Italia Vernedi 28/3/25 (Pictures)
It’s Friday, Friday, gotta see some catacombs and stuff on Friday. The catacombs strictly prohibited photography, so I have no photos of them. I do have pictures of the bone crypt from later in the day, as well as pictures taken in transit.
On my way to the catacombs. The bus driver pointed out this little temple.
Moving forward a little bit is another shrine. Romans loved shrines.
Statue stuff, doing statue things. GPT give me some more to say! GPT says this is Monumento a Giuseppe Mazzini. Giuseppe Mazzini was one of the founding fathers of a unified Italy.
This was so important I took two pictures of it. And then, because I’m me, completely forgot what I was looking at. According to GPT this is Domus Severiana. Built in the 3rd century CE.
A look down the road at the Porta San Sebastiano. It was the gate along the Appian Way. You’ll see more of this.
Some of the stonework along the Appian Way
Remember Porta San Sebastiano from earlier? This is it again! These gates along the Aurelian wall controlled who could get in and out of Rome.
More ancient stonework. I believe the guide said the holes were filled with iron bars to reinforce the structure… basically just rebar
Okay, I am leaning on GPT to help me remember this one… This was part of an aqueduct that carried water to the Baths of Caracalla.
A view down the Appian Way
This was a carving I saw on… I believe the side of Porta San Sebastiano.
At this point, I’ve left the catacombs behind, and am roaming around. I thought the stairs looked interesting. Oh yeah, and if you can’t tell, it is raining at this point.
Next to those stairs was this building. I believe I posted bits of this in one of the previous galleries. GPT has this to say. This is a monument to Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of unified Italy. It was built between 1885 and 1935… Apparently it took a really long time.
Stopped for lunch and got the carbonara. Oh it was soooooo good. I want to have more of it. I am very tempted to learn how to prepare this dish.
I stopped at the Trevi Fountain again, i did that on several occasions, actually.
This is the bone crypt of the Capuchins. LOTS of bones. Morbid, macabre, and thoroughly amazing. I have never seen so many bones in one place, and it is very possible I never will again, unless I visit Paris… I hear the Paris catacombs are pretty extensive and put this to shame.
One of my “I want to try that” failures. This stuff was awful… I finished it, but I was not happy with it at all.
Another pizza for dinner. This was pretty close to my hotel. It was wonderful, and I want to find an authentic Italian pizzeria near me so I can try and recapture this greatness. Worth noting, I feel like this was like the fast food of Italian pizza. They had the pizzas already made up, you just chose which one you wanted, and they cooked it for you. Fast, easy, and tasty. Unfortunately I had that drink above with this, which dampened the experience some.
That is the end of this day. I had had a tour scheduled for later in the day, but I just wasn’t feeling up to the walk at this point, and a taxi to the Vatican would have cost too much.
