A Study Abroad Semester in Rome

Rome is all highlights, with the Coliseum, the Forum, the Pantheon, and the Vatican. Even more interesting and appealing are the small out-of-the-way locations, churches, and piazzas that have somehow avoided the constant flow of tourists. The result is a city that offers itself to you as though no one before has ever discovered its treasures. After visiting Rome for even a few days, people feel that they know it and it knows them, and spending any significant amount of time there will make it a part of you in a way that no other place can.

To visit Rome is to enter into history, to become in some way a participant in the activity that has existed there for millennia. So watch rain fall into the Pantheon, eat gelato in Piazza Navona, and throw a coin into the Trevi Fountain. But try to find at least one place of your own, even if it is just a random church you happen to walk past. Standing alone in an empty Roman church is a reminder of the past, of the city itself, and experiencing that connection to history without throngs of tourists around you is an absolute must.

Quick Tips:

Because Rome is so full of tourists, you do need to be careful with your possessions. Avoid the subway if you can - it mostly stays in the downtown area anyway, and all of those places are within walking distance of one another. Don't carry a wallet in your pocket - it will probably be gone within a week. And if you carry a purse, make sure it zips shut and that you keep your hand up over your zipper. Pickpockets want easy targets, and usually distracted tourists provide just that. But if you're aware of your surroundings and take the proper precautions, you'll be fine.

Best Way To Get Around:

Walk! Bring a good pair of walking shoes and enjoy the sights. Relatively secluded streets, hidden churches, and random ruins are everywhere, and they can be some of the most pleasant surprises. Even if you're only in Rome for a short time, everything from the Vatican to the Coliseum is within several miles of one another, and there are plenty of amazing sights in between.

If you do need public transportation, cabs are reasonably priced, but you often have to call for one to pick you up. The bus is a more authentic option for the adventurous - stops are only made if someone signals that they need one (and then only at designated locations), so if you don't know exactly where you're going, they can be a little confusing. But once you've got them figured out, they're a Roman experience all their own.

In my opinion, this is hands-down the best gelateria in Rome and probably in all of Italy. Pay at the cash register, then fight your way through the crowd (no waiting in lines--this is Italy at its best) and pick two or three flavors. The selection is huge, with some specialty flavors (like giandoia chocolate - incredible!) that are next to impossible to find anywhere else. In addition to gelato, there are also great pastries and coffee. And to top it all off, it's cheap - three or four euros for a huge cone.

I'd heard rave reviews of San Crispino's gelato before I finally had a chance to try it. While it is good, it's a little overpriced. The portions aren't that big (and who wants just a little cup of gelato?), and the selection is somewhat limited. It's worth trying if you're in town for a few weeks and eating gelato on a daily basis, but if you're only in Rome for a few days, there are plenty of better and less expensive gelaterias nearby.

I made one trip to Hard Rock during my stay in Rome. After a month in Rome, my friends and I were dying for burgers and nachos, and the Hard Rock is more or less one of the only places in Rome to get them. The food and service were fine, and I'm pretty sure it’s equivalent to every other Hard Rock Cafe anywhere in the world.

But that's the problem - with the exception of the Trevi Fountain T-shirts and the gladiator teddy bears, the restaurant could be moved and planted anywhere. If you're in Rome for a substantial amount of time and needing some greasy American food, go for it, but if you've only got a few days or weeks in Rome, get out your guidebook and find yourself some good pasta or pizza. You can get a good hamburger anywhere in the States, but good gnocchi or a pizza diavola? That's a little more difficult to come by, so enjoy it when you have the opportunity!

Sant' Eustachio is located in Piazza Sant' Eustachio, right around the corner from the Pantheon. The bar prides itself on the secrecy of its cappuccino preparation, hence the screen behind which it is prepared. Unlike other bars, the barista adds sugar for you, still behind the screen if you want it - again with the secrecy of their blend. The result is incredible and well worth the trip.

