St. Dennis Adventures

Sa n Giovanni in Laterano is recognized as the Basilica of St. John Lateran and is the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome, of which the Pope is bishop. The Catholic Church has named it "The Mother of All Churches". Among the many striking features is the border along the top of the walls in one wing of this Basilica which has paintings of the different popes, since the beginning of the church. We also visited the Vatican – the smallest ind ependent landlocked sovereign city state within the city of Rome. It has a population of approximately 800 residents. Vatican city is an ecclesiastical state, ruled by the Bishop of Rome — the Pope. Since the late 1920s, Popes have resided in the area that became Vatican City since the return from Avignon in the late 1300s. Saint Peter’s Square with its rows of columns lining the sides of Saint Peter’s Basilica are almost as impressive as the inside. Saint Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the worl...

The remains of the infamous Roman Colosseum with its 80 arched entrances allowed easy access to house over 50,000 spectators. In its day, the Colosseum staged deadly combats between gladiators and wild animal fights for the enjoyment of the viewing public. The Roman gladiators were usually slaves, prisoners of war or condemned criminals who were literally fighting for their lives. The Colosseum, constructed in 72 A.D. was said to be the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. Despite the passage of time, you can see why it was considered one of the greatest works of Roman architecture. Moving from one of the largest monuments in the City of Rome, we took a road trip to visit the Catacombs of San Callisto. In ancient Roman times, no one was allowed to be buried within the walls of the city and there are a variety of catacombs scattered outside the ancient walls of Rome. Danielle and I were not as adventurous and chose to wait above ground, while Shannon and Austin took in the tour. ...

Our first actual day in Rome! There is so much to see and do here;I think we’ll spend the day touring around and getting our bearings. It’ll help us figure out what we want to spend more time seeing and doing. One of the first sights we saw when we arrived in Rome is the Pantheon , which is said to be one of the most preserved and influential buildings of ancient Rome. Built in 125 A.D. by Emperor Hadrian, today the Pantheon is used as a church and has some fascinating architectural features and arches. When in Rome we learned that a popular gathering place is the Piazza Navona . Originally built as a stadium in the first century for athletic contests and chariot races, the Piazza Navona is now lined with luxurious cafes and popular gelato shops. The public square still retains its oval shape and is a lively place where both locals and tourists like t o hang out. Artists gather in the square to paint and sell their works of art, there are different performers entertaining the crow...

One of the most unusual destinations we visited was Pompeii. The city has emerged from the darkness of its past and remains similar to what it would have been like before it was unexpectedly buried in the thick layer of ash and lava which poured down from the devastating eruption of Vesuvius in the year 79 A.D. The scale of the tragedy was striking and caused life in Pompeii to come to a standstill. The thick layer of volcanic material which covered Pompeii allowed the city, its buildings and their contents, to remain intact and provide a striking picture of what daily life must have been like. The excavated city provides outstanding historical evidence of Roman civilization. Today when you stroll through the site, you can still see the shop signs or the shopkeeper’s names in the doorways. And, the houses still contain pieces of furniture, kitchen wear and terracotta tiles. It is said that the residents of Pompeii likely responded with panic when the volcano erupted and the dense...

Assisi is linked in legend with its native son, St. Francis. The founder of the Franciscan order, is recognized as the patron saint of Italy. Assisi is built on a hilltop, with impressive buildings, cobble stoned streets and stoned archways. UNESCO h as collectively designated the town of Assisi and all of its monuments as a world heritage site. It is easy to understand why. We stayed in Assisi for a week and visited the town several times. Any time of the day or night that we stopped in, we enjoyed strolling around, browsing the local shops and taking in the beauty of our surroundings. The town of Assisi is dominated by a medieval castle, the Rocca Maggiore. Work on the Basilica of San Francesco d’Assisi, the Franciscan monastery, began when St. Francis was canonized in 1228. Although Assisi was struck by earthquakes in 1997, much restoration work has been done to bring the historical sites back to their original grandeur.

Lucca is the only town in Italy entirely surrounded by medieval walls and ramparts. We learned about these historic town walls and decided we had to take a road trip to see them for ourselves. While we thought the walls were impressive, the town’s entry doors were quite imposing too! These imposing 16th century walls around the old town have remained intact as the city expanded and modernized around them. The walls no longer hold any military importance, however, they were of a large enough scale to be used in the 20th century for racing cars. Today cars are not allowed to drive on the walls and instead it is solely a pedestrian promenade to walk or cycle. We toured this small medieval town, hung out for a while with the locals at the town square, soaked up the Renaissance architecture, and had a bite to eat before we carried on with our adventure. The stop was well worth the visit.

W e hopped over the border into Nice to take a look at its infamous pebble beach that stretches along the French coastline. The city of Nice is located on the French Riviera in the Côte d'Azur. We decided to hop the border from Monaco to spend the morning soaking up the sun and drive along its seaside promenade. Before Nice was urbanized, its land along the coastline was home to the dockworkers and fisherman. Along the water is a long walkway and the area along the waterway is a pedestrian zone which makes getting around the area, in high season, a bit of a challenge! The traffic slows to a crawl as tourists like us are taking in the sights and sounds of the city. Nice’s natural beauty and mild Mediterranean climate attracts many visitors. Although our schedule didn’t allow us to spend much time visiting here ourselves, we can see why it is one of the most visited places in France.

Monaco, located on the French Riviera, is the second smallest country in the world. Bordered by France on three sides and the spectacular Mediterranean Sea on the other. We spent the night in a seafront property which offered stunning views! Monaco is a principality governed under a constitutional monarchy with Prince Albert II as its head of state. This is our second visit to Monaco and the world’s downturned economy did not seem to have any effect considering all of the luxury cars and high end retail shops that we saw. We learned that Monaco has the world’s highest number of millionaires and billionaires per capita in the world. We spent the evening touring the grounds of the Casino, Opera House and Royal Palace before settling into a nice Italian dinner at an open air restaurant. While driving around, we also saw that the carnival was in town. We didn’t stop in, but we couldn’t help but wonder how much it would cost to ride the merry go round here?

We took a step back in time to visit historic Cinque Terre which is said to be one of the best preserved natural areas of the Mediterranean. The name Cinque Terre dates back to the fifteenth century and its strict rules help protect these seaside villages with their steep, terraced vineyards and colourful architecture from modern development. We arrived by train, in Riomaggiore , the first of the Cinque Te rre villages. We took a walk along the infamous Via dell’Amore and took in the spectacular coastal views and, along its trail, we saw the padlocks left by couples who want to seal their love by writing their names on the padlocks and locking them in place. Manarola may be the oldest of the towns in Cinque Terre, it’s local church, San Lorenzo , dates back to 1338. The tiny harbour of Manarola features picturesque buildings leading down the ravine towards the town's swimming hole. Although there is no real beach here, it is said to have some of the best deep water swimming...