A Magnificent Monday

Monday, March 2nd

After a very exciting and full weekend, it was very nice to come back to Rome Home and sleep in our own beds. When we got back to campus last night, we were greeted by the entire Walsh girls soccer team! Things at breakfast were a bit crazy this morning, but class was good as normal and then it was time to do my walking tour for our Global Learning class! We had been paired up and given a specific area of Rome to plan a walking tour that we could take our whole group on. At first the task seemed rather daunting because we were supposed to be showing everyone around in a place we had never even seen… but after a few trips to the Piazza del Popolo and the Piazza de Spagna, we were totally prepared to give our tour. (It was like a flashback to giving tours at Walsh!! Well, kind of...)

Overall, our tour went well though! My partner Zach and I brought our group to the Piazza del Popolo and talked about the Porta del Popolo, the 16^th century gate that leads into the piazza that was designed by Bigio. It was originally the northern opening of the Aurelian walls that surrounded Rome until the gate was built in the 16^th century. This gate marked the passageway into the city from the North and was a major landmark for travelers because it was really their first sight of Rome. The inside edge of the gate was designed by Bernini in the 17^th century in celebration of the arrival of Queen Christina of Sweden to Rome.

We also took our group into Santa Maria del Popolo, the beautiful chapel that is inside the Piazza. We talked about the Egyptian obelisk that sits in the middle of the area, and the Valadier fountains that are at the East and West sides of the oval piazza and adorned with Ceccarini sculptures, and the Twin Churches, Santa Maria de Montesanto and Santa Maria dei Miracoli. (A little fun fact: the “Twin Churches” are actually not identical! Montesanto on the left, was built on an elliptical floor plan and has a dodecagonal copula, while Miracoli on the right, was built on a circular floor plan and only has an octagonal copula. This ingenious architectural planning by Rainaldi gives the churches the illusion of being identical!)

We then took the group down Via del Babuino all the way to the Spanish Steps, Café Greco, and the Column of the Immaculate Conception. We finished the tour at the top of the steps at the Church of Trinita de Monti.

As if that day was not exciting enough, later that night our group and the girls soccer team got to go to the Roma vs. Juventus soccer game!! It was such a crazy experience! Granted, I don’t know much about soccer and I find the game slightly dull, but I have to give it to the soccer fans… They are die-hard fooootball lovers! The fans from both teams were literally separated by an empty section of seats and surrounded by security guards! (At first we didn’t really know why, but then the first of many firecrackers and smoke bombs went flying through the air from one opposing cheering section to the other and we leaned why the security was there!)

In the end, the game ended up tied 1-1 but we all had a great time and even got to enjoy some American food at the stadium. I feel like there's never a dull Monday for Walsh in Rome!