On Monday, May 5, the students of the 2nd UG met with Hansueli (Latin) and Esther (Mediathek) Flückiger at the train station in Engelberg to board the 8:02 a.m. train together. In Lucerne, Yolanda Stocker (Biology) then boarded the S-Bahn to Arth-Goldau. From there, the journey continued on time to Milan and then Roma Termini. Whenever the Frecciarossa slowed down a little in Italy, we admired the poppies that grew everywhere between the tracks. Once we arrived in Rome, Mr. Flückiger got us public transport tickets for the whole week. Bus no. 64 then took us to San Pietro station. Our hotel – which is run by the Suore Teatine – was very close by. Their wonderful motto “Do everything for love” adorns the walls of the stairwell. After checking into our room, the class hurried to the Ristorante dei Pontefici. Surrounded by paintings of deceased popes, we first tucked into bruschetta and then pizza or pasta. Mrs. Mory and a friend joined us for dessert.

On the first “real” day in Rome, Tuesday, we took the bus to Ara Coeli and then walked past the Medusa and along the Circus Maximus to the Colosseum. To get into the Colosseum, we had to stand at the group entrance at the reserved time and then go through security. The staff were mainly on the lookout for scissors, but unfortunately Ms. Flückiger had to hand in her bresaola and bread in the process – on the pretext that you are not allowed to eat in the Colosseum. The others got through without any problems. Thanks to the fact that Mr. Flückiger had ordered tickets twice – the normal ones a month in advance and the special ones a week in advance at midnight – we were allowed to walk the floor of the Colosseum with a small minority of visitors and not just the upper tiers. We sat on benches in bright sunshine and listened to the first lectures. It is estimated that more than 4.5 million people and twice as many animals died in the Colosseum. At first it was even possible to flood it, until a later emperor had a cellar and pulley system installed to store exotic animals. Next on the agenda was lunch. We ate this on the nearest hill, the Palatine Hill. Once again, we had to go through a light check and Ted had to hand in his football. Thanks to a shared lunch, the Flückigers didn’t go hungry despite losing their bresaola. At the Titus Arch, we listened to the next lectures. It showed us in three dimensions the triumphal march of Emperor Titus and, among other things, that he had brought the seven-branched candlestick with him from Jerusalem. From there, we then walked through the Roman Forum. The last sight we visited that day was Trajan’s Markets. These were much less crowded and we could simply leave our rucksacks in a group box. During the lecture here, we learned why money was “banked” and that the Romans did not use a decimal system for their coins. The approximately two thousand year old market walls were also predominantly the color of red fired bricks and Roman concrete. In some places, the former marble decorations were still lying around on the ground; if you lacked imagination, you could get an idea of the wealth of decoration from the reconstruction drawings. After so much learning, we treated ourselves to two to four scoops of gelato each. After a quick freshen-up at the Suore, we pressed on to St. Peter’s Square, where Jan Feierabend (AK24) was waiting for us in his suit to give us an insight into the customs, duties and premises of the Swiss Guard. Anyone who wanted to could practise standing at attention with their halberd. We then ate our evening meal together in the Magno. Many opted for the specialty of the house: Roman pinse. But the hamburgers, pizzas and bruschette also tasted so good that the students immediately decided they wanted to spend the next evening here too.

