Week 7

When I planned my trip to Italy last May, I had a list of expectations, like any other who was planning to come with our group. As someone who enjoys all things historic, especially ancient, I was beyond excited, I was ecstatic - elated - and inspired. Ancient Rome, just below Ancient Greece, had a warm spot in my heart for as long as I could remember. This, I thought, was where it all happened. This, would be where I could see for myself how far back time has stretched in countries much older than our infant America. This trip to Italy would show me how history and religion were not only celebrated, but respected. It was this, this enormous, fantastic belief, that made for the most disappointing part of the Rome Experience. The realization that not everyone respects the ruins of what were once great and powerful cities, and that in all actuality, the ancient is not only under-appreciated but hidden behind the more modern - was what hit me the hardest during my two month long journey of Italy.
When I say people do not respect the history of these historic locations, I do not mean that they have learned about these sites and honored them in their thoughts, or remembered the people and what they once stood for. I mean something much simpler than that. Entering the Colosseum, for example, after the initial shock of being surrounded by such a colossal building, a quick survey of the area shows parents allowing their children to climb the crumbling walls, taped off for good reason. Cigarette butts litter the ground, as do food remnants and wrappers. The holes that once supported the marble of this building are now filled in by litter which people decided not the throw on the ground or supplied waste cans. Passing the initial anger and frustration of what has become of what was once the center of socialization and entertainment in Rome, it is still possible to be awed by the building, and to wonder what it was like beneath the stage, or in the seats.
Rome, is just one example of the ancient cities that once existed. There is also Pompeii, which is in phenomenal condition considering its age and the devastation of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Pompeii, in comparison to Rome, is more well preserved both because of the tomb which encompassed it from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius until excavations began, but also because Pompeii is not as easily reached as the ruins in the city of Rome. While Rome is the epicenter of Ancient, the Catholic Church, and the hustle and bustle of city life for the Italians, tourists, and travelers - Pompeii is on the outermost edge of small towns and little known areas. Rome seems to be on the agenda of most serious tourists, which is quite understandable; See the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, a few fountains and churches - it's the plan for most who travel to Italy - but it is majorly the traveler who goes to Pompeii. That is not to say Pompeii is pardoned from the curse of tourists and litter, but from my own limited experience, I felt a sense of respect in the Pompeii ruins that seriously lacked in the Colosseum and Roman Forum.
In assuming Pompeii is more frequented by travelers, it can be easily accepted that the level of respect for the history of the ancient city would be higher. Just as, with the Colosseum as my best example, for the tourist, it may be nothing more than something to check off the list of "What to See While in Rome".
I believe the disappointment I faced my first weeks in Italy were made up for with my short trip in Pompeii. With surviving wells, road blocks, original frescos, and even roofs in some of the buildings, Pompeii made imagining life in this city easy, whereas the tourists in the Roman Forum were so much of a distraction, and tours were so hurried, that I could hardly keep track of the pictures the guides flipped through to give us a visual of what this field with scattered column fragments once was.
While I realize now that being in Italy and remembering it later on bring much different thoughts to the surface, I would urge anyone interested in the ancient history of this great civilization to visit Pompeii. I would urge them to lose themselves in the streets, in the open homes and spectacular views. Rome, of course, must be seen, remembered, and respected for what it once was - but it has also become something much different, and that cannot be forgotten when visiting the area. Pompeii, however, is frozen in the sort of way I foolishly and naively believed part of Rome would be. Pompeii is still very much alive. Though the people are long gone, and the walls have crumbled here and there, the imagination takes over when one walks down the narrow streets and sidewalks, or when they enter the open spaces for markets and meeting areas. Ancient Rome is a graveyard with trees and gates surrounding it, and people who come to pay their respects - either because they feel they have to or because they miss what it once was.
Both areas are spectacular, no doubt about it, and I while it wasn't what I expected, I wouldn't have given up this opportunity, this experience, for anything.