Tracking the footprints of Caesar

I returned from a trip to Italy last week and what a trip it was. I am not going to blog on the various places I visited and what I liked and stuff like that. You have Lonely Planet for that, you don’t need to waste your time reading this post. This post is always just a spillover of my thoughts and experiences of Italy.

Right off, before I even start to spell out Italy, I have to say that the country is beautiful. When I say Italy, I will mostly be talking about Rome unless I specifically mention otherwise. So yeah, this means Rome is beautiful. Rome’s beauty is not in its natural landscapes or trees or things like that. On the contrary, the place is beautiful because of the history that was once its life. Most of the buildings are of course gone, but the remnants themselves are so full of character that one can just stand and gape. Everyone is of course familiar with the history of Rome. It gives one a feeling of intense grandeur merely to walk on these roads.

I maintain that it is not the physical beauty of a place but the character that actually makes a place interesting. Human beings, it seems, aren’t much different from places if you think about it. A person might be extremely beautiful on the outside like Venice was, but it takes a lot more than raw beauty to make a person (or place) truly beautiful and attractive.

To think that these buildings in Rome, were built millennia ago! As one stands in front of the Pantheon and sees the Corinthian columns, one can see why this was a tribute to the ancient Gods. I could only too easily, imagine Gods sitting inside and holding conferences. Agrippa, you are indeed a genius.

One cannot talk about Rome without talking about the Colosseum. What is it about these old buildings that they bring out the primeval in us. Is it the grandeur of the buildings that strips us off all the charades of civilization and leaves us standing with who we exactly are, or is it a time-machine that actually takes us back? No matter what the answer is, when I saw the Colosseum I was filled with this insane desire to actually go back in time and watch the Romans fight it out, or see a dance or two and cheering them on. Time and nature, though can harm this monument physically, can never tarnish the images this amphitheater brings forth in our minds.

A trip to Italy is of course incomplete without a visit to the Vatican; what a visit that was. It took us an entire day to see merely see a quarter of what the Vatican museums had to offer. It was a mistake indeed when we assumed that the entire Vatican could be seen in a day and what a costly mistake that was. We had to cut our Vatican trip short because we had run out of time and had to catch our flight. I vowed to myself that one day I would come back to Italy (richer in terms of money and time) and explore all that the Vatican museum has to offer. The Cortile del Belvedere alone took me about an hour. That was just the beginning. Then came the Galleria Chiaramonti with all its Roman sculptures from Ostia Antica, the Braccio Nuovo – the new wing, the Egyptian museum, the gallery of Maps, Museum of Contemporary arts, Raphael’s room, and finally the Sistine Chapel. My personal favorites were Raphael’s rooms and the Sistine Chapel. I truly find no words to describe Raphael’s works. He was indeed a master artist. I spent hours looking at all his works and I still couldn’t get enough of it.

After all that I had heard about it, and the publicity garnered by a popular author’s book, I was really looking forward to see the Sistine Chapel. It was wonderful no doubt, but for precisely the same intention as mine, about two hundred other people were also packed inside the Chapel, which made the experience less than enjoyable. The Chapel was vast and adorned with Michelangelo’s frescos all over the ceiling. The master was at his peak, and every one of those frescos were indescribably beautiful. Appropriately, I reserved The Last Judgement for last and it took me about half an hour to understand every small aspect of this masterpiece. It covers an entire wall and makes you speechless every time you look at it. I am not going to launch into a detailed description of the painting, one has Wikipedia for that. Needless to say, it was the best work in the entire Chapel.

The last place that we went to was the St.Peter’s basilica. I am not a Catholic myself, but even I could not help being affected by the atmosphere of that place. Controversies aside, the place was incredibly spiritual and there was no doubt in me that this place had seen people with immense faith. Though every aspect of the basilica was impressing, the things that really took my breath away were the Baldacchino, the Cathedra Petri, and the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament. No part of the basilica could be called plain even by the most cynical person. It was richly decorated and beautifully artistic. While it was merely a relic of history and art for me, I could see millions of people to whom this meant everything and was sort of a pinnacle that they wanted to reach in their lives. I tried to see through their eyes, but could not. I only assume that they revere this as much as I revere the Chola temples in South India.

The impact of St.Peter’s square can be truly appreciated only as one exits the basilica. After that intense atmosphere inside, the outside square seem to open up to the heavens themselves. There is a feeling of understanding and wisdom inside the basilica and one of liberation in the square. It was the perfect combination indeed.

Men have always spoken to their successors through various forms, but the best one amongst them are buildings. These structures traverse time, have seen millions, have seen them all and they still stand. As I mentioned, time might physically harm them, but can never reduce the impact these have on men. Rome has given me a thirst for visiting the seats of the ancient civilisations and one day I shall see them all.

P.S: On a completely random note, it does not seem complete if I did not say something about the pizzas and the gelatos. The Italian gelatos are exquisite; rich in milk, flavour and taste and surprisingly affordable. The taste and variety of gelatos (and my love for ice creams of course), the superb buildings, and the extremely noble looking and handsome Italian men, constitute enough of a reason for me to visit Italy again.