September 2006 - Rome, Italy - The Catacombes, Baths of Caracalla & Circus Maximus

This week we started school and made some new friends. On our first weekend we took a class trip on the Appian Way to the Catacombes of San Calisto, Terme di Carcalle and Circus Maximus. We visited the Catacombes of San Calisto dating back to the 1st century A.D. where Catholic martyrs and other members of the Catholic community were buried underground in graves carved into earth which consists of tufa (cooled and hardened volcanic rock). After walking about 6 meters underground we walked through rows of graves while a priest gave us the history of the catacombe's inhabitants. Creeeeppppppyyyyy!!!!

Here is Casandra with our classmates from left to right: Casandra, Corinne (Swiss banker), Barbara (Italian gardener from Trieste, a german-speaking region), Frederic (French Canadian translator), and Montserrat (Spanish secretary).

Here we are on the road to the Porta San Sebastian (shown below) into Rome. This is the gate that leads into the city on the Appian Way. This is the largest and best preserved gate on the Aurelian Wall (the wall built by the emperor Aurelian in the end of the 3rd century A.D. that encloses Rome and its 7 hills).

We stopped to visit this humble little church on the Appian Way called the church of Domine Quo Vadis? which marks the spot where Saint Peter was said to have met Christ when fleeing Rome and where Peter returned to give his last sermon before he was crucified.
We then stopped at the Church of San Sebastian to see Bernini's unfinished statue of Gesu (shown below).
As we enter the Terme di Caracalle (a large ancient Roman bath house and leisure complex), Kenny stops to take a picture of himself and "coincidentally" catches Casandra with a stupid but genuine look of awe on her face.
Rome always has the most amazing blue skies.

The Terme di Caracalla were the largest public baths facilities in Rome. They were built for and open to the masses after the fall of Nero (a particulary oppressive Roman emperor) to show the people that the new emperor (Caracalla) would take better care of them. The baths were built close to the Palatine (discussed below) and in particular close to Nero's golden palace. The baths used by 1600 people as once was a true leisure center containing the normal bath facilities plus an enormous open air swimming pool, a large gymnasium, a stadium, conference and meeting rooms, libraries and art galleries. The facilities were used by the public as well as by the gladiators to train for competition as well as to relax.

After visiting the Terme we strolled over to Circus Maximus which offers spectacular views of the ruins on the Palatine. This hill was inhabited by Rome's wealthies citizens primarily senators and other members of government. Their palaces were builts up on this hill which was thus named the Palatine.



The grassy area which is now a park used by Romans as a local hangout, a soccer field, a dog run and a playground was once a track used for chariot races. Many charioteers and horses met their death on this very narrow, long oval track.
We decided to walk home and enjoy the sunset views over the Tiber river. Here is the pink sunset behind Rome's beautiful white synagogue.
We stopped for a picture of Rome's oldest working bridge which links Isola Tiberina across the Tiber river.We crossed Ponte Garibaldi to return to our apartment in Trastevere. This bridge offers some of the best sunset views. We stopped for a spectacular shot of the Tiber reflecting the pink sunset with Ponte Sisto and St. Peter's Basilica in the distance.