Ciao bello!

This morning we took on the adventure that is Vatican City. The region is a walled enclave within Rome and has a population of about 800. The city-state produces it’s own coin and is home to several Catholic landmarks, including St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican Museums, and the Sistine Chapel. Of course, we had to venture out to all of the highlights, stopping for a quick l’insalata break inbetween.

St. Peter’s Basilica was beautiful, full of ornate decorations and cieling murals. St. Peter’s Square itself had me and my sister extremely excited, as we recognized it from the Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons.

Next, we saw the Vatican Museum which was housing an Ancient Egypt exhibit, in addition to tapestries and ancient artifacts. The museum lead to the Sistine Chapel which houses Michelangelo’s famous cieling painting depicting narrative scenes from Creation to stories of prophets. I sat alongside the chapel for minutes, just plainly admiring the magnificient painting. In the center of the cieling, there’s the famous image of God touching Adam’s finger, giving him life. The beauty of this painting was overwhelming so I could’t resist but take a picture.

Today we made it light because at 7 am tomorrow, we will be on the road to the mystic city of Pompeii, stopping along the road in Naples for pizza!