Rome, Italy – Apr 10

Rome, Italy – Apr 10

This was our second time to Rome, and we visited all the “must sees” then. This time I wanted something quite different. We were joined today by Heather & Matt and Arlene (Dan was having some health issues and couldn’t join) to visit underground Rome with Catacombs & more!

This was another port where the guide “quit us”. She was with ToursByLocals ToursByLocals - Private Tours By Local Guides and said she would not add 1 more site and wouldn’t say yes or no to whether or not we had the driver for the whole day. We said we could visit the last site on our own as she was just a guide for the catacombs, but she said it was not possible. So, I looked up the company we used last time in Italy for several ports called Rome in Limo https://www.romeinlimo.com/ and I booked a driver and a guide for 9 hours for about the same price as the other tour for half that time. The only issue was that we had to book 3 of the 4 stops online at specific times and that went well except for one that was revamping their website and every time Greg tried it was down saying check back on this date, then on that date it was a new date. We were down to just the day before arrival, and he was able to get them! Then, he went back to check our reservation and the site was down and they said it’d be up and running by a new date. He got the tickets in a small window, so great timing!

It turned out to be a very good choice as our driver Francesco picked us up at the port and we would meet our guide in Rome. We were early so he took us to the Coliseum for an outside orientation. We all had been there before to see it inside and out, but our guide Gabriela met us there and we all learned more about the Coliseum than we did last time. She had our day timed out perfectly to get us to each reservation right on time. Driving in Italy is always an “eek” time, but our driver did a fantastic job.

sunrise from the ship

photos from the vehicle on the ride to Rome

Our next stop was the Case del Celio complex, which had some of the best medieval frescoes, dated from the III century AD, under the Church of Saints John and Paul in Caelio quarter. After a long restoration a museum opened here that, in addition to all the restored rooms, exhibits various objects found here on this large archaeological site.

Le Case Romane del Celio

Our next stop was a visit to Catacombs of St. Sebastianus with an internal guide that took us through them. It’s a huge site of 12 km of galleries in total in which St. Sebastianus the martyrs were buried and many Christians. These quarries are the origin of a pagan cemetery, later used by Christians. Then the term catacumbas ended up qualifying all the underground cemeteries, which were simply called catacombs. We actually only saw a couple of floors and there were no bodies. They were removed as people would take a piece of the bodies for souvenirs or robbers took them even though people at that time weren’t buried with valuables. It was pretty interesting to see the narrow alleyways with the small spaces for the bodies. (no photos allowed of the catacombs, just the church)

drive to Catacombe St Sebastiano

Catacombe St Sebastiano

drive to lunch

We then went for a nice lunch of pizza. Gabriela had called ahead to make sure we could get a quick lunch, so we didn't get behind in our day.

pizza

flatbread

The most interesting site for me was Cripta dei Cappuccini located just under the Church Santa Maria della Concezione, which is considered a true work of art for its decorations executed with human bones by a "brilliant artist" unknown. It is not a catacomb, but rooms of bones laid out in an artistic manner. One room was art made from skulls, another, pelvis’, another was bones of children, another was all leg bones, etc. Sounds weird, but it was very well done. There were no photos allowed in there, so I bought some postcards that I will scan and add later.

Crypto Cappuccini

no photos allowed - bought post cards - all rooms were art made from bones

Our last stop of the day was the Basilica di San Clemente which is a minor basilica dedicated to Pope Clement I. (thank you Arlene for suggesting this site) This temple is remarkable because archaeologically, it records the history of Rome from the beginning of Christianity up until the Middle Ages. The Basilica is made up of three "layers": the present building founded during the Medieval period, the house of a member of the Roman aristocracy and a fourth century church which is underneath the basilica. The present-day Basilica was amazing with frescos and mosaics. Then, we went down into each layer of each previous church. What an interesting stop. It was the culprit that forced the change to a new tour company, and it turned out to be for the best. (guide and experience for the day)

drive to the Basilica di San Clemente

Basilica di San Clemente - photos only allowed in the main church, not the various levels of past churches

We left Gabriela and Francesca said he’d drive us back to the port. I asked if we could have a gelato stop first and he took us to his favorite place and despite the long line outside we waited and got some yummy gelato. Perfect ending to a great day!

gelato stop

wall art near the gelato stop

magnets

We took an alternate route back to the ship, so it was more scenic since we had some time left. What a great day!

Greg remarked that Gabriela knew every little detail about every fresco or painting we saw. Since these are lesser visited places in Rome, I’m surprised that she had that much info to share.

The evening entertainment was a singer Peter Howarth Howarth who replaced Carl Wayne as a vocalist in The Hollies in 2005. He also played Roy Orbison in the musical Only The Lonely at London's Piccadilly and Whitehall Theatre's to critical acclaim.

What a great performer! He sang lots of Hollies songs, Roy Orbison and brought the house down with the Moody Blues song Nights in White Satin.

Early to bed for Villefrance tomorrow.

Rome, Italy https://photos.app.goo.gl/H2DAu7Cq7VYSMjQXA