The church of San Luigi dei Francesi is located about halfway between the Pantheon and Piazza Navona, and if you're walking between the two, it's worth your time to stop in and see the Caravaggio paintings on display there. The three paintings present key moments from St. Matthew's life - his calling, the writing of his Gospel, and his martyrdom. The works present some of Caravaggio's most striking accomplishments, particularly the Calling of St. Matthew. Caravaggio is usually not as well-known to Americans as some of the other artists represented in Rome, but to know him is usually to love him, and San Luigi dei Francesi is a good place to become familiar with is work.

The Basilica of Santa Cecilia is a little off the typical tourist route, but if you find yourself in Trastevere, it's worth a stop, both for the Maderno sculpture therein and also for a quiet break from the tour group crowd. Saint Cecilia, in addition to being the patron saint of music, was martyred along with her husband. Church lore has it that years later, when their bodies were dug up to be given the burials worthy of martyrs, her body had not decomposed. Maderno was then given the job of creating a sculpture capturing the exact pose in which she was found. The resulting work is simple and surprisingly moving. The church itself is quiet, with a small entrance courtyard and a fountain. Overall, the artwork is beautiful, and the church is a nice refuge from the tourist bustle.

San Francesco a Ripa offers an interesting counterpart to Bernini's St. Teresa of Avila sculpture at Santa Maria della Vittoria. This small, outwardly unimpressive church in Trastevere houses a sculpture of The Blessed Ludovica Albertoni, one of Bernini's last works. The sculpture represents the Blessed Ludovica in ecstacy, and the result is just as expressive as and much more suggestive suggestive than the St. Teresa piece. The work is striking in its realism, and crowds are nearly nonexistent in the church (definitely different from the tour groups waiting to see the St. Teresa), so you can enjoy it in peace and quiet. The sculpture is absolutely worth the trip, particularly if you're already in the neighborhood to see Santa Maria in Trastevere or Santa Ceclia in Trastevere (which is only about a block away).

The most noticeable feature of Campo de' Fiori is the large, relatively creepy statue of a hooded man in the center of the square. The man is Giordano Bruno, a philosopher who was burnt at the stake in the square by the Inquisition. People still leave flowers and offerings around the base, and when the Catholic Church issues an even remotely controversial statement, the number of flowers left for Giordano seems to increase (but that could have been my imagination).

During the day, Campo de' Fiori is an open-air market where you can buy food, flowers, and a variety of crafts (the jewelry can be especially nice). Cafés circle the square, and you can usually hear at least one set of street musicians.

If you go to one of the restaurants for dinner, however, you can see the piazza evolve from its daytime market function to the nighttime bar scene. Most of the bars have a steady clientele of American college students, with a healthy dose of Italians who go there expressly to meet American college students.

If you're not into the actual partying, however, there are also some gelaterias and coffee shops where you can instead sit and watch the craziness. And don't let the drunk college kids keep you away - to really appreciate just how spooky Giordano can be, you should see him at night.

The piazza gets is name from the Spanish embassy, the first permanent embassy in Rome, which is located there. A museum dedicated to Keats, Shelley, and Byron, as well as the Column of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, are based there as well. The piazza's most noticeable feature, however, are the Spanish Steps. The steps were constructed to provide a pathway between the piazza and Trinita' dei Monti, the church at the top of them. The steps, ironically enough, are actually French - King Louis XV of France paid for them. They were actually Louis XIV’s idea, but when his plan included a huge statue of himself, the pope postponed their construction until France had a new monarch.

The steps are at their prettiest in the spring, when they're covered with flowers. Unfortunately, though, between the tourists and the vendors attracted there by the tourists, the steps are usually crowded. The vendors are also unusually persistent, and consequently, in my opinion, the piazza is a nice place to see but not to stay for very long.

Trajan's Market is across the Via dei Fori Imperiali from the Forum, and from the street looks more or less like the forum - ruins, some reconstructed, some falling down. During ancient times, Trajan's market housed a variety of shops, most of which are today surprisingly well preserved.

Unlike the sites across the street, you have to pay to get into the market, but that also means it's usually relatively empty, so you can have the run of the place. Plus the preservation of the market means you’re walking through actual buildings, and you have less to reconstruct mentally for yourself. If you're only in town for a day or two, it's not really worth a stop, but if you're in Rome for awhile, it's an interesting spot to wander through. Plus, the near emptiness of the location makes it a nice place to take pictures.

