Day 24 in Italy: Bones and Lizzie McGuire

It’s Allison again. I’m back with a quick update on the day because I have the most to report.

After going to bed at about 11pm last night, we assumed the boys would sleep in a bit this morning. Lol. The boys were up and ready to rock at 6am as always. Thankfully for me, it was Mike’s day to wake up with them, and they ate breakfast, played games, and squirmed around for a few hours before coming in to wake me up as well.

We had planned to visit a castle today. But the boys were a bit cranky and everyone was “tired of adventures” as Beren once said. We decided that the boys would have a chill day together around the apartment while I ventured off on my own for the morning. After grabbing some pastries together, I hugged the guys goodbye and hopped on a bus headed a few stops North. I walked past the impressive Trevi Fountain again, and headed on to the Capuchin Crypt.

Crashing a group photo at the Trevi Fountain

The Capuchin Crypt is the burial place of around 4,000 Capuchin friars who died between 1500 – 1870. Upon entering, you are led through a museum of artifacts, paintings, and displays around the Order’s history and certain saints that were a part of it. Then, you turn the corner and find yourself suddenly in the crypt. It was a bit jarring!

The crypt consists of six rooms off of a long hallway. What is unique about this crypt in particular is that the human remains are not hidden or stored away. In fact, they are intricately displayed. Each room is covered in ornate patterns of human bones from floor to ceiling. There are some inferences on which friar may be responsible for these displays and why, but no one is certain. Generally, the display is recognized as a mockery of death. I liked this quote that was posted upon entering:

It is strange to see how artistic form and aesthetic law have almost triumphed over what is inherently horrifying. The fact is, however, that art has arrived here at the point of transforming into richly shaped figures and graceful arabesques what the vanquished see as the peak of horror and what the earth usually enfolds mercifully in the mantle of death.

Ferdinand Greogorovius, 1853
The first room in the Capuchin Crypt
Many of the images are symbolic, often depicting the irrelevance of time in the afterlife.

After walking through the eerie and captivating crypt, I took a meandering path back to the apartment, stopping by churches or other places of interest along the way. I made a point to see the Spanish Steps – a place I wanted to visit because of its appearance in the Lizzie McGuire movie. Surprisingly, Mike didn’t share my enthusiasm for Disney Channel-themed sites, so this was the perfect opportunity.

The Spanish Steps

The afternoon was a relaxed one for me and the kids. I was tired from my long walk, and the boys were still not up for adventure. So other than a quick visit to the park and a gelato stop (of course!), we hung around the apartment. Mike had an all-day meeting (which translates to all-evening meeting Rome time), so we handed dinner to him through the door and he popped out for a few minutes at a time when he could.

Snacks and Mario Kart

Day 12 in Italy: Fun, Fire, and Florence

Hello, it’s Allison. I thought I would join in the fun and write a post of my own!

Day 12 brought continued explorations of Florence. It was Mike’s turn to wake up with the boys, and I was able to sleep in until about 8:30am when we needed to make an urgent trip to the store for some diapers. The boys enjoyed some fruit and yogurt at home, and then enjoyed some pastries when we ventured out for morning cappuccinos. (Beren and Silas have had voracious appetites, and every day eat more than the last!)

After enjoying a leisurely morning, we walked to the Cathedral Santa Maria to see if we would have more luck getting in this time. We waited in a long, steadily-moving line, and watched Silas run back and forth along the crowd as we slowly inched toward the cathedral. The outside of the cathedral is breathtaking, and the inside was not to be overshadowed. The enormous and ornate interior was awesome, and even the boys lowered their voices in instinctive reverence. The marble floors were decorated in intricate patterns, and inside the globe was one of the most amazing murals we have ever seen. We stood admiring the paintings until our necks got sore, and then moved on to our next activity – lunch!

The incredible dome!

A few blocks away was an indoor market, Mercato Centrale Firenze. The first floor hosts stands of produce, butcher shops, and other food stalls. The second floor is a food hall with different restaurants. We split up and ordered a variety of food including, pizza, truffle risotto, and some of the best spring rolls and dumplings I have ever had! We all enjoyed ourselves, and the boys played under and around the table between bites. We were all sitting together on the same side of the table at one point, and the boys were smiling and laughing with each other. The market’s photographer stopped by to ask if she could take a picture of us, since we looked like a happy family enjoying the food and each other. We said yes, but the interruption caused us to suddenly fall silent. The boys immediately stopped playing and laughing, and sat there as if they had been turned into sad little statues. After hanging around for a few seconds, the photographer said “oh well” and walked away.

The delicious food

After lunch, we walked back to the airbnb for naptime. The boys tried to pretend they weren’t tired, but promptly fell asleep after a few lullabies. Mike went to work at the little desk in our room, and I walked across the piazza to the palace museum.

Palazzo Vecchio was originally built in the 1200’s, but had been added to over time as different inhabitants moved in and out. The entrance is lined with some incredible and old statues, including a replica of Michelangelo’s Statue of David. The Statue of David has been covered by a large black sheet in mourning and support of Ukraine. Once inside, I bought a ticket to view the apartments of Cosimo I. They were incredible! The first floor included rooms for each person living there at the time. The ceilings were ornately adorned with murals that depicted scenes from that person’s life. The floor above mirrored the rooms on the first floor, but were themed around different gods that corresponded with the person’s room below. There was also an entire wing devoted to Eleonora of Toledo, which was themed after different divine or inspirational women. I spent almost two hours walking through the palace, and could have spent more, but had to get back before the boys got up from their nap.

The ceiling of one of the Palazzo Vecchio apartments

Our afternoon consisted of another carousel ride and gelato. It was a lot of fun! Then, we met up with Mike for an early dinner (well, early by Italian standards. It was 5:30pm). We enjoyed a relaxed and happy afternoon together until the boys crashed again around 8pm.

After the boys went to sleep, I noticed strange sounds outside. I thought it might be singing (we heard a group singing the previous night), so I went to the window to investigate. To my surprise, I saw at least six police cars, surrounding the entrance to the palace, and officers slowly encircling a man that stood on the steps. The covering that was previously over the Statue of David was removed. I soon noticed that it was laying on the ground, on fire. It had mostly been stamped out, but a few officers were still working to put out the flames when a fire truck arrived to finish the job. They quickly had the man (who I now presumed to be a Russian sympathizer) handcuffed and zipped away in a police car.

The aftermath

It was a pretty crazy occurrence to witness, especially in a place with so much history. This piazza existed before the United States existed – before the American continents were even discovered by this part of the world! Centuries of royalty lived here. Artists such as Michelangelo created masterpieces in this very place. A few feet from the spectacle we witnessed, the preacher Girolamo Savonarola was hanged and burned for his radical preaching in 1498. It’s crazy that this place has served as a place of importance for so many hundreds of years, and continues to do so.

Anyway, after the hubbub died down, I left the sleeping kids and working Mike to go to a café on my own. I ended up in a cool little Hookah Bar, and ate dessert and wrote in my notebook about some observations I’ve made while being in Italy. Maybe that will be a blog post of its own at some point! As I got up to pay and leave, the bar tender invited me back the following night for drinks with him. I left it a maybe, because I love the drama.

Thanks for having me as your guest writer for the day! I hope to be invited back soon. 🙂