The Pantheon

It's hard to choose what the most impressive building in Roma is, but there is no doubt that the Pantheon w0uld be on the short list of favorites. Nestled in the center of Rome, accessible by numerous tiny streets is this architectural wonder, built over 2000 years ago!

How exactly were they able to pull off such a feat? No one knows. The monolithic columns in the front of local Travertine stone are so impressive. (Monolithic means they are one piece.) The bricks around the building were stamped by the company that made them, even with the date the bricks were made, showing how advanced the Romans were, even as merchants.

The doors are supposed to be the originals in bronze and are enormous, however the ceiling in the entrance is gone.

Inside, the hole in the top pulls your attention up, up, up to the sunlight that streams through. And yes it does rain in, however there is a minimal amount of rain that comes through that hole and one inside it falls straight down into the center of the building where there are 22 of these holes for drainage.

The Pantheon was once a temple and then became a church. It now is the resting place of King Victor Emanuel, King of Italy and some other dignitaries.

And, for those of you who followed the Angels & Demons trail - this is where they thought the first altar of the Illuminati was before heading over the Piazza del Popolo....

Soo cool!

Wow, we returned to Rome but it seems more like Hollywood as they are shooting a film in our hotel! There are actors and extras all over - police, hotel staff, the people filming, make-up and costume artists. Our lobby is full of cables, lights and so many people.

Unfortunately I haven't recognized anyone in particular, but we'll keep looking!

Firenze, Toscana

Solemnly, we left Roma for a trip to Florence and Tuscany on Sunday. We drove through many storms/showers, but arrived in a sunny Florence Sunday evening. After dinner, we all walked along the Arno River to the main squares to see the incredible Cathedral and Bell Tower.

Here is Giotto's Bell Tower!!

Monday we were off on another adventure to Chiusi and Citta' della Pieve, nearby towns, where we visited a museum of Etruscan artifacts and then had a personal guided tour of two Etruscan tombs located in the nearby hills. WOW!

Here we also stopped for a very leisurely "lunch"

 

with pasta typical of the region: PICI

plenty of wine, turkey, potatoes, cheese (for the vegetarians), grilled vegetables, and an incredible dessert, with limoncello!

Then our local guide made us walk 5 kilometers to visit an woman's home/laboratory where she paints and "cooks" ceramics. Fortunately our faithful bus driver, Silvia came to rescue us and take us back to Florence.

We spent the last two days visiting the most incredible works of art - the Gallery of the Academia, home to David and Michelangelo's Prigioni - his unfinished scuptures, which seem more like people escaping from a block of marble! We also spent quite some time at the Uffizzi Gallery looking at Botticelli's masterpieces.

Then we also visited the Brancaccio Chapel to see the frescos on the wall.

We broke for another amazing lunch at this unbelievable restaurant and then headed for the Pitti Palace where we had tickets to the 6 museums!!

 We visited one, and tried to see the gardens, but gave up, our feet rebelling!

Il cibo italiano (food)

Our hotel in Rome served us breakfast and "lunch" - il pranzo italiano. We made quite a meal out of breakfast too!!

Typically I would get a plate of fresh fruit and a glass of pineapple juice. 

 I would go back to the buffet for my cornetto con la marmelata - even though they had many types, my favorite is with apricot jelly.

Sometimes, I would also get a small round sausage and scrambled eggs, but usually the cornetto and cappuccino were enough!!

A pranzo, they would serve us a primo piatto of pasta or rice, and then a secondo piatto of meat or fish. Some days we became "vegetarians" so that we could have a salad or caprese for second.

 

 And finally we would have a delicious dessert!!

A couple of times we went out for una bella pizza, but mostly we had prosciutto and mozzarella for a quick dinner!