The most noticeable feature of Piazzale Garibaldi is the huge 19th-century monument to Giuseppe Garibaldi, one of the leaders of the Italian unification movement. In addition to the equestrian statue of Garibaldi himself, busts of other Italian nationals line pathways around the area, along with a particularly striking statue of Anita Garibaldi. Giuseppe's wife, she fought alongside him in South America and Italy (she herself was South American), and this sculpture shows her as I like to think of her - riding a horse and a gun extended into the air in one hand, a baby being cradled in the other.

Another interesting feature of the Piazzale is the puppet shows that are sometimes held there. A Punch and Judy-style stage is always present, and if you're lucky, you might be there on the evening of one of the free shows, enjoying the sunset and the show with the locals.

What brings most people to the Piazzale, however, is its incredible view of the city. Like so many other parts of the city, the Piazzale is on a hill, but unlike other parts, it is not located in the center of Rome, so the view you get is complete. And unlike some of the more popular viewpoints (like the dome of St. Peter's, for example), the hill provides a free and often empty location.

The Tempietto (which literally just means "little temple") is located on the grounds of San Pietro, a church in the Monteverde neighborhood, in Montorio (close to Trastevere and the Giancolo). There are several spots in Rome that supposedly mark the location of St. Peter's crucifixion, and this is one of them. The Tempietto was designed by Bramante in the early 1500s, and while it is incredibly small, the building is one of the most cohesive, textbook examples of Renaissance architecture.

The hours when you can get in to see the Tempietto are few, but you can always view it through the iron gate that leads into the courtyard of San Pietro in Montorio. If you're lucky enough to be there during the open hours, you can walk around the back of the circular building and view a tiny altar marking the location of the first pope's martyrdom. You can't actually enter into the Tempietto itself (it's so small that there wouldn't be much point anyway), but it is incredible to see what Bramante did with such limited and confined space. The view of Rome offered by the small piazza in front of the church is an added bonus.

Easter (Pasqua) is for Italy what Christmas is for the United States, and it's an incredible season to experience. With the pope living in Rome, Holy Week is a major time for pilgrimages to the city, but despite the sometimes overwhelming crowds, it's beautiful.

Religiously, Easter in Rome is a powerful time. The week's ceremonies begin with Palm Sunday Mass in the Piazza in front of St. Peter's, where olive branches are waved instead of palms. Small, illustrated programs are distributed, and the various parts of the Mass are each conducted in a different language, so everyone can more or less follow what is being said.

Thursday, meanwhile, all of the churches in Rome are kept open late into the night and lit by candles. Even for non-religious individuals, the dark and quiet churches can provide a surprisingly peaceful and moving break from what is an otherwise very hectic and crowded week.

On Good Friday, Stations of the Cross are held at the Coliseum at night. The pope oversees them, and the street outside is packed full of people. Then, on Saturday night, an Easter vigil is held inside of St. Peter's. Unlike all of the other events, tickets ARE checked, so don't try to sneak in (I tried and guess what, it didn’t work). Sunday, of course, is the big day. Mass is again held in the piazza. If you're planning on getting a seat, you'll want to be there by 5:30 or 6 (at the latest).

For average Italians, however, Pasqua is more of a secular holiday. Some people will start the day with Mass, but not all of them will. Instead, a huge and lengthy dinner followed by a colomba (dove-shaped) cake is the day’s main festivity. Children, meanwhile, will receive a giant chocolate egg from their parents. Unlike American Easter eggs, however, these eggs have a present inside. While premade eggs exist (I saw a pink one with a Barbie and her accessories inside, for example), some people will buy a gift and then take it to a candy store that will make an egg with that specific gift inside. I once heard a story of parents who gave their child a bike that way (seriously).

