Rome Day 3: Vatican and New Years Eve

Vatican Museum

Well I did not know where to meet, according my friends at Piazza San Pietro, well actually I had to meet in front of the museum, which is a Km from where I was. In the end we were just in time to meet the guide and to get in without have to go in the very long cue. I do not understand why people do wait 2-3 hours when they already know they go to the museum without organizing tickets over the Internet. To my opinion such a cue is by far not quality time :-(.

What can I say about the museum and the Sistine Chapel … it is all rather overwhelming. But that is not only due to the many art objects, but also due to the sheer amount of people. The day we choose (actually this was the only day we could ..) was a special one (31st of December) and closing was early, so lot's of people in. This day some 20.000, yeah 20.000 … meaning you are in a cue all through the museum and the chapel. But for a first time this was OK. At that time said to myself I should come again. But … after we had a small lunch in the Vatican Cantina :-) we were able to do the excursion again, and guess what … almost no one there as the museum was closing. We had to hurry though, but this fast re-entry was great, we even were in the Sistine Chapel with only a few people, compared to a flock of birds in a narrow space earlier. 

Sant'Angelo

From the Vatican we walked to the river, passing my hotel and checking out the Castel Sant-Angelo. The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as the Castel Sant'Angelo, is a towering cylindrical building in Rome, initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. The building was later used as a fortress and castle, and is now a museum. The tomb of the Roman emperor Hadrian, also called Adrian's mole, was erected on the right bank of the Tiber, between 135 AD and 139 AD. Originally the mausoleum was a decorated cylinder, with a garden top and golden quadriga. Hadrian's ashes were placed here a year after his death in Baiae in 138 AD, together with those of his wife Sabina, and his first adopted son, Lucius Aelius, who also died in 138 AD. Following this, the remains of succeeding emperors were also placed here, the last recorded deposition being Caracalla in 217 AD. Also buried there were the bones of Julia Domna and her son Publius Septimius Geta. The urns containing these ashes were probably placed in what is now known as the Treasury room deep within the building. Hadrian also built the Pons Aelius facing straight onto the mausoleum – it still provides a scenic approach from the center of Rome and the right bank of the Tiber, and is renowned for the Baroqueadditions of statuary of angels holding aloft elements of the Passion of Christ.
We did not go in, instead just crossed the river and walked up to Piazza Navone, where a fair was held, giving little to no view on the piazza itself, but presented a good atmosphere.

Piazza Navona is a city square in Rome, Italy. It is built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian, built in first century AD, and follows the form of the open space of the stadium. The ancient Romans came there to watch the agones ("games"), and hence it was known as 'Circus Agonalis' (competition arena). It is believed that over time the name changed to 'in agone' to 'navone' and eventually to 'navona'.
Defined as a public space in the last years of 15th century, when the city market was transferred to it from the Campidoglio, the Piazza Navona is now the pride of Baroque Roman architectural and art history. It features sculptural and architectural creations: in the center stands the famous Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi or Fountain of the Four Rivers (1651) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini; the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone by Francesco Borromini and Girolamo Rainaldi; and the Pamphilj palace also by Rainaldi and which features the gallery frescoed by Pietro da Cortona.

The Piazza Navona has two additional fountains: at the southern end is La Fontana del Moro with a basin and four Tritons sculpted by Giacomo della Porta (1575) to which in 1673 Bernini added a statue of a Moor, or African, by Bernini, wrestling with a dolphin, at the northern is the Fountain of Neptune, Rome (1574) created by Giacomo della Porta. The statue of Neptune in the northern fountain, the work of Antonio Della Bitta, was added in 1878 to make that fountain more symmetrical with La Fontana del Moro in the south.
At the southwest end of the piazza is the ancient 'speaking' staute of Pasquino. Erected in 1501, Romans could leave lampoons or derogatory social commentary attached to the statue.
During its history, the piazza has hosted theatrical events and other ephemeral activities. From 1652 until 1866, when the festival was suppressed, it was flooded on every Saturday and Sunday in August in elaborate celebrations of the Pamphilj family. The pavement level was raised in the 19th century and the market was moved again in 1869 to the nearby Campo de' Fiori, which we visited the next day.

Giolitti Ice

It was time to head over to one of the best Ice cream makers of Rome and that is Giolitti. Giolitti is a well-known café, pastry shop and ice cream parlor in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1890 by Giuseppe and Bernardina Giolitti and operates at two locations: via Uffici del Vicario near the Pantheon and in E.U.R.. It is still owned by the same family.
The café is most famous for its ice cream (gelato), which comes in dozens of different flavours produced according to secret recipes. The rare flavours include champagne, cassata siciliana, ricotta, marsala custard and rice. The Giolitti family has several times refused to sell its brand and recipes to large dairy companies. The café is popular with both tourists and locals and is listed in many guide books.

Spanish Stairs

After a perfect Ice cream time to walk again, this time to the Spanish Steps. Although less impressive than expected, with al tourists present a perfect scenery. 

The Spanish Steps (Italian: Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti) are a set of steps in Rome, Italy, climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the church of Trinità dei Monti. The Scalinata is the longest and widest staircase in Europe.
The monumental stairway of 138 steps was built with French diplomat Étienne Gueffier’s bequeathed funds of 20,000 scudi, in 1723–1725, linking the Bourbon Spanish Embassy to the Holy See, today still located in Palazzo Monaldeschi in the piazza below, with the Trinità dei Monti above.
Following a competition in 1717 the steps were designed by the little-known Francesco de Sanctis, though Alessandro Specchi was long thought to have produced the winning entry. Generations of heated discussion over how the steep slope to the church on a shoulder of the Pincio should be urbanized preceded the final execution. Archival drawings from the 1580s show that Pope Gregory XIII was interested in constructing a stair to the recently-completed façade of the French church. Gaspar van Wittel's view of the wooded slope in 1683, before the Scalinata was built, is conserved in the Galleria Nazionale, Rome. The Roman-educated Cardinal Mazarin took a personal interest in the project that had been in Gueffier's will and entrusted it to his agent in Rome, whose plan included an equestrian monument of Louis XIV, an ambitious intrusion that created a furore in papal Rome. Mazarin died in 1661, the pope in 1667, and Gueffier's will was successfully contested by a nephew who claimed half; so the project lay dormant until Pope Clement XI Albani renewed interest in it. The Bourbon fleur-de-lys and Innocent XIII's eagle and crown are carefully balanced in the sculptural details. The solution is a gigantic inflation of some conventions of terraced garden stairs.

Time for dinner, hm … that took some time as it was now 21.00 at New Years Eve. Luckily we found a pizzeria which also had some other food, which was actually rather OK, although the waiters many times put wrong plates in front of us. let us say it was hectic but nice.

Piazza del Popolo

Raining Cats and Dogs and the party still had to get started. It is not nice when you go to Piazza del Popolo and the weather is like shit, but with my friends we had a great toast on 2010.

The weather got a bit better after the Fireworks and we headed down to the Trevi fountain again, where a nice party was going on. Time to get the Metro and go and sleep, almost 03.00 in the morning.