Oct 12, 20243 min read

Arrivaderci!

Friday October 11, 2024

Had to have Napoli style pizza on our final night! Soooo good!!!

Fun Facts about Italy

Romans are said to adore their feline friends so much that they are considered “a bio-cultural heritage.” Anyone convicted of killing a cat – owned or a stray – could face a €10,000 fine and up to 3 years in prison. It is estimated that Rome alone is home to around 300,000 cats – the only residents who are permitted to explore the ruins whenever they like. (Cats seem to have been a theme of this trip!)

Italy’s most famous dessert – the delectable tiramisú – was first created in 1971 in La Beccherie Restaurant in the Venetian town of Treviso. It was proposed as a dessert that would stimulate customers due to its energy-giving content of eggs, sugar, and strong espresso coffee. Thus, the name ‘tiramisu’ – meaning “pick-me-up” in English – was coined.

Italians invented banks, batteries, and eyeglasses.

Ancient stone sarcophagus were sometimes reused as bath tubs.

Last night we went to Osteria Barberini for dinner. We started with a Caprese salad, and since the restaurant specializes in truffles, I got the Truffle Lasagna and Karen got the Truffle Risotto. They were both delicious!

We fly home tomorrow, so this is our last day of sightseeing. We will be spending most of our time in Vatican City. The Vatican City covers just 1000 acres, approximately 1/8 the size of Central Park in New York. Since 1929 it has been a separate country and the Pope is officially its head of state. The Vatican's economy is mainly fueled by donations. For such a small area, it's packed with monuments.

Vatican Museum

There was so much to see at the museum - statues, paintings, mosaics, frescoes, beautiful ceilings and floors. So much to see, too little time.

Some greek and roman statues were originally painted colorfully, but the colors wore off. They also were frequently created with colored eyes made from either paint or marble.

Remember the dome with the oculus (hole) at the top and drains on the floor from our last blog? Well, there was also an oculus at the Vatican Museum, but they had another way of handling the rain water:

Do you think this design on the ceiling is a painting, or statuary?

(answer - it is a painting)

Amazing statues. The bronze statue in the middle is Hermes, who guides the dead to the underworld. The statue was discovered in 1540 on the grounds of a mausoleum.

The Swiss Guards help protect the Vatican

Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chapel was built within the Vatican starting in 1473 under the authority of Pope Sixtus IV, after whom it was named. The chapel is usually the site of the papal conclave, the process for selecting a new pope. However, it is probably known best for the frescoes that decorate the ceiling and a wall, both by Michelangelo (painted in stages from 1508-1541).

The chapel is breathtaking, and the artwork magnificent. On this visit we got a really cool "cheat sheet" with information about each section of the ceiling fresco (see below). Pictures are not allowed inside, and the Vatican gift shops don't sell any, so this is all we have to share. A couple of interesting facts:

in the original painting, on the panel of the creation of Adam, Michelangelo painted it with the fingers of Adam and God touching. When the painting needed to be touched up years later, the artist changed it so that Adam and God no longer touched fingers.
in panel 6, showing Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden of Eden, Michelangelo painted a fig tree in the garden instead of an apple tree.
In the fresco at the front of the chapel (not pictured) "The Last Judgement", the face painted on Saint Bartholomew was probably a portrait of Michelangelo himself (not pictured). In those days artists didn't always sign their work, so it wasn't unusual to paint themselves into a picture.

Saint Peter's Basilica

Construction on Saint Peter's Basilica began in 1506 and was completed in 1626. It is the largest catholic church in the world. It was designed with the High Renaissance style, with lots of gold decorations which are mostly gold paint or gold plate. The principal designers were Bernini and Michelangelo.

Saint Peter's is absolutely magnificent inside and outside: