Rome by the Numbers

My mom’s been asking me how many churches, museums, etc., I visited while in Rome during my Speak, Pray, Cook adventure. I’ve finally finished totalling them up. Here’s my Rome trip “by the numbers.”

Average miles walked by day: 6-8

This is a rough estimate, but the round trip walk to school was about 2.5 miles, and I usually made that trip twice a day (once in the morning for class, and once in the late afternoon for the evening activity or my own touring and/or dinner plans). So between those two trips alone, I was doing five miles a day. Of course, there was also a lot of walking between the sights that I visited or walking to dinner or walking through museums. Therefore, I’m sure I walked at least another mile beyond that, but probably more like 2-3 extra miles a day.

Hours spent learning Italian: 40

My classes were about 3-1/2 hours every day. Plus I spent about a half hour on homework a night. That means over the two week time period, I spent about 40 hours directly learning Italian. Of course, living with a woman who only spoke Italian meant more practice!

Number of churches visited: 25

I knew I’d visited a lot, but I didn’t realize quite how many until I wrote out the list. Surprisingly, only 8 of them are ones I’d visited before. They are the starred churches.

Santa Cecilia

1. San Pietro (St. Peter’s)*
2. Chiesa Nuova
3. Santa Maria Sopra Minerva (St. Mary over Minerva)
4. Sant’Ignazio di Loyola (St. Ignatius of Loyola)
5. Santa Maria degli Angeli (St. Mary of the Angels)
6. Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major)*
7. Santa Maria dell’Anime
8. Santa Sabina
9. San Alessio
10. Scala Santa*
11. San Giovanni in Laterano (St. John Lateran)*
12. San Clemente
13. San Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains)
14. Santa Maria delle Vittorie
15. Sant’Agostino
16. Chiesa del Gesu
17. Santa Maria in Aracoeli
18. Santa Cecilia*
19. San Francesco a Ripa
20. Santa Maria in Trastevere*
21. Santa Maria della Scala
22. Pantheon* (Basilica di Santa Maria ad Martyres)
23. Sant’Andrea della Valle*
24. Santa Maria del Popolo
25. San Luigi dei Francesi

 Number of Order of Malta Sites Visited: 2

I’ve begun the process to become a Dame of the Order of Malta, so I decided to visit their two spots in Rome: the magistral villa and the magistral palace.

Number of Museums Visited: 4

Galleria Borghese (art museum)

Sometimes on vacations I end up doing museum overload. It was nice this time not to overload myself with too much information.

1. Capuchin Museum and Crypt
2. Galleria Borghese
3. War exhibit at the Vittorio Emanuele Monument
4. Castel Sant’Angelo

Number of Excavation Sites Visited: 3

Rome is the Eternal City. They’re always digging up and discovering new layers to the city. I visited three of them.

1. San Clemente–Under this church, they found an older church. And under that church, they found a first-century Roman home. It’s the perfect example of how Romans have built upon their history time and time again.
2. Santa Cecilia–Under this church are the remains of what they believe to be St. Cecilia’s family home. And of course, her bones were moved here after she was declared a saint.
3. Largo del Torre Argentina–At this excavation site, they found the ruins of four ancient Roman temples. This is where Julius Caesar was believed to be killed. Et tu, Brute?

Number of Gelato Shops Visited: 7

Giolitti

Some were so good, I went back for seconds. 🙂

1. Giolitti
2. Old Bridge
3. Frigidarium
4. Fatamorgana
5. San Crispino
6. Gelataria del Teatro
7. LemonGrass

Number of Gelato Flavors Tried: at least 14

I should have kept better track of my gelato flavors, but I know there were at least 14 flavors tried.

Perfetto!

1. Amarena con panna
2. Limoncello
3. Melone
4. Mela
5. Champagne
6. White chocolate and basil
7. Garden sage and raspberry
8. Honey
9. Vanilla with bourbon
10. Stracciatella
11. White chocolate and rum
12. Chocolate and orange
13. Dark chocolate
14. Strawberry