A Roman Holiday

Yesterday we visited many museums, ruins and tourist attractions across Rome. First we visited a Roman insula, essentially an ancient apartment block. Most of the lower class of Rome would have lived in insulae, just like the one we saw.

A Roman Insula

Afterwards, we visited the Trajan markets and forum, a shopping centre and forum complex from the 2nd century, put in place by the emperor Trajan. There was an interesting museum there about ancient Roman daily life, with many interesting artefacts taken from the Forum. I bought a humorous book at the gift shop about Latin. 

Trajan's forum

Afterwards, we visited an exhibition of art by Artemisia Gentileschi, a famous Italian artist of the baroque period. Her art is frequently gory and shocking, often portraying women from history overpowering and killing men.

Judith and Holofernes

After the exhibition, we walked across Rome to the famous Trevi fountain. However, we all found it rather anticlimactic. The square was packed with tourists to a ridiculous level, and the fountain itself was not so much a fountain as a bizarre marble shrine, gushing water over an overly grand series of marble platforms. It was certainly big, but I did not find particularly attractive.

Trevi Fountain

Next we went to the Ara Pacus, altar of Augustan peace, and the Spanish steps, another popular tourist attraction that I found so-so. Beside the Spanish steps was our final, and my favourite destination, the Keats and Shelley museum, the house where the famous British romantic poet John Keats died. It was fascinating to learn about his life, as well as the lives of other romantic poets he knew, like Percy Shelley and Lord Byron. Even my 5 year old sister Lydia was captivated by the lecture about their lives.