When in Rome, Venice, Paris and More!: October in Rome: Part 1

October was a very busy month! As a class, we were all over the city all the time! For our Rome and the Campagna class we had 6 onsite lectures in the first two weeks of the month before Thanksgiving. The first of these was the mother load. Rick's famous lecture in the Roman Forum.

From the time the Forum opened, until the time they found us hiding in a back corner and kicked us out, that man spoke. He told wonderful stories about the history of Rome and the importance of the space in which we were learning. He taught us that all tour guides lie, and what Roman life was like. He transported us for the land of the living, to the realm of the mythical and historic simply with his words. The experience was incredible, although it would have been slightly more enjoyable if it hadn't been so hot, with so little shade! Having spoken to people who had taken this class before, I knew that my most important tool for the day would be an umbrella, and boy was I right. At first, I probably looked silly sitting under an umbrella in the sun, but then my friend joined me, and then we were a group of 60 people, huddled under umbrellas without a cloud in the sky!

Column of Focus

Temple of Castor and Pollux

Basilica of Constantine and Maxentius

The next two days of lectures were held at the Colosseum and San Clemente, and at the remains of Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli. The Colosseum lecture was far too crowded! I heard almost none of it, because I had to stand far away from the professor, and he was trying not to disturb other people that were there. But the Colosseum itself is definitely worth a visit! It's very rare that you get to go and see somewhere with that much history. Unless you go to the next place on our list, San Clemente. San Clemente is a church, built on top of another church, built on top of the roman remains of a cult building and the Roman Mint. It is so interesting because you can actually walk through the levels and experience each one, walking through it and knowing that each was once at ground level. Amazing. Finally, we went to see the remains of Hadiran's Villa. Wow. How one man could have conceived of that, I don't know. He experimented with architectural themes no one had ever seen before. And it wasn't until years later that many of them would ever be seen again. This Villa is home to the famous Maritime theatre. It's purpose it unknown, and it isn't actually a theatre, but it was a wonderful space to sit and learn from our prof.

The Colosseum

San Clemente Bottom Church

View from the top of Hadrian's Villa

The Maritime Theatre

The next, and final three lectures, were held at the Trajan Markets, the Baths of Caracalla, and the Pantheon. Trajan's Markets were built as a part of Trajan's forum. To build this forum, they took out part of the hill, making it necessary to build something to hold up what was left of the hill, and hence, Trajan's Market was born! Next, we went to the Baths of Caracalla. I can't remember if these were the largest or second largest public bath complex built within the Roman Empire, but either way, the ruins were gigantic! These ruins were commissioned by Septamus Severus, during his reign as Roman Emperor. At the height of their use, the baths could house thousands of people. There were separate baths for men and women, as well as separate change rooms and running tracks. I don't know about you, but communal bathing doesn't really appeal to me... Finally, we ended our course with a lecture at the Pantheon. This lecture was by far the best one of the course. Hearing it really connected us with the building, and its importance in history. We also learned of the importance of the building to our professor and his family. The lecture really transcended the class through time and space, taking us to each time period of importance connected with the Pantheon. By far, the Rantheon is my favourite place in Rome, I have since been back many times, and anticipate going there again before I leave the city.