Wednesday was the first day of the conclave – after the death of Franciscus, a new pope had to be elected. We took the bus to the Baths of Caracalla. Insanely high round arches and mosaic floors gave us an idea of the splendor that must have been created there around 100 AD. In these lectures, we learned that many people could not afford to go to the thermal baths because they simply had to work in order to eat. And that the emperor was able to grant around 400 families a private water connection (via their own aqueducts). It dripped a little in the thermal baths while we ate lunch – but that was the only rain of the whole week. Afterwards, we drove to the city wall and walked a few meters along it. Then we left “ancient Rome” through the Porta San Sebastiano and walked along the Via Appia to the next crossroads. Then we took the bus back to the catacombs of San Sebastian on the parallel street. Unlike in Paris, you don’t see any bones here, but lots of niches, tomb slabs and finally pagan burial houses, which formed the origin of the catacombs in the quarry. The catacomb guide told us the story of the martyr Sebastian, a bodyguard of the emperor at the time, who stood up for the Christians and was pierced with arrows at the stake as a result. According to legend, however, he did not die from the arrows, but later from a sword, because he went back to the emperor to plead with him. Much later that evening, on the way back from the Magno, we were met by the many people who had waited for the black smoke in St. Peter’s Square.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t go to St. Peter’s Basilica or the Vatican on Thursday because of the conclave. So we had a “leisurely” day. We started a little later in the morning and took the bus to the Fontana di Trevi. But first we walked to the Spanish Steps. There, the students had two hours of free time in small groups. The accompanying adults drank the most expensive coffee of the entire stay in the piazza. Afterwards, for once, we didn’t have lunch from our rucksacks, but at the Bar Frattina. Some of us almost fell asleep at the table; the average of 20,000 steps per day was certainly not entirely innocent. After refreshments, we walked to the Fontana di Trevi. We were able to admire the fountain from the side. There was a lot going on here, but obviously less than in other years. From the fountain, we made our way to the nearby Pantheon. Originally built as a temple for “all” (pan) gods (theon), it was later converted into a Christian church. One of the most spectacular features is certainly the circular dome, which is open at the top and requires an ingenious water drainage system in the floor. On the piazza in front of the Pantheon is probably the most expensive gelateria in the city (13 euros per gelato). Loaded with new impressions, we walked back to the Suore from here. Shortly after 6 p.m., Rome Chat reported that there was white smoke and we quickly decided that we would go back to St. Peter’s Square after all.

Yolanda Stocker
Biology teacher

We were in our rooms when a friend received a text saying there was white smoke. We thought it was a joke, as she had already been written to the day before. But then we heard the bells ringing, but it was only twelve past six, so we thought maybe it was true after all. Shortly afterwards, we heard the news in the Rome chat that a new pope had been elected and then the question of whether we wanted to go to St. Peter’s Square. Most people replied that they would love to go, so we met at reception five minutes later. Thanks to our proximity to St. Peter’s Square, we were able to walk there like many other people. Everyone hurried because nobody wanted to miss this event.

There were thousands of people in and around St. Peter’s Square who all had to go through security, so we thought that we might not get into the square at all as we were already relatively late. But we got through security and into the square quite quickly. There were lots of big screens on the pitch itself where you could watch the action. Unfortunately, we were a bit on the side and could therefore only watch the whole thing on one monitor. However, it was still a very impressive experience. After about ten minutes, the most senior cardinal deacon came and announced who the new pope was. But we thought he was the new pope because everyone was cheering and clapping like crazy. But when someone asked Mr. Flückiger if that was already the pope, he said that the pope was yet to come.

Shortly afterwards, someone was seen stepping onto the balcony with a cross staff in his hand and then the Pope behind him. The Pope was cheered and the anthem of the Vatican and Italy was played. Then he spoke to the people, who kept interrupting him with shouts of “Viva il papa!” and applause. He said a blessing and everyone was very touched. Unfortunately, we only understood a little, but it was an incredible moment and we were grateful to be there. After the Pope had said the blessing, the first people were already pushing towards the exit. The Pope waved a few more times and then retreated back into St. Peter’s Basilica, at the same time as the crowds streamed towards the exit.

Ms. Stocker started our group and was separated from the rest by a few students. The group at the back thought that a pupil had got lost, but he was with the group at the front. Ms. Stocker kept telling the front group that we should just follow her, not stop and then wait where there weren’t so many people. The group at the back caught up and together we walked to the restaurant from the first evening. Luckily we were still able to eat there, even though our reservation would have been earlier. We all really enjoyed the last evening.

Lior Benjamin, Kaya Nüssli
2ND UG