This post continues the chronicles of Steve Bridge’s class trip to Rome.
Today was another day where we started bright and early so we could go to our scheduled Scavi (Excavation) tour. No pictures are allowed on the tour, so we snapped a quick photo outside the Vatican office
The Scavi tour consists of a small group (normally 12; only around 250 people per day are allowed) being led underneath St. Peter’s Basilica through a first-century necropolis. The most notable tomb is that of St. Peter, and his purported bone fragments. The age and gender of the fragments, the location and situation of the grave, the architectural layout of both churches (Constantine’s 4th century original, and the “newer” 17th-century basilica), and other key indicators suggest the bone fragments we witnessed today are quite likely those of St. Peter himself.
Once we were done with the Scavi tour, we ascended the dome of the Basilica. Even though we took the elevator part way up, there were still 321 stairs to climb, including narrow and circular stairs so steep that we had only had a rope to hold onto. The further up we went, the narrower and more slanted the halls became.
Luckily, the view was worth it, as the entirety of Rome could be seen from the top.
After making our way back down, we spent time taking pictures and walking around St. Peter’s Basilica. The Basilica is enormous, and Bernini’s bronze canopy over the central altar is visually stunning.
As in other Roman churches, there was plenty of beautiful artwork, impressive marble statues (including Michelangelo’s Pieta), and tombs of the departed religious. Dr. Bridge explained some of its more unique features to us.
Having satisfied our historical and spiritual quests for the day, we exited the Basilica with our next, decidedly more secular, quest in mind: finding the penny machine for Aprille. Aprille Hibbard has an impressive and ever-growing collection of stamped pennies from her various travels, and she was eager to add some from Rome. We had looked for just such a machine that was supposedly outside the Pantheon, but never found it. Happily, this one was where it was supposed to be. It is safe to say that Aprille’s trip to Rome is now complete as she has four new pressed pennies to add to her collection.
We ate a late lunch and did a little shopping before walking back to the metro stop for our journey back. However, much to our dismay, when we arrived at the metro station, we discovered it was closed due to a workers’ strike. We had about four miles to go, so we decided rather than walk any more, we’d catch the bus. Of course, due to the strike, the bus was packed and the vehicular traffic was heavy. Needless to say, it wasn’t a very pleasant (or very fast) ride back. However, after some down time and a home-cooked meal, we were already planning out our adventures for tomorrow!
Submitted by Charlotte Mattingly