Italy 2021

Thanks to Covid, airfares to everywhere are super cheap. We vaccinated the whole family and snapped up a flight to Italy. We started in Venice and then flew home from Rome. We used trains to get around the country. We were able to visit Venice, Florence, Rome and Naples.

Venice/Venezia: We got super lucky in that they were experiencing an Acua Alta, or high water, event while we were there. Since Venice is built at sea level and sometimes the tides are very high, the low parts of the city become flooded. This usually happens in the fall. When it happens, they lay down wooden boardwalks so that you can walk around St Mark's Square and Basilica without getting wet. We hadn't seen this last time we were there, so it was pretty cool to experience. Many people were just wading around and getting wet. I thought it was too cold for that. We waited patiently on the boardwalks. Even the bottom floor of the basilica was underwater.

St Mark's Square, flooded

Acua Alta

You can see the boardwalk and the flooded Cathedral

St Mark's Cathedral was built in the Middle Ages and was full of mosaics and Eastern Byzantine symbols. It is all plated with god which really helped brighten up the otherwise very dark interior. They had not invented the buttress and were unable to make windows large enough to adequately light up the interior. We also got to be rowed around the back canals of Venice on a gondola in the evening. So romantic, even if the kids were with us.

After the trip, everyone agreed that Venice was the coolest place we visited.

Bridge of Sighs

Florence/Firenze: We took an early train from Venice to Florence. We got to walk around the square and learn about Michealangelo and the dome he created that started off the Renaissance. We brought along some binoculars to view the upper parts of the cathedrals as they are normally too far away to see well. We all put the binoculars to good use here at the baptistry where there were a ton of illustrations of old Testament stories. The inside of the famous domed cathedral is boring but we also spent a daytrip touring the hill town of Siena, nearby. This town is Gothic rather than Renaissance and its town square and cathedral are amazing. Plus, no cars allowed so no one was trying to run us down while we oohed and ahhed over the scenery.

The Dome in Florence

The Siena Cathedral is famous for its inlaid floors. They really are unique. I have not seen anything like it at any other Cathedral. You can see how tall it is built. These Gothic Cathedrals really do draw your eyes, and thoughts toward heaven. Binoculars came in handy here, too.

Sienna, Gothic 

Florence is also the location of the Uffizi Gallery. This art museum has many famous painting by Renaissance artists. We got to personally see some great masterpieces. My favorite is Botticelli, but Raphael also creates beautiful faces. The kids grudingly posed for pictures.

Botticelli, Birth of Venus in the Uffizi

Raphael, Jesus and John the Baptist

Rome: We got to take in the Colosseum as well as the Pantheon and The Roman Forum. We even made it to the Trevi Fountain to toss in our coin to ensure we come back to Rome someday. Since we took the kids out of school to go on our trip, I tried to make it somewhat educational. We learned about Roman democracy as well as imperialism and why Rome eventually fell. Isaac showed great insight when he brought out the fact that many nations fall in the same way that Rome did. Hmm, food for thought.

Pantheon

Trevi

The Forum

More forum

Public fountains all over Rome, OK for drinking.  No disposable water bottles for us

Part of visiting Rome included visiting the Vatican. The Vatican Museum is full of an eclectic array of plunder, er, I mean art, that has been gathered from around the world. I thought it was very interesting that each piece on display had a note about how it was obtained. Mostly they were bribes/gifts from various leaders. It was interesting when this was pointed out to the kids. Yes, even religious leaders are subject to temptation and all the more reason for a division between church and state.

View of St Peter's Square atop the Vatican Cathedral

The Sistine Chapel is beautiful. The famous picture of God giving life to Adam is such a tiny part of the entire room, it is suprising how much it overshadows everything else. One wall, also painted by Michealangelo, shows the Last Judgement and is equally poweful and much easier to see. The trolls/guards wouldn't let anyone take pictures in the Sistine Chapel so I don't have any decent pictures of the Last Judgement but I was able to covertly get one of us below Adam and God.

Adam and God, the speck in the middle

Front door of St Peter's.  HUGE, befitting the seat of the Catholic church

Naples/Napoli: We have been to Italy a few times, but this was our first foray to Naples. It is run down and filthy. This was working class Italy and definitely not a tourist city like the other 3 places that we visited. It is the gateway to Pompeii and Herculaneum so was good for 2 days. It also houses the museum where all the frescos from Pompeii were sent once they were excavated. There is a disappointing amount of art actually at the ruins. I see the need to protect the original frescos from weather and grafitti but it would be nice if there were a copy in the actual spot where they were discovered. It is hard to envision the art seen in a museum on the wall of the house that you are actually looking at when in Pompeii. Oh well. Herculaneum was much less plundered. Isaac and Nick liked this site the best because there were fewer restrictions on wandering and there was actually ancient Roman art in the houses and shops. Those Romans were bawdy! Nick and Isaac wouldn't let us take pictures in the brothel.

Plaster cast of someone caught in the volcanic ash

Preparing and serving lunch at a counter in Pompeii

Statue decorating the courtyard of a house in Pompeii

Mills for grinding grain, nearby are ovens for baking bread, Pompeii

Despite Tom's worrying ways, we made it back to the Rome airport via train from Naples in time to catch our plane back to the US. One thing that was very interesting was that our vaccine cards were checked, literally, everywhere we went. We couldn't go into a museum, a cathedral or even a restaurant without presenting our vaccine cards and they were very adamant about masks. They are serious about stopping the pandemic in Italy. I salute them!

Pompeii, Vesuvius in the background

Herculaneum