Rome… Sixteen Years Later
Our recent trip to Italy was quite an emotional one for me. Aside from accompanying our niece Mary for her first trip abroad, I also got to return to Rome, a city that holds personal significance to me. In the summer of 2006, I spent a few months here as part of the study abroad program at my college. Although I had been to Europe several times, that summer in Rome suddenly made me feel so grown up. As a wide-eyed college kid, I was eager to explore all corners of Rome and take in as many life lessons as Rome could provide me. I honestly believe those few short months fostered my lifelong passion for travel.
The view of Castel Sant'Angelo from Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II is absolutely magnificent.
I was both excited and apprehensive about revisiting Rome. Part of me was thrilled to rediscover many of my favorite spots and share them with Brian and Mary. Ever since my visit, I have learned so much more about art and religion, which has allowed me to develop an even deeper appreciation of the Eternal City. It is one of Europe’s greatest metropolises and cradles of Western civilization. It is one of the cities worthwhile for a two-week visit. I thought about leaving Rome off our itinerary so that I had an excuse for a separate week-long visit later this year.
Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican.
My genuine excitement aside, I must admit that I was hesitant about coming back to a city I love. It was perfectly possible that I would not feel the same excitement about Rome this time. But my biggest fear was reflecting on how much I have changed. Of course, I was not referring to age or my sense of mortality. Instead, I was scared to learn about my own immaturity back in the day. Perhaps I might realize how I wasted those precious three months in Rome. I want to take this opportunity to write down some reflections after this recent visit to Rome.
Time Is The Most Precious Commodity
One of my biggest takeaways from this trip is that “time” is the greatest resource for young travelers. When I thought about my time in Rome back in the day, I was one of the most “curious” among my cohorts. Because I didn’t drink alcohol or enjoy loud music, I was somewhat of a social outcast back in the day. As nearly all my friends were out partying at night, I would walk the streets of Rome and observe the little details of Roman life. While I missed out on all the nightlife, I think I managed my time well and got the most out of that special summer.
The Campidoglio is one of the must-see sites that are frequently ignored by first-time visitors.
Fast forward sixteen years, and I now work full-time as an architect in New York City. Though my company does afford me quite a decent number of paid vacation days, it was too short for a travel enthusiast. Over the years, I have come to treasure each day on vacation. Planning out every hour of my vacation became my personal hobby. Laying on the beach and doing nothing is not my definition of a good time. So when I realized we only had about 48 hours in Rome this time, the tour guide in me went into overdrive and planned a whirlwind itinerary for this magical city. I was determined to cover at least all three big sites of Rome on this trip: the Vatican, Colosseum/Roman Forum, and Campus Martius.
The Colosseum is arguably the crowdest Roman building in the world.
The sheer fact that Trajan's Column still stands today is a historical triumph.
Upon our arrival, I was ready to hit the ground running. It wasn’t long until it became clear that Mary had little interest in cramming in as many sights as humanly possible in such a short time. My own excitement blinded me, and I forgot that young adults tended to have slightly different priorities when it came to travel. It turned out that selfies in front of Trevi Fountain and shopping were the priority. While slightly disappointed, Brian reminded me that young adults understand time differently. For them, time is the one resource that is in abundance. I don’t think Mary, like my friends back then, was concerned about seeing all the great sites. After all, she still has many exciting adventures ahead of her.
We Are All Technology Depended
Today, we all take technology for granted. Although I may be fine with doing without my phone in my day-to-day life back home, I don’t think I could ever travel without smartphones nowadays. From getting basic navigation to checking the opening times, I found our mobile devices to be the most indispensable tool for traveling efficiently. I rarely use my phone on vacation for social media or news; the phones are exclusively for travel planning. Getting a local sim card has been a ritual whenever I landed in a foreign country.
Visiting the Pantheon at night was a nightly ritual for me back in the days.
With this recent visit to Rome, I could not help wondering how I managed without mobile internet back then. And just for reference, the iPhone came out only six months after I left Rome. For those of us who are old enough, remember when we all carried around a paper map and prayed that I wouldn’t spell water on it all day? Back then, we carried two paper maps with us: one was the modern map of the city, and the other was the 1748 map by Giambattista Nolli. The constant switching between the two maps gave me an in-depth understanding of the complexity of Rome.
Nowadays. Google Maps has fundamentally altered how we all understand the spatial relations between digital space and the actual urbanscape. On one hand, we all benefited from crowdsourcing and real-time information. But we are also at risk of losing the magic of just getting lost. Rome is one of those places where getting lost in the back lanes is a joy. Visitors today have never been so assured of what they want to see in this age of Instagram or Facebook. I only hoped we wouldn’t lose that sense of adventure and spontaneity.
Porticus Octaviae and the Church of Sant'Angelo in Piscaria.
Tiber Island is just one of the hidden gems of Rome that are worth seeking out.
