Thursday 24 April: A huge Roman bathhouse and a huge Roman church

Morning coffee at Good (I love this place!) and a quick check of email, and then Beth and I headed for the Baths of Caracalla south of the Circus Maximus. The baths were a Roman institution, and most cities and towns of any size at all throughout the Empire had several. In Rome, there were lots of bathhouses, including several immense ones built by the emperors. Caracalla’s Baths are among the most impressive. The immense complex covers dozens of acres, and included open park areas, theaters for music and public readings, two libraries (one Latin, one Greek), gymnasia, and of course the baths themselves. These were huge, vaulted chambers with hot, warm, and cold water, and a gargantuan indoor swimming pool. You could buy a meal (or a prostitute) at the baths, and many people conducted their business there. Of course, all of this was lavishly decorated with mosaics, imported marble, statuary, and works of art; sort of like turning St. Peter’s Basilica into a sauna. In fact, Bramante and the other architects of St. Peter’s got the idea for its vaulting from the baths. EA and I spent a long time strolling through the grand ruins, still decorated in places with traces of mosaic and marble architectural features (pics on Flickr). Beth had made us a lunch of panini, and bought grapes along the way, so we had a nice picnic there.

Leaving the baths in the early afternoon, we then caught a bus to the Vatican to see the basilica. As always, St. Peter’s amazes you by both its size and its lavish decoration of priceless art. Mass was being celebrated in the main apse at the altar beneath Bernini’s “Triumph of the Throne of Peter,” a huge fantasy of gilt bronze and golden stained glass, culminating with the Holy Dove in a sunburst amidst flights of angels. Beth and I strolled through the basilica, admiring the many famous works of art here, including Michelangelo’s Pieta and Bernini’s baldacchino over the high altar. The tombs of popes, saints, and other dignitaries reminded us that the church is foremost a funerary hall, with the high altar built over what Catholics venerate as the tomb of the Apostle Peter, first bishop of Rome and founder of the papacy.

Finally leaving the basilica, we found that the good weather we had enjoyed at the Baths had turned. The sky was a lowering, steel grey, and no sooner did we leave the church than the rain started. We stopped at a couple of souvenir stands on our way to the bus stop, and then finally caught one, jam packed with soaking Romans and tourists. It finally dropped us off near Ponte Sisto, but not until after we spent an agonizingly long time turning through the suburbs of northern Rome. Tired and wet, we had an early dinner and tried to get some sleep before the next day’s adventure: an excursion to Pompeii.