2 On the Road: Civitavecchia, Italy

My excursion was Roman Catacombs and the Vatican City - Discover the roots of ancient Rome as you explore the Roman Catacombs and enjoy free time in Vatican City. Travel along centuries-old Roman roads, such as Via Appia, and arrive at the Roman Catacombs. Follow your guide through narrow passages and witness some of the best-preserved early Christian frescoes and sculptures in the world. See ancient wall paintings in the catacombs of Roman martyrs St. Callixtus or St. Sebastian tucked among small hidden chapels and graves, some of which are elaborately carved. Next, you will return to Vatican City. Three hours of free time allows you to explore independently; you may choose to visit St. Peter’s Basilica, the oldest Catholic church in the world, take a stroll along Via Della Conciliazione, or savor lunch at a local restaurant. Afterward, return to your motor coach and back to your awaiting ship.

The Vatican is over an hour's drive from where we are docked at Civitavecchia. This is a drone shot of the port. Our ship was docked approximately where the one in the photo is docked.

View from the ship at sunrise.

Fortino di San Pietro - "Lazzaretto" The structure, a turret that served as an inner harbor lighthouse, is a Roman construction. Over the centuries the Lazzaretto underwent restorations. In 1656 an epidemic of plague spread, and the fort was transformed into a shelter for the contagious until 1800. Hence the name of Lazzaretto. The Fort of San Pietro partially survived the bombings of 1943, while unfortunately no traces remain of its twin, the fort located on the eastern pier known as the Glass and the Lazzaretto.

Once on the tour bus, we had to go around Fortezza Michelangelo, an imposing sixteenth-century fort. You can see in the drone photo above that the fort is quadrilateral, with four cylindrical towers on the corners. The East tower sports the symbol belonging to the coat of arms of Pope Julius II: an oak tree. The coat of arms indicates where the Pope blessed and cast the first stone on December 14, 1508.

The octagonal Maschio juts out of the side facing the port.

Porta Livorno is an opening in the defensive walls built in 1761 by request of Pope Clemens XIII, with the aim to connect the port with the north side of the city.

The road ran through some old defensive works.

As we gain the outskirts of town, the elevation gives us a view of both the city and the port.

Umbrella trees lined up between fields.

Our first stop is the catacombs. There are sixty-four catacombs in Rome, some rediscovered since 1578, others even as late as the 1950s. The Catacombs of Domitilla are an underground Christian cemetery named after the Domitilla family that had initially ordered them to be dug. These human-made subterranean passageways were used for cemeteries and are among the largest catacombs in Rome, with over 8 miles of tunnels on four levels, and housing approximately 15,000 bodies underground. They claim there are still tunnels buried.

Double-click photo to enlarge for reading. The Catacombs of Domitilla are the only catacombs in Rome that have an underground Basilica and are one of only five Roman catacombs open to the public. Roman law forbade burial places within city limits and so all burial places, including the catacombs, were located outside the walls of the city. Constatine legalized Christianity in 312. By 380, Christianity had become a state religion, and the practice of catacomb burial declined slowly with the dead increasingly buried in church cemeteries.

We descend from the gift shop to the tunnels along stairs lined with pieces of marble that was unearthed when the catacombs were rediscovered. Photos were not allowed in the catacombs. After a stop in the Basilica, we headed out into the tunnels. At our first stop, we could hear traffic overhead.

The poor people were entombed in red terracotta coffins while the rich had marble coffins with their names engraved on marble sealing their niche. Of the 30,000 tombs, 800 are still sealed. Bodies were not embalmed but wrapped in sheets. These catacombs were used for 300 years.
As you might expect, it's very dark in tunnels. They used perfumed olive oil for light and to combat the smell.

Many seals had the fish symbol of Jesus. We saw some 300-year-old graffiti on the walls.

The Aurelian Walls are a line of city walls that surround Rome. They were built between 271 AD and 275 AD during the reign of the Roman Emperor Aurelian. They extend for 12 miles encompassing land on both sides of the Tiber River. They are 11' thick and 26' high.

We drove past the Baths of Caracalla built between AD 211 and 216 during the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus and Caracalla. It’s one of the largest and most impressive examples of Roman public baths. Roman baths were a fundamental part of Roman life in ancient times, giving the people of ancient Rome a way to keep good hygiene, as well as a way to socialize. The structure included a caldarium (hot bath with the water heated by an underground hypocaust system), a tepidarium (warm bath), a frigidarium (cold bath), an open-air swimming pool, two exercise areas, changing rooms, a library and recreational areas. Over 6,000 people at a time could use the facilities with over 2,000 of them bathing. There were four levels and even slaves could use them.

