Days 13 and 14: Rome

Day 13: This morning was Part II of 'The Really Old Stuff", also known as the Roman Forum and the Palentine Hill. I wasn't enthused about going, and I lasted about 30-45 minutes before confirming that I really didn't care, and I left. Next I headed to a lesser-known museum, the museum of the Italian Resistance (during WWII).

(In preparation for this trip, I bought a book on WWII sites in Italy, so if anyone is planning a trip and has a similar interest, I'm happy to lend it out. The book is really thin.) If you aren't familiar with your WWII history, Italy was in alliance with Germany and Japan as part of the Axis powers. The country was fascist, and the Prime Minister was Mussolini. The Allied forces eventually enter the country via Sicily and work their way north. The king goes behind Mussolini's back to surrender to the allies, Mussolini is forced out, and Germany immediately occupies the country.

The museum was in a former SS headquarters that included jail cells for Italian prisoners, especially those leading resistance efforts against the Germans. It wasn't large, but several cells were left largely in tact, with the exception of partially unbricking windows in the cells that the Germans had bricked over so prisoners would not have daylight. There was a small wing dedicated to Italian Jews that had been taken to concentration camps. A went to a similar museum in Paris that was dedicated to the French resistance, so it was interesting to compare the two. The Paris museum was much more developed (probably due to better financing), and at least acknowledged the role of the Allied forces liberating the country. The Italian museum both barely mentioned Mussolini and I don't think it mentioned the allied forces at all.

Sidenote: I also visited the Vittorio Emmanuel Monument, which is a large building in the city center that has killer views of the city. It is from this building that Mussolini used to speak to (and incite) the populace in the 20's and 30's. I think that is the vision people most associate with the building. However, when I visited it and was reading a timeline history of the building, there was not a single mention of Mussolini. Susan told she read before the trip there were a few topics one should not bring up to an Italian, and the war was one of them.

So….I get that the museum's purpose was to cite the history of the Resistance, and it is good for national ego to highlight those that fought against evil regimes as opposed to those who followed a manman like Mussolini, but still, I thought a little shoutout to the American and Brits for driving out the Germans would have been nice. However, after visiting the museum, I'm not sure it is clear to me what exactly the Italian resistance actually did. Maybe I'm just not as familiar with the Italian story, but in France it is know that the resistance blew us railroads, printed leaflets, met secretly, had coded radio broadcasts, communicated with the Brits, etc. I think whatever the Italians done must have been more of a solitary effort.

The museum displays were all in Italian, but there was a pretty good English audio guide. I was the only one in the museum when I arrived, and I think a couple people came in after me. The guy in charge was a grump.

The funny-not-so-funny part of the museum was a picture (displayed twice) of a leading SS officer talking to a man, and the man looked like a young version of my grandpa. To be perfectly clear, my Grandpa Glaser was an American soldier in WWII, not a nazi!

After the museum I went to the fourth (and final) papal basicilla, St. Paul Outside the Walls named that because 1) St. Paul is believed to be buried there and 2) The church is located outside the old city walls. This church building was from the 1800's, so it felt brand spanking new compared to every other church I visited in Italy.

After the museum, I continued south outside the city and went to a residential and business district called the EUR, which was built up by Mussolini in the 30's to host the 1942 World's Fair (which never happened, because the world was at war.) Mussolini had visions for this becoming the new city-center of Rome. The architechture is stark, to say the least. I've attached some pictures.

Finally, I met up with Susan and we went to dinner and attended a concert at an Anglican church. There were 3 singers, a tenor, soprano and mezzosoprano, and a 6 piece orchestra. While it was a little grander than the concert we saw in Florence, the musicians often overpowered the singers, so I liked the more simple concert (just one harpist) in Florence.

Day 14: I'm officially ready to be done with this vacation. I didn't have any plans for this day and had a hard time getting revved up for anything. I finally left the apartment around 10:30, hit a couple churches, and then did some shopping. There is a chain of stores called Eataly (or maybe Eatly….I'm too lazy to get up and check) that is Italy's version of Trader Joe's. I went to their mega store, housed in a former airline hanger, and had a good time picking up some small food stuffs to bring back. I ran a few other errands, fought crowds for what felt like hours, then headed back to the apartment. We had dinner at a great neighborhood restaurant. Tomorrow we leave for Milan.