In February 2014, Stage 2 students were given the opportunity to visit either Amsterdam for modern architecture or Rome for Renaissance and Baroque architecture. This review is about Rome where we had the chance to explore historical architecture, exotic music, delicious food and a lot of Italian coffee!
Hsien Jing Lee, Hiu Kwan SI and Syukri Rasidi
BA (Hons) Architecture Stage 2
THE TRIP
We arrived in Rome early evening and before officially beginning our trip, we had a chance to explore the city on our own starting with a delicious Italian dinner, dessert and espresso. We then took a night walk around the hotel area.
We started our second day by visiting the Campidoglio and took in the panoramic view of the Roman Forum from the top. Pacing along the streets, we visited several churches nearby and then went on to the Pantheon and Piazza Navona.
Our tutors led the way and gave “open air lectures” during each tour, we explored almost every street within the city and found that Rome has many different faces. Throughout the trip, we visited many famous and spectacular buildings, churches and museums including the Church of S. Agnese, Palazzo Farnese and Piazza del Popolo. We also looked at contemporary architecture such as the Maxxi Museum.
Apart from visiting buildings and taking lots of photos, we were assigned sketching assignments every day and spent hours with our sketchbooks out which has been great for our portfolios. We even had our “sketching crits” in Rome conducted by Dr. Nikolaos Karydis, giving feedback on the sketches we had completed. The sketching assignment also gave us time to appreciate the city.
In the evenings, we had the chance to get to know more about Rome by visiting places like the Colosseum, the Vatican Museum, the Capitoline Museum and the Campo Marzio. Apart from soaking up the architecture, we took the tram and subway in our free time to visit open markets and to enjoy various music performances at the Piazza Navona and in front of the Pantheon.
After wandering around the city, we used our remaining energy to search for good food. Rome is famous for its pasta, pizza and gelato, you can find lovely places all over the city however the hardest thing to decide is which restaurant to try! Under the recommendation of Dr. Nikolaos Karydis, we also got the chance to taste the best coffee in Rome with our tutors after the end of the fourth day and you could smell the coffee the moment you stepped into the shop.
TRANSPORTATION
The nearest metro station, which is also the central station in Rome, was within half a mile walk from our hotel. We did however travel mostly on foot around Rome so that we could explore and admire all the things in the city along the way.