Has anyone been to Rome?

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Ag_not said:
What is it like? Would you recommend it?

What’s the Tiber like - is it clean enough to actualy swim, or is it a filthy river full of, well, you know what?

Just wondering.
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I was there just a few years ago. Some things to do:
  • Visit Castel St. Angelo, a circular fortress which was connected by a raised walkway to the vatican to protect the papacy during tumultuous events as often happened in italy
  • If you’re there on a wednesday, coordinate ahead of time with you local conference of catholic bishops to arrange tickets for a papal audience. Just be sure to pick up your tickets the day before at the rome office of your conference (for US citizens, the rome office is located a couple blocks from the trevi fountain)
  • See the Sistine chapel. I agree, it’s a bit overrated compared to what i was expecting, but then again, how could you go and then turn around and miss it?
  • in the main body of the basilica there are three must sees:
  • See the colosium, trajan’s column, trajan’s market, the roman forum, the triumphal arch, and the pantheon, the tomb of the unknown soldier.
  • See the spanish steps, the piazza navona, trevi fountain
  • For other churches, be sure to see:
  • San Giovanni e Paolo
  • San Giovanni en laterno (MUST SEE)
  • San Clemente (south east of central rome – VERY cool, do NOT miss)
  • Santa Maria Sopra Minerva
  • Santa Maria Maggiore
  • San Pietro in Vincoli
  • Santa Maria in Trastevere
  • San Lorenzo in Lucina
  • Have Coffee by the pantheon… and ice cream too… they’re famous for their ice cream
  • DO NOT swim in the tiber. You’ll probably get sick. Crossing the Tiber is best reserved for metaphor 😛
    Whatever you do, don’t go mid-june to mid july. During that time it’s so hot that even many native romans leave the city for the countryside… businesses and attractions close.
 
Ag_not said:
What is it like? Would you recommend it?

What’s the Tiber like - is it clean enough to actually swim, or is it a filthy river full of, well, you know what?

Just wondering.
Click to expand...
Don’t know about swimming in the Tiber. If you could go as a student, studying the history of the Church or the history of the Papacy–some schools can get you a dispensation to gain access to parts of the Catacombs and the excavations under the Basilica of St. Peter which you could not otherwise gain access to. Unless that has been restricted in recent years. When I went I was able to do these things. Rome used to be highly affordable on a soldier’s budget–don’t know any of that now. I went in 1980.

Go in winter or autumn or spring. I was there in high summer. Hot, hot, hot. Try to go for at least 10 days–12 to 15 would be better. Make pilgrimages to some of the historic places of the faith there–not just ‘tours’ but prayerful pilgrimages. You will find your faith informed and fed in a way otherwise not possible.

I had a chance also to go to Greece, (Isle of Crete) which held few spiritual attractions for me. I have good memories of the visit, but I realise now that I missed at least half of the benefit of the trip because it was merely a secular holiday–actually a working holiday, since we spent time training with ant–aircraft missiles there. I knew nothing about Orthodoxy and had the vague sense that I would be violently attacked if I had asked anyone. So I just swam in the ocean and wandered around the little village a bit–I think it was called ‘Hania’, but don’t recollect any longer.

Point is–make the trip count spiritually as well as intellectually.
 
1ke said:
But, you can drink the water coming out of the numerous water fountains-- those are clean.
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I would not recommend this. My father drank from one of the fountains at the Villa D’Este and was sick as a dog for about a week with dysentery. You cannot be certain that the water in the fountains is potable.

By all means, visit Rome if you have the chance. It is a beautiful city. I went there several times before I became a Catholic. I always loved Rome.

As for swimming the Tiber literally, I wouldn’t recommend it.
Metaphorically, come on in the water’s great. I was, like you Ag_not, an agnostic until God touched me. (actually, it was more like a spiritual 2x4 upside the head, He’d been tapping me on the shoulder for years and I’d been ignoring Him.) Then there was only one choice, the Catholic Church. Even though I didn’t know everything it taught, even though I disagreed with some things I did know it taught, God convicted me that this was where He wanted me and that I would have to change. I have never regretted it.

May God bless you in your journey home.
 
Linda_Marie said:
I would not recommend this. My father drank from one of the fountains at the Villa D’Este and was sick as a dog for about a week with dysentery. You cannot be certain that the water in the fountains is potable.
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Wow, that is a shame. I loved the fact that we could drink the water from the fountains throughout Rome. We were there in June and, while not as hot as July or August, it was pretty warm and we walked everywhere. Those fountains were a blessing!

