Trash Collectors can be seen throughout the city of Rome. I would say that it is a relatively clean city for the amount of people who travel throughout the streets on a daily basis. From the picture you can see that the required uniform is quite interesting. These trash collectors can be seen at most busy tourist locations sweeping up trash and emptying garbage cans. I would not consider it to be the most glorious of jobs, but these street cleaners do exceptionally well at keeping the streets tidy. So when visiting Rome, expect to have clean streets to walk on, a big difference between some of the major cities in the United States.
Saint Peter's Basilica is hands down one of the most majestic places I have ever seen in my life. I found myself in complete awe and my jaw was gaping for the hour I spent walking around in the Basilica.
Saint Peter is known today as the Prince of the Apostles because of his prominence throughout the Bible as the first mentioned amongst the Apostles in several different books (Saint Peter, 2009). This position is closely linked to the same position the Pope holds today, which is why sometimes Saint Peter is referred to as the first Pope of the Christianity. He was one of Jesus's closest friends and followers. As the Bible tells, at the Last Supper Peter is the apostle whom Jesus told would deny him three times before the night's end. After preaching the word of Christ for several years after the death of Jesus, Peter was crucified in the same manner in AD 64 (Saint Peter, 2009).
Saint Peter's Basilica was built during the fourth century over what is claimed to be his original burial sight (Saint Peter, 2009).
People use several different types of transportation to get around the streets of Rome.
In the United States , seeing one of the SmartCars was a funny little instance where I found myself amazed by the size of it, especially since I drive a gas-guzzling Ford Explorer. I even read an article in USA Today during April that said because of the decrease in gas prices, SmartCar sales in the U.S. were dropping drastically. In Roma, the SmartCar and other cars of its size can be seen everywhere around the city. Gas in Roma (and all around Europe) is significantly higher than in the U.S., where I've seen gas costing 1.26Euro a liter, which is equivalent to $6.75 a gallon in the United States. Having fuel efficient, high MPG cars appears to be a necessity in Roma. I recommend using public transportation or walking over other means of transport.
Rome, which contains one of the biggest religious meccas in the world (Vatican City), also houses over 900 churches, including Sant' Ignazio di Loyola (Churches in Rome, 2003). With such an abundance of churches, what exactly puts a church on the map as an important site to see while in Rome? Is it location? the age? the art and architecture? the priest? the religion its followers worship? For the Sant' Ignazio di Loyola church, it is a combination of several of these elements that make it famous. Today we visited the church in hopes to find out what makes it so important. Where is it located? The chiesa (as said in Italian) is located in the Piazza di Sant' Ignazio only a few blocks away from the infamous Pantheon. How old is it? It was constructed in 1626, over 375 years ago. What about the art and architecture? The church has a picturesque ceiling, as well as many paintings hanging from the walls. The ceilings are extremely high but the vivid colors of the ceiling brilliantly radiate despite the height. Several tall columns can be seen throughout the church as a means of structural support and beauty as well. One of the most scintillating images was that of a chandelier that glimmered in the sunshine coming from a window. Several of the alters, candles, and chalices were gold-plated and gave a rich feeling to the church. Having been in several churches in the United States, I have not seen anything quite as luminous and radiant as the paintings, columns, and statues in this church. Take a look at the pictures I took of the church, they do not even give true justice to the vibrant intricacies in the artwork within the Sant' Ignazio di Loyola.
To say the least the church is very aesthetically pleasing and I believe that if I attended a Sunday morning mass I would understand and respect even more the Sant' Ignazio di Loyola church.
Walking through Rome, you see two types of men in uniform: the Carabinieri and the Polizia. In my view, I never really see either doing more than directing traffic, allowing pedestrians to cross the street, or standing around talking to one another... but apparently each has different abilities and control when it comes to law enforcement.
Carabinieri.Created in 1815 by King Victor Emmanuel I, the Arma dei Carabinieri is the national gendamarie of Italy that polices both the military and civilian populations. Its headquarters are in Rome and officers are placed by a territorial basis (Wikipedia, 2009). The Carabinieri can be seen all over downtown Rome, patrolling the streets and posted up at crowded tourist areas. This military group is an essential part of keeping the citizens and streets of Italy safe.
Polizia.Created strictly as a civil police force, also has its headquarters in Rome. The Polizia di Stato are responsible for patrolling roads, airports, and customs amongst other locations. The Polizia is the primary force of citizen protection throughout Italy, and are expected to maintain public safety and order at all times. This force can also be seen patrolling the streets of Rome as well as standing guard at several busy tourist attractions and piazzas.
The main distinction between the two groups is the ability to police military operations. Personally I have seen neither do anything but drive around or stand around on street corners. This causes my suspicion that there are not many tickets given out and the court system is not a busy one. It reminds me of the part in Italian Neighbors where it is alluded that most people take matters into their own hands because each law is interpreted per case and there is no such thing as precedent. Bepi must be the only one, in both the fictitious and real world, that actually uses the court system.
