There are many reasons to love Rome. The weather. The warm colors of the buildings (ochre, russet and sienna). The coffee. The food. The friendly people. But the main reason to love Rome that it "lives" its history, and constantly reinvents itself. Unlike Florence, which is more like an open air museum, Rome is a constant jumble of the old, the really old, and the modern city. You walk down a street lined with boutiques and electronics stores, and pass 2,000 year old pieces of columns just sitting by the sidewalk.

And where modern people are often focussed on "preservation," Romans throughout the centuries have been more focussed on "adaptive re-use." The Coloseum was used as a marble quarry, and most of the travertine was carried off for use in other buildings. With the rise of Christianity, the ancient temples were either turned into Christian churches, or they were destroyed but the columns were saved to be used in the new sanctuaries. Since they often came from different places, you can expect to see many different sizes, types of marble and carved decorations in the same church.

Near our apartment is a large church which was built into the Baths of Diocletian – which were built around 200 AD and could hold 3,000 bathers.

One of the most ancient sacred sites – the Largo Argentina – was discovered in the 1920’s when they were digging the foundation for a new office building. This is the site of the old Senate house – where Caesar was murdered on the steps. They obviously didn’t build the office building, and the Largo is smack in the middle of the city, by one of the busiest transfer points for the busses. It is now also home to some of Rome’s many, many stray cats (is this a great city or what!). Women called "Gattore" keep them well fed.

Amazingly, most of the ancient wall surrounding the city still exists. I was surprised how much of ancient Rome was built of brick – I had imagined everything to be made of stone. But the Romans were very efficient brick makers, and used them for the aqueducts, too. (ed note: The Romans invented brick around 300 BC. They made good use of it. Caesar Augustus made a claim that he had "Inherited a city of brick, and created a city of stone" because so much of the city was clad with marble while he was emperor. djp)

Most of the ancient gates are still here, which were the entrances for the famous Roman roads (all leading to Rome, naturally). Many of these were "updated" – with battlements added in the middle ages, or decorated by Michaelangelo during the Renaissance at the behest of Pope Paul III. Sometimes the walls themselves are incorporated into the newer buildings surrounding them.

A piece of the Roman wall also became a secret escape route for the Popes to get from the Vatican to the Castle St. Angelo. The Castle itself is a remarkable piece of recycling – it was originally built in 100 as the tomb(!) for the Emperor Hadrian. It was completely covered in marble, and surmounted by many Roman statues. All of the ancient Roman decoration has "walked away," so the castle has a very medieval feel.

The middle ages were truly dark times for Rome. The city was filthy and plague infested. Pigs and cattle grazed on what had been the Imperial Forum. During the Renaissance, the wealthy Cardinals began cleaning up the city, and building large Palazzos and Villas. When they dug the foundations, many ancient Roman sculptures were found buried in their yards.

The ancient Romans had a good handle on managing an Empire with relatively abundant prosperity, but they weren’t the most original people – artistically speaking. Their gods and philosophy were adapted from the ancient Greeks. The many white marble statues from ancient Rome are actually copies of Greek bronzes. The Greek statues dated from 600 to 400 BC, where the Roman copies are about 500 years later – although these are still 2000 years old! One of my favorite ways the Romans "recycled" was to take the body of a beautiful Greek warrior or goddess, and then put a portrait head of a real old Roman man or woman on top of it. Several hundred of these portraits have survived, and they are hysterical – this tiny little head on a very idealized body.

Most of the Greek bronzes have been lost – they were melted done to makes cannons and what not. The famous statue of St. Peter in the Vatican used to be an Apollo. (Dan refers to this statue as the St. Peter with flippers because the faithful have rubbed off the poor man’s toes.) But thanks to the Roman copies, we have an idea of what they looked like. The Discobulus is one of the most famous copies.

There are many versions around, but this is one of the most complete. Some are just torsos. During the 1600s and 1700s, the owners of these statues would hire a sculptor to add any pieces that were missing. One torso of the Discolbulos has become a wounded warrior.

This city is a giant puzzle, and half the fun is trying to sort everything out – the old from the really old or extremely old. But it is still a modern city, where people go about their everyday business, and it has become a normal site to see a group of priests hop into their minivan.

And although the Pope has a security force much like the secret service – severe looking men in bad suits – he also has the Swiss Guard in their multi-colored uniforms.

The cute guy in this photo actually joked and winked at Dan. We have met many friendly people here. But that is a story for another day.

RETURN TO GRAND TOUR HOMEPAGE!!!