The Rome Marathon...

Rome, Italy

October 10-12, 2007
N41°53.384
E012°29.562

Rome is a stunning city jam-packed with buildings dating back 2000 years. We spent three days shuffling between the Galleria Borghese, St. Peter’s Basilica, The Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Capitoline Hill, The Spanish Steps, Piazza Navona, The Colosseum, Palatine Hill, The Forum, Circus Maximus, and of course the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. I think we can all officially say we’re a little burnt out on the museums and are full of new found knowledge at each and every site.

I won’t even try to describe Rome through our eyes. All of us, Marc, Pat, Dad and me, are completely in awe of the history and architecture of the city. The city planners have done a tremendous job integrating new buildings in with the historical landmarks; sometimes even building right on top of the ancient ruins. Every corner you turn, it seems there’s another set of ruins, ancient building, crypt, column, church or something incredible to see. It’s truly a city of ancient history

St. Peter’s Basilica, for example, is an amazing architectural feat. The plans for putting the basilica together were complicated, but we can’t fathom the project plan for the interior design. Over dinner we pondered who decided where to place the various Bernini and Giacomo della Porta sculptures and art, which are each masterpieces by themselves. These beautiful works of art are simply glossed over as people gaze down the 187 meter long place of worship before their eyes stop on the huge canopy. The canopy, whose bronze was stolen (sorry borrowed or donated) from the Pantheon, is the obvious centerpiece of the church. If one can pull their eyes away from the statues, canopy and marble pillars towards the ground, they are rewarded with beautiful mosaics intricately designed and the gorgeous patterns of the Italian marble, obviously, part of the overall plan. After you look down, you must look up, where the ceiling is covered in patterns with gold leaf and massive mosaics of multi-colored marble complete the beauty of the ceiling. The church can accommodate 60,000 people and the square outside holds even more—the most was 3 million after Pope John Paul II’s death.

Today was the zenith of everything great for Catholics and pretty special for those who aren’t practicing Catholics. The Vatican Museum, which is actually a conglomeration of several museums, leads visitors on a clear pathway through several ancient artifacts including Egyptian art, famous sculptures dating back to BC and culminating with the Sistine Chapel.

The moment we walked into the Sistine Chapel and looked up at the fresco ceiling else we saw vanished from our memory. We focused on the fine details of Michelangelo’s world famous masterpiece. We all separated and took, everything our own time to enjoy each piece of art, trying to figure out the story being told with paint, and what was running through the artist’s minds at the time. The house of worship definitely had a magical feel to it almost as if you could feel the presence of every Pope throughout history in the one special room—what a group that would be.

Marc and I (both with disciplines in Project Management) stood in awe at nearly every site we visited. Forget about the physical complexities and money required to complete projects of this scale… How the heck did they project manage these enormous endeavors? Just the logistics of coordinating the procurement of materials, obtaining adequate man power and resources, organizing and timing the installation of massive columns and slabs of marble, all the way down to the selection of colors and intricate artwork are simply mind-blowing. They didn’t have MS Project, or any fancy work-flow management software. They didn’t have computers, or email to accelerate the communication and coordination with all the people working on the project! Just think about the organizational chart for these projects! Michelangelo was amazing, but I would like to sit down and have a beer with the Lead Program Manager responsible for overseeing a job like St. Peter’s. In fact, I would buy the guy a few beers just to pick his brain.

Rome is without doubt a must see city for everyone who enjoys art, great architecture, Italian food and wine. The Vatican, a country within a country, is a gem for people of all denominations with a love for beauty. Right now Rome ranks up there as one of the best cities in the world to see—we will see how the list shakes out when we return home.