The Colosseum, which we visited in 2014, was built in 8 years. Two-thirds of it is still intact but the marble that adorned the structure was stolen for other projects, including for St Peters Basilica. There were 76 numbered entry points with four for the emperor.

The Arch of Constantine is still wrapped in scaffolding like it was when we saw it in 2014. During a storm on September 3, lightning struck it, chipping the structure’s marble surface. Erected in AD 312, it commemorates Constantine’s triumphant victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. In true Roman form, it incorporates sculptures from earlier monuments

Palatine Hill, one of the seven hills of Rome, is home to ruins of Roman Imperial palaces, temples and baths.

Circus Maximus was a stone and marble arena that could seat 250,000 Romans for chariot races.

The Basilica of Maxentius, one of the largest monuments of the Roman Forum, was built between 308 and 312. It was the largest building in the Forum, and the last Roman basilica built in the city.

This monument to Giusepe Mazzini, one of the leading activists for the unification of Italy, was unveiled on June 2, 1949.

Temple of Hercules Victor was built somewhere around the late 2nd century BC when the Roman Republic was reveling in its victories over Carthage in the Punic Wars. The structure was dedicated to the god Hercules, a god of military victory and commercial success.

Basilica de Santa Maria in Cosmedin, or The Basilica of Saint Mary in Cosmedin, is a minor basilican church in Rome, Italy, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The church is renowned for its beautiful Cosmatesque artwork and sits at the Forum Boarium, the ancient cattle market. Cosmatesque is a style of geometric decorative inlay stonework typical of the architecture of Medieval Italy.

Tempio de Portuno is dedicated to Portunus, the god of keys, doors and livestock, and so granaries. It is the main temple dedicated to the god in the city.

St Peter's Basilica from St. Angelo Bridge.

Almost hard to walk on a sidewalk due to the vast number of scooters in Rome.

After crossing the Tiber on the 1942 Principe Amedeo Savoia Aosta Bridge, we headed up the ramp on the right to the Vatican Terminal Car Park. This is five stories of underground parking close to the Vatican.

The bus parking area must have been full for these buses to be parked outside the structure.

Drone shot of Vatican Square just to get you oriented. So, we came in down the street that leads straight up to St Peter's Basilica which just out of frame on the bottom. The square was constructed in the 1930's.

St. Peter's Square was home to Nero's chariot racecourse 2,000 years ago. The obelisk you see was in the middle of the course. But it wasn't always there. It was created in Egypt before it was moved to Rome. So, I wonder how they moved this 90' granite obelisk that weighed more than 300 tons.
Between races they killed Christians for entertainment. It is believed that one of them was Peter, apostle of Jesus, hung on a cross upside down. His friends hung around and buried him in a nearby cemetery on what was called "Vatican Hill". The first St. Peter's church was built over that cemetery.

There was a long, long line on the right to obtain entrance into St. Peter's. The guide insisted this was a short line, so I took a chance and got in it. I had downloaded Rick Steve's guide for St. Peter's Basilica. There was a lot of commentary about the square, so I listened to it for most of the time I was standing in line. The building looming over the colonnade is the pope's official residence. His suite of rooms in on the top floor. The next to last window on the right is the one the pope appears at to greet the masses on Wednesdays. This happened earlier on the day I was here.

The circular colonnades that surround the square were designed in the mid-1600's by Baroque architect Bernini. There are 284 Doric style columns, each 56 feet high, topped by 140 saints, each 10-foot tall. The square is a little higher around the edges so even those on the periphery can see above the crowds.

After going through the security checkpoint, I passed this entrance to Vatican City with Swiss Guard sentries. Their colorful uniforms were designed in the 20th century and inspired by the style worn by mercenary troops back in the 1500's. The blue, red and yellow colors were the colors of the Medici family, from where four early popes came. Vatican City is the smallest independent country in the world.

Approaching the basilica. This isn't the first church on this site. When Christianity was legalized in 313, the emperor Constantine built a church on the side of Peter's martyrdom. That church lasted for 1,200 years until, in a state of decay, it was decided to build a new, larger church around it. In the year 1500 Pope Julius II laid the first cornerstone for the current church. Since construction lasted for 120 years, several architects worked on the project, including Michelangelo, who began the dome. Except for a few columns and statues, the old St Peter's was removed through the doors of the new St Peter's.

Floorplan of St Peter's Basilica. We are entering at the bottom where is says vestibule.

The vestibule itself is larger than most churches. There are five doors leading into the basilica. From left to right, they are the Door of Death, the Door of Good and Evil, the Central Door, the Door of the Sacraments, and the Holy Door. On the central floor is Pope John XXIII's coat of arms, which commemorates the inauguration of the Second Vatican Council on October 11, 1962. This door was made from the melted-down bronze of the original door of the old St Peter's. It dates from around 1450 and features Jesus and Mary at the top, Paul and Peter in the middle, and how those saints were martyred at the bottom.

