Tom`s travels: Rome & the Appian Way (02/06/2021)

After a terrible night spent at a hostel near the train station of Rome, the Volturno Guesthouse, I decided to visit a bit of the monument in the city I had never seen and then head out to walk along the Via Appia, as a preamble of my upcoming pilgrimage hike. I had reached Rome from Siena, after four days of hiking along the Via Francigena, and had booked a place for the three nights I would spend in the city at a hostel in the city center. It was really cheap and conveniently located and I had thought I would spend most of the day outside and just use it to sleep. However to my horror and surprise as I arrived there I found out I was put in a crowded dirty room where basically a few of the other guests were homeless and had their whole stuff sprawled over the room and behaved really weirdly. I felt really uncomfortable for the whole time, the shower was terrible and while I ate my food in the common area a constant array of people were exiting and entering and so it didn't feel safe at all. I tried sleeping but the beds were really close to each other and each of the other guests was either watching videos really loudly, scratching their heads and feet constantly, or just exiting and entering the room every few minutes. I was so anxious and quite frankly appalled at the situation that I was hardly able to sleep at all. When I did eventually doze off to sleep I was woken up several times by noises and movements which went on all night. In the early morning, after not really being able to sleep I decided to just leave the damned place and cancel my booking cause it was just unbearable. When I tried talking to a guy from the staff, a man from Bangladesh who could not speak a word of Italian, and when trying to communicate with him then in English just faked he didn't understand well, he told me the owner was not there. I wanted in fact to get my tourist tax back at least as I really didn't care about the booking anymore. So after leaving the place without giving my keys back as I wanted to be sure that I would be at least considered, I decided then to walk through the city. I reached Piazza Venezia where I observed the 2 June parade, the Festa Della Repubblica, or Republic Day, which involves a parade in front of the Altare Della Patria. I then walked up the Campidoglio when the fighter jets passed right above my head leaving a smoke trail with the flag of Italy. From there I then walked the main street, Via Dei Fori Imperiali, and past the Colosseum to eventually head out of the city from the south along the famous Via Appia, the road that in ancient Roman times used to connect Rome to Brindisi on the Adriatic Sea. I passed by the Chiesa San Cesareo de Appia and the Sepolcro degli Scipioni and then under the Arco di Druso, an ancient Roman aqueduct arch later turned into a city gate, eventually reaching the southern gate of the Aurelian walls, Porta San Sebastiano, one of the most beautiful and best-preserved in the whole city. It is from here that the official Appian Way begins. I followed it and reached the small church Chiesa del Domine Quo Vadis, rebuilt in a baroque style over an older one, where, according to tradition Saint Peter met Jesus who was fleeing persecution in Rome but had then decided to head back to be crucified. After the church, I then passed by the Catacombs of Callixtus but they were unfortunately closed on Wednesdays so instead, I decided to visit the nearby Catacombs of Domitilla. An underground Christian cemetery, like many others around Rome, they are named after the Domitilla family that had initially ordered them to be dug. They were actively used as a cemetery from the first through the fifth centuries and were rediscovered in 1593 by the archaeologist, Antonio Bosio. Today they include more than 26,000 tombs spanning about 15kms, only a couple of which can be visited. I bought the entry ticket and then joined the time-entrance group down, 16m below the surface. The tour was nice, albeit a bit rushed as the place is really large and the groups are timed every half hour, and in the small group I met two girls from Treviso who were working in Rome and were surprised when I told them I was there starting a pilgrimage all the way to Puglia. After the visit, I waved goodbye to the girls, who wished me good luck on my hike, and then continued on to visit the nearby Mausoleo Delle Fosse Ardeatine. The place was a site of a mass killing of 335 civilians and political prisoners carried out on 24 March 1944 by German occupation troops during the Second World War as a reprisal for an attack in the city center against the SS Police the previous day. The caves where the act took place were declared a Memorial Cemetery and National Monument open to visitors. Once inside it felt really sad and terrible to learn about the tragedy and see the location where they all perished. After the visit to the memorial, I continued on and reached the second catacombs, those of Saint Sebastian. Here I paid the entry ticket and joined a larger group than the catacombs before and with a friendly Luthanian guy as our guide who spoke Italian really well. One of the oldest Christian cemeteries, they were originally just known as in catacumbas and so are known to be the ones who actually gave the word catacombs to all other Christian underground cemeteries. There were some nice parts with frescoes and mosaics from the early Christian era, and particularly nice was also the crypt of St Sebastian, where supposedly the martyr was laid to rest. Our tour then ended above the catacombs where the Basilica of San Sebastiano fuori le mura is located. The church was built in the 4th century over the crypt of St Sebastian but later refurbished in a mannerist style at the beginning of the 17th century and features a beautiful statue of the Salvator Mundi by Bernini. After exiting the church I continued along the road and shortly after reached an archaeological site that was open and free to visitors, the Villa of Maxentius. This huge imperial villa was built by the Roman emperor Maxentius and consists of three main buildings: the palace, the dynastic mausoleum, and the circus of Maxentius, one of the best-preserved in the area and second only in size to the Circus Maximus. I toured the large site and then continued on along the Appian Way visiting then the nearby Tomb of Caecilia Metella which was also free that day. It was built during the 1st century BC to honor Caecilia Metella, daughter of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus, a consul in 69 BC, and the wife of the Marcus Licinius Crassus who served under Julius Caesar. Between 1302 and 1303, the Caetanifamily aided by Pope Boniface VIII bought an estate in the area, built a church, that of St Nicholas, and a fortification right on the spot, eventually encompassing the tomb. After the visit, I continued along the straight ancient roman street, with its typical well-preserved stone slabs and sided by beautiful Mediterranean pines, typical of the area. It was really pleasant and with barely anyone around. I continued on for quite a while, passing minor archaeological remains and other buildings from past centuries. I then reached the large complex of the Villa dei Quintili, an ancient Roman villa built by the rich and cultured brothers Sextus Quintilius Valerius Maximus and Sextus Quintilius Condianus. Nowadays mostly in ruins, the complex still looks incredible and so huge that it took me quite a while to tour around it. I walked through the surviving arches of large halls, once wondrous thermal baths, and banquet rooms. Part of it was also a smaller building from the middle ages which inside featured a beautiful exhibition on the Via Appia itself, organized by some hikers and pilgrims who had wished to promote the walk along the way from Rome to Brindisi. After visiting the area I was basically out of Rome itself and so I decided it was enough walking along the ancient street and time to head to the nearest train station and take a train back in the city. I reached the locality of Capannelle where I took a regional back to the main train station. Once there I decided to try and finally get my tourist tax money back from the hostel, however, once I was there the guy who had talked with me that same morning had disappeared and other people there had no idea where he was. I tried calling several times but without any answer. After I had waited for half-hour, I decided to leave and eventually the guy did pick up but he said police had come to the hostel and so he had to run and was now with his lawyer waiting. I didn't know if he was just making fun of me but I was too tired and angry to even go back so I told him to just send me the money somehow or otherwise I would call the police. I then tried calling Ernesto, the flatmate of my brother and me when we were in Rome, asking him if I could sleep at their place and he happily agreed, making me so happy to have found a place to eventually sleep that night and the following one. On the way to the apartment, I had a sandwich with raw ham and carrots and then joined Ernesto and the new flatmate, Angelo, and we talked for quite a bit about general stuff and about my upcoming pilgrimage. Then I finally went to sleep, ready for another day trip the next day.