TMC

My first journey out of the country was to Italy. It was a school trip for my Latin class, we spent most of the week in Rome with the exception of a day trip to Pompeii.

The city of Rome has a sort of ancient weight to it. The ancient structures still stand, some with new modern additions. It leaves a feeling as though the people there now just inhabited what was left of the past. Of course, we visited the main attractions like the Colosseum, Forum, Pantheon, and the Vatican. All of which had their own mesmerizing aspects, structures that have lasted thousands of lifetimes. Besides these pillars of tourism that you must visit while in Rome, there are other less traveled places that still leave you amazed. You can walk along the Via Appia, the ‘highway’ of ancient Rome, you can feel the massiveness of the baths of Caracalla or take a stroll in one of my favorite places the Villa Borghese Garden.

The Villa Borghese Garden is the third largest park in Rome. The name of the garden comes from a mansion or Villa of Cardinal Scipione Borghese and his family that is located in the garden. The Villa and surrounding area were donated, and the mansion is now an art gallery and museum that houses works of many famous Italian painters and sculptors. Most of the art is from Bernini’s a close friend of Cardinal Borghese, in the center of the main room is one of his most famous sculptures, the ‘Rape of Persephone’. The marble sculpture is considered a masterpiece of Bernini’s because he was able to make the marble, a solid rock, look malleable and squishy. The park that surrounds the villa is a beautiful pocket of Rome, it feels separate from all the hustle and bustle of the city. There is a beautiful pond that you can take a rowboat out on. The picture of the fountain came from this garden. We spent the morning strolling around the garden. The sunlight coming through the trees put a spotlight on the fountain. The water gleamed in the light.

The old city of Pompeii is a place like no other, it is an ancient city completely persevered. The infrastructure of the city still stands, the original roads, buildings, walls, and even the amphitheater. The site begins as a museum with a gift shop and lobby, but as you walk up toward the city gates, you feel the age of the place. It was amazing to walk through a city that was built so long ago. An entirely different society and civilization left for us to observe. At the forum, they had a glassed-off area where they hold the artifacts that were discovered, including pottery, statues, birdbaths, and even bodies. At the top of the amphitheater, there was a spectacular view of Mt. Vesuvius, the volcano that mummified the whole city. A looming reminder of how Pompeii got to how it is today.

Italy is near the top of my list of places to visit again, the art, the beauty, the food and the ancient civilization that still for the most part stands. I want to travel the entire peninsula, Venice, Sicily, Florence, Naples, and Milan.