At 9 AM we met at the front gate for a walking tour to and around the Vatican led by a few of the Rome Fellows at the AAR.  Our first professor gave us a quick summary of the various battles that had been fought behind and on Academy ground.  Surprisingly, there were a few — and it seems so peaceful now.  As we walked he gave a brief history of the unification of Rome including enthralling tidbits about Pope Pius IX, Giuseppe Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel II.  He showed us the huge statue of Garibaldi atop the Gianicolo looking out over the city, the busts of many of his contemporaries and another great statue of his wife on a horse with a gun in one hand and a baby in the other.  He likened here to Sarah Palin — hilarious.

Along the way, we were also lucky enough to hear from a professor emeritus of fine arts at Harvard, James Ackerman.  He spoke to us about some of the architecture of some of the villas and large gates we passed under on our way down the hill.  We entered into the square in front of the Vatican from the side, led by Corey Brennan, the Mellon Professor-in-charge, so that we would not be distracted by Saint Peter’s as he explained the history and significance of the square.  We marveled for a bit and then walked down the road leading up to the vatican with the suppository looking light fixtures (not my comparison, obviously).  We ended up at the St. Angel Castle.  After walking back and forth across the bridge and peering up with wonderment at the Bernini and Bernini-student sculptures that line the bridge, we headed up the river toward the Aria Paci.

We chose a place called Gusto for lunch.  It’s actually a bunch of different places, all next to each other; they own the whole block.  We went to the one that serves a killer buffet for lunch.  We piled our plates high (below) and our waitress hooked it up with the bill.  There were 10 kinds of salads, shrimp, a white fish, some kind of roast beef, pork filets, two kinds of mozzarella, all sorts of grilled veggies and more.

We went in St. Peter’s the following day and it was everything I remembered.  It’s really hard to take in just in one day.  My cousin arrived in Rome and I met him and his crazy friend out later in the evening.  Rome is a different place at night – a great place.  We had lots of fun roaming the piazzas and campos looking for trouble.