Seattle Gay News
Issue 38, Volume 47, September 20, 2019
Fall Arts & Travel ROME · FLESH AND BLOOD · WASHINGTON STATE HISTORY MUSEUM FRIDAY HARBOR FILM FESTIVAL · MONET, RENOIR, AND DEGAS · CHICAGO
The Colosseum - Photo by Мирра6 via wikipedia commons
Rome is home to the Colosseum and the Sistine Chapel among other significant travel highlights by Ed Walsh SGN Contributing Writer Rome does not have a big gay scene but it may have the most unique location of any gayborhood in the world. The gayest block in the city is across the street from Rome’s most iconic landmark, the Colosseum. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colosseum) The 300-yard stretch of Via San Giovanni on the east side of the Colosseum was formally renamed “Gay Street di Roma” or the Gay Street in 2007, although there are no street signs there that say that. That is where you will find the Coming Out bar, My Bar, and the lesbian bar, the Colosseum RistoBar. There are also a few other gay bars and saunas scattered around the city. Rome celebrated its 25th annual pride celebration in early June. The week-long series of events was highlighted by a march in the heart of the city’s historic center, just east of the famed Trevi Fountain. Rome hosted the LGBT sporting event, EuroGames, in July. THE SIGHTS Of course, you can combine a visit to the gayborhood with a visit to the Colosseum just across the street. The structure dates back more than 2,000 years. It was built by Rome’s leaders to give the unwashed masses entertainment. Admission was free in those days but how close you were to the action depended on your social status. The nosebleed seats were reserved for slaves and others on the lowest rung of society. If you go, you can walk in for a fee and explore on your own or go with a tour guide. My traveling companion and I
went on one of the monthly free days at the Colosseum and paid just €15 euros (about $16.50 US) for a guided tour with My City Tours (https://mycity-tours.com/). It was well worth the cost. The tour cost apparently is flexible depending on the demand and on the barkers in front of the Colosseum who drum up business. I heard them charge two women who were ahead of us €20 euros for the same tour, so keep in mind the price of the tour is negotiable. Admission to the Colosseum is usually €12 euros (about $13.25 US) (admission will be increasing to €16 euros (about $17.50 US in November]. My friend and I got in on a rare free weekday. More information can be found on the Colosseum’s official website https://www.coopculture. it/en/colosseo-e-shop.cfm After an hour’s tour of the Colosseum with our guide Mercedes, we were turned over to a second guide, Elaine, for a tour of the Forum (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Roman_Forum), right next to the Colosseum. The Forum was kind of a shopping district for ancient Rome. Both guides were excellent. The guides can point out the stuff you might miss if you are walking around on your own, like the group toilets that were continually flushed by water from the aqueduct system for which ancient Rome was famous. Right across the street from the gay bars on The Gay Street is an excavated block of the ruins that once was the training ground for the gladiators who fought to the death across the street at the Colosseum. It wasn’t included in the tour but it is worth checking out and reading the plaque that explains the history. A good way to see the main attractions of Rome without getting lost are on one of the
city’s double decker tour buses. I took both the Big Bus Tours bus (www.bigbustours. com) and the City Sightseeing bus (www. city-sightseeing.com). The Big Bus offered the most bang for the buck with two different routes. It also includes walking tours as part of the service. The tour buses give out earbuds so you can listen to narration in English or another language. Both services offer you the ability to hop on and off. The Turbo Pass (www.turbopass.com) is another good way to go. It includes options for public transportation, airport bus transfers as well as a 24-hour pass on the City Sightseeing bus The pass also allows for free or discounted admission to a number of attractions around the city. One of the best tours I took was a free two-hour walking tour in central Rome. You need to make a reservation in advance at http://www.newromefreetour.com/. The tour guides work for tips. I wasn’t sure how much to tip the guide but I gave 10€ euros, which was well worth it. The free walking tour goes by the world-famous Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, the church with a round openair dome, as well as other lesser-known but historically important churches. Whatever your religious beliefs, the Vatican is well-worth seeing but you need to plan ahead to see the Vatican Museum (http://www.museivaticani.va/content/ museivaticani/en.html) and the Sistine Chapel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel) (http://www.museivaticani. va/content/museivaticani/en.html). You have to go through the museum to see the chapel. A number of tour companies offer guided tours but they often sell out a couple of weeks in advance. Anyone can walk into the Vatican’s main church, St. Peter’s
Basilica, but the lines are often long. You have to be cleared through a metal detector before entering. The Pope appears in a window of the papel apartment at noon on Sundays. During that appearance, guards check the bags of everyone entering St. Peter’s Square and a long line forms as people try to get closer but the line moves very quickly. One of the most revered figures in the Vatican art world is the painter of the Sistine Chapel, a gay man you might have heard of, Michelangelo. (https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelangelo). A great hour-long show depicting his work as the sculptor of the famous "David" as well as the process for painting the Sistine Chapel is in the Giudizio Universale (https:// www.giudiziouniversale.com/en/) show just outside the Vatican. The spectacular show uses live actors and projects his Sistine Chapel paintings on the ceiling and sides of the auditorium. About 15 minutes of the show is narrated in Italian but you can get a handset with the English translation for €5 euros. The ticket prices start at about €25 euros. Unfortunately, the show doesn’t touch on his personal life, but hopefully it would encourage people to do their own research that would reveal the gay side of this remarkable man. Michelangelo's "David" is in Florence, about a three-hour drive north of Rome. But his other famous sculpture, "La Pieta", is in St. Peter's Basilica. The translation of "La Pieta" is "The Pity." and it depicts Mary cradling the dead body of her son Jesus just after his crucifixion.
see ROME page 5