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Rome by Train
22-27 October 1961

[Note. Work on this diary was underway on and off over several yeays and the text was finally assembled neary 60 years after the trip. Although receipts, photographs and personal notes were available, for some reason they did not invoke the plentiful memories they had for most comparable trips. It will probably take a great deal of time to add the photographs.]

Introduction. At her mother's request, we had invited our niece Sharon, 17, to stay several weeks with us in Italy. We had been stationed with SETAF in Verona, Italy, for about two years the time she arrived in August. Sharon had seen much of Europe during her stay, but not Rome. Now her visit was now winding down, and we figured we certainly had to take her to Rome before she left. Actually, we had waited until October to try to miss the worst of the tourist season.

Darrell had already been to Rome four times on business. There was a duty roster for officers below Major to serve as couriers between Verona and Rome, and his turn came up every several months. As courier, he was armed and had a private compartment on the overnight train, leaving about 11 p.m and arriving in Rome shortly after 5:00 a.m. Sometimes the “dispatches” would be meager, only a few envelopes. Other times there were so many large packages that they filled his whole compartment on the train, even the bed he was supposed to sleep on. A sedan met the train and the driver transported Darrell and his cargo to the U.S. Embassy on Via Veneto. There he delivered the dispatches, checked his .32 caliber revolver, and had a quick breakfast in the snack bar. By 7:00 a.m. he was on a streetcar headed for the Vatican, always his first stop on these trips because it opened before most other tourist sites. He did not have to be back at the Embassy for the return trip until 9:00 p.m., giving his 14 hours to explore the city. Darrell enjoyed these trips so much that he sometimes even volunteered to take the duty for other officers who preferred not to go. With the familiarity with Rome that he gained on these trips, he felt confident in serving as guide for Jane and Sharon.

We elected to make the trip by train to avoid having to store our car somewhere if we drove down. Rail fares were quite reasonable. Our second class round-trip tickets were about $24 each after a military discount.

Monday, October 22. We said good-bye to Rosa, our nanny, and our four young sons about 9:00 a,m. and drove our huge 1953 Pontiac station wagon to Verona’s Porta Nuova train station. We parked in the public lot, bought our tickets, and waited for the 9:30 train. As ususal, it was right on time.

We were surprised to find that our second class coach only had open rows of wooden seats with no padding. Usually the coaches had six-passenger closed compartments just like first class. That is why we had seen no need to travel first class. Fortunately we were able to switch to such a coach when we got to Bologna a couple of hours later. The train also stopped at Florence and Arezzo. As was common then, not all the cars on the train were going to Rome. Cars were separated from or added to the train at each major stop. In Bologna, we moved to a car going to Rome, so we did not have to change again. We had packed a lunch and ate that after we left Bologna.

The trip took about six hours and we got off the train at Rome’s Termini Station around 3:30 p.m. We took a taxi to the pensione where we were staying. It was just a few short blocks from the Station. We unpacked and decided to rest in our rooms before going out for dinner.

Having rooms close to the Station had two major advantages. The Station was the transportation hub of the city. Almost all the bus and streetcar routes started and ended there, and since Rome’s Metro (subway) opened in 1955, the center of its only line was there. The other advantage is that the Station had two excellent restaurants that were less expensive than similar restaurants elsewhere.

We left our pensione about 5:00 p.m. and spent an hour exploring the area before heading for the Station for dinner. Eating traditional Italian three-course dinner (pasta, meat with vegetable, then dessert) took at least an hour, so it was nearing twilight by the time we finished. We were all glad to get to bed early.

Tuesday, October 23. We were up early and had a continental breakfast at our pensione. We put off going to the Vatican until tomorrowfor a day because the Pope’s weekly General Audience was on Wednesday, and we all wanted to see the Pope. Darrell had decided we should incude all four of Rome’s Papal Basilicas in our itinerary (but only two today)..

One of them was just a few blocks from the Station. That was Santa Maria Maggiore, and we made that our first stop. This Basilica was built at the top of the Esquiline hill, the highest of Rome’s seven hills. It was consecrated in 434 and, unlike most churches of that age, retains the core of its original structure, as well  as its original mosaics. We were awed to be in a church that had been open for more than 1,500 years.

We stopped at a small shop near the Basilica to buy rosaries we planned to have the Pope bless tomorrow. Then we caught a bus that took us to Piazza Venezia, Looming over the Piazza is the Victor Emmanuel II Monument (irreverently referred to as The Wedding Cake (because of it's white rococo decor), honoring the first king of a united Italy (declared in 1861). Nearby we entered the Roman Forum.

