Wherever I go, my roads lead to the ice cream shop. When I unpacked and left my hotel room on St. Patrick’s Day in 2010, I walked to the Colosseum, keeping my eye on the shop windows – and there it was! Via Leonina 18, Cafe Ciuri Ciuri, my personal discovery, Sicilian gelateria-pasticceria, paradise of sugar- and calories-packed deliciousness and the best Sicilian style gelato in Rome. In the photograph, I immortalized my first one, the pistachio-ricotta gelato, creamy, with the unique taste of roasted pistachios. I won’t write about the pastries. It is sufficient to tell that I ate them twice a day. They are that good. Never forgotten.
( Edit: Forgot to mention another Ciuri Ciuri close to Colosseum: Via Labicana 126. The same great food)
I saw the Colosseum from the airplane window and couldn’t wait to visit the ancient monument. I knew about the free admission to the gladiator games in ancient Rome, and was surprised to learn that the times have changed. So I got a combined ticked for several attractions, and my historical holidays began.
I posted some street scenes from my Rome trip in my blog post People in the streets, and probably in some other blogs too.
Shadowless afternoon, amazing quality of light. I don’t know what these ruins are. The place is situated above the Forum. I was trying to find more images like mine, but there was only one, taken in May 2010. Perhaps, the place is closed for excavations?
The broken side of the Colosseum. Over the centuries, it was shaken and damaged by many earthquakes ( the most devastating ones in 847 and 1231), and also struck by lightening and damaged by fires. All the valuable materials were taken away and re-used.
Glimpse of Roman centurions’ life.
There is what it looks like inside the amphitheatre. Construction of the Colosseum began in 72 AD, and was completed in 80 AD. This place has seen the most horrible scenes of bloodshed and slaughter. The advent of Christianity changed Roman culture, morals, principles and values. The last gladiator game took place in 404 AD when an Egyptian monk Telemachus came to Rome, visited Colosseum, and shouted for the gladiator game to cease in the name of Christ. He was stoned to death, but after a few days the Emperor issued a decree that the games were to stop. Centuries later, when the Colosseum was in danger of demolition, Christians saved it as a site of martyrdom .
Evening light, at about 6pm. I took pictures of Colosseum every day on my way from hotel and back.
River Tiber. I enjoyed the light in Rome, so different from where I live.
St Peter’s Basilica. In my blog Make it light I posted a picture of the interior.
This is a picture I got from Google Earth, just to show the Basilica and the grounds.
This is the dome I climbed 🙂 I intentionally left all these picture icons. The rule is that people who upload their images for Google Earth, have to map them properly – in exact place where the picture was taken from. I doubt that any picture was taken from the top of the tree …
I used a lift ( 170 steps?) and climbed the remaining 320. With my walking stick. With my claustrophobia.
The lift took me to the roof ( the level behind the statues of the saints, the base of the dome). The roof looks like a small town with buildings and bridges. I walked around, even looked down inside the basilica below my feet, and up to the ceiling.
The climb is scary, definitely not for the faint of heart ( I overestimated myself, but there is no turning back, by the way). The staircase is getting very narrow as you climb. It is slanted, and curves up between the outer and inner walls of the dome (1m? less?).
As you can see, the windows are scarce, but there are windowsills. The temperature wasn’t too bad in March, but I would NEVER go there in summer. When there is no one around you, it is OK, but seeing people who actually take all the space of the staircase makes you panic. And I did panic, but at the last moment I saw the window, and I climbed some more steps and fell on the windowsill, almost in coma 🙂 When the others cleared off, I quickly finished the climb.
And this was my reward 🙂
I think this is the residence of the Pope.
On my way back I took a picture of these fine guards, and ate a gelato to restore my shaken health.
Here are some more pictures.
I still miss Rome.
Have a wonderful Sunday!
