CNN iReport

I have "opposite" summer vacations.  I live in Rome and I vacation in Dallas to see my family and friends.  So when friends come to see me, I become a tour guide, which I enjoy because even after 9 years, I'm still discovering Rome.  And I love revisiting old favourites.  The video represents 24 hours in Rome because my friend had only a couple of days to visit.

I start with some detail shots from the Roman Forum then go to three of the many interesting churches in Rome and then on to the Pantheon.

These are three of my favourite churches.

Santa Maria Sopra Minerva is very near the Pantheon and it is the only Gothic church in Rome.  It is named St. Mary over Minerva because it was built on the foundation of a temple to the Goddess of Wisdom, Minerva.  It dates from 1280.

As you come in you can see the smallest obelisk in Rome which Bernini placed on the back of a baby elephant (designed by Bernini and carried out by Ercole Ferrata)

Inside there is the "Risen Christ"--sometimes called "Christ the Redeemer"--by Michelangelo.  Or at least started by him.  It is a beautiful piece of sculpture aside from the incongruous, gravity-defying piece of bronze which was later added as a cover.

Santa Maria in Trastevere can be found in the heart of that charming neighborhood and is one of the earliest Christian churches in Rome.  One thing I find interesting about it is the mosaic in the apse which shows Jesus and Mary sitting side by side.  Jesus has his arm around Mary's shoulders. It is an unusual image and I'm sorry I didn't think to shoot it when I was there last week.

San Pietro is the last church we visited and it needs no further introduction.  Michelangelo's Pieta' is the most beautiful piece of sculpture I have ever seen in marble.

The Pantheon is the best preserved of the most ancient buildings in Rome.  Although the entrance states that it was built by Agrippa (M·AGRIPPA·L ·F· COS·TERTIVM·FECIT), it really refers to the first temple on the site which was built  between 27 – 25 BC.  After a fire, it was rebuilt by Domitian, but it burned down again.  There is some discussion about who should get credit for designing the current structure.  It was rebuilt in its current form by Hadrian between 118 and 125 AD and some give him credit for its design, but that may not be the case.  He did not claim it as one of his own works but had the inscription made giving credit to Agrippa, though the design is quite different from the original.

The dome is about 142 feet in diameter (the Whitehouse dome is 96 feet in diameter.)  The oculus is 7.8 meters in diameter and is open.  Any rain that falls in goes down the drains built into the floor.  The main light in the building comes from the oculus.

            
The building was given to Pope Boniface IV in 609 and he converted it and consecrated it as Santa Maria ad Martyres.  The artist Raffaello is buried there with an inscription which says, more or less, "Here lies Raffaello:  when he lived, Nature was afraid of being outdone by him, when he died, she wanted to die herself." (The tomb pictured in the video is his.)  Also buried there are the painter Annibale Carracci, composer Arcangelo Corelli, and some members of Italian royalty:  Kings Vittorio Emanuale and Umberto I along with his Queen Margarita.

                
The Pantheon is still also known as Santa Maria dei Martiri and masses and weddings are frequently celebrated there.  In fact, when I came with a friend to the Pantheon this weekend, there had just been a wedding there and so my video includes some pictures of the bride near the entrance of the building.  An interesting result was that the incense used during the wedding mass made the column of light coming from the dome even more striking than usual