John Klamut, FAME Spring 2023
During my time abroad, my first big trip was Italy! I had the privilege of staying in Rome for two whole weeks with my Uncle Jeff for my first break. Before I say anymore, yes the food was amazing!! The pasta, pizza, and other Italian delicacies alone made the flight worth it!
When entering into the city, I truly felt like a Roman. The amount of preserved ancient ruins from the Roman Forums and just the random rock structures scattered around the city made me feel like I was living in the SPQR. One of the more memorial moments from the trip was visiting the Colosseum. As I walked into the ring, I truly felt as if I were a spectator about to enjoy a show of elephants, tigers, ship battles, and, of course, gladiators! The sheer size of the colosseum blew my mind when I first saw it- I was simply in awe!
It wouldn’t be a trip to Italy without visiting the largest Catholic church in the world: St. Peters Basilica located in Vatican City! To say walking inside this massive church made my jaw drop would be an understatement. The beauty, attention to detail in the statues, marble patterns, and the massive dome that is hard to miss, considering it is the tallest structure in the entire city of the Vatican (and Rome) to be specific! I was fortunate enough to make it to the top, however, we sadly couldn’t see too much due to heavy cloud coverage. Either way, St. Peter’s exceeded my expectations, and is a must when visiting the Rome area.
On the topic of Vatican City, the Vatican City Museum along with the Sistine Chapel is another must stop destination. It was hard not to have a sensory overload when walking through the halls of the museum. However, the best part was the Sistine Chapel. The Last Judgement and The Creation of Adam are truly iconic paintings created by Michelangelo by the order of the Pope. Something I learned while in the Sistine Chapel from my Uncle with the help of Rick Steve is that the Sistine Chapel explains the story of the Bible through paintings. The only negative of visiting this spectacular building was that we weren’t allowed to take pictures.
Although we spent most of our time in Rome, Uncle Jeff and I made two road trips to two other Italian cities. Our first trip was to Naples to see the ash ruins of Pompeii. Due to the ash from the volcanic explosion of 79 AD, the city ruins have been highly preserved. Not to mention, the city was on the coast of the Mediterranean. Nothing better than walking through a perfectly preserved ancient city with an ocean view!
Our second trip was to Florence. If I had to change one thing about my whole trip it would be to spend more time in Florence. Florence is home to the most famous statue in the world, and I can see why. Michelangelo truly does capture every detail of the human body in David. However, the first structure I noticed in Florence was the Duomo, the unique and stunning Cathedral that dominated the Florence skyline. We also had a very nice tour guide who showed us all the hidden gems of the city, including the burial of Lisa del Giocondo (woman in Mona Lisa).
On the way back from the Florence day trip and to essentially conclude the whole two-week trip, we saw the city of Pisa and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I thought it was going to be a lot smaller in person, but I was quickly proven wrong when I saw it in person. However, we only spent about an hour in Pisa, so we took our classic leaning pictures and headed back.
Overall, Italy was unsurprisingly an amazing time with unimaginable beauty. What was my favorite part? …….. The Food!!
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