Apparently there are four different types of police in Rome. Could you imagine having four different police forces back home. Who does that put in control? Does that create issues between the different forces? I would imagine so. I am not sure how any order is maintained when so many different authorities are in one place at one time. I guess that is just the chaos that is life in Rome!
This is a view of the Victorio Emmanuel II monument from the center of the Piazza Venezia.
This monument lies directly across for the infamous central street of Via del Corso, with Via del Fori Imperiali heading off to the left side (if facing the monument as in the picture). It marks the south end of the Via del Corso, which is a logical spot because the towering monument can be see all the way down the Corso even to its opposing end at Piazza del Popolo. It is just a short walk away from the Forum, the Palentine Hill, and the Colosseum. Directly behind it lies the Capitoline Museums.
I pass this monument every day on the way to class and cannot help but to take a long look at its size and beauty every time. The monument was built in during the end of the 19th century in honor of the first king of unified Italy, King Victorio Emmanuel II (D.K. Publishing, 74). Joe, another CAS student, described it as "the wedding cake" and not until I recently read in my guidebook did I know that this nickname is well-known and considered insulting to the people of Italy. It is a beautiful buildings adorned with fountains on both sides that are constantly surrounded by tourists in the heat of the sun.
Reading Italian Neighbors by Tim Parks, I stumbled upon this almost philosophy you could say, and found it quite intriguing.
"Thought for the day: Every morning in Africa the gazelle wakes up and knows he will have to run faster than the lion if he is not to be killed. Every morning in Africa the lion wakes up and knows he will have to run faster than the gazelle if he is not to die of hunger. When the sun rises, it doesn't matter if you're a gazelle or a lion, you'd better start running" (Italian Neighbors, 209).
It's a different way to take a look at the world. I think it's a great perspective onto how some people, especially in America, wake up every morning, sip on their coffee, and think about what they will do with their day.
Worldwide most urban centers have parking meters lining the streets to take advantage of the parking wars and raise funds for several government projects-- not in Rome. In several locations in Rome, parking ticket vending machines can be found, but no parking meters on the streets. Why?
During the mid-90s, the city government decided to attempt to take advantage of the high rate of tourism and heavy traffic flow by installing parking meters around the city. A New York Times article referred to the effort as an initiative to encourage public transportation and walking to decrease the amount of pollution. (I'm sure that was reason #2, right a close second to the monetary benefits.) The law easily passed with excitement over the increase of jobs in the area and the citizens did not mind having to pay a few dollars to park every now and then. Then why aren't they in place any longer? Well apparently although the citizens of Rome agreed on having parking meters installed, they didn't really go for the idea of actually inserting money and using the meters. Romans would park in front of a meter and just not pay. Part of the issue is explained in an article on Wantedinrome.com that draws the statistic of 1 meter-maid per every 322 residents. With those odds I wouldn't buy any parking ticket at all. Needless to say, the parking meters are not seen all around the city, although in the northern area some streets still have them.
Saturday was beach day. Swimming in the Mediterranean was about 10 fold better than swimming in the dirty Atlantic Ocean outside of New Jersey. The water was refreshing for such a humid day. Nettuno is the last stop on the train we took and was well worth the hour train and 6 euro to get to. It was a cozy little town that lacked the overcrowded tourist-y and crowded feeling of Rome. In fact though, Nettuno is a tourist town that with a very large yacht club. I would not mind in the least bit if the study abroad program was moved out of Rome and into Nettuno. We played frisbee on the beach, a totally American activity to partake in. Surprisingly the beach had some very very openly intimate couples laying around. I've learned that anything I deem unusual or awkward is probably just a cultural difference and nothing more. I know it's wrong to generalize on this sort of thing, but thus far it's been true. Regardless, it was a beautiful day for the beach. We even walked down to Villa Costaguti-Borghese, a well-protected nature reserve built in the mid 1600s. Disappointingly enough, it was closed for the day so we didn't get to go inside. I intend on taking another trip down to the beach, hopefully it will be open for my next visit.
Sampson and I admiring the view of the yacht club and sea.
I am a Penn State Grad student concentrating in Media Studies from a cultural perspective. After spending the last semester adjusting to life as a Grad student, I am engaging in social media full-throttle.
Trash Collectors can be seen throughout the city of Rome. I would say that it is a relatively clean city for the amount of people who travel throughout the streets on a daily basis. From the picture you can see that the required uniform is quite interesting. These trash collectors can be seen at most busy tourist locations sweeping up trash and emptying garbage cans. I would not consider it to be the most glorious of jobs, but these street cleaners do exceptionally well at keeping the streets tidy. So when visiting Rome, expect to have clean streets to walk on, a big difference between some of the major cities in the United States.
