The Wonders We’ve Seen

I’m sitting here in my hotel room, windows open on a mild mid-February afternoon in Roma. Below me, there’s the dull roar of a large group of people, the piazza in front of the Pantheon the most full it’s been during my visit here thanks to the Saturday crowds. For the first time this week, the peaceful babble of the fountain is nearly drained out.

And I am so very content.

This has by far been the best stop of my journey so far, and it feels an incredible injustice to write only one entry about it so we’ll see if I break it up into a couple or not.

As a skeptic, I know there is no scientific evidence to support the belief in past lives, but if I did believe in past lives, I have a feeling one of mine would have seen me strolling down these streets at the height of the empire. There is some type of known comfort in this place, something I can’t describe but is absolutely tangible.

I also would have been a hippy in the 60s, but that for sure feels like too recent of a past to have already come back.

I digress.

I knew from the hotel description that my room would have a view of the Pantheon, but I didn’t expect that. I mean, it’s right there. Incredible.

After settling in on Monday evening, I walked up a nearby side street that shoots off the square in front of the best-preserved Roman building probably anywhere, and I found my way until a cozy spot that felt more local than touristy where I enjoyed cacio e pepe for the first time ever. I had never even heard of it despite its tasty simplicity of cheese and black pepper being right up my culinary alley.

Tuesday morning I explored the inside of the Pantheon, especially admiring the marvel that is its massive dome, an architectural feat that inspired Michelangelo’s masterpiece across the river and ultimately the US Capitol Building back home. The actual visitable inside area of the building is small comparatively, but there’s plenty to see including the tomb of the great artist Raphael who we’ll talk about more later also.

The dome remains the largest one made of unreinforced concrete in the world, which is amazing considering that it was probably completed around 126 AD after being commissioned by the emperor Hadrian. When built, the oculus was open, and the floor has little holes in it and is built on a slight angle for rain water to drain out. Amazing.

Several nights I have spent dining at a restaurant right on the plaza with a view of the building. The darkness brings on an added mystique, and the ghosts of Romans past coming to worship all their gods seem to be walking among the crowds of passersby in the piazza.

I spent the rest of Tuesday following a guided walk from Rick Steves’ app, and I really enjoyed wandering these cobblestones that have seen so much history as I went from Campo de Fiori to Piazza Navona back by the Pantheon and then up to Parliament from which the walk continued to the Trevi Fountain on the way to the Spanish Steps.

After doing this walk during the day, I’ve repeated it in stages at night, and one thing that I have noticed is the abundance of young people around that just gives off this youthful aura, making this area so rich with ancient history have a modern energy that feels so alive. You can’t walk through any of these piazzas without hearing young laughter echoing through the open spaces.

Nearly every one of these piazzas have a fountain in its middle, and while the Trevi Fountain is a rightfully popular one, I find myself particularly drawn to the Fontana die Quattro Fiumi — the Fountain of the Four Rivers.

This fountain by Gian Lorenzo Bernini is a Baroque masterpiece, and it features symbolically the waters of four major world rivers: the Danube (which I once pronounced to great mocking as Dah-new-bee while hosting trivia), the Ganges, the Rio de la Plata, and the Nile. The various scenes carved into the stone represent these areas with various plants and animals, and the sculpture is topped by one of 15 Egyptian obelisks that dot the scenery in Rome.

Prior to this trip, I had no idea about the prevalence of these obelisks here, but the Romans had a way of snatching things from the places they conquered and displaying them throughout town. So humble.

Nowadays, the obelisks are topped by Christian crosses, a sign of the influence the fifth country of my travels has had since it rose to power. It’s quite the contrast when you think about it. The way the Romans murdered Christians before becoming the world capital of the religion in a practical flip of switch when you consider that a couple hundred years really isn’t that long in the grand scheme of things.

And I think that’s a good place to stop for now. Next time we’ll go backwards in time, starting at the Vatican and working back to the Roman Forum and the Colosseum.

For now, I have to go have more pasta and limoncello. Thank goodness I’ve been walking almost six miles per day while I’ve been here. It all balances out.

Right?