Global Art Classroom kicks off its European tour with its first stop in Rome – a several-week-long, culminating excursion that follows weeks of art history, literature, and studio work at the program's U.S. base. Reagan '26 and Abby '27 share contagious enthusiasm for the city's art, architecture, history, and food: the Pantheon's oculus and the Capitoline's reconstructed Constantine for Reagan; the historical walking tour, Caravaggio's The Calling of Saint Matthew at San Luigi dei Francesi, and delicious Roman cuisine for Abby. Read more below!
Wowza, Roma
Reagan ’26
WOWZA, Rome has been amazing. Despite being tired (I’m not letting jetlag get me!), I have really enjoyed walking the streets of Rome, seeing all the sites, and enjoying different aspects of Italy. Each day has been packed, obviously in a good way. We have done a walking tour of Rome, toured the Vatican Museums, seen the Church of San Luigi Dei Francesci to view works by the Baroque artist Caravaggio, looked around the Capitoline Museum, and experienced the Piazza del Colosseo (Colosseum), the Roman Forum, and the Pantheon.
Now, out of all these amazing places, I would have to say my favorites were the Pantheon and the Capitoline Museum. The Pantheon was worth the wait. How is there a hole in the ceiling called an oculus–love it, and just impressive. The sun was shining so brightly when we were there; it was quite beautiful how, as time passed, the positions of the sunspots changed slightly. So memorable!
Then the Capitoline Museum was my other favorite because there were fantastic views of the Roman Forum (personally think the best view), and both sculptures of Constantine the Great were fantastic (huge!). I really enjoyed sitting outside and seeing the reconstructed Constantine. The sun was so perfect, though my neck did hurt after spending a good chunk of time looking up so far.
So, yes, we have seen so much as a group, and on our own time, I have seen a lot as well. I have recently loved our walks from place to place, while there is an overwhelming amount of people, it is fun listening to everyone speak about what surrounds us, and it is sometimes fun to wiggle through people; it's like an obstacle course. Though at the end of each day, I am exhausted. We are around 30 minutes from the popular and central areas of Rome, so no matter what, there is a good amount of walking, but we are getting our steps in, which is nice.
Overall, Rome was busy, slightly stressful, yet an amazing start to the trip. I am now even more excited to see what comes next.
A Busy Few Days in Rome
Abby ’27
When we landed in Rome, we were all exhausted from our 11-hour flight. Once we arrived, we went straight to our hotel for check-in so we could finally freshen up after a long day of travel. Not long after, we walked to the train and headed to our tour at the Vatican Museums, where we were all basically half asleep, trying to make it through everything. Later, we had our welcome to Rome dinner at Le Caveau, which was delicious and such a great introduction to Roman food; it’s honestly unbelievable. I think I’ve gained like 15 pounds just from how much food I’ve already eaten in Rome.
Day two in Rome was much more enjoyable after a great night of sleep. We left the hotel and went to Piazza Venezia for a historical walking tour around Rome, which was beautiful and super interesting. We learned so many new things with an amazing tour guide. After that, we all went our separate ways for lunch. Then we visited the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, where I finally got to see my Caravaggio, The Calling of Saint Matthew, which I had presented on before arriving in Rome. After that, we had free time, and of course, Fiona, Sophia, Ollie, Reagan, and I went shopping, which may not have been the best idea because I genuinely don’t know how I’m going to fit everything in my carry-on when it is time to fly all the way home, but we’ll deal with that later. For dinner, we had the best pizza ever, then headed back to the hotel for a meeting.
The next day, we had a timed visit to the Capitoline Museums, where we saw the reconstruction of Constantine. After that, we got lunch and gelato, then visited the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, followed by the Colosseum, which was breathtaking to go inside. We also went to the Roman Forum.
On our last day in Rome, we visited the Pantheon with its unbelievable dome, then stopped at Amy’s favorite shop, Gran Café Marcel, where we got postcards and bookmarks. After that, we had free time from 12:30 until the evening meeting, during which we did our Rome paintings, got dressed up cute for pictures, and went out to dinner.
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