Pope Leo III's coat of arms in in front of the Door of the Sacraments.

The Door of the Sacraments. In the panels on the left: the angel announces the grace of the sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation and Penance. In the panels on the right: the Eucharist, Marriage, Holy Orders, and the Anointing of the Sick.

The door on the far right is a Holy Door, opened only during Holy Years, which happen every 25 years. This door is bricked up on the inside. On the first day of the Holy Year the Pope strikes the brick wall with a hammer and so opens the door to let in the pilgrims who come to make the most of the indulgence. It will be closed by the Pope himself at the end of the Holy Year. The Holy Door represents Jesus, the Good Shepherd and the gate of the sheep pen. There are occasional openings for extraordinary Holy Years of Redemption, such as in 1933, 1983 and 2016.

This plaque above the door commemorates the opening of the door in 2000 by Pope John Paul II.

Time to head back to the entrance and actually enter the Basilica. There are many details here that I never noticed while I was there, like the ceiling and the statues of Constantine and Charlemagne at each end of the portico.

It's hard to capture the scale of this basilica. For instance, the gold window you see below the wooden canopy is two football fields away, the canopy itself is 7 stories tall. The whole church covers six acres. The church has a capacity of 60,000 standing worshippers.

To the right, behind the curtain is La Pieta by the Florentine sculptor Michelangelo Buonarroti. We'll get to that later.

First look at the letters in the golden ribbon. Each of those letters is seven foot high.

This column contains three statues. The "babes" at the bottom are adult sized.

The statue of St. Teresa in the middle is 15 foot tall

and the statue at the top is 21 foot tall.

This purple slab of porphyry stone marks the spot in Old St. Peter's where, on Christmas night in 800 AD, the pope crowned the French king Charlemagne as "Holy Roman Emperor."

On the floor there are plaques that show where the biggest churches of the world would end of the were placed inside St. Peter's.

Here we can begin to see the dome over the alter.

Rising above the altar is the baldacchino, a 95-foot-tall canopy. This is Bernini's masterpiece and first work in St. Peter's. The ancient tomb of St. Peter lies directly below the altar.

Bernini took nine years to make it, from 1624 to 1633, and used 6,200 k. of metal. The monument is typical of the 17th-century style: it stands on four pedestals of marble on which, in the papal escutcheons, a sequence showing "motherhood" is carved, liberally scattered with the heraldic bees of the Barberini to whose family Pope Urban VIII belonged. It was he who had commissioned Bernini to make this canopy in 1624. It rests upon four gigantic, twisted columns, each 65 foot high, adorned with sprigs of olive and bay, among which the graceful figures of cherubs appear, Acanthus leaves entwine the base and the capitals. The spiral fluting of the columns suggests upward movement. Like the portable canopies used in processions to cover the Eucharist, fringes and tassels dangle from the top of the covering. Inside the "ciborium" is a dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit, in a burst of golden rays. Above the frieze on each capital, four angels, the work of Francois du Duquesnoy, offer garlands, while between them couples of smaller angels support the Pope's emblems: the keys, the tiara, the book and sword. The vertex, where four vast ribs and palm branches converge from the four corners, is crowned by the cross, set on a golden globe.

The dome, masterminded by Michelangelo, reaches its peak 430 feet above the cathedral floor. Around the base of the drum, we can read the words from Matthew's Gospel with which Jesus invests Peter with supreme authority. The text reads: "Tu es Petrus et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam mean et tibi dabo claves regni caelorum" ("You are 'Rock' and on this rock I will build my Church, to you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven." Mt 16:18).

The dome is supported by four structural piers. The giant letters on a gold background at the top of each pier are from St. Veronica to St. Helen. They say "Hinc una fides mundo refulgent" (From here a single faith shines throughout the world); and from St. Longinus to St. Andrew: "Hinc sacerdotii unitas exoritur" (From here is born the unity of the priesthood).

In the four spandrels which link the square piers and the circular drum, the four Evangelists are portrayed in medallions with a diameter of almost 28 feet: Matthew with the ox, Mark with the lion, Luke with the angel and John with the eagle.

Above the windows, the dome is divided into sixteen ribs and as many segments, decorated by figures on six ascending concentric levels.
The bottom ring is the sixteen popes that are buried in the basilica.
Next up is the figures of Christ, the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, St. John the Baptist and various Apostles.
In the rectangular frames are angels bearing the instruments of Jesus' Passion
In circular medallions are the faces of cherubim and seraphim
Next up are angels, the custodians of St. Peter's tomb.
At the top of each of the segments are additional faces of winged angels.