Peace

Tim
 
Orogeny said:
Wow, that is a shame. I loved the fact that we could drink the water from the fountains throughout Rome. We were there in June and, while not as hot as July or August, it was pretty warm and we walked everywhere. Those fountains were a blessing!

Peace

Tim
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There are fountains and there are fountains. I would not drink from the Trevi fountain pool or some of the obviously ornamental fountain pools or from any standing pool of water. When someone says you can drink from the fountains they mean fountains which usually are not much more than a pipe sticking out of a wall with constantly running water, or they are designed larger and more functionally like the one beside St. Peters, for filling bottles or cupped hands . I drank water all day long during the entire month of August 'prolly from every fountain in the city, and the water tasted very nice, much better than tap-water. It comes from the mountains to the east-ish as snow-melt water, the Romans built aquaducts from the mountains direct to the city - one still remains working.
 
Ag_not said:
What is it like? Would you recommend it?

What’s the Tiber like - is it clean enough to actualy swim, or is it a filthy river full of, well, you know what?

Just wondering.
Click to expand...
Have you ever heard of leptospirosis? I grew up in Rome and I would not get in the water of the Tiber unless I had to rescue someone from drowning! The disease is carried by the surmolotti (rats in Roman slang, I am not sure it is an Italian word).
If you want to swim go to the beach (Lido di Ostia) where St. Monica died, St. Aura was martyred. Once you are there you can also see the ruins of the ancient harbor.
 
I was there this year during easter, it is definitely one of my favourite places. Here are some photos:

Angel with Cross on Bridge “Ponte Sant Angelo”

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Santa Maria Maggiore

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Climbing the stairs up St Peter’s, they get quite an angle on when you start getting near the top of the dome!

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It is a nice view of the city though

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I also climbed the Scala Santa, they have been covered with wooden steps to protect them, but they leave plenty of gaps to show the original marble. According to my guide to Rome, they can’t be verified earlier than the 7th century or something like that, and even so you have to go up them on your knees. It was the only way I could get any decent photos of the marble bits anyway. So you tell me, the blood of Jesus or ancient coffee stain:

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The stairs were pretty plain to tell you the truth, but the artwork all around them on the ceiling and walls was quite nice…

San Giovanni Laterano. You can’t accuse them of making small, plain buildings.

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After all this walking around, I was hungry. Some restaurants are more accomodating than others though:

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Ok I got it - Bottled water, camera, and no swimming 👍

Awesome - thanks all for sharing.

I’m going 👍 😃
 
promethius said:
  • in the main body of the basilica there are three must sees:
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That’ll teach me to proof read.

The three main things to see in the basillica are the papal crypt, easily accessed from the side of the basillica itself, michaelangelo’s pieta, which is located (if it hasn’t been moved) just to the right of the front entrance, and climbing the dome, which is reached by going out the front and around the side (counterclockwise direction as you leave the front doors).

Also, I left out the catacombs, which are a MUST see.
 
Ag_not said:
Ok I got it - Bottled water, camera, and no swimming 👍

Awesome - thanks all for sharing.

I’m going 👍 😃
Click to expand...
Bruxilda -

When you go, take someone with you who knows the place and can show you the places that are not only historic and pretty, but who can also immerse you in its spirituality (or meet up with someone from there). While you’re at it, take a side trip to San Giovanni Rotundo to be close to St. Padre Pio. After all, he is the one who has had a big hand in your journey so far.

The rest of your journey? You must write a book. God has given you a special way of connecting with others through your words and experiences. Mary and the Holy Spirit will be with you every step of the way.

Nothing happens by chance.
 
I was in Rome at this time last year and what I did was two months before I went, I wrote to the Vatican and asked for an audience with the pope. I told him about my awakening through Padre Pio and what I have encountered thus far on this journey to become closer to God. When I arrived at my hotal, there was a fax waiting for me from the Vatican. I was so excited I wanted to cry. They said I could have a general audience with the pope. No waiting in line but to go to the bronze doors to request my two tickets. My husband has a picture of me going up the stairs alone and the Swiss guard has his spear crossed, but when I showed him the letter, he let me by.
We went under St. Peter’s to see the tombs of the popes, of course seeing Peter’s was surreal. So wasn’t John Paul’s. Beautiful.
The ancient Rome was breathtaking. We stood in the prison of Peter and Paul. Very sad. The Catacombs were thoroughly Catholic in belief, the writings on the walls will explain it all.
The Sitine Chapel was amazing with all the history involved, as well as the Colosseum. We will be going back as we didn’t see everything, but just seeing St. Peter’s on this special level was good enough for me. Love Rome. Love being Roman Catholic. Thank you Jesus.
 
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