First Weekend Exploring

These are the pictures from the first weekend that we were in Rome and went out exploring.

First we went to studio to find where it was...

Entrance to the building our
studio is in

We found out that this was the House of the Cenci family who believed that they were an important family in Rome and changed their family name over the years to prove that their lineage went back to the old royal families in Rome.

House of the Cenci's

This is the fountain that is in front of our studio.  It used to be a few blocks away but was moved by the Cenci family.  There are paving stones which mark the footprint of where the fountain used to be.

Fountain in the Piazza

Also, on the first day of classes, we went on a tour of the neighborhood around our studio and one of our professors, Pia, told us about one of the last heads of the household of the Cenci family.  Apparently, the father was very abusive especially to his daughter and her step-mother so they planned to poison him and kill him.  They went through with their plot but were found out.  The Pope was in charge of the country at the time and decided to have her killed to show that it was wrong to kill no matter how bad the circumstances are.  The people protested because they thought that a girl as young and beautiful as her should not be punished, however, the Pope still insisted and used this as an example to the people.--This is just one of the crazy stories I've heard so far...

Creepy face in the fountain...

After we found out where studio was, we decided to go out and explore the neighborhood.  Not too far away we found these ruins among some of the 17th century buildings.

Portico d'Ottavia and
Theater of Marcellus

In the Middle Ages, they were running out of room for new building developments and other places to put things because the area was so dense.  As a result, part of the Portico d'Ottavia was used as a graveyard and graves were dug into the floor of the main hall.

Remains of Portico d'Ottavia with additions
from the Middle Ages

The theater of Marcellus is one of the three theaters in Rome and has a similar design to the Colosseum.  It was also the largest theater in Rome built by Augustus in 13 BC during the Imperial Age.

Theater of Marcellus

Interesting carved capital in on of the old buildings

Theater of Marcellus

This is a giant marble staircase leading up to one of the churches.  Sarah and Maggie decided to climb halfway up them and then have a picture taken.  They're the tiny little dots just to the right of the door. 

Steps leading up to
Santa Maria in Aracoeli

Then they decided that I should join them at the top... After getting up there-we decided it was worth it. 

Looking out over the city

Also on top of the hill was the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II.  It's a grand white monument that has been turned into a museum.  Out front is a big grassy piazza and just to the east are the remains of the old Roman Forum which we had no idea was right next to it.

Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II

Cool coffers decorating one of the arches

Maggie being held hostage because the Roman soldier
claimed that he loved her and did not like that
she has a boyfriend

After exploring the area close to studio, we ventured off a little further and thought that we would stop and see the Fontana di Trevi.

First attempt at going to see the Trevi Fountain.....

We decided to come back another time......

Barely getting to see the Trevi Fountain...
we'll come back another time...

Then we thought, let's go see the Pantheon...

Attempting to see the Pantheon the first few days...

Again, bad idea, but we did come back the first week of classes to draw there.

Again, it's a really bad idea to try and see iconic
architecture on the weekend...

On our way back, we crossed the Tiber near the old castle where the Kings of Rome used to live.  It's a big fortification surrounded by walls on all sides and was later made into a museum.

Castel Sant'Angelo

Castel Sant'Angelo and the St. Angel Bridge

We had a general idea of where we were and what direction we had to go to get back to the apartment.  However, we had no idea that we were right next to St. Peter's!!!

St. Peter's at night

We finally made it back home and had our first group supper which we continue to have at least once a week!

First group supper