence is regarded as not only one of the most romantic cities on the planet, but also one of the most beautiful. And between the Duomo, the Ponte Vecchio, and the statue of David, I have to agree. The Duomo is a 16th century cathedral sporting the largest brick dome ever constructed by man (it is also painted on the inside, in my eyes giving the Sistine a run for its money.). The Ponte Vecchio is a one-of-a-kind bridge in the heart of the city; unique because its sides are made entirely up of shops- and because all of those shops are jewelry stores. More than one of the girls in our group found their wedding ring while there. And although the David is now indoors, it nonetheless adds to the beauty of Florence (not to mention there are two replicas placed around the city.) David is impressive not only because of Michelangelo’s perfection of the human form, but also because the sheer size of it. I had always imagined it as a statue on the normal human-scale. But, including it’s platform, it towers over you at nearly 25 feet tall!
We also found the best pizza we had in Italy at a place called The Clubhouse (not very Italian, I know). However, pizza in Italy is not how we Americans think of it: cheese is used sparingly, most come in personal size servings, and they never pre-cut it for you! You usually just have to resort to folding it over and eating it like a taco. I also had a delicious egg, bacon, and BBQ sauce bagel for breakfast one morning. (Not Italian I know, but just saying).
VENEZIA
For the last night is was off to Venice, the city on the water. Venice has got to be the most unique city on Earth. I don’t know of any other that claims hundreds if not thousands of bridges, a nautical public-transit system, and lacks any kind of roads whatsoever. It’s the one place where tourists don’t have to worry about crossing the street! But for a city with such a rich history of civic pride, it was despairing to see it have fallen into such a commercial state. A city once renowned for its Opera, mask making, and gondola boats has become some elaborate tourist attraction. The word ‘Opera’ is used quite loosely (the one we saw had a four person cast and only featured one song!). Literally, every other store you pass sells cheap Masquerade masks that were probably mass-produced somewhere in China. And the romantic idea of a private gondola ride down the intimate canals has been reduced to some slimy git harassing you on the sidewalk (“La Gondola? La Gondola?”). This was no more romantic than the Middle-Eastern street-vendors in Rome selling fake sunglasses. But it would take more than that to ruin Venice for someone. When all else fails, you can always just buy a bottle of wine and sit down next to the water. However, it would have been nice if it got above 40 degrees while we were there.
3 cities, 4 hostels, and 7 days later, we were all exhausted. Although our week-long adventure had been quite draining (physically and fiscally), it was still a great success. But I never could have guessed how good it would feel to come back to good ole’ London. For as unique as Italy is… there’s no place like home.
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