While a Roman pilgrimage spent at St. Peter's is no doubt a beautiful way to celebrate Easter, I prefer the more authentic, quieter Pasqua. Hop into a candlelit church late Thursday night, go to Sunday Mass at one of the other amazing historic churches (they'll be crowded, but most of the tourists will be crammed outside of St. Peter's), and spend the afternoon cooking and consuming a massive Italian dinner. There's an Italian expression, "Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi", roughly meaning that you should spend Christmas with your family, but Easter should be spent with whomever you choose. So while Easter in St. Peter's might be appealing, for a truly Italian celebration, enjoy the company of your family and friends and, of course, plenty of food.

A visit to San Clemente is quite literally a trip through the history of Rome. Entering into the church, the new basilica is seen, with additions ranging from the 12th century to the 18th century. The apse is particularly beautiful, with a golden mosaic representing the tree of life. A quick glimpse around the interior, however, displays several unusual features. For one thing, the columns lining the main aisle aren't identical to one another. The different columns are the result of an early Christian construction practice of removing ancient columns from Roman structures and placing them in churches. In addition, looking at the bottom of the walls on the edge of the building reveals strange, short, filled-in arches. These arches, in fact, hint at the site's fascinating past - the arches are the remains of the upper level of an ancient basilica, still peeking up into the current church.

Paying a small fee will gain you entrance into that lower church, which dates to the 4th century. The original church is a little difficult to recreate mentally, as much of the basilica, such as the spaces in between columns, has been filled in for support. However, ancient frescoes and altars remain, giving a glimpse into one of the first churches built in Rome. (If you're wondering why the church was built over, it was largely destroyed by the Normans, and the decision was made to simply fill in the old one and build on top of it.)

Walk a little farther through the musty underground corridors and you'll find yourself in an ancient Roman home. Because of the placement of the church, it is believed that this home once served as a secret place of worship for Christians, back before Christianity was legalized. The home is also believed to have been partially destroyed during Nero's infamous fire (which seems likely, given its close proximity to the Colosseum).

Continue on and you can peek into a one-room pagan shrine. As a remnant of the testosterone-driven Cult of Mithras, the room successfully brings the building full circle from its ancient pagan roots to its modern Christian function.

Add in a glimpse of the ancient Roman sewer system (that's the almost omnipresent rushing water that you're hearing) and a few creepy staircases leading to now-empty crypts and San Clemente provides an often-overlooked vision of Roman history. Some of the more ancient spots can be difficult to interpret, but it’s definitely worth a visit if you have the time and a good guidebook.

Galleria Borghese is a fairly small museum (compared to the Vatican, at least) located in Villa Borghese, but it just so happens to be my favorite. The museum is a little out of the way, on the eastern end of the park and not terribly close to the historic center of Rome, but if you have the time, it’s well worth the trip (plus you get to take a stroll through the park, which is also beautiful). The building itself was the home of Cardinal Scipione, and the collection was his as well. Scipione clearly had good taste, and many of the works are Baroque masterpieces.

Here you can find Canova's nude sculpture of Pauline Bonaparte (yep, that's Napoleon's sister), as well as several excellent Caravaggio paintings (there‘s a particularly striking piece of David holding the head of Goliath). The real highlights, however, are the Bernini sculptures. In addition to a sculpture of David, one rumored to be an early forgery done by Bernini, and one of Scipione himself, three mythological sculptures - Apollo and Daphne, Aeneas Fleeing Troy, and The Rape of Proserpina - are pieces that Bernini finished in his early 20s. The sculptures are displayed so that admirers can get close to them and walk all the way around them, allowing vantage points to take in Bernini's attention to detail. The Rape of Proserpina ("rape" being used in the classical sense, meaning "abduction") is my particular favorite. Pluto's hand squeezes down on her thigh, making her skin puff up in between his fingers, a few tears stream down her face, her hand pulls back the skin around his eyes as she struggles to get away - all perfectly realistic, and all done in marble.

I've heard that you are supposed to call ahead to reserve tickets for the museum, but I went three times and never booked my tickets ahead of time, so I'm not sure how necessary reservations actually are. If you're going over the summer and have a limited schedule, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea. Your ticket will admit you for just two hours, with a half hour visit to the painting gallery included in that chunk of time. The gallery has some interesting pieces by Titian, Raphael, and Antonello di Messina, which can be worth a viewing. But if you're a big fan of Bernini or Caravaggio (his works are displayed in the main gallery), you might want to consider spending your two hours on them - it's just barely long enough.