With all the new technology, perhaps the most noticeable change since 2006 has been the ubiquity of digital photography. Since everyone has a camera in their pocket nowadays, you can find pictures of anyone online. May it be the pictures of the latest restaurant menu to posted signage of emergency closure? It is a blessing. On the other hand, social media and the ease of digital photography also add to this pressure of getting that “perfect shot” that was not the case back in the day. I recently checked out all the photos I took back in 2006. Over a three-month period, I took about four hundred photos in Rome. In comparison, I took over six hundred pictures in just two days this time around. Crazy, right?
Rome… With Reservation
Over the sixteen years, the number of visitors to Rome has increased by more than fifty percent. With that, Rome certainly struggled over-tourism before the pandemic hit in 2020. Aided by the proliferation of Airbnb and low-cost airlines, European cities like Rome and Barcelona became ever more popular and accessible worldwide. While we could all bemoan the adverse consequence of over-tourism, it is all too easy to be cynical and complain about overflowing crowds at the Vatican Museums or the Trevi Fountain. If we step back for a moment, we must acknowledge that globalization helps democratize travel worldwide. It is something to be celebrated, at least on a philosophical level.
The Colosseum is now only accessible by advanced reservation nowadays.
Many of the city’s marquee sights institute a timed reservation system to accommodate the influx of international tourists. Interestingly, the health-related protocol during the pandemic forced many European cities to manage their chronic overcrowding issues. Today, almost every other museum or ancient Roman site requires some system of reservation. Even though the reservation systems were available at many sites in 2006, they were simply a matter of convenience rather than a necessity. Today, places like the Colosseum and the Vatican Museum can sell out all appointment slots weeks in advance during the high season. By contrast, when I was last in Rome, the only site that required a reservation was Galleria Borghese.
I can not explain just how much of a shock it was when I discovered that even the Pantheon now requires a reservation for a visit. One of my favorite daily rituals was waking up early and strolling to the Pantheon. At seven in the morning, there was barely anyone on the street. The normally bustling piazza appeared all but abandoned. Except for sanitary workers and delivery men, I was often the only visitor there for an hour before the other tourists arrived. It was a magical moment when they opened the door of the Pantheon, and I was the only one standing under the oculus.
The Pantheon is best enjoyed in the early hours.
The crowd control barriers certainly took away the temple’s historical ambiance.
Nowadays, the Pantheon opens its doors at 9 am, and there will likely be a long line of tourists lining up by then. The enormous portico of this Roman church is now lined with retractable belt barriers. This ancient temple somehow takes on the ambiance of an airport security line. In the bid to control the overcrowding, the magic about this place has been lost. It might be a necessary evil, but I honestly can’t help bragging about the way I got to experience it before. With international tourism fully recovered in 2022, no one should expect things to return to how they were.
Treasuring The Eternal
When I recounted my time in Rome in 2006, my most vivid memory was the cab ride from the airport to our apartment. The cab driver welcomed us to Rome and said we would never forget our time in the Eternal City. I still remember passing through the ancient gate of Aurelian Walls and being in awe of all the historical monuments around us. For whatever reason, I could almost recount every moment of that first day. From outlooking to my bedroom window to our first dinner in front of the Church of St. Ignatius, these moments always would stick with me as it associate them with a sense of adventure.
My old apartment on Via dell'Arco della .
Upon checking into our Airbnb apartment on this trip, my first stop is my old apartment on Via dell'Arco della Ciambella. As silly as it may sound, I stood underneath my old bedroom window to reminisce for a few minutes. Even though “my building” has been converted from cheap student housing to a boutique hotel, nothing has changed on this one-block street. The remnant of the Bath of Agrippa still stood as it has for more than two thousand years, reminding me that there is something poetic in knowing that something will outlast all of us. With age and maturity, “Eternal City” resonates with me much more in 2022. Many of these monuments bear witness to so many historical events. The more we learned, the more meaningful our travel would become.
I did not think much of the giant obelisk on Saint Peter’s Square during my two previous trips to the Vatican. After all, there are more than a dozen Egyptian obelisks in Rome. But in the last few years, I learned more about the history of the Vatican and that the obelisk stood at the Circus of Nero near the present Vatican. According to historical traditions, Peter, the first Bishop of Rome, was crucified upside down at the circus, and this obelisk remains the only surviving witness to his crucifixion. Knowing these historical “facts” enriches my travel experiences, even for a non-Christian like myself. More than any other city, Rome made me realize that we were all witnesses to history. There is something celebratory of anything eternal.
The Vatican Obelisk marks the center of Saint Peter's Square.
Arredi Sacri Ghezzi is a preeminent purveyor of religious garment in Rome.
Dated to 2nd century B.C,E,, the Temple of Hercules Victor is the oldest marble building in Rome.
My appreciation of Eternal Rome extends well beyond the historical monuments. After checking out of my old apartment, my next stop was Arredi Sacri Ghezzi and Gammarelli, two small shops specializing in high-end religious garbs for Catholic priests. Gammarelli, in particular, is internationally known as the official tailor of the Vatican and has dressed all but one pope since 1798. Even though I have never patronized these shops (for obvious reasons), they were among the first storefronts I walked past in 2006, which holds some sentimental significance to me. To see these shops survive the pandemic gave me faith that they would last for another few centuries. I certainly expect them to be here for my next visit. I hope it wouldn’t be another sixteen years!