Making memories 
Thanks Inese for share that glorious world. I love specially the city painted with the sunset light. : )
Oh that was amazing building! Every evening , before the sunset, I walked by taking pictures, and always marveled how strange it was designed.
Complicated reasons, it’s a paradise for an architect and I’d love to travel there!
Yes, all the history of architecture on display 🙂
I plan to go there someday to see the ruins. Such amazing history – it blows my mind. I don’t think I can do those stairs, though. Oh my, I’d have to crawl up. Ha ha. Thanks for the pictures and the bit of history. I can see why you miss it 🙂
Such abundance of history is overwhelming. You just physically feel that the place is crowded with the ghosts from the past. Definitely go, but only in early Spring or late Autumn. Tourists and heat should be avoided 🙂
A tourist avoiding the tourists! Ha ha. Works for me 🙂
Haha 🙂
Wow…Great shots. I so want to visit one day. Cheers!
Thank you! 🙂 Hope you will.
I would never make it up those steps to see the magnificent view you saw and photographed. So bravo! And thank you for sharing. 🙂
Thank you for stopping by! It actually took not longer than 15 minutes. 15 minutes of panic and terror, all paid off 😉
A great tour of the place with beautiful pictures and the history. It is too bad the taste of gelato could not be included 🙂 It is a bit ironic that the christian monk attempted to stop the bloody games at the Colosseum and he was killed. Later on Colosseum was saved by Christians!
I can understand the claustrophobic feeling within such narrow up and long as such. I could imaging I could feel the same. The reward is just breath taking.
Thank you so much for your comment! I love ice cream, but I am not as good a writer to put that deliciousness in words 🙂
Romans used to be very cruel, and it took 400 years for Christianity to change their ways. The death of the monk was the last drop. The emperor, who was himself a Christian, finally ended that cruel tradition.
Demolition of Colosseum was in progress. Everything that could be reused, was taken away. The Christians of Rome wanted to honor the memory of Telemachus and other martyrs, and petitioned for the Colosseum to be a memorial, a reminder of the days of prosecution.
It was scary and fun to climb the dome, but the view was amazing.
I haven’t been to Rome or Italy yet, but your post makes me want to go there one of these days.
You will love all the history, but beware of pickpockets. They are swarming around the tourists. Otherwise, a great city as it always was.
Thanks for the virtual trip to a place I’ve wanted to visit since doing Roman History in the early 1970s!
Thank you for stopping by! I covered just a tiny fraction of the trip. It was amazing.
Oh, it looks wonderful. Hope you get back there one day.
BTW, I hope Bob and Trevor are doing okay. They’ve been on my mind.
Thank you! Bob is ok except that he is very confused. He knows my face, but has no idea who I am. Called me ‘mammy’ a couple of times. Trevor is the boss now. He lives with a kindest woman who is not even a family. Everything is very complicated, and I pray Bob recovers his mind and goes home soon.
My dream vacation. Thanks for showing me what it’s like.
Just don’t go in summer, the crowds will ruin everything. March is perfect. Pickpockets are a plague, and I don’t exaggerate.
A person after my own heart
Give me ice cream
I’ll tell you my deepest secrets
Great post
Oh then Rome is a right place for you 🙂
Wonderful post, Inese – and congratulations on getting to the top of the dome! You certainly deserved tha gelato afterwards. I know how you feel about claustrophobia – I’d be exactly the same. Your photos are awesome and really bring Ancient Rome back to life.
Thank you so much, Millie! I didn’t pay attention to the photographs, or may be there were no photographs of the staircase six years ago… I don’t think I would climb if I knew. There is no way to turn back, and a heavier person takes all the space from one wall to the other. I think they should let people in one by one, with an interval. Some day I will write about another climbing experience – that daredevil me 🙂
Beautiful buildings of Italy, excellent images.
Thank you so much Bob! Amazing country, and the capital.
