I have walked for hours along the Via Appia outside Rome just looking at mausolea and burial sites. It's creations like the Claudian Aqueduct that have stolen hours of my life in quiet contemplation of Rome's virtuous and elegant engineering. The competence of Rome's technical prowess lies across the country like a satin robe on the frame of a noble being.
Every time I left some region or local of Italy it felt more like an appalling
loss
than a richly decorated privilege to deepen my appreciation of an
ancient culture. Every time I was compelled to prioritize places to
visit or overhaul my previous list it was like being fleeced by a thief.
Surely I will not be compelled to choose the Curia of Pompey over the
Baths of Caracalla?!In my wonderings I have classified 4 working discreet layers of Italian culture: contemporary, renaissance, Medieval and classical. Any student of history will tell you this is complete bunk and that the culture is so much deeper. I agree. I can only plead that I only have so much time and gray matter to organize my sojourns!
I have visited Florence, Pisa, Napoli, Sorrento, and a dozen other places each of them have those layers I spoke of above. Each layer can consume a lifetime of research and study. Even at this macro level of detail I am forced to curtail, to pare away the rich, the beautiful and the marvelous just so I can see what is most meaningful to me.
And let's face it: I need to leave room and time for all the gastronomic ecstasy that is Italy! Damn I feel robbed.
Republican and Imperial Rome are my favorite periods. It's arguably the richest period of Italian history and it has another useful characteristic: you must dig through other layers to get to it. Case in point is the Curia of Pompey which is where Caesar was murdered. Much of the stone is located around Rome in other structures and there are many layers built upon its remains.
All these layers are as complicating as they are wondrous. You can spend a vacation just in Rome buried (excuse the pun) in its medieval history. I don’t have time for this. Wait…no, I mean, oh, hell! An average life span of 72 years for a male is just not enough TIME!!! To illustrate my point, look at the Sistine Chapel. I have stood until my feet were sore and I was just looking at a segment of the ceiling.
Not only does wonder and joy beat you into submission in this city, so too does time. Each and every visit you discover more of the culture…to leave off your list until next time! It’s maddening!
There is only one solution to the crazed mania induced by Italian culture overload: The Surgical Strike Vacation!
This is the strategy I apply to places like Italy and that’s how to do Pompeii or Kyoto or Peking for that matter. Any place that buries you up to the waist in things to do and places to see the minute you get off the airplane are best seen in this fashion. Forget the once in a life-time experience! Go again and again. Scrimp, save, barrow (steal?) whatever you must, just go and go again!
This is how to do Pompeii and perhaps Herculaneum. In the next post we’ll discover my journey through Pompeii. Stick around…
- Capri by the Sea