Built in the 5th century, St. Peter in Chains is an old church, even for Rome, and was built to house a sacred relic. As the story is told in the Acts of the Apostles, St. Peter was imprisoned for preaching in Jerusalem. While he was asleep in prison, however, an angel woke him, saying that he was free. Sure enough, the chains were gone from around his wrists and Peter was able to escape. Tradition says that those chains were brought to Rome, where they now rest in a glass box beneath the altar of the church.

But that's not the real reason to visit. Tourists flock to this church to see one of Michelangelo's most impressive sculptures - the Moses. The piece is a part of the tomb of Pope Julius II, the man who commissioned, among other things, the Sistine Chapel, and who was more or less the bane of Michelangelo's existence. As a relatively young Michelangelo planned and began work on an elaborate freestanding tomb for Julius that would contain over 40 statues, the pope changed his mind and distracted the artist with an idea about painting a ceiling. Michelangelo begrudgingly yielded to the pope’s demand, frequently complaining that he would prefer finishing the tomb over working on the Sistine frescoes. Michelangelo eventually resumed work on the tomb, but before he could complete much of it, Julius died, and Julius's heirs proceeded to hound Michelangelo about the project for nearly 40 years. In his old age, Michelangelo would cite the incomplete work as one of his greatest disappointments and one of his greatest frustrations.

The tomb, as it stands now, was largely completed by other artists, and some of the pieces are almost painfully blank and awkward. Or maybe they only appear that way when viewed in such close proximity to the Moses. The tomb's centerpiece sculpture is amazing - Moses's beard blows and twists in an unseen wind, and his muscles bulge around the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments. And don't be confused by the horns sticking out of Moses's head - a common Renaissance mistranslation of the Book of Exodus confused the rays of light coming from Moses into horns. But somehow, regardless of the strange protrusions, the work is marvelous, and definitely worth a viewing. Plus, there is no charge for admission to the church, and the chance to see such an amazing work for so cheap is hard to come by.

In Roman mythology, the Campidoglio is best known as the hill that wasn't Rome. As the story goes, when twins Romulus and Remus decided to establish a city, there was a dispute over where to build. Remus selected the Capitoline Hill, while Romulus favored the Palatine. Romulus won out after a sign from the gods (more birds circled his hill). Remus was killed and didn’t get a city named after him.

But don't feel bad for the Campidoglio. Rome eventually grew to encapsulate it, and it was the site of the ancient temple to the Roman triad of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva (you can still see pieces of the foundation behind Santa Maria in Aracoeli). The temple housed Brutus and his co-conspirators after Julius Caesar's murder, and criminals were thrown from the Tarpeian Rock on the side of the hill.

It wasn't all violence and intrigue, though. In the Middle Ages, the Palazzo Senatorio was constructed on top of the ancient Tabularium, and the building became the center of Roman civic life. The Campidoglio as it exists now, however, was built primarily during the Renaissance to impress Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who planned a visit to the city several years following his troops' sack of Rome.

Michelangelo was given the responsibility of replanning the piazza. He gave the two existing palazzos updated facades, and he constructed another side palazzo to create an enclosed feeling. An ancient bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius (which escaped destruction by early Christians because they believed it was a statue of Constantine) was erected in the center of the piazza. The wide staircase, planned largely in contrast to the difficult staircase leading to Santa Maria in Aracoeli, was designed so that Charles's horse could climb up them, and the result is an easy, comfortable walk up an otherwise steep hill.

Most visitors to the Campidoglio walk through it quickly on the way to the Capitoline Museums, remembering only briefly a note in their guidebook that said it was somehow connected to Michelangelo. But the Campidoglio as a space deserves more attention than that. Enter from Michelangelo's staircase, to get the greeting from Castor, Pollox, and Marcus Aurelius that was originally intended. Sit on the steps in front of one of the side palazzos, and relax. The Campidoglio is a popular place for Romans to take wedding pictures and also of the occasional political protest, so it’s a wonderful spot to people watch. If possible, get there just before sunset, and sit talking leisurely, with the sun setting behind St. Peter's dome in the distance. The Campidoglio has been an important part of Roman life from the city's mythic origins to its current role as housing the local government, and the location should not be underestimated, both for its historic significance and its artistic harmony.