What a fantastic post Inese! I especially love your black and white pictures, they emphasize the beauty of the architecture:) Did you know, they even purposefully flooded the Collosseum on occassion to reenact famous seabattles?
I´m glad you mastered the steps and wasn´t it clever of you to treat yourself afterwards with another ice-cream?;) Have a lovely weekend! Sarah:)
Thank you so much! No, I never heard of that! Must have washed out blood and bones…
I treated myself on every occasion 😉 History and lovely food – it is how I remember the trip.
Sounds definitely like the best way to travel;)
Thanks 🙂
🙂
Well after all that walking and climbing you certainly earned your gelato. I particularly like the sepia toned photos.
Thank you Bernadette! I have a ton of photographs, but had to choose. I might put up another post some day.
Expect to be in Rome in about six weeks. The Colosseum was definitely on my itinerary and now I’ll add the ice cream shop.
The cafe is very close to Colosseum, check out the map. Buy a ticked that covers Colosseum, the Forum and Palatine Hill, or may be something else too. All these places are amazing. Beware of the pickpockets! I forgot to cover this issue in the post, but it is a pure tragedy. Watch your wallet when taking photographs and lift your arms! These people are nicely dressed, and of any race and nationality – they come to Rome for a ‘harvest season’.
When I was in Rome, it was summer….not the best time to go. But it’s a beautiful and captivating city and we really overdid our tourism….like the Noel Coward saying: ‘Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid day sun…” and we nearly died of the heat! Your photos are wonderful, and that reward for climbing is just breathtaking!
Oh Cynthia, it was +18C in March! I imagine what the summer looks like… I took a bus to Tivoli one day, though I would faint. The stairs to the dome are a deadly trap 🙂 If someone panicked, there would be a bloody hell. I wouldn’t climb there in summer to save my life, but the rest of the city is so charming.
What a fun adventure you have had. In the Colosseum I read a while back that they kept prisoners and animals below the Colosseum and brought them up to the arena. I see what might be the underground of the Colosseum in the middle but is there the part of the arena that goes over these undergrounds as the spectators would not see the undergrounds that are there. I wonder if it was taken and reused like you said? It was a nice journey you have taken me on. Thanks
I have read that they took away everything made of marble.
When I visited, they started reconstructions. The idea was to build a floor for the rock concerts or something. I don’t know if they finished, and I don’t know if it was a good idea. I had a feeling that all the blood was still down there 😦
Probably when someone dies I would imagine they would be taken down there and waited upon the games finished then they would dispose of the dead.
They possibly fed the dead to the lions or whatever animals they kept for the show… I couldn’t take my eyes off that maze of walls. I though I saw all the blood.
It was still stained with blood?
Don’t think so. Fires and everything… But I could easy picture it in my mind. The place is so familiar from the books.
🙂
Beautiful Inese, my favourite city! The Trevi Fountain is my favourite place in Rome, closely followed by the Colosseum and Forum.
Thank you so much, Andrea! I have many pictures, but have to choose what to write about. Just thought I would share my near death experience 🙂
I miss the gelato that’s for sure! Great pictures – I love the guard’s outfits!
Thank you so much, Jan! Sicilian gelato is creamier, richer than we are used to. Divine.
I was lucky the guards came so close. Very colorful! xx
Wow, Inese. That was an amazing tour. Thanks for taking us along with you. Ruins always stir my imagination, whether they are old, not so old, or ancient.
I do a lot of stairs each day at home, but I would not want to attempt that climb. Mega hugs!
Thank you so much for your comment! It is why I love Rome, for the ruins. It is like a history book video, and you are in. If you ever go to Rome, March- April is the best time. Not overcrowded, and not too hot. If someone got sick on the stairs, like me for example, it would be the end of him or her, because there wasn’t room for CPR… Scary.
Many hugs!!!!!
wow – beautiful images…I was feeling I was travelling to this journey..
Thank you so much, Mihran! It was 6 years ago, I wonder how everything changed.