Italy in May - Rome, Part II

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

Basilica open: daily May-Sept 7:00 am – 7:00 pm, Oct-Apr 7:00 am – 6:00 pm.
Treasury open: daily May-Sept 9:00 am – 6:00 pm, Oct-Apr 9:00 am – 5:00 pm.
Dome open: daily May-Sept 8:00 am – 6:00 pm, Oct-Apr 8:00 am – 5:00 pm.

To get to the cathedral from the Vatican Museums: As you exit the museums keep walking to the right along the tall wall until you reach the square. All the guides tell you to avoid bus 64, which is famous for pickpockets.

The square in front of the cathedral is truly amazing in size. The 284 columns with statues of saints on top forming half a circle on each side. The symmetrical fountains on each side of the square. I always thought that the cathedral façade and columns are white, but it’s not true. They are of this very light yellowish shade. The square and the cathedral were designed by Bernini and the cathedral has such great proportions that it looks much smaller from the outside than it really is. The new addition to the square are the luggage conveyors and security guards.

Start your visit by getting up to the cupola, the mosaics are gorgeous. While you are standing in line (and there is always line to the elevator to get to the cupola), check out the mosaics along the walls, they are in great shape. Once you get to the top, first check out the view of the city – there is the Victor Emmanuel memorial, so close that you can almost touch it. If you want you can climb up the stairs to get to the very top of the cupola, but that wasn’t part of my trip. Inside the cupola, you can see the mosaics upclose, measure the size of the angels’ feet – from the floor they look very small but up here these tiny cupids are enormous.

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Now let’s take the elevator down to the bottom of the cathedral. It is truly grandiose with amazing statues, several by Bernini, paintings by Italian masters including Raphael (copy of "Transfiguration" is here on one of the side walls) and of course the altar over St. Peter’s tomb with the 66-ft bronze canopy (baldacchino) on black and gold curvy columns. The design of the columns so typical of Baroque is repeated on the 4 sides in the ornaments near the ceiling. There is also Bernini’s golden window with the dove in the center, and sun’s rays coming out of it in all directions, designed to overwhelm the viewer and it certainly achieves that. Also here is the famous Michelangelo’s "Pieta" which is now behind the thick glass since the statue was damaged in 1972. Look at how small Christ is compared to Mary’s body. Michelangelo shows all the despair and misery that she is feeling seeing her son sliding away from her.

The floor of the cathedral is gorgeous laid out with ornamental stones of different colors and is best seen from the cupola. Underneath are the grottos with graves of various cardinals, including the grave of St. Peter himself.

Rome has a lot of large squares with fountains and obelisks and churches surrounding them, and Piazza del Popolo is one of the most well-balanced in that respect. It is a large square (well actually it has an oval shape) that seems much smaller than it really is because of the symmetry in its design. However once you start walking from one side to the other you realize how huge it really is.

The Piazza nowadays is a place for tourists to visit and enjoy this part of Rome, however this was the place of public executions just over a century ago.

If you walk in through the Porta del Popolo’s central arch, you will get the best view of the Piazza, with Santa Maria del Popolo being on your left handside, the 3,000 years old Egyptian obelisk right in front of you in the center of the Piazza and the twin churches in the background of the obelisk. Porta del Popolo is located between Piazzale Flaminio and Piazza del Popolo and was designed in the 16th century to look like one of the classical Roman arches, later Bernini was commissioned to decorate the façade of the arch. The obelisk came to Rome when emperor Augustus conquered Egypt but was placed in the Piazza only in the 16th century. In the 17th century the twin churches were built. The twin churches are Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria in Montesanto designed by Carlo Rinaldi. They are called the twin churches since they look identical and provide symmetry for the Piazza, however one of the churches had less space for contruction. Rinaldi then built a circular dome on the right church and oval dome on the left and when you look at the churches you would never notice that one is slightly narrower than the other. On each side of the Piazza at the level of the obelisk you can also see beautiful fountains that add to the symmetry effect.

But the real jewel of the Piazza is Santa Maria del Popolo church.

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Santa Maria del Popolo has very modest looking doors and facade, but once you enter the church, you see a great collection of Renaissance masterpieces.

The church has a lot of chapels. As you enter on the right handside there is the Della Rovere chapel that dates back to the 15th century, here the frescoes are by Pinturicchio. As you approach the altarpiece, the painting of the Madonna in the altar dates back to the 13th century. Walk behind the altar and look up at the ceiling – here the frescoes are also by Pinturicchio and if you are standing with your back to the altar, look to the left and you will see the fresco of Delphic Sibyl which is the most famous. At first I couldn’t find the sibyl, so I asked the priest who was passing by where it was. He just pointed with his finger in the direction of the fresco and left. I could tell he really didn’t like the tourists.

Santa Maria del Popolo is a real treasure in many aspects. This is the first church in Rome to have stained-glass windows which are also located here, behind the altar. But even more than that, on the left side of the altar in the Cerasi chapel you will find two paintings by Caravaggio, one of which is showing the crucifixion of St. Peter and the other conversion of St. Paul. The Chigi chapel on the left handside of the entrance was designed by Raphael, later statues by Bernini were added. This chapel is truly magnificent and is the most beautiful in the whole church. It is full of light and was the last chapel built in this church.