La Bocca della Verità ("The Mouth of Truth") is located in the Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin, very near the Isola Tiberina. The large stone circular image of a bearded, horned man (possibly a river god or Oceanus, god of the sea) likely served as a drain cover during ancient Roman times. Today, however, it is not visited for its association with water. The figure has long been considered to be a means to test honesty. As Gregory Peck informs Audrey Hepburn in "Roman Holiday," legend states that if you place your hand in the figure's mouth and tell a lie, the giant stone slot of a mouth will smash down and bite your hand off. Centuries ago, this crude form of a lie-detector test was often used to test the fidelity of wives. Today, the Mouth of Truth is a popular tourist attraction, where the violent legend is turned in to a prime photo spot.
 The Mouth can be seen at any time of the day through the iron bars around the basilica's porch, and it can be visited during normal daytime hours. If you see a tour bus parked on the piazza, come back later. The line to visit the Mouth is usually fairly long, and if you want to take both the traditional smiling tourist picture and the screaming, hand-in-sleeve Gregory Peck pictures, you’ll want to visit when there are only five or six other people in line.

Getting to the Mouth of Truth is fairly easy, and the piazza houses several other interesting ancient structures. The piazza is less than a mile’s walk from Piazza Venezia, and it is impossible to miss if you walk along the river from the island. The trip is scenic and only slightly off of the usual tourist route, so it can be a nice break from the crowds. Particularly if you’re one of those people who wants to actually touch the ancient art pieces you see all over Rome, this spot is for you – not only are there no security guards telling you to keep your hands off, but you’re expected to have a hands-on experience. It’s a chance to literally reenact history, not to mention get a fun picture at the same time.

Rome’s talking statues are easy to miss if you’re not already aware of them, even though there is a good chance that you might see one or more of them in the course of your initial sight-seeing itinerary. While they’re by no means the most attractive ancient art you’ll see on your vacation (one of the statues is known for its ugliness), they do embody a particularly strong Italian trait—a sense of one’s responsibility to be politically aware and active.

The tradition of the talking statue is, as most things are in the Eternal City, an old one. As early as the 16th century, citizens were forced into exile for posting satirical poetry, critical of papal authority and individuals high up in the Vatican. These sonnets quickly became known as "pasquinades," and by the 18th century, papal law had made the form of poetry illegal, threatening to punish anyone who wrote or posted said works. The poems were placed at night on statues to be found in the morning. This practice, based on an earlier Venetian one, feigned that the statues themselves were criticizing governmental practices, often having "dialogues" between several statues over the course of nights or weeks. And for the purpose of your travel interests, three of these statues are worth noting: Babuino, Marforio, and Pasquino.

Babuino is, unfortunately for him, the hideous statue already mentioned. Babuino was himself so well-known that the street on which he can be found, one of the three streets dead-ending in Piazza del Popolo, is named after him. His official name is, in fact, la Fontana del Sileno, but his very unfortunate appearance earned him his nickname, which roughly translates to "baboon." The street is charming with good shopping, so he is worth a visit.

While you might have to go out of your way to meet Babuino, Marforio is located right in the course of the regular tourist treks. The enormous river god is currently housed in the Capitoline Museum, under the eye of careful curators and preservationists. Most tourists note him because of his massive size, but his unique role in history makes him even more noteworthy.

To see a talking statue still in action, however, you’ll want to see Pasquino. To get there, take the street off of the western end of Piazza Navona, to the tiny Piazza di Pasquino. The statue itself is unimpressive—a remnant almost unrecognizable as what it is now believed to represent, Menelaus with the body of Patroclus. Now, however, the group is known as Pasquino, after whom the satires were named. If you get a chance to see him, don’t be offended that modern Romans paste pieces of paper to his base; to this day, Pasquino still serves as a gathering point for political cartoons and attacks. Where many Roman sights offer the feeling of being united with the city’s history, Pasquino as a talking statue represents a true physical connection.