It was expected, and people in this town rarely disappoint. Relics from Rome tourism past have been checking in at our new customer service center for a quiet root around. Impromptu guests, curiouser and curiouser and curiouser still about When In Rome Tours trading from the Vatican City version of an airport departure lounge. In with the new? Absolutely! New tours (ongoing), new website (in development), new office (tick), new staff (tick), new neue NEW wo.
Eternal Tours Rome is one of the first ever Rome tour operators, serving revelatory private tours of Rome for curious travellers since 2008. In that time, we have curated over 40 unique tours of Rome and day trips from Rome with flexible ticket options for all the museums and archaeological sites in Rome, Florence, Pompeii and Herculaneum.
July 20, 2012
July 09, 2012
Spain 4 Italy 0 and not a Rome tour in sight
Thank God. Had Italy won Euro 2012 in Kyiv, the ensuing fanfare and outpouring of national pride would have gone a long way towards vindicating the criminal activities of those responsible for blighting the beautiful game here on the peninsula. Football in Italy has become just another charade - no one knows who pays who to fix so many top flight matches. Dozens of mainstream broadsheets that once covered calcio with gusto have closed down in final protest.
In the good old days of Italian football, players used to dive, whinge, whine, complain and feign injury - fundamental parts of their game which we grudgingly accepted then eventually derided. Calcio 2012, however, has become an extension of the country in which it is played. Corruption, back stabbing, dishonesty and lies are rife. These unfortunate traits drive an unwilling, perhaps unwitting, resigned population during the working week, a collective common denominator which binds millions of Italians together. Economics, employment, socializing - every aspect of life in Italy is corruptible wherever money and the fair sex is involved. It's an unholy union with dangerous potential, the bare bones of which being politicians and their ilk who ensure that public funds are available for themselves and for projects and initiatives they control, which in turn severely impacts upon public spending and employment. The result? Bitter, downtrodden, uncertain people who have come to accept a bizarre culture of secrecy and back handers as the norm. "Only in Italy" has become a popular turn of phrase in recent years, and those of us resident here as "stranieri" feel genuinely sorry for our Italian friends and associates, who have to tolerate the simple matter of circumstance in the most trying conditions.If only Italian politicians battled for their compatriots with as much pride, honour, and integrity as shown by the Azzurri?
As a Rome tour operator that rose phoenix-like from the ashes of the original Rome football tickets website, it is our duty to write about the beautiful game once in a while...
In the good old days of Italian football, players used to dive, whinge, whine, complain and feign injury - fundamental parts of their game which we grudgingly accepted then eventually derided. Calcio 2012, however, has become an extension of the country in which it is played. Corruption, back stabbing, dishonesty and lies are rife. These unfortunate traits drive an unwilling, perhaps unwitting, resigned population during the working week, a collective common denominator which binds millions of Italians together. Economics, employment, socializing - every aspect of life in Italy is corruptible wherever money and the fair sex is involved. It's an unholy union with dangerous potential, the bare bones of which being politicians and their ilk who ensure that public funds are available for themselves and for projects and initiatives they control, which in turn severely impacts upon public spending and employment. The result? Bitter, downtrodden, uncertain people who have come to accept a bizarre culture of secrecy and back handers as the norm. "Only in Italy" has become a popular turn of phrase in recent years, and those of us resident here as "stranieri" feel genuinely sorry for our Italian friends and associates, who have to tolerate the simple matter of circumstance in the most trying conditions.If only Italian politicians battled for their compatriots with as much pride, honour, and integrity as shown by the Azzurri?
As a Rome tour operator that rose phoenix-like from the ashes of the original Rome football tickets website, it is our duty to write about the beautiful game once in a while...
July 08, 2012
Michelangelo Vatican tour (third part)
We don't actually know what happened to the first two parts but here's the third anyway!
Presence of earlier frescoes apart, Michelangelo had to face other difficulties; the steep inclination of some ceiling sections and the tendency of stucco (plaster) to go mouldy. He also had to build and work on his own scaffolding system. Problems continued beyond completion and even after his passing in 1564. A month after the death of Michelangelo, the Council of Trento ordered the covering of naked figures by "dressing them" in painted drapes.
Restoration works began in 1979 and were completed in 1999. "Genesis" and "The Last Judgement" were returned to their original splendid colours as applied by Michelangelo in situ. The final phase restored the Stories of Moses, the Stories of the life of Jesus, the cantoria (choir gallery) and transennas.
More information by Eternal Tours Rome about Vatican tours and Michelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel can be found by visiting the preceding links.
Presence of earlier frescoes apart, Michelangelo had to face other difficulties; the steep inclination of some ceiling sections and the tendency of stucco (plaster) to go mouldy. He also had to build and work on his own scaffolding system. Problems continued beyond completion and even after his passing in 1564. A month after the death of Michelangelo, the Council of Trento ordered the covering of naked figures by "dressing them" in painted drapes.
Restoration works began in 1979 and were completed in 1999. "Genesis" and "The Last Judgement" were returned to their original splendid colours as applied by Michelangelo in situ. The final phase restored the Stories of Moses, the Stories of the life of Jesus, the cantoria (choir gallery) and transennas.
More information by Eternal Tours Rome about Vatican tours and Michelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel can be found by visiting the preceding links.
July 07, 2012
The Sistine Chapel (2 of 3)
On August 15th 1483, the Chapel was consecrated by Pope Sixtus IV on the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Paintings in the Sistine Chapel date back to the 15th and 16th century. The best known works were created by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, and again between 1535 and 1541 on the west wall behind the altar.
The original barrel vault ceiling was painted by Piermatteo Lauro de' Manfredi da Amelia, and his decoration was that of golden stars swirling in a deep blue sky, destroyed in 1508 when Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to work on nine new frescoes depicting God's creation of the world, God's relationship with mankind, and mankind's fall from God's grace. Michelangelo's paintings would cover the entire vault, a massive surface area which exceeded 1000 square metres. The Sistine Chapel ceiling is widely regarded as the ultimate expression of High Renaissance art.
Renaissance master Michelangelo took four years to complete the Sistine Chapel ceiling. His nine frescoes depict nine stories from the book of Genesis, each represented in the central section. "Ignudi" (naked men) holding vegetal festoons surround each one with twelve "diviners" beneath (seven prophets of Israel and five sybils). The squinches (pendentives) are embellished with the four "miraculous salvations of Israel"; Judith and Holofernes, David and Goliath, the Bronze Snake, and Haman’s Punishment. Twenty four years later, Michelangelo would continue his work and paint his Last Judgement on the wall behind the altar.
Learn more about the Sistine Chapel on our small group Vatican tours :-)
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