Rome Italy- Pamphilj Palace, Appian Way and the Opera

We have been to Rome several times before. The first time I didn't like it very much, second time not so much, third time I fell in love with Rome. 

Palazzo Pamphilj, the home of a powerful aristocratic Italian family in the center of Rome.

This is our fourth time to Rome and I still love it. It's everywhere you turn, there is an ancient Roman wall or some antiquity to see. The city is beautiful if you're into ancient architecture. Today we drove to Rome from Soriano nel Cimino, which is approximately an hour and a half north of Rome. Our main intention on going to Rome was to see an opera in the National Theater at 8:00 p.m. that evening.  We decided to make a day of it.  I suggested taking the train in which is easy peasy.  Darren offered to drive.  Roman drivers are a lot like drivers in Cairo Egypt and Delhi India. It's quite nerve-wracking coming from Saskatchewan and seeing cars making three lanes out of a one lane road. That's just the tip of the iceberg regardless, we made it to our first stop. Darren dropped us off on a super busy street where we could have hit a hundred different people at any given time because there's so many tourists. They walk across the streets and don't even look or pay attention to crosswalks, etc. Everyone is so excited to see the sites of Rome they become stupid.  

Lisa and I got out of the car and made our way to Palazzo & Galleria Doria  Pamphilj.  Construction on the Palazzo began in the 1500's and expansions were added every century.  It is now a museum and art gallery. Tickets were 16 Euro. 

I try and imagine what it would be like back in the era as I walk around in this gigantic Palazzo or Palace as this uber wealthy person. You would drive in on your carriage into the Palazzo Portico area with the horses drawing your carriage where you would get dropped off.  You would walk up this grand marble staircase and this is where we scanned our purchased ticket and walked up and entered in to the first room.

Although not as grand as the entries to the Genoa Palaces, it is still solid marble and elegant and makes a statement.

  When you enter the first room you are confronted with this firestorm feast for your eyes. It's just everywhere you look. It's fabric and print and garishness and ostentatious furnishings, busts, wall papers, floors and ceilings. 

Wealthy people of this era layered their walls with paintings to display their wealth and investments.  Now it resembles any other Renaissance art gallery.

This particular bust was commissioned to display this rare marble as his cloak, worn by this man.

This bust was commissioned to show the skill of the sculpter and that the Pamphilj Family could afford the best.  The intricacy of the marble wreath worn by this man was quite mind boggling that someone had the skill to sculpt this.

This gigantic building that is built in a square with the inner courtyard which was their outdoor space is extremely overwhelming on your senses. We were given a handheld headset to choose your language and any of the copious numbers to listen to.  Each numbered room and sculpture or painting had a story to go with it.  To complete the entire palace you would need a week.  The stories were very interesting though.

The first room kind of knocked your eyeballs out as did every consecutive room after that. There are so many pieces of art that it's overwhelming.  It's just so excessive the amount of marble statues and antiquities and Renaissance paintings in there.  The audio started out with one of the great great, great grandsons of the first Pamphilj who built this place and tells his story of how his family got started and that was very interesting.

This photo displays the layers of wealth from the painting to the velvet wall covering to the crystal lighting to the rare gilded marble table.

The Ballroom had a stunning ceiling.

You proceed into each room and then you move into the next room and the room that I found the most interesting was a bedroom.  There was a cradle set up that was for the firstborn son of this aristocrat Pamphilj family.  First of all, I didn't even know what it was because it does not resemble a cradle. It's so ostentatious and not to mention the baby could have rolled right off of it. 

I did not have a cradle like this as a baby.  The poor baby probably rolled out and fell on his head.

 You make your way into the Green Room,

The Green Room.

You move on to the yellow room, the red room etc. The list goes on and on and on and the whole Palace wasn't even open to viewers. We were only on the first floor. There's a whole second and third floor. I'm not sure what these people needed all this space for.  It certainly was not remotely comfortable or cozy looking.  

These long hallways are full of furniture and chairs and basically their house was set up like an art gallery to be viewed by other wealthy people set up to impress.

Dramatically colored ceiling.

The floors in many areas of the Palace
were Cotto or cooked clay tiles that
were polished with Beeswax on a weekly
basis.

This coffered ceiling was my favorite.

Another one of the very interesting rooms that we had to step down a few steps to  was the Caravaggio Room which Lisa and I recognized as a famous Italian artist.

This long well-lit hallway lead to the Caravaggio Room.  There were many items in this room which was set up like a museum.  I especially liked the marble pillars with the marble busts at the top.  There were other marble pillars in this room of a marble that I had never seen before so most likely seriously rare.

Every room told a story.

Some of the most interesting pieces of artwork that I liked were the females.  Every time I saw a marble bust of a female I would tap that number in and get a fabulous story. My favorite story was about the Mama Pamphilj in charge, apparently she was extremely powerful and a holy terror. She was eventually excommunicated because the Pope felt she was too powerful and wealthy........Men?  The artist who sculpted her in marble gave her a widow's peak with a veil that resembled a cobra because she was a bit of a viper.  She was the most interesting story on the audio. 

We spent probably 2 hours walking around that place and listening and having our eyes gobsmacked and after leaving there all I craved was subtle beige walls, something much less garish to give my eyes a break.

