Travel Plans and the House of Augustus

You should have received an email by now from Dr. Hartnett with information about flights and hotels. If you need additional information or haven't received the email, please let us know.

I have just heard from Rome that we will be able to go into the House of Augustus. This site on the Palatine Hill is closed to the public but we've gotten permission from the
Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma to spend an hour there on Monday. We'll be able to see the house Augustus had built in the first century BC and the nearby Temple of Apollo and the remains of the Hut of Romulus. While the house Augustus built is not as magestic as those built by later emperors, it is impressive and says something about this first leader of the Principate that he chose to build such a small house, surrounded by symbols of Rome's foundation and the gods. Only two rooms are open, the Room of the Masks and the Room of the Pine Garlands, both named after the decorations in the rooms and wonderful examples of Roman wall painting.

Still Planning

Dr. Hartnett, Mr. O'Donnell, Ms. McCann and I continue to work on the details of the itinerary, including who will talk where and where we'll eat. Here's the working itinerary:

March 3 - Depart Boston
March 4 - Arrive Rome and go on a walk to see major monuments, ending with the Capitoline Museum and dinner
March 5 - The Forum, Palatine and Colosseum
March 6 - Imperial and Augustan monuments before lunch and a church tour after
March 7 - The Vatican and dinner in Trastevere
March 8 - Ostia and an afternoon preparing for the trip to Athens
March 9 - Arrive in Athens about noon and walk through the city for orientation
March 10 - The Acropolis
March 11 - Museums and monuments
March 12 - Delphi
March 13 - Day-cruise to three islands
March 14 - Return to Boston

We've made a few changes, including a longer visit to the Vatican. Fr. LaMacchia (who will be joining us for his first trip to Rome) has arranged tickets for a Papal Audience at the Papal Audience Hall Wednesday morning.

Expect an email from Dr. Hartnett soon, including an 800 number you can use to reach us in Rome and Athens.

Preparations

We're just about ready for our departure for Rome on March 3. The transportation and hotels are booked: we'll be leaving Boston March 3 on Alitalia and arriving the next morning in Rome. We've missed the connection in Milan two of the previous trips, but I hope we'll make it this time. There will be a bus waiting to take us to the hotel, close to the Colosseum, where we'll stay for the first four nights.

One additional scheduling detail we just finalized is the day-long cuise in the Saronic Gulf for the final day in Athens. I'll post details later.