Just like I've done the rest of this week, I walked Aviva to school and then went to the bar (which makes me sound like an alcoholic, but in fact the Italians word for cafe is "bar"). After another delicious cappuccino I finally went to buy soccer tickets, which was harder than I expected. The first thing I had to do was find a ticket outlet for the team whose game we want to see. There are two teams in Rome: AS Roma and Lazio. We want to go to the Lazio vs Naples game on Sunday so I had to find the Lazio Ticket Store which required visits to multiple tourist booths since they can't seem to agree where these ticket outlets are located.
At the Lazio Ticket Store I had to provide our passport info before I could purchase tickets. Luckily I was carrying both of our passports because I needed two of them in order to purchase two tickets. Then the ticket agent asked which team I am a fan of - Lazio or Napoli. He used this information to determine where I should sit in the stadium. I of course said, "Lazio!" with pride. With all the details worked out, he took down a reservation for me, I paid him, and then he told me that I have to return tomorrow to actually get the tickets. I assume the ticket agent takes reservations he makes each day, turns them in to the appropriate ticket "center" (for Lazio or Napoli), and receives the appropriate number tickets to distribute back at his store the following day. Not sure if it is the most efficient system (or maybe since I don't speak Italian I have no idea what the hell happens) but as long as I get the tickets tomorrow I will be happy. Tomorrow I will also pick up some Lazio merchandise so Aviva and I will fit in with the fans.
After meeting up for lunch we decided to visit the Catacombs of Priscilla north of Rome. The sun was shining as we walked to the bus, then things got crazy. Out of nowhere clouds rolled in, there was a bolt of lightning, a loud clap of thunder, and then there was a 5 minute hail storm followed by heavy rain. We finally made it to the catacombs (a little wet) but ready to explore.
The Catacombs of Priscilla (built and used between the second and fifth centuries) was named after the family that donated land to have the catacombs built. Having land donated made it possible for the poor to bury their loved ones when they couldn't afford a plot in a cemetery. With about 40,000 tombs and 7 miles of hallways, these catacombs were just as impressive as others we have seen so far. A couple differences we noticed between the Catacombs of Priscilla (CP) and the San Castillo Catacombs (CC) we visited on the Appian Way last week:
- CP is smaller than CC and is located on the other end of Rome which is less touristy, making for a more intimate tour. The tour guides are able to show tourists more delicate areas of the catacombs because they endure less traffic. We saw some amazing frescoes that were nearly intact.
- There are still sealed graves (which we saw) with bodies in them in CP, while all the bones from CC have been removed.
- CP seemed to have a more "raw" feel about it. The hallways have different widths and heights while at CC everything seemed more uniform and organized. This is because at least on the first level of the catacombs, the CP started out as a quarry which meant that there were much wider aisles, shorter walls, and a more haphazard layout. The CC was built primarily to be a catacomb and therefore made a better use of the space from the get-go.
The most impressive feature was a very well preserved fresco of the Mary holding Baby Jesus. Considering we've seen about a million of these paintings you might ask "What's impressive about that?" Well, archeologists believe this is the earliest painting of Mary holding Jesus (which astounded us). After all the places we have been, after all the art and paintings we have seen, this was the oldest painting of Mary holding Jesus? Our tour guide said that they base this theory on the the location of the painting (near one of the tombs closest to the street level, which means it is one of the oldest tombs) and the year the tombs started being built (second century).
After leaving the catacombs the weather had finally turned for the better, so we decided to walk back into town through the Villa Borghese Gardens to watch the sunset, stopping a couple times for some delicious treats to keep us going. We climbed down a set of steps from the gardens to the Piazza del Popolo, a huge oval-shaped piazza with an obelisk brought to Rome by Augustus after he conquered Egypt. At night the piazza is buzzing with people walking around and vendors trying to push cheap light-up toys. We visited the Santa Maria del Popolo church next to the piazza (famous for a the Chigi chapel designed by Raphael and paintings of Peter and Paul by Caravaggio) then strolled down Via del Corso (a mostly pedestrian only street with lots of upscale shops).
We went out for a delicious dinner (lasagna for me, a baked polenta dish with Mozzarella and tomato sauce for Aviva), bought some much needed gelato, and called it a day.
Gelato Gusto per il Giorno:
Mike - Stracciatella e Banane
Aviva - Caffe e Liquirizia
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