The origins of the Forum can be traced to the 7th century B.C. when it was a swampy valley between two rival settlements. When they made peace, the area became a meeting place for the two peoples, evolving into a large market, and eventually the center of political life, with important temples and public buildings. In later centuries some of the Forum buildings were converted into Christian churches, but the Forum continued to fall into ruins, and even became a dump. As the City of Rome began to grow again, the Forum was “mined” for materials to build new buildings (including St. Peter’s Basilica). In short, the Forum is not well preserved. It was hard to visualize its former appearance.

Continuing southeast the full length of the Forum, we eventually came to the Colosseum. By then it was after noon and we bought a light snack from a street vendor so we would not have to lose an hour in a restaurant.

The Colosseum is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world. It was completed in 80 A.D. after eight years of constructionl. The funds to build it were part of the spoils from the Roman defeat of the Jews in 70 A.D. The structure seated about 65,000 people on average. It was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles, including animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, dramas based on Roman mythology, and at one time, even mock sea battles between ships floating on the flooded floor.

Like most of Rome’s other large structures, the Colesseum suffered severe decay after the fall of the Roman Empire, including by earthquake. Like many others, it was mined for materials to build other structures.

It still looked very impressive from the outside, but when we went inside, we were shocked at its rubble-like appearance. It was only when our guide explained what we were looking at that we could figure it out. Darrell found a room with a fascinating intricate wooden model of the original structure (by Lucangeli, c.1812). It showed what a marvel it had been, complete with a retractable roof over the spectator area.

It was after 3:00 by the time we left the Colesseum. We took a bus several blocks to our second Papal Basilica of the day, St. John Lateran. Built in the fourth century, this theoretically is the oldest of the four Basilicas. However, the original building deteriorated and eventually burned. The present building dates from the 18th century and bears little resemblance to the original. The church is actually an Archbasilica, the highest ranking of the four Papal Basilicas. It is the cathedral church of the Diocese of Rome, the seat of the bishop of Rome (the Pope). It was named in honor of both John the Baptist and John the Evangelist.

We took the same bus back to the Colosseum. There we caught the Metro (subway) one stop south to see the Circus Maximus, the first and largest chariot-racing stadium in the ancient Roman Empire. We hired a carriage to drive us one lap around the Circus.

By now it was after 5:00 and we were all very tired from the walking, We walked back to the Metro station and took a train to Termini, where we had dinner again.

Wednesday, October 24. We planned to attend the Pope’s weekly General Audience at the Vatican at 10;00 a.m. We took the bus to the Vatican, stopping at the USO two blocks away to get tickets. This audience would be held in St. Peter’ Basilica. We rushed inside to get positions right along the chest-high partitions that formed the center aisle down which Pope John XXIII would be carried.

The original St Peter's Basilica was built at the order of Emperor Constantine in the 4th century on the site of St Peter's grave. By the 15th century the old basilica was in desperate need of renovation, and Pope Julius II decided it would be better to demolish it completely and replace it with a larger, grander basilica. Construction continued for over 120 years. It is considered the grandest of the four Papal basilicas.
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Note:  Darrell had already attended two audiences with this Pope, one of them in St. Peter's. The other one had been in the winter months when a much smaller audience was held in the ornate Hall of the Benedictions (Loggia delle Benedizione) in the Papal Palace. Darrell had trouble finding the audience hall and was a bit late in reaching it. He was shocked when the guards slammed the huge doors shut practically in his face. As he looked around, he saw that two other people shared his predicament.

Through the doors, they heard applause, then the Pope speaking for about 15 minutes. There were loudspeakers in the outer chamber, but of very poor quality so it was difficult to understand. More applause, then silence. Darrell and the two others exchanged glances, then shrugs, and started to leave. Suddenly the great doors flew open with a loud bang, and Pope John in his gestatorial chair was carried in. Speaking in Italian to just the three of us, he said that the blessing he had given in the audience room had extended to us as well, but that because we had not been able to get in, he would now give us a special blessing, and he did so.

Then he spoke to each of us in turn. First was an older woman from Bergamo, where the Pope was born ans spent his early years. They carried on an animated three or four minute conversation in the Bergamo dialect. Then the Pope asked Darrell where he was from. Darrell spoke Italian fairly well then and replied in Italian that he was an American soldier stationed in Verona. That was it. No animated exchange. It was the same with the third person, an Italian businessman. Nevertheless, Darrell was thrilled to have had even this short exchange with a Pope, especially John XXIII whom he greatly admired (and was later canonized).
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Of course, today’s audience had no such personal touches. Pope John was carried down the aisle formed by the partitions on each side. The church was packed several rows deep behind every foot of the partitions. Despite a lot of pushing, we tenaciously held on to our positions right on the aisle where we could almost touch the Pope as his 12 footmen carried him by. As always, he smiled broadly as he seemed to just emanate love. Dismounting at the High Altar, Pope John addressed the crowd in several languages. At the end he blessed us all, as well as the rosaries we carried, and was carried back down the aisle in his chair.