Next is a blue sky spangled with stars, and above it the lantern at whose base is a Latin inscription: "To the glory of St. Peter, Pope Sixtus V in the year 1590, the fifth of his pontificate".
Fifty-nine feet above the letters is the figure of God.

My neck was hurting by this time, so it was time to look at things a little lower. This is a statue of St. Andrew, brother of St. Peter and the first disciple called by Christ. St. Andrew went to Greece to preach the gospel, and tradition has it that he was crucified on a cross in the form of an 'X'.

Entrance to the tomb of St. Peter, which is located directly below the alter.

Peter was the first bishop and Pope of Rome.

This ancient statue of St. Peter, portrayed as he gives a blessing and preaches, while holding the keys to the kingdom of heaven is famous throughout the world.

Behind it, what seems to be a fine brocade draping, is actually a mosaic.

Above the baldachin, in a circular mosaic is a portrait of Pope Pius IX (1847-1878), the first Pope who in nineteen centuries reigned longer than St. Peter himself, who had led the church for twenty-five years. Pius IX sat on Peter's throne for thirty-one.

Body of Pope John XXIII

The Papal Altar where only the Pope celebrates Mass. It was consecrated by Clement VIII on June 5, 1594, on top of several other older altars.

The Main Tribune (or apse) holds the Cathedra Petri (St Peter's Throne), with the Monument to Paul III (left) and Urban VIII (right). Above, on the golden background of the frieze, is the Latin inscription: "O Pastor Ecclesiae, tu omnes Christi pascis agnos et oves" (O pastor of the Church, you feed all Christ's lambs and sheep). On the right is the same writing in Greek.

The Alter of the Chair of Peter. In the second half of the 18th century an ancient wooden chair inlaid with ivory was venerated and traditionally held to be the Episcopal chair on which St. Peter sat as he instructed the faithful of Rome. In fact, it is a throne in which fragments of acacia wood are visible, which could be part of the chair of St. Peter, encased in oak and reinforced with iron bands. Several rings facilitated its transportation during processions. Pope Alexander VII commissioned Bernini to build a sumptuous monument which would give prominence to this ancient wooden chair. Bernini built a throne in gilded bronze, richly ornamented with bas-reliefs in which the chair was enclosed: two pieces of furniture, one within the other. On January 17, 1666, it was set above the altar.

Above the Chair are two angels bearing the tiara and keys, symbols of the Roman pontiff's authority. The whole creation is crowned by the gilt and stucco Gloria peopled by a host of angels among rays of light and gigantic billowing clouds. In their midst is a window of Bohemian glass, divided into twelve sections as a tribute to the Twelve Apostles; a brilliant dove stands out against it, the symbol of the Holy Spirit. Just a little size reference, the dove is 7' wide.

Another size reference, a service was being held in the apse. See the people?

Monument to Pius VIII. The Pope is shown kneeling, accompanied by a statue of Christ enthroned, with statues of Sts. Peter and Paul.

Monument to Pius VII. The funerary monument of Gregorio Luigi Barnaba Chiaramonti, born at Cesena (Forli) in 1742, pope from 1800 to 1823 with the name of Pius VIII, was made between 1823 and 1831 by the Danish sculptor Bertel Torvaldsen, from whom it was commissioned by Cardinal Ercole Consalvi.

Monument to Alexander VII by Bernini. The door under the monument leads to an exit of the basilica. Alexander VII was the pope who commissioned Bernini to enclose St. Peter's Square with the colonnade.

View toward the entrance.

Altar of St Sebastian and Tomb of St John Paul II.

Originally done for the "Old" St Peter's, Michelangelo's Pieta is probably the world's most famous sculpture of a religious subject. Michelangelo carved it when he was 24 years old, and it is the only one he ever signed. Glare in this photo is from the plexiglass shield, placed to protect the sculpture from damage. In 1972 a man attacked it with a hammer. The hammer blows cleaved the nose from the Madonna's face. They gouged her left eyelid, neck, head and veil. They broke her left arm off at the elbow, and the fingers snapped off as the hand hit the floor.

Another entrance to Vatican City from St. Peter's Square.

Vatican post office.

St Peter's Square restrooms were missing something.

I wandered down the Via della Conciliazione and took a look back at the basilica.

Out along the Tiber, I could see the Vittorio Emanuele II Bridge that I would cross later.

The Castel Sant'Angelo, Castle of the Holy Angel, is a cylindrical building initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. The popes later used the building as a fortress and castle, and it is now a museum. The structure was once the tallest building in Rome.