When we were done touring the Palace Pamphilj we phoned Darren to come pick us up. He is not interested in any of these 'old 'things to see. We thought it was quite funny that he literally did not move the car from where he dropped us off. It wasn't a parking space. He just parked on the side of this super busy road and nobody told him to move so he stayed there and painted on his IPAD as thousands of tourists and Romans walked by. 

Lisa and I walking on this busy Roman street.

Typical Rome covered in scaffolding to preserve the centuries.

Lisa and I got back in the car and we all made our way towards the Appian way or Via Appia which is quite famous. It was made into a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2024. Its hard to believe that it was so late to be listed and it has so many ruins along the way. It was built in 312 BC  to move troops to fight in the wars with the Samites.  It was later extended to Brindisi on the other coast of Italy which is 563 Kms long.  Now there is a certain section set up like a park where you can walk and pay to see the numerous sites and antiquities and ruins. 

It took quite some time to figure out where to start walking, Italian communication is not the best on their websites or in person.  Many people do this walk as a pilgrimage because the Risen Jesus appeared to St. Peter on the Appian Way.  There are many catacombs of early Christians as well.  Plus 6000 rebels of Sparticus were crucified along the 120 miles of the Appian Way as a warning to other potential rebels. Romans did not mess around.

We could not figure out exactly where to start walking to see what we wanted to see. 

Porto San Sebastiano, the gate to the beginning of the Appian Way

A more modern statue near the catacombs.

One of the many parrots in Italy.  They are very pretty but very loud.

There are many sites to see but most need a ticket.  You would need a full two days to cover the main sites on the Appian Way.

One of the many ruins on the way.

Ancient ruins along the way.

We went into the information center and talked to an Italian girl and she gave us incorrect information. If I was a teacher I would give the Italian communication about a 10%  grade. We came out from the Info center more confused than when we went in. Lisa and I walked for about 20 to 25 minutes where she told us to walk and there was nothing to see walking on this road.  We were running out of time because we still had to make it back to Rome Central and eat dinner before the Opera. 

We did not get to see very much on the Appian way,  I wanted to see the large cobblestoned section but C'est la vie. Maybe in the future we could rent a bike and see more along the Appain Way. I think that would be very interesting.  It was a bit of a bust but at least we got there and actually walked on a section of the Appian Way.  I feel that this gets overlooked when going to Rome because it is away from the center of Rome. 

We plugged  the National Theatre into our Google maps where the Opera was at 8:00 that night. Darren's phone was having a meltdown and it was spewing out incorrect information and it literally took us over an hour to get back to Rome Central. It was rush hour and it was taking us some crazy ass ways that were very incorrect and so we actually turned his phone off which he had linked to the Bluetooth and we were using our phones to get us back. Eventually we got to the National theater and were dropped off. Darren also hates the Opera.  We picked a restaurant close to the theater.  The ambiance was really good, prices were good but it was literally one step up from Chef Boyardee in flavor. We actually asked for some hot sauce just to give it a little bit more zip. The one good thing was they had a very nice glass of Italian Rose. 

We made our way into the National theater where the Opera was playing that night and we were a little bit dumbstruck because we were expecting a very old, beautiful, charming Italian theater and what we did see was the inside of a modern looking High School gymnasium like scene. It was disappointing.  There was a piano and I thought okay, I've never actually attended an opera with just a piano player, usually there is a symphony playing.  The big red velvet curtains just like a high school opened up to a stage set of a hotel room.  A man came out and he started singing and right away I was not impressed with his voice. He was higher than a tenor and a bit pitchy and I thought oh good Lord, what have we got ourselves into and then it just got worse. They did have the English and Italian words to follow along, but it was so high up that you had to crank your neck up and that was not comfortable so you couldn't even really follow along with what was actually happening in this dramatic Opera. Eventually the female came out on stage and her voice was awesome. One of the things I wasn't used to is neither of the opera singers were miked so their voices did not surround you nor transcend you. It wasn't loud enough, the piano was louder than the voices. The Opera finished after 45 minutes which that threw me off and then we we were kind of ushered out. We were given these little passes to to let us back in because there was an interval.  We  went back to the restaurant and ordered another glass of wine and apparently there was another show playing which again I'm not used to that as well. Lisa and I just thought is this even worth going back to? We chose not to return which was so sad because we paid good money for this,  50 Euro and I was so excited to see an Opera in Italy and the one in Cinque Terre was cancelled and it was Lisa's first Opera experience.   It was such a bust of a day except for the Pamphilj Palace.  Oh well suck it up buttercup.

Roman antiquities along the Appian way.

 We had to drive all the way back to Soriano nel Cimino which it was supposed to be one hour and a half drive but Lisa and Darren decided to take the non-toll roads. The roads back were like driving on the narrowest paved cow paths. However our not so successful day was capped off with a beautiful view of Soriano nel Cimino and the Orsini Castle. 

Orsini Castle lit up and gorgeous.

It seemed to be floating in mid-air at the top of the hill. We dropped Lisa off at her rental and Darren dropped me off and then went and found a parking space which he got the last one in the parking lot so that was a good end to the day in Rome.