Experience Rome 2007
by Naseemah Mohamed '08, one of 35 Abbey students and six adults who participated in this summer's two-week Humanities Rome trip
"This year's Portsmouth Abbey Humanities Rome pilgrimage was a complete success. Both the students and teachers alike enjoyed every aspect of the great modern-ancient city.
"We stayed at the Centro, a delightful, small religious house, run by lay women in one of the oldest parts of Rome called Trastevere. The neighborhood was a maze of cobbled streets lined with little shops, restaurants and Italian gelaterias, not to mention pastel-colored, two-story apartment buildings, complete with clothes lines and garden terraces. The central gathering point of our neighborhood was the famous Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere. It was a huge cobbled courtyard with a beautiful fountain in the middle. In the evening both Italians and foreigners alike gathered in this wonderful space to watch street performers, jugglers, fire throwers, acrobats and dramatic comedians, while indulging in the many treats available in the great Italian restaurants surrounding it. The Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere is located on one side of the Piazza and dates back to the Third Century, making it one of the oldest in the city and the first church in Rome dedicated to the Virgin Mary. We delighted in this cultural extravagance every evening, and as each evening ended, we could not wait for the next to begin.
"Our days in Rome were extremely active and therefore complemented our laid-back nightly excursions in Trastevere. Each day began with a traditional Italian breakfast of rolls and tea, coffee, or hot chocolate, followed by an exciting announcement by Mr. O'Connor of the day's events. It would be impossible for me to describe every excursion without writing a novel, but I can give you are few highlights of our day. In addition to Mr. and Mrs. O'Connor, Brother Gregory, Father Caedmon, and Father Andrew, we had our very own knowledgeable and witty guide, Dr. Paul Connell, who lives in Trastevere. We visited the Vatican a few times and spent time drawing in the Piazza San Pietro and wandering through the Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano. We had the great privilege of seeing Pope Benedict XVI on two of these occasions.
"The first was on a Sunday morning when Pope Benedict XVI gave his blessing after the noon Angelus, while all the pilgrims gathered beneath the window of his private apartment overlooking St. Peter's square, and the second was inside the Basilica itself during his Wednesday Papal audience. The Pope stood in front of the main altar and addressed the entire crowd which seemed to fill every corner of this immense church. Seeing Pope Benedict was just one part of the spiritual aspect of our pilgrimage. We also visited numerous churches and basilicas, including the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome: S. Paolo fuori le Mura, S. Sebastiano fuori le Mura, S. Giovanni in Laterano, S. Croce in Gerusalemme, S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura, S. Maria Maggiore, and S. Pietro in Vaticano. We were not only astonished by the beauty and the mystery of these churches, but also acknowledged their importance to the history of the Christian church. We attended mass regularly, sometimes with the Italian locals and other times held our own private mass in the churches, conducted by Father Caedmon and Father Andrew O'Connor.
"One of the more special masses was held in a small church, built into the stone of Mount Subiaco, the place where St. Benedict prayed in seclusion before writing the Rule of St. Benedict. Mass did not seem obligatory as it often can at the Abbey, but rather became a quiet moment for contemplation, rest and prayer. In fact, the more we delved into the religious aspects of the trip, the more we realized just how important religion was in the shaping of the entire Western world as we know it today and in our own lives.
"Although we visited many beautiful churches and basilicas, they were not the only focus of our trip. We toured the Vatican museum, where we viewed many of the most famous artifacts in the world. It had colossal statues, beautiful paintings and, most notably, the Sistine Chapel. No photograph can aptly describe the wonder of these great works. We also had an exciting personal tour of the Vatican mosaic studio, where a few elite artists work on the magnificent mosaics that are found in St. Peter's Basilica and other churches.
"The remaining famous artwork and statues that could not be found in the Vatican museum, and seemingly everywhere in Rome, were in the Villa Borghese. We marveled at the works of Caravaggio, Raphael, Canova, Titian and Bernini, to name but a few. And while in Rome, we, too, created a few masterpieces of our own: under the very watchful and talented eye of Brother Gregory, we stopped and made beautiful watercolor sketches of the Roman landscape and mastered the simple elements of perspective using the city itself as our material. We went out of the city for a tour of the early Christian catacombs and had picnic on the famous Appian Way. Other sites we toured were the Pantheon, the famous Spanish steps, the Roman baths, and the famous Trevi fountain. We also toured the Roman Forum and the Coliseum, the most famous monument of ancient Rome.
"The places we visited were magnificent, but I cannot describe the Rome pilgrimage without mentioning the flavorful Roman cuisine. After every excursion, we were given the rest of the afternoon off to explore the city and try different Roman dishes. The pizza alone could certainly put North End's pizza to shame. During the last week of our stay in Rome, the entire group went for lunch at an amazing seafood restaurant, where we were served a five-course meal. And every evening we could count on a three-course meal back at the Centro.
"At the end of our two-week stay in Rome, the vast majority of us did not want to leave. We knew we would miss those sun filled days, the friendly Italians, and the wonderful Roman history, culture and cuisine. But every one of us agreed that we would love to visit Rome again. Rome is definitely an amazing place, but the fact that we shared the experience as a group, and the resulting friendships that developed, made it even more spectacular."
See photos of this year's Summer Humanities Rome Program.