The crowd was slow to disperse. The three of us hurried to the elevator and were among the first to reach the first terrace of the dome (saving about 300 steps). We walked slowly around the walkway inside the dome, testing the reported acoustics that allowed a whisper to ride the mosaics all the way to the opposite side. The view down was etherial.

Then we began the climb to the copula at the top of the dome, 231 step between the interior and exterios shells of the dome. That meant the wall sloped in more and more as we climbed. The view from the top was well worth the effort, though. We had to descend on the same stairs, but now traffic was picking up and it was a struggle to pass those coming up.

Once we got back to the first terrace level, we went out on the roof, another great experience. We stood between the statues atop St. Peter's facade, marveling at their size. St. Peter's Square seemed remarkably small as look down into it. Then we caught the elevater down with no wait. Most people were just coming up, and many who did take the elevator up were willing to walk down,

Then we toured inside the Basilica. Our first stop was Michelangelo’s Pieta, Darrell’s favorite piece of art in the whole world. He stopped by to admire it on every trip he took to Rome. This priceless work of art was protected only by a few feet of red plush rope sagging between two brass stanchions. Spectators could almost touch it. In fact, by simple stepping over the rope, they could, and some did. But there was also a sense of intimacy that greatly enriched the experince, [That intmacy was later lost. In 1972 a deranged man attacked the Pieta with a hammer. Since then it has been kept behind glass.]

When we finished viewing the Basilica, we visited the Sistine Chapel and the Treasury.

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As we left St. Peter’s Square, we were approached by a local tout who handed us a flyer for a nearby restaurant. It was after 1:00 and we were ready for lunch. We were intrigued by his description of a small family restaurant with genuine Roman cooking. So we followed him a few blocks through the narrow streets of a very old and run down neighborhood. The restaurant was also old and run down, but it seemed too late to back out. We ordered just a small lunch because we still had a lot of walking to do.

Sharon was leery, rightly so as it turned out. She was not the adventursome sort, especially when it came to eating. She ordered minestrone because she was familiar with that. When she was served, though, she found that it had a large leaf of spinach among the pasta and other vegetables, It was unappetising, to say the least. It so unsettled her that she had to run to the bathroom. She was gone a very long time. It turned out that the toilet was the classical hole in a brick floor. This was still very common in Italy at the time but, understandably, it aggravated her nausea.

Leaving the restaurant, we found our way back to Via Conciliazione and took a bus the few blocks to Castel Sant’Angelo (139 A.D.), a towering cylindrical building overlooking the Tiber River. It was initially commissioned by Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family, but was later used by the popes as a fortress, residence and prison. In 1277 it was connected to St Peter's Basilica by a covered fortified corridor (Passetto).

The Castel was now a museum, but we did not go in. Instead, we crossed the Tiber River over the beautiful Sant’Angelo Bridge (134 A.D.). For several blocks we followed the narrow old Via dei Coronari, reputed to be one of the best preserved roads of the old city, though it seemed to have more antique junk shops than anything else.

This very long walk, after an entire morning on our feet, was undoubtedly a mistake. We finally reached the north end of Piazza Navona. It was an odd piazza in that it was over two blocks long. It had a large fountain at each end and a third one in the middle. That one had a large obelisk rising from its center.

By now it was getting late and we still faced the problem of getting back to Termini in the rush hour. Using his map, Darrell finally found a bus that would take us there without transferring, though the route was far from direct. Thankfully, most of the buses went to Termini at some point on their routes. It was after 6:00 when we got to Termini, so we ate there again before going to our hotel.

Thursday, October 25. We had had two long and exhausting days in Rome, and we had seen a great many of the major tourist attraction at a frantic pace. Darrell suggested that it was time for a less taxing day, and Jane and Sharon readily agreed. We decided that the Villa Borghese Gallery and the surrounding Gardens would be a great place to spend the day. We even slept a little later, though we had to finish breakfast before 9:00, so we could not sleep too long. Fortunatly their was a bus that took us from Termini to the Borghese Museum in about15 minutes.

Our tour of the Borghese Museum was a breathtaking experience, twenty rooms of art masterpieces on two floors. Darrell had been through it forty years before and had been greatly impressed. The building was very different now, though, after being closed 13 years for renovations. (It reopened in 1998.) The Villa was built by Cardinal Borghese in 1613 to house his renowned art collection. It has hundreds of sculptures and paintings, including several extraordinary masterpieces such as the exquisite "Apollo and Daphne" and other magnificent sculptures by Bernini.

Originally the Villa grounds covered an area with a circumference of nearly three miles, almost 200 acres, and much of that has been preserved, providing a huge green space in the center of Rome. On leaving the Villa, we set off to explore the grounds. We caught the trenino (Little Train) that enabled us to see a great deal of the grounds, with its many statues and fountains, in a relatively short time. There was a beautiful artificial lake, and we even passed a coorful troop of Carabinieri on horseback. The weather was cool and cloudy.

After the ride we visited the formal garden behind the Villa, then had lunch at the bar in the basement. It was only 2:00 p.. when we finished. We had plentyof time for more sightseeing, and some of Rome's most popular attactions were nearby. The Spanish Steps (1725) and Trinita dei Monti Church (1585) were only a mile away, so decided to head there. Darell noticed on his map, though, that Via Veneto was only a few minutes out of the way, so we spent a little time looking around there

Continuing on our walk, our path led us to the Piazza Trinita del Monti at the top of the Steps. There was a great view from the Church down the Steps to the Piazza di Spagna.  As we started down the 135 steps to the Piazza, a couple of young Italian men sitting on one side called out compliments to Jane and Sharon. Jane was familiar with the practice, very common in Italy, and ignored them, but Sharon was clearly distracted and stopped to listen, which only encouraged the young men. Anyway, we reached the bottom with no problem and took in the view of the Piazza below.

It was only a few blocks more to Trevi Fountain (built 1762 on the site of an older Roman fountain). Since the 1954 release of the movie "Three Coins in the Fountain," this had become a major tourist attraction. Not surprisingly, Sharon enjoyed it very much. Here was something she was very familiar with. Although the three coins of the movie were thrown by three different people, whether from ignorance or greed, the practice has developed for each person throwing three coins, tripling the revenue to Caritas, a major Catholic charity.

The Pnntheon was less than 10 minutes from the Fountain, so that was our next stop. The present building, now a Catholic church, was built by Emperor Hadrian around 126 A.D. (three centuries before Saint Maria Maggiore). It is in remarkably good condition. Its huge dome was an architectural marvel, the first such dome ever built with no supporting columns within its diameter (142 feet).

Our "easy" day had turned into quite a bit of walking. But we all enjoyed the break from the heavy classical touring we had benn doing, Fortunately, we only had to backtrack a few minutes to catch a bus directly back to Termini. This time we tried a restaurant we had passed frequently between Tremini and our pensione. The food was excellent and the atmosphere lighter than in the Station and they had live music.

Friday, October 26. Today we were going to see the fourth and last of the Papal Basilicas. St. Paul Outside the Walls was located well south of central Rome. Darrell had visited this Basilica twice before. After breakfast we caught the Metro south to St. Paul's. Because the Basilica was located mid-way between two Metro stops, there was still quite a walk to reach it. The original church here was also founded in the 4th century. It was built over the burial site of St Paul. However, that building was almost completely destroyed by fire in 1823 . The vast majority of the Basilica as it stands today dates from the 19th century. The  neoclassical style of archetecture is completely different than that of the other Basilica.  Above the columns separating the aisles from the nave were round mosaic portraits of every pope, from Peter to John XXIII.

Since we were already so far south, it was quite convenient to take a bus to the Catacombs of St. Sebastian, the oldest underground cemetery for Early Christians in Rome. It is located along the Appian Way.

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When we finished at the catacombs, we boarded the south-bound bus to see what we couls see of the Apian Way.. We only went only far enough to see the Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella. At that point twe met another bur going north, and we decided to take it. The bus was going all the way to Piazza Venezia, but we elected to transfer to the Metro at the Saint Paul stop since the Metro went directly to the Termini. After dinner at the train station, we spent the evening packing for our departure in the morning.

Saturday, October 27. We had our final breakfast at the pensione. Because we had our luggage, we then took a taxi the short distance to Termini. When we found our train, we were fortunate to find a car marked Verona so we did not have to chage cars the entire way. Our car had the usual six-passenger compartments.The train left right on time at 9:30. 

We arrived in Verona before 4:00 p.m., retrieved our car from the parking area, and were home about 20 minutes later. Rosa and our boys gave us a warm welcome. As always, it was great to be home.
   

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